Garmin Forerunner 610

It is almost hard to say enough good things about the new Garmin Forerunner 610. It is a GPS watch with heart rate monitor and the first ever with touch screen navigation capabilities.

Embrace The New Garmin Forerunner 610

Garmin has always been the leader in integrated GPS watch technology but this latest top-of-the-line running and cycling watch has added numerous upgrades in the heart rate area as well. For instance, there is a new training load factor that considers your cumulative training and the state of your body to help you adjust your training.

In our initial testing the biggest single improvement was not related to what this watch measures but how it displays it. The vertical arrangement of lines separating the metrics makes them so much easier to read than ever before. It is an odd little discovery that has made a world of difference when it comes to ease of use.

What does the Garmin Forerunner 610 lack?

Two things really: 1.) It does not have enough battery life to go beyond 7 hours in once session, so it is not an ultra-marathon or long course triathlon watch, and 2.) it does not display power output on the bike like the Garmin 310XT does. This means that the Garmin 310XT gets to keep its title as the triathlon and ultra watch.

Out of the Box

Pulling the Garmin 610 out of the box it is noticeable that several things have changed from previous versions. First, the watch has a much more slender profile and the backing is made of a much more anatomical shape making this the best fitting Garmin ever in our opinion. Gone are the wing extensions that made the 405 and 410 a much more difficult fit. Gone is the need to have a second Velcro strap to create the right fit for larger and smaller wrists. This watch has corrected Garmin’s “fit problems”.

The new battery charging cable is curved and snaps on to the back of the watch. A word of caution: Snap the charger onto the watch before plugging in or you can get shocked. It is a bit different than the old claw clip.
to move your data on to your favorite training software. One of the really nice things about all Garmin fitness products is their Mac compatibility. Polar has Mac compatibility on its new RCX5 watch and Suunto is still struggling to become Mac compatible, so Garmin is the obvious choice in fitness watches for Mac users.

Our unit must have been partially charged because it was charged in a few minutes fresh out of the box, but, somewhere between one hour and 90 minutes is a good bet when the battery is low.

Training Videos That Help

Don’t forget to watch the great training videos done by Jake at Garmin. You can watch those videos here. Garmin and Polar both offer training video resources which are very helpful for getting up to speed on your new purchase.

The big advantage for touch screen is just how fast it allows you to navigate. This technology is so much faster than buttons that you may never go back to a traditional watch again. Forgetting about bezel, or button based, navigation is real easy once you’ve used the 610.

It also takes a very deliberate push of the screen icons to get them to change. This is a good thing because it means that unintentional screen brushes and bumps will not change anything. This is precisely why there is no locking feature required with this watch.

The Fit of Garmin Forerunner 610

This watch truly has the most slender profile of any GPS watch ever made. From base to top the 610 measured 1.4 centimeters while the Garmin 410 measured 1.6 centimeters. The 610 is modestly heavier at 3 ounces, compared with 2.5 ounces for the 410.

 

The weight difference is likely attributable to the steel cased backside of the 610 which should add greater durability to this watch over the 410. This watch just has that solid feel to it from the moment you put it on and not like it came out of a Chinese cost-cutting production line.

The Forerunner 405 and 410 both had rigid wings protruding outward as part of the band structure. This was problematic because the watches only fit one size of wrist well while small wrists had side gaps and large wrists had a watch that hovered above the wrist. This is why Garmin had Velcro bands, along with the ease of removal.

The 610 no longer contains these rigid wings and would fit small wrists, like my wife Elaine who is only 5 ½ inches circumference. That is a photo of her wrist below with the 610 attached and we did not notice the gaps that she had with the 410 or 405. Hurray, gaps are gone.

The watch doesn’t look like a behemoth on a petite wrist either, like the Garmin 410 or 310XT can. Granted it does not come in the latest spring colors from Paris, but it doesn’t look abnormal, or out of place, on a woman’s wrist either. The girls can wear this GPS.

What Should We Do Today

People always try to pigeonhole Garmin as just a runner’s watch, but the 610 is equally adept at cycling, inline skating, hiking, skiing and other sports thanks to a cycling mode that displays speed in miles, or kilometers, per hour. This is pretty handy because you can use the cycling mode for just about everything except running and hiking.

Who This Is For, What This Is For

Unless you run ultra-marathons, or are on the trail for over 7 to 8 hours at a crack, then this watch should be fine for your needs. Battery life expires between 7 and 8 hours of use.

This watch is not for swimming and it is not a triathlon watch unless you want to leave it on the bike for a sprint or half-Ironman race. It isn’t suitable for a full Ironman because of battery constraints.

The Garmin 310XT is the watch for swimmers, ultra-runners and long course triathlons.

This watch is suitable for runners, cyclists, mountain bikers, skiers and other outdoor athletes who want great data and mapping in activities that last from 1 to 8 hours in duration.

GPS is not perfectly accurate for altitude because it is not a finely honed barometric altimeter – no watch is. Being off 20 to 100 feet on a big climb is not unusual, being off hundreds of feet is. It is still a nice indicator of the amount of climbing and descending you have done.

We noticed the climbing and descending features with the Garmin Edge 800 but it will drive you crazy if you start and finish at the same point because it never seems that the amount of climbing perfectly corresponds to the amount of descending – such is the case for all GPS measured vertical distance.

Running Test

When it comes to maps and a mapping community, Garmin Connect is awesome software. It is like a Facebook for runners, cyclists and triathlon competitors who want to share routes, times, and more.

There are two types of technology that can give you speed and distance data running:

1. foot pods (also called accelerometers) and
2. GPS. The nice thing about GPS is the fact that it accurately maps, through a process called geo-caching and also maps altitude. For road running this is a key feature.

Ryan Hall used a Forerunner 210 when he did a blistering 2:04 in the Boston Marathon in April of 2011. This is a pure runner’s watch with no ability to shift in to a cycling or other sports, it is purely running all the way and uses a button driven navigation system.

The vibration alert is really helpful running. When you are really into it and focused on your stride, posture, breathing and arm swing, there is not a lot of time to be looking at your watch, which is what makes the vibration alert so useful. If you violate heart rate zones or pacing goals the watch gives you a gentle buzz. This is really useful as your parameters become better defined and for fine tuning your training.

The ability to observe your courses and mountain charts to see precisely how you were doing at the top of a big hill is part of what makes Garmin Connect so useful. Drag the icon to the top of a big hill and freeze it to see your heart rate. Drag it one-quarter mile past the summit to observe your recovery. It is pretty cool stuff.

The new Training Effect feature is also very useful for running because it examines your cumulative training and observes your recovery to help analyze and adjust your training. It takes a week or more in the Training Effect mode for the watch to get to know your body and your training so this feature is not immediately useful.

The fact that you do not have to have all sorts of other sensors like foot pods is nice. The learning curve to the watch, like anything new, will take about a week of use but watching the training videos can really help with the initial set-up.

Pacing goals can be established by using the Virtual Partner or Virtual Racer features. Both functions allow you to compete against a pre-established pace.

Cycling Test

I love watches for cycling. Especially mountain biking where the constant jarring can dislodge most bike computer mounts. A watch strapped around a handlebar mount is not going anywhere, even if you and the bike become separated.

Cycling watches give you a true duality of purpose in that they act as more than just a bike computer, they can serve as a daily heart rate monitor and wrist watch too, so it eliminates the need to own multiple devices.

The 610 syncs up with a cadence sensor and can display your speed in miles, or kilometers, per hour. It does lack the ability to pick up power meters like the 310XT, so for hard core triathlon competitors and road cyclists that train based upon power this watch is not a good solution.

If you would like heart rate data, speed, distance, mapping, cadence and elevations then the 610 could make a good cycling companion. It might not fit the bill for serious road bikers but it is great for the semi-serious road cyclists and mountain bikers of all levels.

Unlike the Garmin Edge 800, which measures inclination, or percentage grade, the 610 does not possess this feature.

Summary

We feel that the Garmin 610 is the most innovative new watch product for runners for 2011 and that it also makes a good cycling watch. Swimmers and triathlon competitors will have to look elsewhere and ultra-marathon participants need to consider the Garmin 310XT for its battery life.

Initial buyer comments have been generally quite good, however one small female noted that the watch just was not a good fit for her and that it felt heavy (it is 3 ounces).

The touch screen navigation requires a little learning but the way this watch displays metrics and data is among the best we have found.

Source:
Rusty Squire
Heart Rate Monitor Blogger

Share on Facebook