Garmin Forerunner 620 - White/Orange

I bought the Garmin 620 to replace my 405. I liked the description of the VO2 max estimator, the recovery predictor and the live link which can be seen in real time by friends, family and who ever else you send an invitation to. I also purchased the new heart rate monitor that is an upgrade from my 405 to calculate the running dynamic stats that are displayed in my Garmin account online.One thing to keep in mind is the pairing of the device and your smartphone. In my case I have an iPhone 4 and mobile phone pairing is only possible with the 4s and above. My wife has a 4s so I could use her phone to live link, so I made a plan around that constraint, but I don't know what I would have done otherwise and I guess it depends how important the live link is to you.So onto my impressions of the 620. It is definitely lighter than my 405. Structurally the body feels solid and from other reviews it is true that the screen seems to depress to a degree that would make it feel flimsy. But other than the feel aspect it functions nicely and when I get water or sweat on the screen it doesn't go berserk like my 405 did on some occasions. The backlight now is a dedicated button on the top left instead of the two finger push. The screen menus are similar to the 405 and don't require a significant amount of time to get used to. Pairing the phone (Bluetooth) for live link was easy once I had downloaded the app. My wife was able to monitor where I was during a 1 mile test run with live link (note you have to have the phone with you during the run for live link to work). Setting up wireless was also easy but that is done over the cable and the upload of the workout worked effortlessly. For an engineer like myself once the workout was uploaded it was a minefield of data that would tickle any data geeks fancy. I am now learning what most of it means and I know the most accurate measure of VO2 is the Douglas bag analysis, but it is good enough for my purposes now. I will say the display is not as vivid as the website would lead you to believe and by comparison my 405 appears to be easier to read. The colors are not great but you can tell they are there. Nothing like the vibrant colors seen on the website. But personally I am concerned about the quality of the color more about the functionality. Wearing the watch is comfortable and the strap doesn't pinch or irritate.Overall I am very pleased with my purchase and I think Garmin continues to roll out quality products. I would definitely recommend this watch to my friends and family. It is expensive and if the running dynamics are not important to you then you might want to consider the 220. This is an awesome product!

If you want track running dynamics (cadence, vertical oscillation, and ground contact time) then this is the watch to get. Otherwise save your money and get a Garmin Forerunner 220.I love this watch! This watch doesn't have a beautiful display like an iPhone, but it works. I don't have any issues with the display or the touchscreen. Garmin is using a resistive touchscreen which is different than the capacitive touchscreen used on modern day smartphones. Again, this hasn't been an issue for me. I use the watch for tracking runs. I don't use the watch for reading text messages, browsing the web, or watching videos. This is a utility item first and foremost.I run four days a week for approximately 3.5 to 4 hours. I used up 53% battery life in my first week of use. This watch may not have the best color display and/or touchscreen experience but I don't have to charge it very often either. This is a huge bonus for me.The bluetooth connectivity works as expected. You have to open the app and unlock the watch before activities upload, but I don't find that to be an issue.I use the watch to upload activities to Strava, RunKeeper, and MapMyFitness as well. Strava is the only site that doesn't like the Forerunner 620. I have to manually select the .fit file for upload. The other services recognize the watch and upload the activity through the Garmin Communicator plugin. However, Strava displays the cadence information. RunKeeper does not.Alerts are another area where the Garmin shines. I have used the pace, heart rate, cadence alerts recently. The pace and cadence alerts allowed me to stay on target for a recent race. The heart rate alerts helped me pace out a slow and long run. The alerts are easy to setup and very helpful. If you trigger an alert the watch will vibrate to get your attention. This will occur every few seconds until you are back in compliance with the threshold.

It appears that Garmin has corrected the flaws in the 610 watch which was a very good watch. Uploading data to Garmin Connect is seamless, they have changed the pins from the 610 pins that occasionally came out, it is much easier to scroll through the menus, and the watch is lighter and slightly more compact. With the new heart rate monitor, more data is collected for you to analyze.The 610 watch was a good watch, but so far the 620 is excellent. I don't know if the improvements justify the cost of a new watch, but to me it is worth it.

As many have stated, there are serious issues with charging the device. I really loved this product until after my 5th run. At that point, it stopped charging and I haven't been able to get it back on to preform the reset solution others have posted. I have tried charging with my computer, and a wall outlet with no luck.

First of all, I did not rate the unit (Is it a GPS, a watch, a Heart Rate Monitor, a running computer?) as five (5) because this Forerunner has lost some broader functions previous units have such as the capability to combine cycling and running in one unit, replaced by deeper running features such as the VOmax, step lenght, etc... Besides that, this would be a five.I am the proud owner of so many Garmin GPS for more than a decade ago, Started with the basic GPS for navigation only (GPS III+) all the way through a GPS V, a 60CSx, a Nuvi, a Forerunner 410 and now this Forerunner 620, so I now what type of information you can pull out of these type of devices and particularly this one is very impressive. The speed capturing the GPS signal is fast, very fast, the configuration is easy and the interface with the user and the Garmin Connect site is very amicable. What else can you ask for?One last comment, I have had some troubles with the battery in my Forerunner 410, this is exactly what led me to buy this new unit so I hope this issue was resolved. It is sad to have your "running computer" down in the midst of a training session for marathon.