Please bear in mind that I am a self confessed technoblonde. Are you bearing?

Then I'll begin. I was so excited about trying out this product. My ex had raved about it (he's a marine and runs hill marathons for fun with a pack on his back) so I thought I would love it. I am currently training for my first half marathon and need all the motivational help I can get. I figured that having something to check whilst I was running to let me know how far I had gone would be fantastic. I had heard about being able to upload the data and check gradients of different sectors of each run to see if my pace varied wildly... can you tell where I'm going with this?

Yup, disappointed. Big time. I hope it's because I'm a techno-dumbass and a bit of a man about reading the instructions beyond the 'quick guide' but I just couldn't get it to do what I wanted at all. Eventually, I called Garmin and asked for help. The guy on the end of the phone kindly explained how to do a reset and start again, and I duly set off to run home from work. For the first time in the entire month I had it for testing, it found satellites, so I thought I was going to be delighted. What happened during the run is a bit of a mystery though. I know from Google maps that my route home is 3.2 miles, and I know I left at 7pm and arrived home at 7.40pm. (Yes, I do run at just over walking pace, but it still counts, just ask my cellulite!) The Garmin tells me I was running for 30 minutes and covered just over 2 miles. Would that motivate you?!

Having fiddled with it, I think the problem is that I inadvertently paused it by ooooh twitching my wrist, or moving my hand, or trying to wipe the rain off the screen so I could see how far I had gone... and yes, that is another thing. Sorry, here comes a rant. I want the sodding thing to tell me how long I've been training, and how far I've gone. That's it. What does it insist on telling me? That I am behind by however many minutes, or whatever distance, and doesn't tell me how far I have actually run, or in what time.  Yes, it drives me potty. I wanted to love it so much and I really, really didn't.

My main gripes then - trying to get it to display just what I wanted seemed almost impossible. The screen does exist, but it seems to be luck of the draw or standing on your left leg while waving your right arm that gets it there.

Second, the uber sensitivity of the bezel and buttons when you are not trying to touch anything - hence the random pausing - and utterly frustrating lack of response when you do want something.

Thirdly, the satellites function, which I thought would be cool to try out in the Southern Hemisphere while I was away too, but only seem to work in London after a full reset.

Fourthly, it wouldn't let me start a new run.  I would stop it, press reset, hold reset etc and all it would do was give me 'Lap 3' and then add the distance onto the previous run and restart the same timer.

Finally, the size - bearing in mind that I wear a man's watch anyway and am 5'10" - it's huge.  Maybe this has something to do with the 'move your hand and it'll think you've given it a command' issue, but this device is bulky for a watch. I don't think they've really taken women and our dinky wrists into account in the design.

I stress again that I am a technoblonde and am prepared to be told I have been doing it wrong. The thing is, how complicated can it need to be?  So, would I recommend it?  Only if you run a lot and either are a gadget geek, or live with one. I think this thing needs a hands on demonstration to make sense of it, and the instructions aren't clear enough.

RRP: £249.99. Available from Amazon and a variety of online and high street retailers

See www.garmin.com for full details