I love running long distances, and tracking my time is really important to me, so that I can figure out how far I’ve gone, what my progress is, and I can also call for help if I need to. That’s why I carry my phone.

But, I also hate carrying my phone – it means strapping on an armband, and being at the whim of everyone that wants to bother me during my run. In fact, I’d love to leave my phone at home, so that I can really take a break and just enjoy my run – and that’s exactly what Timex had in mind when they created the new Timex Ironman One GPS+ Smartwatch.

No Phone Needed

The absolutely perfect thing about the Ironman One GPS+ Smartwatch is that this watch doesn’t require any kind of smartphone.

But you can do all of these things:

You can listen to music
You can track your location
You can get emails
You can get texts
You can push an app to call an emergency crew if you fall or twist your ankle
You can track distance, speed, and pace
You can pair it with Runkeeper, MapMyFitness, and Strava

This watch is also water-resistant up to 50 meters. So, yeah, it does everything that other smartphone pairing bands can do, but you don’t need a smartphone – you don’t even have to have your phone anywhere in sight. Sadly, you will need some kind of data service.

The AT&T Data Offer

AT&T is offering new users one year of free data service for the Timex Ironman One GPS+ Smartwatch. After that, you’ll have to find a data service that you can live with, and that’s the one downfall of this watch, but it’s also the only way that you can use the watch, so it’s kind of a toss-up.

The other thing that I like about this watch is that it comes with a Mirasol display. If you’re not familiar with this type of display, what you should know is that it actually looks better when you’re viewing the screen in bright sunlight. This is important, since a lot of running bands and watches include squint-inducing displays (and there’s nothing more annoying when you’re trying to concentrate on running).

Not Available Yet

You can pre-order the Timex Ironman One GPS+ Smartwatch from the Timex website. The watch won’t start shipping until November (right in time for those fall runs!), but you can pre-order now. The thing is, though, that September always brings with it a slew of other devices geared towards sports enthusiasts, and November is chalk-full of companies trying to grab a holiday heart spot, so you may want to wait it out and see what else pops up in the way of fitness watches.

That said, I really love what Timex is promising with the Timex Ironman One GPS+ Smartwatch, and it’s hard to ignore the fact that this watch doesn’t need a phone to work – a definite bonus in my book. The watch will retail for around $400.