Following in Garmin's footsteps, Magellan has expanded beyond a handheld GPS device company to now focus on the lucrative multi-sport fitness market. Designed primarily for running, the new Switch and Switch Up GPS watch can easily crossover into cycling, swimming, hiking, and other outdoor activities.
Using the GPS sensor, the Switch tracks your time, distance, speed and pace, while the Switch Up model adds a thermometer to track the outside temperature and a barometric altimeter to keep tabs on your elevation. Similar to Garmin devices, the Magellan Switch is ANT+ compatible, enabling you to connect to any ANT+ heart rate monitor, foot pod, speed or cadence sensor, and power meter. Data is recorded every second and the GPS watch stores up to 60 hours worth of activity.
The high resolution display works well under bright light conditions so you can easily track your progress when riding, running, or hiking. Water resistant up to 50 meters, both Switch GPS watches can be worn swimming or during other water sports.
The rechargeable lithium-ion battery lasts for 8 hours of workout time or 3 weeks in watch mode. If you plan to head out on a backpacking trip or a weekend of riding, Magellan offers a Battery Extender Pack to basically triple the operational time of your GPS watch.
The Switch Up model comes with quick release wrist and bike mounts for easy transition between sports, particularly useful for triathlons. You can also record multisport activities as a single workout, logging your transition time in the process.
With 9 different activity profiles, you can customize a variety of data and set alerts based on targeted goals for each sport. Once finished with your workout, the USB connection enables you to easily upload all your data for analysis to either the Magellan Fitness website or your site of choice, such as Strava or MapMyRun.
The Magellan Switch GPS watch retails for $250 and the Switch Up for $300.
