Finis Hydro Tracker GPS

I ordered the Finis Hydro Tracker GPS on April 17, 2012.  It arrived and I started setting it up.  Unfortunately there was some issue with the dock and the device was not maintaining a bridge to my PC.  After some back and forth with the Finis support team, I was issued an RMA.  I sent the unit back and after waiting quite a while, I got a follow up saying there was a delay in receiving new units at the warehouse.  I finally did receive my replacement unit on June 6, 2012.

Upon setting it up, I noticed a change to the doc design.  Rather than a separate USB cable and cradle, the cradle has a hardwired connection to a standard USB port.  Everything else was as I expected and the unit even came fully charged.

I set out for my first run and immediately understood some of the concerns that I have seen on forums.  The LED indicator lights are difficult to read in bright sunshine.  However there is not much to the operation.  Hold the power button on for 3 seconds and verify the green LED is on.  Then verify that the antenna light changes from amber to green.  Then hit the play/pause button and start moving.

I did have a few issues with the streamline bridge.  Of the two computers I have access to, it only works on one.  I have a ticket open with Finis support to understand this.

The results look really good and have all the information I need.  The following images show the Hydro Tracker GPS results and the Garmin 305 results from the streamline dashboard and garmin training center respectively.  The results correlated well (3.37 miles vs. 3.35 miles) and I am looking forward to giving the Hydro Tracker a try in the open water.  Click for larger images.