Designed for the smaller wrists of women, the Soleus GPS Mini HRM (heart rate monitor) has a USB rechargeable Lithium-ion battery that can run continuously for eight hours, and a 100-lap memory. And at a weight of just 56 grams, it is one of the most compact and lightest GPS watches in the market today.
Soleus GPS MINI HRM on my wrist.
Here are the key functions of the Soleus GPS Mini HRM at a glance.
I recently wore the Soleus GPS Mini HRM watch, which comes with an additional heart rate chest strap, on a number of my training runs. Here are my impressions of the watch.
Appearance and feel
When I first saw it, I was pretty impressed by its apperance. It does not look big and bulky on my arm, mainly because it is customised for women.
The black colour with the pink trimming on the watch – is also rather stylish and fashionable too. So it will suit women who are keen to choose exercise equipment that will make them look good when they are working out.
The watch has nice, big digits
Setting up the watch
It’s important to check out the YouTube videos on the Soleus YouTube channel in order to set up this watch, as it may be a bit confusing initially, especially if you have never used Soleus products before. But the instructions in the video were quite specific and clear. They were a great help.
Using the watch
One of the first things I noticed about this watch – is that the size of the digits are pretty large. This feature will ensure that you can quickly get a glimpse of how fast you are running or how far you have already run – all whilst on the move – and without having to keep stopping in order to squint at your watch.
The way that the watch performs – in terms of measuring my pace and distance, as well as the monitoring of my heart rate – appears to be quite accurate.
When you are running underground as well as in densely covered areas – such as those places that have a lot of trees, the Soleus GPS Mini HRM may lose its GPS signal. But most of the time, the watch was able to pick up the signal again quite quickly whenever this happened.
The Soleus GPS MINI HRM is a good running companion
On an average, the GPS took anywhere between one to four minutes to pick up a signal, during the runs that I had taken it out on. Most of these runs had started and commenced near the new Parkland Green precinct, at East Coast Park’s Area C. But I realised that the weather could play a part in how quickly a signal is picked up by the Soleus GPS Mini watch, though. For example, there was one occasion, on a clear and sunny morning, when the watch took 44 seconds to pick up a signal. On a cloudy morning, it may take longer.
Syncing the data to Strava
Like most other Soleus watches, you can easily sync the data from the GPS watch to Strava, upon commencement of an exercise session. Strava is a free mobile phone running application that can be accessed via the website as well as downloaded for free on both Apple and Android.
The run data from the Soleus GPS MINI is quite comprehensive.
With this watch, you can view your pace, distance, running route, heart rate, and much more.
What sets the Soleus GPS Mini HRM apart – is that you do not need to worry about connecting an additional messy cable to link your watch to your computer. Though Soleus does provide an additional cable, it is not necessary to use this to upload your data. Instead, all you need to do is to directly plug the watch itself right into your computer – and the Soleus Sync will easily pick up the readings – via USB. This is probably one of my favourite features of the Soleus GPS Mini HRM watch.
It is very easy to plug the Soleus GPS MINI HRM into a USB port on your computer to load your run data.
The same USB plug that is used to link the Soleus GPS Mini HRM to your computer can also be used to charge up the watch too.
Cost of watch and where to buy it
The Soleus GPS Mini HRM costs SGD 394.80 (with GST) and is available at TANGS @ Vivocity, Metro outlets @ The Centerpoint & OG Orchard Point, Mohd Mustafa @ Serangoon Plaza as well as selected sports and watch retailers.
Thank you Soleus, for the opportunity to test out the Soleus GPS Mini HRM.
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