time for a new Garmin, alas

My trusty Forerunner 110 has finally had to go. The rubber strap/casing had begun to separate from the watch back a month or two ago, but at first I hoped it was merely cosmetic. Alas, no. On a rainy run a few weeks back misting formed inside, under the glass. It made it through the run okay, and after discovering there were no repairable parts or replaceable seals, I took it apart, dried it out, and hoped for the best. It worked fine -- until the next rainy day, a couple of days back. Misting under the screen again, so bad that after 5 miles I couldn't read anything. And then, it was blank. Again, took it apart and dried it out: amazingly, it had saved at the point it shutdown, and I retrieved that portion of the run, but the rubber casing was really no good at that point, so I bit the bullet and ordered a new device.

Well, actually a refurb: Forerunner 210 this time, almost identical to the 110, and just what I want -- not too big, not complicated, & can hold lots of data. Same problems, though: one-piece rubber strap/case, and not a massive battery life. Just hope it lasts as long as the 110: I'll be into a new age bracket by then!

Looking back through photos and blogs it turns out that the 110 lasted almost exactly 4 years: bought it mid-August 2012 and first used it on Saturday, August 18th, 2012. I was very psyched that it could upload direct to the net and download via USB to my laptop. My first device, the wonderful Forerunner 110, only connected to charge--the serial interface didn't download anything useful to my Mac, iirc (but tbh I can't remember much -- it was a long time ago!). When *did* I get the 201?  I'm guessing it was _more_ than 4 years earlier.

Well, enough for now -- maybe a proper update before too long. It's about time for the annual write-up, after all...

[ETA: looks like I got the first GPS device (the 201) at Xmas 2005, as I was using it in New Year 2006 -- so it lasted six and a half years.]