The GPS watch market has been dominated heavily by Garmin. Ask a runner, “Do you have a Garmin” and they aren’t going to wax poetic about their Nuvi…they’ll know you mean a Forerunner watch. But Magellan is looking for a piece of that pie, and they’ll be debuting two new watches, the “Switch” series, designed to appeal to runners as well as “crossover sports” (triathletes, bikers, and swimmers, presumably).
Based on the press release, it sounds like the Switch will have very similar features to the competition, including the ability to race against a specific pace, mark laps and miles, and use a heart rate monitor. It should be interesting to see if Magellan can unseat Garmin, Polar, and Nike+, all of whom are more established in the fitness business. They’re also competing against free apps like Runkeeper for smartphones, though there’s a definite advantage to having run data on your wrist instead of in your pocket.
Gear Diary will be visiting Magellan at CES, so stay tuned for more information, and check out the Switch lineup and full press release at Magellan’s site!