BOOOO HISSSS: Timex - Ironman 150-Lap Tap Watch

Looking back at the posts I've made, I realize I haven't taken much time to write product reviews or really been that opinionated at all on gear, etc.  I know I chatted about RunKeeper at one point in time, and get mad when race shirts are too small... but that might have been it.  I also don't like bashing things too much, because so much of someones preference comes down to personal taste and at heart I like to look on the positive side of almost anything.

My Timex Ironman Sleek 150-Lap Watch, however, has forced me to take a stand.  It should seem a simple thing, I would imagine, to make a watch for a runner/athlete who would (1) want to know what time it is and (2) maybe time a few things, taking splits while doing so.

The Times Ironman Sleek 150-Lap Watch does all those things, and even has a few extra little features that I find handy.  The memory itself on the watch is nice as it allows me to, for example, time my 50y laps in the pool, then later in the day recall the whole workout in case I find the enthusiasm to log the workout.  And if I wanted to log a handful of workouts, then those would be there too... going back quite a ways, actually.

It offers a 'tap' lap feature where you can basically give the face of the watch a tap whack with your finger which acts the same as hitting the lap button.  It has, I believe, three settings: light, medium and hard.  The settings control how much pressure you need when hitting the face of the watch for it to register a split.  Unfortunately, at least two or three times during my swims (really the only time I actually time myself and take lap splits) the watch will register a lap split when I didn't intend to get a split.  I don't know if that's a result of my wrist flexing and bumping the actual lap/split button, or whether it's registering a 'tap' on the face of the watch somehow.  Either way, I used to use the 'tap', then set it to the 'hard' setting because of all the false splits, then stopped using the 'tap' feature but rather just hit the button because too many of my taps wouldn't register with the 'hard' setting.  I've just come to accept that every so often I'll have a few extra splits included in my workout, and will have to add two of them up to get the real value.  Annoying, but not really that big a deal.

What IS a big deal is this:

 

You see, Timex designed this watch with a non-replaceable band.  I got this watch as a father's day gift in 2011, so it's barely coming up on a year and a half in age.  And, I'm guessing, in a matter of months if not weeks it's going to be useless because the last few strands of the band and going to split.  How dumb can a company be to make a watch specifically designed and marketed to athletes who run, sweat, and expose the product to chlorine, etc in the pool and NOT make sure the band will hold up for longer than a year and a half.  If the watch was sold for $20 or so, I wouldn't be able to complain as it would fall under 'you get what you pay for', but at the time last year this watch retailed for a bit less than $100.  What a waste.  And to think that the fact that the watch band was integrated into the watch was a positive marketing point.  I'm sorry, Timex, but what a piece of junk.  You should be ashamed of yourself.