Shanghai Running Magazine Shanghai Running Q2 2014. Volume 2 | Page 36

Garmin seems to have found a winner with the 220/620 series of running watches
By Mike Creasy
In November I found myself on a business trip in Chicago...during that same week Garmin released its new
Forerunner 220 and Forerunner 620 running watches:

*Click photo to read more

I had been running with a Garmin
400 series for a number of years....
this was the Garmin with the bezel
that handled most of its functions.
Most runners (including this one)
found the bezel to be extremely
temperamental to say the least as
the watch did not like working in
the rain and you could not use it
with gloves and sometimes it just
decided not to work...most of the
users figured the guy who designed
it had never run in his life. As
someone told me recently “it was
the watch you had to sneak up on
to get it to work”.
Anyway, I had a choice to make
in Chicago. Do I take a chance
on being one of the first to buy a
220 or do I wait to see what people thought of it. My old watch’s
battery was completely shot and
I had the Shanghai Marathon in
early December. So I went ahead
and took the chance. I received
a $40 credit for handing in the
old Garmin so the net price was
around $210 ($250 less the $40).
Shortly after I emailed my running friends in Shanghai about my
new purchase....everyone of them
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thought I was a fool in thinking
that Garmin could get a running
watch right.
Note the 620’s additional features
primarily include a touch screen
for an additional $150
Over the past 3 months I have
really enjoyed this watch. Positive
features include:
•
Weight - the 220 is about
30 grams lighter than my older
watchand it feels more comfortable
to run with.
•
Style - you could easily
wear the 220 as an everyday watch.
•
Bezel is gone - this is probably the best thing about the 220...
the bezel has been replaced with
4 buttons that control all of the
functions. The 4 buttons are very
easy to navigate, so much so that
you really don’t need to review the
instructions to use it.
•
Features - all of what was
good from the previous versions
of the watch was brought over to
the 220 including multiple display
options (e.g. pace, average pace,
distance, and lots more). The display is completely customizable.
© Shanghai Running 2014

•
Vibration - a new feature
is the ability to have the watch
vibrate in certain circumstances
(e.g. when you hit each kilometer
or mile). I actually like this instead
of the watch beeping at me.
•
Battery life - so far it’s very
good...at least 5 times better than
my old watch.
•
GPS is accurate and reliable.
•
GPS connection speed is
extremely fast.Note: A month
after the purchase the GPS was not
consistently working...I thought...
here we go again, after a few runs
sans GPS I called Garmin to see
what the problem is. They determined that the user (that’s me) had
not updated to the watch’s latest
software. I updated the software
and have not had a problem since.
The verdict
Overall I am very pleased with this
watch...it seems that Garmin has
learned from its previous mistakes
and gotten this watch right. I
would highly recommend the 220
or 620 for serious runners or not
so serious runners with $250 to
spend.

The IT Band in Runners
By Nick Sherwood

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