Timex Ironman Sleek 50-Lap Watch Review

One of the very first purchases I made as a wide-eyed, budding runner back in the spring of 2007 was my very first running watch, a Timex Ironman Sleek 50-Lap model which I picked up for around $50 at Target. What lead me to this purchase was a need to know how long and how far I was running. I would run my loops at Lehigh Parkway, time myself using my spiffy, new watch and then go home and map out the route I had just run on mapmyrun.com. This need to record my running was just the beginning of my running addiction.

Features I Like

The Timex Ironman Triathlon Sleek 50 Lap Watch has some good features that really drew it to me. For instance, some of its most useful features (to me), include:

• Workouts are stored by date, with best lap, average lap and total segment time (up to 50 laps)
• Records time to 1/100th second
• 2 interval timers settable for either countdown/stop (CS) or countdown/repeat (CR)
• 3 customizable alarms
• Water resistant to 100m

Comfort Level

This watch is very comfortable, so much so that I hardly notice that I am even wearing it. I often wear it throughout the day as my “dress down” watch. The watch comes in a variety of colors; new colors and designs are usually updated each year.

A Great Tool For Running and Everyday Life

I have found this watch to be most useful to me when I go to the track for interval workouts. The start/split button is easy to press as I complete each lap and you have the option of viewing either the Split, the Lap or the Total Run time each time the split button is pressed. This is very easy to set up before your workout.

The watch has a built in Alarm option and three separate alarms which can be set up  as reminders for daily, weekday, weekend or weekly options. I have programmed the alarms on the watch to remind me when to pick up my children from school or the bus stop. When traveling you can use the Alarm feature as your wake up call.

I’ve used this watch to time my rests between sets when I am weightlifting by using the Interval Timer setting.

Lastly, this watch is a great training tool for recording time on your feet while you are out on your daily runs.

Lasting Power

I have had my Timex Ironman since June 2007 which makes mine almost 3 years old. The watch is showing no signs of stopping; the battery is still going strong, the band is intact, the buttons work great. It certainly lives up to the phrase, “Timex – It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”

The Bottom Line

I am a bargain shopper, always on the lookout for a good deal. I have seen this watch sell for as low as $28 online and as high as $55. I purchased my Timex Ironman at Target three years ago for about $50. I definitely feel that I have gotten my money’s worth. Would I recommend this watch? Certainly. Are there better watches out there? Yes (I own a Garmin as well.) Would I buy another one? Absolutely.

Issues

The only problem that I have experienced with this watch occured recently. The band itself is made of dura-strength resin. What does that mean? From what I can tell, that means a rubber strap. The strap seems to be glued on to the sides of the watch and then attached around a hook at each of the four corners. The rubber has started to detach from the top right notch on my watch. It doesn’t appear to be broken, it simply keeps detaching. Not a problem, I just put it back on and it stays in place. The only time it becomes detached is when I am taking it off my wrist.