If you want to supercharge your performance in 2009 one of the best investments is a sports watch that will show how hard - if at all - that you’re working. But with so many on offer which one to choose? Here’s Rachael Woolston’s guide to finding the right one to suit you.

Best for…the serious competitor

Garmin 405 Forerunner, £229.99 (pictured right)

From the minute you open the box, the Garmin is a joy to use. It’s easy to set up and has everything you could possibly want from a training watch. It calculates speed, distance, heart rate, location and even the amount of calories burned.

The GPS picks up satellite reception everywhere we tried - in the city and the middle of the South Downs, so you don’t end up standing there for five minutes waving your arm around trying to get a signal.

Our only gripes are the touch sensitive bevel that is used to switch functions and scroll options, which at various times was either too sensitive or not sensitive enough. That and the heart rate strap which seemed quite big and often slipped slightly although it never affected heart rate reading.

But the fact that the watch synchs wirelessly with your computer to download training records and has a virtual partner to help push you makes you overlook these minor weaknesses. To us, this is the Rolls Royce of sports watches.

Best feature: It has everything you could want.
Worst feature: Touch sensitive bevel.
Click here to buy. Also avialble in black.
For more information visit www.garmin.com

Best for …overall value

Sigma Oynx Pro, £99.95 (pictured above left)

Whether you’re starting to think about entering races, or you’re a seasoned competitor this is a great bit of kit. It’s easy to set up and has both pre-set and individually programmable interval and endurance training programmes.

For the novice, this makes it a little bit like having a personal trainer strapped to your wrist and will help transform your performance. The programmes are set so that if you go above or below the target heart rate, the watch will beep to let you know. And for marathon runners, it even has a programme where you can record your results at every kilometer.

The downside of this watch is that it’s difficult to read when you’re training - our tester nearly came off the treadmill while trying to read it and couldn’t remember what the different beep alerts were for. Once you’ve mastered that though, this is a great value watch, which will see you through to a serious competitor level.

Best feature: Pre-set programmes that challenge.
Worst feature: A little difficult to read and only has the memory capacity for seven workouts.
Click here to buy
For more information visit www.habdirect.co.uk

Best for the …entry-level competitor

Cardiosport Graph X Plus, £59.99 (pictured above right)

Whatever make or model, most heart rate monitors are either uncomfortable, or slip while you’re exercising. Which is why Cardiosport has partnered with women’s active wear, Bobbytrap! to incorporate a heart rate band that clips into a sports bra. Genius!

As for the watch itself, this is fantastic and simple to use; it automatically works out your heart rate zones calculated by your age although you can also manually input.

The best thing of all is that this has a colour graph showing what range you’re working in which is perfect as anyone who has tried reading figures on a watch when running will tell you! And it has a button that works like a cruise control on a car, helping to keep you in the right training zone once you’ve reached it by beep alerts if you go over or under.

Best feature: Colour graph display - and clip in bra - and price.
Worst feature: The buttons - you have to press hard to activate.
For more information visit www.cardiosport.com

Best for…. triathlon

Timex Midsize Ironman Bodylink, £184.99 (pictured above left)

If you’re a triathlon competitor and want kit that will help improve your performance then this is a great bet. It does everything from relaying speed and distance, heart rate training zones, cadence, as well as keeping a track of your training so you can see how you’re progressing.

This isn’t an entry-level watch though, and it showed in the fact that it was tricky to set up, with a lot of densely packed guidelines to wade through. Once that’s sorted, this GPS watch will match your progress and remain useful for years to come.

Best feature: Brilliantly fitted heart rate belt and a small watch so it doesn’t slow you down in the water.
Worst feature: Aside from the manual, the unit to measure pace didn’t fit well - it was meant to be fixed to a belt but who runs with a belt on?
Click here to buy
For more information visit www.timex.co.uk

Best for…recreational runners

Nike+Sport Kit, £19 (pictured above right)

If you’re really only getting started with running and are the type of person who needs music to run to, this handy device from Nike could be the answer.

A small device no bigger than a 50pence fits into a specially moulded space in a Nike shoe, with an accompanying sensor that plugs into an IPod Nano. It then tracks your time, distance and pace, displayed on the Ipod screen.

It’s difficult to read while you’re running but you can download onto a Nike site, and track and share your running progress. This doesn’t record your heart rate but if you’re just after something to help you keep up the motivation to run, this is a good starting point.

If you don’t have Nike running shoes small pouches to hold the device can be bought to allow you to use this with other brands of shoe.

Best feature: Easy to use.
Worst feature: It seems cheap, but only if you already have an iPod nano.
Click here to buy
For more information visit www.nikeplus.com

Rachael Woolston, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

Rachael Woolston is a qualified personal trainer. Visit her website www.bodybalancefitness.co.uk for details of virtual or personal training.