We promised there’d be news on the fitness front at CES, so here’s the scoop on two new accessories. Our previously announced foot pod is now available for purchase — just in time to rescue your running routine when winter’s chill makes you turn to a treadmill or indoor track. The foot pod allows you to use your Forereunner 305 indoors (when GPS satellites aren’t available) and track your distance, pace and calories burned. And, of course, you'll still get the heart rate data from your HR monitor. The foot pod, which attaches to the top of your running shoe (threads through laces for secure fit), transmits distance and pace data to your Forerunner. And it’s all stored in Forerunner’s workout histories, just as when you're running outdoors.

The other accessory, a quick-release mount for the Forerunner 205 and 305, is designed for multisport athletes who want to swap their Forerunner from wrist to bike. The kit comes with a wrist strap and a bike mount. Athletes simply snap the Forerunner head unit in and out of the wrist or bike mount when transitioning between sports. 

Comments

[Peg]

Thanks for your comments on the foot pod, Samuel. Regarding your first question, we currently do not offer this type of analysis. For the second question, Forerunner will always revert to GPS over the foot pod. The only way to get it to detect the foot pod over GPS is to turn the GPS feature off or to have the foot pod on before Forerunner acquires satellites. In this case, Forerunner will quickly detect the foot pod and turn off the GPS feature so that all data generated will be from the foot pod. But if the unit acquires satellites before it detects the foot pod, all data will be generated via the GPS.

[Samuel]

Hi!

Allow me a couple of questions about the foot pod that are possibly of general interest.

Are there any news on the analysis of the stride length using the foot pod? (Call this question a feature request.)

How does the forerunner 305 handle both a gps signal and a signal from the foot pod at the same time? Which data is stored and which input is used for measunring the distance?

Thanks
Samuel

[Kyle - blog editor]

Hi Allen,

The foot pod does display cadence; you'll find it in the data fields section once the foot pod is paired with your forerunner.

It does not currently provide stride rate, but with enough demand it could show up in a future software update.

**correction** our eagle-eyed engineers let me know that stride right and cadence are really the same thing. Stride *length* is currently not being displayed.

[Allen]

Will the FootPod measure stride rate/running cadence??

Thanks,
Allen

[Peg]

To JC: yes, you could mount it sideways on the stem just for tracking data while cycling. The Forerunner screen would be sideways as well so you couldn't really see the data fields. Since some cyclists mount the Edge at the top of the aerobars, you could do the same with this mount for the Forerunner. But you are correct that the Edge is the product truly designed for cyclists. For my last duathlon, when I was testing this mount, I actually doubled up--Forerunner went with me from run to bike to run, but I still used the Edge on the bike. The benefit to having the Forerunner throughout is the auto multisport mode, which tracks your totals, including transition time, and allows you to switch modes with just one button press.

[Flatman]

Cool. I have been wondering about a bike mount...

[JC]

Does it turn sideways too?
Most triathletes I know will have to mount off their stem, rather than their actual handlebars because of the aerobars. It would be an ok mount for cyclists, but my guess is cyclists are going to use the edge anyway.