If you read my report on the 310 you'll remember that I really didn't like that watch (actually I hated it). Well it seems that Garmin has learned from its mistakes and produced a real gem. The 620 is not only double the model number and 3 times the price of the 310, its 10x better! Here's what I like about it:
- stylish
- very easy to use
- easy to sync
- has very useful information
- is a runner's watch
- is sensibly configurable
OK, it's expensive, but it's worth every penny.
Style: the watch is light and the strap soft, flexible and, well, cool. No lumpy antenna anymore.
Ease of use: the touch screen really works. It's more of a tap than a touch. You rap the glass with your nail. That's easy to do when you're running. The buttons work logically: top left on off, top right start first push, stop second. bottom right, wifi sync. Pressing start or stop brings a big green/red triangle. It's easy to see if it worked. The rest is done through menus. You tap the menu icon to get the menus. Not to be recommended whilst running, but not necessary. Once you stop it asks you to save. You can ignore by pressing start or accept. With that, the run is done. Very easy and logical.
Easy to sync: you can use the usb docking cradle and cable or configure wireless through the express app. Then it will upload through wifi without docking if you press the button. I haven't worked out how to configure multiple wifi's yet but I guess I'll find out. (the supplied guide is in many languages but fairly sparse on info. Download the pdf manual. The updates are checked for automatically. The upload function works without a hitch (a real problem with older Garmin watches).
Useful Information: You scroll through the 4 screens by tapping the screen once. There is also auto scroll but that is confusing.
Standard screens are: distance/time/pace for run; same for lap; heart rate; cadence, stride, vertical oscillation. When you pause, it tells you the drop in heart rate from running to standing. Screens can be configured through settings: number of fields, etc. The VO2 max might be useful, the prediction of race times is wishful thinking at best: their estimated times are way too fast given my poor condition and weight. I think the cadence and head bob amplitude will be useful once I get some experience with it. Gotta keep them feet moving.
Is a runner's watch: this doesn't pretend to be a cyclist, swimmer or general fashion watch. It's for runners. Very well atuned to my needs.
Sensibly configurable: my problem with running watches is that I use them for a while then stop, then start again. Each time I have to read the darn manual again. The 620 works intuitively like you'd expect it to. They just got it right. At last. This one really makes using it a pleasure.
After a 2:15 hour run I was at 64% of battery, so I guess it lasts about 6 or 7 hours in use. Advertised is longer. For a decent ultra it might not last.
Complaints: not really got any yet, and I'm pretty quick to find fault in Garmin. I wish you didn't need a cradle to charge, but I guess standard usb will corrode or not be waterproof. Possibly Garmin could make the charging cradle and cable white with a blue stripe so I could find it in my cable tangle. It suffers from the standard gps problem of going under trees or other obstructions for lengthy periods: I get weird max speeds and I even had very heart rates which were a strap connectivity problem. Unfortunately the Garmin website doesn't allow edited files to be uploaded so I don't know how to get rid of that. It skews the statistics a bit. There, I found something but that's not significant.
UPDATE 2 WEEKS LATER
I've now done 2 races and a few more training runs with the Garmin 620. I am even more pleased than before.
EASE OF OPERATION: The Berlin Firmenlauf took place at 8 pm in pouring rain. The 620 was legible and very easy to operate. Because you tap on the glass to select something, rather than stroking the outside as in my hated 310, and therefore doesn't require finger warmth, it can be operated in the rain or with gloves. Also my nail is more accurate than my fat fingers.
BATTERY LIFE: I have turned off the bluetooth and the wifi. I had it running for over 7 hours during a city tour and still had 30% battery left. So no problems with battery life at all.
UPLOADING: What a dream. You dock the watch (and the cradle is magnetic so it clicks in first time), open Garmin Express on the computer and immediately it uploads and then offers to show it to you in the browser. What a relief, compared to the endless battles with browser compatibility of plug ins and stuck uploads which characterised Garmin before.
I've now used the various stride measurement functions of the 620's heart belt with built in accelerometer, which I would like to describe to you. I have found them most useful. Unfortunately i can't insert pictures into the Amazon review, so please bear with me if my description is slightly inadequate. I'll give the example of the Berlin race which was about 3.2 miles, 5,5 km. I started out relatively slowly and built up speed steadily until I was pushing it at the end. by reading all of the graphs once I had uploaded the run to Garmin Connect, I was able to gain considerable, useful insights into my running habits.
1. Pace and pulse: My pace increases slowly, so does my heart rate
2. Stride frequency: The frequency decreases throughout.
3. Vertical oscillation: My head bobs more as the race progresses
4. Ground contact time: This decreases throughout.
So what does it mean: I start out with a fast shuffle. I must move my feet quickly (higher frequency), my head stays quite level (lower Vert osc), as I am not rolling and pushing off so hard, the foot time is longer on the ground. The implication is that my stride is longer when I run faster. At the end of the race, I am running 20% faster, I am pushing off harder, my head is going up and down more but interestingly the stride frequency is lower. Conclusion: f I kept my stride frequency up at the end, I would run faster at the end with less energy output. I tried that at the Augsburg Half-Marathon today and it worked. So this is a most useful feature as it gives you useful information that you can use to understand how you run and think of changes, try them out and then analyse the result.
The other 3 readouts are:
1. VO2 max: I haven't been using the watch long enough for it to have built up a meaningful prediction for me. It does assume that one is fully fit (which I am not) and with an acceptable bmi (which I haven't). Thus the race predictions for 5, 10, 21 and 42 Km which it gives are flattering, but my pulse monitor would have nothing to measure if I tried to achieve them :)
2. Resting heart rate: When I stop for a breather during a training run, after a minute or so the 620 shows the drop in pulse from running to resting. I guess this shows my fitness.
3. Rest period: after a run, it shows you how long you should rest up until your next run. This is much longer than I normally would do, so I much appreciate the advice.
In summary, I am even more convinced that the 620 is worth it's high price. That there isn't a lot of functionality which I, a runner, don't need is great. It's bringing me real pleasure as well as being useful to boot.
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This Item  Garmin 010-N1128-01 Forerunner 620 Noh, White and Orange (Renewed) |  |  |  | |
| Price | $299.00 | $219.99 | $459.99 | $189.00 |
| Delivery | Get it Aug 13 - 15 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, Aug 7 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, Aug 7 | Get it Aug 12 - 13 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||
| For working out | ||||
| Battery life | ||||
| Sold By | INSPIRE DIGITAL | Beach Camera Same Day Shipping | Certified Brands | INSPIRE DIGITAL |
| display size | 1 inches | 1.04 inches | 32.5 millimeters | 1.04 inches |
| connectivity tech | — | Gps | Bluetooth | GPS |
| supported applications | Pedometer | GPS | GPS | GPS, Fitness Tracker, Heart Rate Monitor, Sleep Monitor, Music Player |
| input interface | touch screen | buttons | touch screen, buttons | buttons |
| wireless standard | — | — | bluetooth | bluetooth |
| water resistance | water resistant | water resistant | waterproof | water resistant |
| gps navigation | Gps enabled | Gps enabled | GPS Enabled | ✓ |
| resolution | — | 480 x 272 | — | 208 x 208 |
| band color | — | Black | Blue | black |
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Pre-owned Certified: Electronics Pre-owned Certified products are inspected, cleaned and (if applicable) repaired to excellent functional standards. By purchasing pre-owned rather than new, customers can extend the life of the product, reduce electronic waste, and reduce the extraction of raw materials. These products are backed by the Amazon Renewed Guarantee. Pre-owned Certified is part of the Climate Pledge Friendly program that helps you discover and shop for more-sustainable products.
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Same Classic Garmin HRM Spikes - UPDATED to 4 Stars
A couple of years back I was using the Forerunner 110 model, and became increasingly frustrated at the inaccurate heart rate spikes. It was always the same: The first 5 minutes of the run would show some crazy HR number, until I guess enough sweat built up to create a sufficient contact to render an accurate reading. For the last 8 months, I've used a Polar HRM and paired it with my iPhone using Endomondo. For $60, I hate a HRM that worked as soon as I put it on, without any spikes!I took a chance on the Garmin 620 because I like a lot of the features, and figured, "Hey, if Polar can make a HRM that picks up the heart beat right away, then surely Garmin has figured it out by now." WRONG! Just got the 620, and my first run was a carbon copy of my experience with the 110. The first 5 minutes had my HR at an absurd 183, until it suddenly started working and showed me in the 140s to 160s for remainder of run (I will attach a photo of the graph separately). (NOTE: See update - Spikes issue seems to be resolved)Other negatives:1) Advertised as a "high-resolution color display." Is this a joke? It's black and white, with some screens that have horribly muted colors.2) Too many divided sections on each display. Very hard to read. Still trying to find a way to create a custom page with a single read out that is larger. Again, will adjuster rating if that feature is available and I just haven't found it.3) Somewhat convoluted and not the best user interface. I do like the ability to tap the screen to switch.There are some things I really like about the 620. If the HRM worked properly, I like how it auto-pairs with the watch. I also notice the 620 quickly finds satellites.I am going to give this a couple of more runs, and some additional research, but unless I can remedy these issues, this is going back.----UPDATE----I have now had about 5 straight workouts without the spikes being an issue. I use conductor gel, which seems to help quite a bit. I still believe the bluetooth HRMs are better, but using gel is not a big deal. Additionally, there are features of this watch that I am finding very useful and impressive. I've done quite a few runs at this point, and really like the information I get from this product. The recovery time feature has been very useful, and is helping me not to OVER train. I also like the recovery check after the first few minutes. But what I found really impressive was when I did my first gym workout yesterday on an elliptical. Personally, I like the elliptical over the treadmill when in the gym, because all the running I do outside is tough enough on the joints. The new accelerometer in the 620 is supposed to eliminate the need for a foot pod on the treadmill, but I could find nothing about whether it worked for an elliptical machine. It does work, and very well I might add! This was really a surprise, but the distance was almost dead on with the machine.As for the display and interface, I stand by my comments that you should not expect what you might think a high-res display to be. I can live with that, but that's why I can't do a full five stars. As for the interface, it's not so bad once you get used to it.Conclusion: I am really coming around to this watch, and I would recommend it.
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Reviewed in Mexico on March 30, 2017Style: Manufacturer RefurbishedColor: White/OrangeProduct Packaging: Standard PackagingVerified Purchase
