Disclaimer: This post was created in partnership with EPSON to review their ProSense 307 watch. All the views expressed here are my own.

I’ve never been much of a gadget person. I like paper calendars and hand-written training logs. I like simplicity and familiarity, even if it takes longer or is less convenient. For many, many years I never had a GPS watch I simply used a stopwatch on my run to figure out the overall time and then mapped my run later to figure out my average pace.

Over the years I’ve had several different watches, I moved on from my Timex Ironman stopwatch to the Garmin 10 (the simplest Garmin available), then my husband even bought me an Apple watch and I tried for a while to figure it out, but it just wasn’t me. I could never maximize all the features (it sounds silly, but it was overwhelming to me) and only used it to tell me the time. Now it sits in a drawer unused. This past year I graduated to my first GPS watch with a lot of features, the SUUNTO Ambit 3 Run. It worked well for me, but the set-up wasn’t super easy and I still haven’t figured out how to sync the watch to the app on my phone or change up the displays so I can see different statistics while I’m running.

In October, EPSON offered to send over their new ProSense 307 watch. I’ve always thought of EPSON as a printer company, so the idea of them making a running watch seemed a little funny. But it turns out that EPSON is part of the Seiko group, well known manufacturer of timepieces. Since my experience with GPS watches is pretty limited I wanted to give this one a shot and see how it measured up in comparison to the watches I’ve had in the past.

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Overall Impressions

My initial impression of the watch was that it was really lightweight. The watch face isn’t nearly as bulky as other GPS watches and the silicone band has perforated spots for breathability. As with most watches there was a quick setup guide accompanying the watch and the other manuals, at a glance it seemed simple. I selected the blue watch band, which wasn’t quite as vibrant a blue as pictured on the website but was a nice departure from your standard black.

Set up

I plugged the watch into charge as directed, while read the quick setup guide more thoroughly. While waiting for it to charge I downloaded the Epson View App on my phone so that I could sync the watch to my phone when it was time.

The watch charged quickly and once it was charged I followed the quick set-up steps to set up the features and sync the watch to the app. It was all incredibly intuitive and easy.

I played around with the features for a while on the app, figuring out how to change the display and customizing the settings, I even figured out how to program workouts! I was so impressed with the ease of use, on their website EPSON talks about a “fiddle-free” experience and if that was their goal in designing the watch, they have definitely achieved that!

Fit

Because of the wrist-based heart rate monitor the watch has to fit snug to wrist. Typically I like to wear my watch a little looser on the wrist, so wearing it a little tighter has taken some getting used to. But the soft silicone band if you want is comfortable and has incremental adjustments that make finding a good fit easy.

On the Run

Prior to the first run I did the suggested GPS calibration that the instructions recommended prior to my first run. And since then the GPS picks up pretty quickly each time. For my first run I did a loop that I’ve done in the past and the mileage and elevation data was almost exactly the same as previous runs. The watch seemed very accurate.

I appreciate that the display automatically illuminates when you turn your wrist to view your watch, there’s no need to hit a light button (accidentally hitting the lap button, as I have done on other watches in search for that light button).

If you have the auto lap set up, the watch will chime and vibrate at each mile mark (you can change these features in the settings on the app). It is also easy to start and stop mid-run if needed.

Features

One of the primary features of the watch is its long battery life, up to 20 hours using all the functions and up to 30 days in watch mode. The watch also has wrist-based heart rate monitoring which allows it to estimate your VO2Max and help you train within heart rate zones, if that is something you track.

I really appreciate all the extra data as well like cadence, stride length, VO2Max and race time estimates. The EPSON Prosense 307 is a multisport watch and is also waterproof.

While I haven’t yet synced music or text notifications, the watch is capable of getting smartphone notifications and controlling your music. At $250 it is priced competitively for all the features it has.

Data Analysis

The app gives you so much data, easily accessible on your phone with no need to plug the watch into your computer. When I arrived home from my first run with the watch the data had already transferred from the watch to the Epson View App on my phone and I was able to analyze different data from the run, including pace, elevation change, cadence, stride length, heart rate and calories burned. You can easily compare data by selecting or deselecting different categories. There’s also a map view of your run and the dashboard is very intuitive something I haven’t found to be true for other watch apps I have used.

In the app you can also change the settings on the watch, manipulating the display, programming workouts and see a summary of daily activities and your workout history.

Final Thoughts

I actually LOVE this watch. I didn’t think I would, I thought it would just be another GPS watch that I used to track pace and overall time. I’ve actually started to maximize all the features of the EPSON ProSense and am using the watch to its full potential-something I haven’t done before. I’m interested to see how well the watch holds up after a few years of repeated use. In the past the battery on some of my other watches has dwindled to the point where I’ve had to replace the entire watch. But given my experience so far, I think that this watch will hold up.

What features do you value in a watch? Are you a data person or a run by feel person?

-Sarah

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EPSON ProSense 307 Watch Review