Bont: Semi-Race Skate Review I bought new skates: Bont Semi-Race to replace my old Rollerblade Lightning 10's which are literally falling apart. One of the Lightning boots is cracking at the heal mounting point, & the inner liner is torn on the other boot. Check the link above for my full review. I'll just say here, that these are way better than the Lightning 10's ever dreamed of being... If you get these skates for outdoor use, & skate anywhere that gets slick, DO NOT USE THE WHEELS THAT COME WITH THE SKATES. See my follow up post in the review thread for details...
I bought new skates: Bont Semi-Race to replace my old Rollerblade Lightning 10's which are literally falling apart. One of the Lightning boots is cracking at the heal mounting point, & the inner liner is torn on the other boot.
Check the link above for my full review.
I'll just say here, that these are way better than the Lightning 10's ever dreamed of being...
If you get these skates for outdoor use, & skate anywhere that gets slick, DO NOT USE THE WHEELS THAT COME WITH THE SKATES. See my follow up post in the review thread for details...
Yes, I skated 26+ miles yesterday (at the Disney 2006 Inline Marathon, 04/02/2006). But like any other die-hard skater who has just purchased new skates, I just couldn't wait another day before trying out the new Rollerblade ProBlade 4 x 100 skates I bought on Saturday. I kind of wish I could have skated on them at Disney but for obvious reasons, I didn't want to take them out untested. So, I skated 14 miles in them this morning (Monday, 04/03/2006).When I tried them out on Saturday, I had to maneuver a lot of crossovers because of the tight space in which to test skates at the Expo. That action was a little hard on the outside of the ankles because of where the boot hit the ball of the ankle. But on the West Orange Trail, skating 14 miles with very few crossovers, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I don't think I've lost any speed going from my 5 x 90's to this new skate, which makes me think that I might be able to add some speed as I continue to work on technique and once I get accustomed to these skates. And after I've broken these in, I can use my heat gun to mold the boot at the ankle or maybe add some extra padding to the inside of the boot at the ball of the ankle to help with the crossovers.Anyway, if you're thinking about a 4 x 100 racing setup, after one trip with them I can say that this seems to be a pretty good skate for the money.See ya' on the trails,Don
Garmin Forerunner 301 Preliminary Review I bought mine last week from Newegg for $212 with shipping... lowest price I've found so far. I went with the 301 instead of the 201 because of the included heart rate monitor. I'm not sure but I believe there are a couple of other minor differences between the 201 & 301 like the USB interface of the 301 instead of a Serial port interface which is on the 201. My 301 arrived Monday afternoon (8/8/2005) & I put it to the test Tuesday morning (8/9/2005). I woke up about 6:30AM, too late to join Don on the VFT, so I had a good breakfast than went to Lake Parker Park where I normally skate (10 minute drive Vs. 30 minutes to VFT) to see how it worked. I've already ran into a couple of problems with the unit, the LCD backlight only comes on about 1% of the time, I have to hit the power button a couple of time to turn it on or off, & GPS tracking seems a bit off, though that could be caused by the satellites, & not the 301. The heart rate monitor is not at all what I was expecting, I did not realize that continuous heart rate monitors are designed to be strapped to your chest... I thought they had wrist, arm & thigh mounted monitors that read the blood flow from a major vein (like checking someone's pulse)... oh well... live & learn ;) The chest strap that comes with the 301 can be a bit uncomfortable during prolonged use, but since I've never used a heart rate monitor, I don't know if this is typical or not. Overall it was a positive experience, it's light weight, I hardly noticed that I had it on once I started skating, & I was able to see exactly how far my laps are (3.59 miles) for the first time, instead of just guessing! All total Tuesday, I skated 8.09 miles in ~48 minutes. It's a far cry from the 13-15 miles a day I was skating in 1 hour back when I skated 35 - 50 miles a week, but it's a start back towards the right track. IMO, the Training Center software is one of the best parts of this unit, simply download your 301 to your PC via the included USB cable & it provides detailed information including distance, speed (both MPH & per mile pace), time, calories burned, averages, graphs, & maps, as well as summaries by day, or week right on your computer. It was in viewing the map in the Training Center software that I noticed the GPS tracking error, through which some of the lines showed about 150 - 200 feet off of the actual course I was skating. Not a big error, but I wonder if it is enough to throw off the speed data??? BTW... according to the 301 I peaked at 18MPH during Lap 3, though in Lap 1 it showed me spiking at over 45MPH twice which is physically impossible without artificial acceleration. I also noticed that the elevation readings are WAY off, reading a maximum elevation of 193ft above sea level to a minimum elevation of 90 feet above sea level. At absolute most the difference between highest & lowest points of the park is only 20feet, & it's probably closer to 12-15feet. Included in the package: 1 - Garmin Forerunner 301 wrist mounted unit 1 - wrist strap extender 1 - heart rate monitor 1 - adjustable strap for heart rate monitor 1 - Training Center Software CD-ROM 1 - Users Manual 1 - Quick Start Guide 1 - USB data transfer cable 1 - A/C Adapter What I like: > Light Weight, just 2.8oz... my wrist watch weighs more than that!> Training Center Software gives a quick detailed breakdown of your workout.> 5000 lap memory... WOW! > Easy setup What I don't like: > Wrist strap is too short & the included extension strap makes the unit to loose... I'll try it with a wrist band next time like Don suggested > Heart rate monitor starts getting uncomfortable after about 45 minutes> Difficult to turn on & off > Can take several minutes to acquire GPS signal > Tall, dense tree cover can block GPS signal > Inaccurate speed & elevation readings So... was it worth the extra $100 over the price of the Forerunner 201??? In my initial opinion, despite the negatives yes I do believe it's worth the extra cash!
Garmin Forerunner 301 Preliminary Review
I bought mine last week from Newegg for $212 with shipping... lowest price I've found so far. I went with the 301 instead of the 201 because of the included heart rate monitor. I'm not sure but I believe there are a couple of other minor differences between the 201 & 301 like the USB interface of the 301 instead of a Serial port interface which is on the 201. My 301 arrived Monday afternoon (8/8/2005) & I put it to the test Tuesday morning (8/9/2005). I woke up about 6:30AM, too late to join Don on the VFT, so I had a good breakfast than went to Lake Parker Park where I normally skate (10 minute drive Vs. 30 minutes to VFT) to see how it worked. I've already ran into a couple of problems with the unit, the LCD backlight only comes on about 1% of the time, I have to hit the power button a couple of time to turn it on or off, & GPS tracking seems a bit off, though that could be caused by the satellites, & not the 301. The heart rate monitor is not at all what I was expecting, I did not realize that continuous heart rate monitors are designed to be strapped to your chest... I thought they had wrist, arm & thigh mounted monitors that read the blood flow from a major vein (like checking someone's pulse)... oh well... live & learn ;) The chest strap that comes with the 301 can be a bit uncomfortable during prolonged use, but since I've never used a heart rate monitor, I don't know if this is typical or not. Overall it was a positive experience, it's light weight, I hardly noticed that I had it on once I started skating, & I was able to see exactly how far my laps are (3.59 miles) for the first time, instead of just guessing! All total Tuesday, I skated 8.09 miles in ~48 minutes. It's a far cry from the 13-15 miles a day I was skating in 1 hour back when I skated 35 - 50 miles a week, but it's a start back towards the right track.
IMO, the Training Center software is one of the best parts of this unit, simply download your 301 to your PC via the included USB cable & it provides detailed information including distance, speed (both MPH & per mile pace), time, calories burned, averages, graphs, & maps, as well as summaries by day, or week right on your computer. It was in viewing the map in the Training Center software that I noticed the GPS tracking error, through which some of the lines showed about 150 - 200 feet off of the actual course I was skating. Not a big error, but I wonder if it is enough to throw off the speed data??? BTW... according to the 301 I peaked at 18MPH during Lap 3, though in Lap 1 it showed me spiking at over 45MPH twice which is physically impossible without artificial acceleration. I also noticed that the elevation readings are WAY off, reading a maximum elevation of 193ft above sea level to a minimum elevation of 90 feet above sea level. At absolute most the difference between highest & lowest points of the park is only 20feet, & it's probably closer to 12-15feet.
Included in the package: 1 - Garmin Forerunner 301 wrist mounted unit 1 - wrist strap extender 1 - heart rate monitor 1 - adjustable strap for heart rate monitor 1 - Training Center Software CD-ROM 1 - Users Manual 1 - Quick Start Guide 1 - USB data transfer cable 1 - A/C Adapter
What I like: > Light Weight, just 2.8oz... my wrist watch weighs more than that!> Training Center Software gives a quick detailed breakdown of your workout.> 5000 lap memory... WOW! > Easy setup
What I don't like: > Wrist strap is too short & the included extension strap makes the unit to loose... I'll try it with a wrist band next time like Don suggested > Heart rate monitor starts getting uncomfortable after about 45 minutes> Difficult to turn on & off > Can take several minutes to acquire GPS signal > Tall, dense tree cover can block GPS signal > Inaccurate speed & elevation readings
So... was it worth the extra $100 over the price of the Forerunner 201??? In my initial opinion, despite the negatives yes I do believe it's worth the extra cash!
Bill Jackson's Pinellas Trail Skate 2005 This time I didn't carry a camera with me (good thing too). I drove over Saturday morning and pulled up in front of the bus at 8:25am (to keep it from leaving without me - just joking here). Rushed to get aboard and forgot to leave my shoes behind in the car with Patti, so I had to put them in my fanny pack and skate with them along leaving no room for a camera. It was raining lightly as we got ready to pull out so many skaters made the decission to change from the full to the half skate at the last minute. I took off near the back of the group and as I plodded my way along, I passed several groups and many individuals only to arrive first back at the boatworks. How did that happen? I am sure that some of the faster skaters must have pulled over for eats and drinks? Anyway, 90% of the trail was completely dry but the last few miles outside of Tarpon Springs and all the rest of the way in was wet with puddles. Didn't loose any bearings though. There was a pretty consistent headwind all the way. That is usual for a BJ skate. I had to get low to keep any kind of pace against it. I would guess it was about 8-10 mph. We got to see the new Rollerblade lineup of skates, and again this year no K2 representatives were there (ditto Salomon either). Saw Richard, Don, Dianne & her friend Victoria, Luke?, Glen, and others that I can't think of right now (it's 4am at the moment). Oh, I met 3 other ladies from Naples and got them together with Dianne so she will have some other skaters down there to skate with - how about that? Only two of them knew about each other! To wrap it up, if it hadn't been rainy and windy I would have done the whole 38 miles, but under the existing conditions I am glad I didn't this time around. Am I going next year? You Bet! See you all there! Jennings
Garmin Forerunner 201 Several months ago my wrist stopwatch began to lose it's functions. A recent thread on the message board indicated that some members were thinking of getting a new stopwatch. I decided I'd share what I'd done. I took the plunge and purchased a wrist GPS stopwatch personal trainer. They are available online from Garmin or at various sports shops or store sports departments. I purchased my at Target for $150.00 and the price range I've seen online and in stores is $140 to $170. Some setup is required but it's easy to get it up and running in a useful way. I'm having problems getting the data to download into my computer and will have to call their tech service to help me with that. It's a COM port issue or possibly related to a my PDA Palm Piolet setup. Fortunately the wrist personal trainer can store up to 200 sessions so I've got some time to resolve the problem. There are two modes that you operate in. The Timer Mode features 3 data screens. One shows time, pace or speed and distance. The second shows lap pace, lap time and lap distance. Through the setup menu these screens can be set to pace or speed and to the length of a lap (e.g. 1 mile for trail or street use or various length for circular training). The third screen has three customizable data fields such as time of day, elevation, number of laps, rest time, grade, etc. You can easily toggle between the screens during your workout. The second mode is the Menu Mode where you can access and setup the setting you prefer, the history of your training sessions and the recorded data of those sessions, and navigation which relates the mapping functions. The bread crumb mapping display has some value but not too helpful on the trails. I've got to dig into this more to see if I can improve what I've seen so far. Obviously it's not going to produce everything a full blown GPS can do, but it's still useful. The final and most fun feature is the Training Assistant found in the Menu Mode. It lets you set personal goals regarding time and distance, auto pause/lap setup, interval training, a virtual partner who is displayed on the screen beside you. You can race him! You can set pace/speed alerts that will give you audio and visual alerts if you choose. My training for Disney will be greatly aided by the Forerunner 201 and I'm looking forward to using it this summer in the Canadian Rockies. Once I'm able to download its data into my laptop, I'll be able to set up the data the way I want it displayed through the software that comes with the Forerunner 201. It also comes with a charger for the units battery. A charge gives you upto 15 hours of use between charges. It also has a parralel port cable to link to your computer. I'm surprised and disappointed they didn't use a USB cable. I like what Garmin has given me for the money. I use it and find it easy and helpful. Unlike my cabinet full of gadgets that have promised more than they delivered and were abandoned, the Forerunner will be on my wrist for most of my skates. Ken
Rollerblade Lightning 10 - initial review After waiting far to long, I finally got new skates Rollerblade Lightning 10's. Since my previous skates were K2 Flight ALX's with 4x80mm wheels I don't have anything to give a fair comparison to, but... The facts: > Weight: With brake installed, the new Lightning 10's weigh exactly the same amount as the old K2 Flight ALX's, 7.5lbs according to a digital bath scale, measured 3 different ways. > Length: w/out brake 16 ¾" from front wheel to rear wheel, w/brake 19 ¼" (K2’s are 14 ½" & 16 ½" respectively) > Height: from ground to bottom of foot bed 4 ¼" at ball of foot, 4 ½" at heel (K2’s are 3 ½" at ball & 3 ¾" at heel), & from ground to top of cuff 12" (K2’s are 12 ¾") Initial Impression: Wow, these things are tall, I almost feel like Shaquille O’Neil in them! Ankle support is excellent… despite having a lower cuff height the support is better than the K2’s; I imagine that is because of the use of carbon fiber & leather instead of cloth & plastic. Having 3 power straps is also a plus (IMO), I was able to tighten the laces & straps as I went up & got a very firm, but not overly tight, hold on my foot, something I just couldn’t do with the K2’s which only had laces. They come with Hyper 100mm/84a wheels & ABEC 7 bearings that used gel lubricant. Skating Experience: Well to be honest it’s not fair trying to compare them to the K2’s especially since I haven’t even skated in 2 months (don’t look like I’ll be ready for Disney), but I did skate a full lap which is somewhere between 3 & 3 ½ miles without my legs getting as sore as they did 2 months ago on the K2’s after just 1 ½ miles. Although it didn’t seem like I went very fast, I completed my lap right at 20 minutes. Back when I was skating 20-30 miles per week (nearly a year ago) I was doing a lap in 16 – 18 minutes, so I think that once I get back into the swing of things, I’ll really be flying on these! My last ‘serious’ skate was the July 31'st Buttar half marathon where it rained just as the bikers were finishing their final race. What I like: - The fit: they seem more form fitted than the K2’s & grip the entire foot instead of just parts of it like my K2’s do. - Ankle support: with the bigger wheels the better support is probably a very good thing, but I prefer more ankle support anyway. - Power Straps: allow me to custom fit the boot to my foot better What I don’t like: - Arch support: there is none, though that seems to be the case with just about any pair of inline skates. Hopefully these will do the job http://www.inlinewarehouse.com/descpage.html?pcode=SSFF they should be here in about a week. - Brake pad: it doesn’t seem to be adjustable & I have to angle my foot much more than with my K2’s to stop. It might be okay once I get used to it. - To Narrow: I have a very wide foot, so wide that I have to wear 4E width shoes, but like the arch support, this seems to be an area where all inline-skates are lacking - In-ability to change frames: according to Rollerblade, I cannot just remove the 4x100 frame & replace it with a 5x84 frame if I decide I don’t like the 4x100 setup. At $350, I’m not about to find out the hard way that they are right. Based only on my initial impression & 1st skate, I'd give these skates an 8 out of 10
Rollerblade Lightning 10
After waiting far to long, I finally got new skates Rollerblade Lightning 10's. Since my previous skates were K2 Flight ALX's with 4x80mm wheels I don't have anything to give a fair comparison to, but...
> Weight: With brake installed, the new Lightning 10's weigh exactly the same amount as the old K2 Flight ALX's, 7.5lbs according to a digital bath scale, measured 3 different ways.
> Length: w/out brake 16 ¾" from front wheel to rear wheel, w/brake 19 ¼" (K2’s are 14 ½" & 16 ½" respectively)
> Height:
Initial Impression:
Wow, these things are tall, I almost feel like Shaquille O’Neil in them! Ankle support is excellent… despite having a lower cuff height the support is better than the K2’s; I imagine that is because of the use of carbon fiber & leather instead of cloth & plastic. Having 3 power straps is also a plus (IMO), I was able to tighten the laces & straps as I went up & got a very firm, but not overly tight, hold on my foot, something I just couldn’t do with the K2’s which only had laces. They come with Hyper 100mm/84a wheels & ABEC 7 bearings that used gel lubricant.
Skating Experience:
Well to be honest it’s not fair trying to compare them to the K2’s especially since I haven’t even skated in 2 months (don’t look like I’ll be ready for Disney), but I did skate a full lap which is somewhere between 3 & 3 ½ miles without my legs getting as sore as they did 2 months ago on the K2’s after just 1 ½ miles. Although it didn’t seem like I went very fast, I completed my lap right at 20 minutes. Back when I was skating 20-30 miles per week (nearly a year ago) I was doing a lap in 16 – 18 minutes, so I think that once I get back into the swing of things, I’ll really be flying on these! My last ‘serious’ skate was the July 31'st Buttar half marathon where it rained just as the bikers were finishing their final race.
What I like:
- The fit: they seem more form fitted than the K2’s & grip the entire foot instead of just parts of it like my K2’s do.
- Ankle support:
- Power Straps:
What I don’t like:
- Arch support: there is none, though that seems to be the case with just about any pair of inline skates. Hopefully these will do the job
- Brake pad: it doesn’t seem to be adjustable & I have to angle my foot much more than with my K2’s to stop. It might be okay once I get used to it.
- To Narrow:
- In-ability to change frames:
Based only on my initial impression & 1st skate, I'd give these skates an 8 out of 10
Bill Jackson's Pinellas Trail Skate (Fall 2004) - This was my third year attending this ever growing event. They limited the entries to 200 this year to ensure bus seating and barbque for all. This year Patti drove me over early Saturday morning since we could not go over Friday night after work as we did in the past. I got some shut-eye going over and that helped how I felt after surviving 'hell week'. Caroline was nice enough to pick up my diddy bag on Friday night and we agreed that she could keep any one item she chose as a reward. She chose the $10 bill (gufaw, gufaw)! You all got yours didn't you? I met up with a new (returning) skater and chose to stay with him on the half distance skate instead of trying the full skate. We had a nice skate and even went over to the ocean along the way as a time killer and diversion. Unfortunately he had decided to use up his old already half-worn wheels. They shreaded along the way, not being helped by the t-stopping he was doing. BTW, that's why I keep a $5.00 brake on my street skates. I would rather replace a $5 brake pad than $50 dollar wheels. Mabe I am cheap, but it works for me! Since we were only doing the half skate, I was pleasantly surprised to see Richard and Mark were the leaders of the pack doing the full distance. The food was better than ever, and we got done early enough to stop along the way home and sightsee. Jennings
2002 Bill Jackson's Pinellas Trail Skate - Sponsored jointly by Skate Tampa and Bill Jackson’s Outdoor Center in Tampa. This is a yearly very large group skate. It got underway Friday night with a pasta dinner at Bill Jackson's with door prizes given out too. Scott, Jennings, and Patti attended and got to meet skaters from all over Florida and Georgia. Then we drove to our hotel in Dunedin and communed with more skaters till the wee hours of the night. Saturday morning we went to the Ancelote boat works where we boarded buses to take us to the far end of the trail so we could skate back. Since Scott was suffering from shin splints after the past Sunday's 'Bridge Work', we elected to do a half-skate from Taylor Park. We skated with two females we met on the bus, and about halfway home, we met up with Larry and Agata who came over for the one day only from Orlando. The weather was nice (except for a 10-17mph headwind). Upon arriving back at the boat works, we rested and had a few beers to get us by till the finest chicken BBQ ever. Then came more door prizes, and we left for home. BTW, the cost for entry was $25 a head. For that fee we got two full meals, the bus ride to the starting point, goodie bags with far more than $25 worth of skate goodies (backpacks, wallets, neck straps, two power bars to eat, palm sliders, and I can't remember what all else)! The stuff we got was worth far more than the entry fee, and the hotel room at $52 was remarkable. Let's all do it next year!
2002 Bill Jackson's Pinellas Trail Skate
2002 Rollerblade Lightning 09 5-wheel fitness skates - I love them! These are the skates 'Spiderman' would wear when he skates. They have black carbon-fiberglass shells with red and silver accents. They come with removable/replaceable liners, which are very cushy! They have machined aluminum wheel hubs with 8mm axle mini-bearings in them, and quite thin 80 mm tires of unknown durometer (83a I hear). The wheels spin forever right out of the box! The frame is very light weight and has something unique about it. It has curved reinforcement boss’s between wheels 1 & 2, and 4 & 5, which extend towards the ground and indeed come about 4mm from touching the ground under the frames. Those boss’s are intended to strengthen the frames, and I am sure they do, but I was concerned about the possibility of a rock wedging between the wheel and the frame boss. To date I have skated the Seminole-Wekiva Trail several times and Cady Way Trail several times in them and have had no problems with anything other than the usual leaves getting between the frames and the wheels. No problem with the frames hitting the curbs or gutters either. Well, over the year I wore them they did scrape a few rain gutters crossing the pathway at 90 degree angles! The frames allow lateral adjustment and front-rear adjustment to suit your needs. I moved the frames fully inward, and now I don't pronate at all on my stronger right foot and just a wee bit on my weaker left foot (much better than with my K2 Ascent's or Rollerblade Kitalpha Beta’s, which have non-adjustable frames). The axle bolts do not tighten down with the same confidence that the K2 bolts do, and one was actually tapered so that the wheel rocked about on it just a bit. I will ask Rollerblade to replace that one under warranty! The skates look fantastic, and feel very good except that the liner footbed could be a wee bit softer to cushion against the hard fiberglass shell. The laces that come with them slip badly when tightened and knotted, they practically untie themselves when you let go! Waxed laces should work wonders here! Fortunately the skate has a power strap to hold the heel firmly back into the heel pocket. The ratchet above the ankle strap ratchets very smoothly into place and holds just fine. I have worn them for many hours on the trails and done the WDW Half Marathon in them, and they are very comfortable on my feet. Now that I have skated in them, I can tell you that they are as fast and lightweight as they look. 3/10/2004 6:03 PM Posted by Jennings Polar A5 Heart Rate Monitor System - I have used this system for about 2 years now and find it an excellent way to know exactly where my heart rate is at any moment in time. (If that is all you want to know, I recommend a less expensive and complicated model). This model allows you to store a 'file' of your last activity and tracks your time in the heart rate range you program into it. I use 115 bpm to 160 bpm as my training zone. I have found that I can't go far at all if I exceed 165 bpm! The more fitness training you do, the lower your heart rate is when expending the same amount of energy. Anyway, the system consists of a 'watch' which acts as the receiver/display unit, and a chest mounted (or optional bra-mounted for women) transmitter which contains a factory replaceable battery that has lasted two years so far for me without fail. The watch unit is just a little on the large side, but performs flawlessly. I will say that because of the many programming options it offers, it was a bit difficult to remember how to set up and use them all, but like most things in life, practice makes perfect. Once again, if you only would like to know your heart rate at any given moment without the record keeping, a less expensive, less options model would work fine for you!
2002 Rollerblade Lightning 09 5-wheel fitness skates
3/10/2004 6:03 PM
Polar A5 Heart Rate Monitor System
2002 K2 Mod GX 5-wheel fitness skates - I like these skates very much! They are nice looking and have what must be the best frames in the industry. They are silver/black/and yellow in color. They have the beefiest frames I have ever seen, with standard 80mm 84a wheels and grade 7 Twin Cam bearings on an 8mm axle. The axles screw into place with confidence, and are made from top grade material. The footbed feels very nice. Once tied, the laces stay knotted without a problem, and there is a power strap to hold the heel firmly in the pocket. These skates use what K2 calls Fit Logix and has no removeable liners. They are soft-boot construction and just a bit heavier than the Rollerblade Lightning 09's. One very poor part of the design is the top ratchet assembly. It is made with a 45 degree angled track for the pivot allowing it to slip very badly when trying to tighten the strap, tearing up the strap in the process. K2 needs to fix the pivot in place, and not use the 45 degree track as it is now! For this reason, I chose not to buy the skates and returned them, otherwise I loved them!
