Tying for first place in my favourite Christmas 2012 presents from the G-Force is my Garmin Forerunner 910XT. The other was my Silva head torch. I had been very happy with my previous model, the Garmin 310XT, but one fateful cycling outing before Christmas saw a puncture, a trapped chain in the derailleur and a lost-and-never-to-be-found Garmin. The latter incident really hurt because a Garmin is an expensive product and I was gutted to find that the gadget had come undone on my handlebars and fallen unnoticed to the ground.

But the Garmin 910XT is a superb sports gadget and an updated version of the 310. How lucky I am to have such a generous partner.

After I opened the gift the G-Force told me that I’d cause him a bit of hassle as I debated which new Garmin would be the best one to replace my old one. My thread on Facebook had lots of opinions from fellow sporty types and when I finally announced I fancied the 910XT he’d already bought a simpler version, which he then kindly returned and replaced with the more complex – and expensive – 910XT.

The 910XT looks sleeker and feels a bit lighter to wear (although when I check comparison weights the 910 and 310 are the same weight!). It does comes with some nifty additional features, however, including various Pool Swimming functions, a Barometric Altimeter and Virtual Racer, Run/Walk Alerts, Training Effect and 5 Bike Profiles instead of 3. I have set the Garmin up for cycling, running and keeping track of time and lengths while I swim. The options allow for three displays at one on the watch, including, for example, heart rate, speed, average speed, distance and time. With an extra gadget, such as a cadence metre for the bike, I could also keep an eye on my revolutions per minute.

Right now, the Garmin Forerunner 910XT is proving invaluable. I am following a training plan for a year of triathlon events and I need to keep track of how well I am doing in each session so I can report back to Coach Vicky. The Garmin offers amazing detail and functions.

I see that MilletSports have 11% and 10% off the Garmin 910XT with and without a heart-rate monitor strap.