A friend is thinking of getting her son a GPS/footpod watch to measure distance. Her thinking is that it will give the 8th grader a little more motivation to build mileage up to 20+ per week.
What's the least you can pay to get a distance measuring watch. I have the Garmin FR60 at $115 off Amazon. It does everything he needs... distance, time, splits, heart rate, but it has a really cheap band that a teenager would break in a couple of months. Heck, the kid has to be reminded to tie his shoes rather than just pulling them on. Any other suggestions?