Wow. I haven’t seen or heard as much hype about a new running watch in a long time. The Garmin Forerunner 620 is one of the latest and greatest GPS watches on the market. As the “big brother” to the Garmin FR220, it has more features, its more accurate, and has greater capabilities to improve your personal goals. I’ve only had a day to look at it, but here is my Garmin 620 review. Click here to buy one now.
Garmin Forerunner 620 GPS Watch: Design
The FR620 was built to be both comfortable and functional. The large, color, high resolution screen makes it easy to track progress without having to slow down or stop mid-run.
One great thing this huge screen will help is when you check your VO2 max. Yes- this watch actually calculates your VO2 max for you. Of course, that’s in addition to the heart rate, distance, cadence, length of time, and other things it can display for you.
Like most GPS watches, the standard color is a sleek black, but you can choose another color if you’re picky. A few other colors are available.
Because Garmin knows that we runners like to change things on the fly, they let you easily switch between displays while you’re out running. No need to just keep looking at what you setup before you ran out the door.
Garmin Forerunner 620 GPS Watch: Usability
As I mentioned in my review of the FR220, I highly recommend using this watch as your primary training tool for a while. Explore all of the cool features (which we’ll discuss later), figure out where you need some improvement, and become a better athlete.
I say that because you’re really able to use this watch for a lot of different things. For example, it connects automatically to Garmin Connect, which is a nice online training tool. It tracks your previous runs, offers training plans, and has a few other nice features for the serious runner.
The FR620 is able to track your running distance- not bad when you’re testing a new route for the first time. Plus if you decide to take a longer (or shorter) run than you’d originally planned, you don’t have to worry about measuring the route later on your computer. Instead, your watch does it all for you.
Also- do you ever skip your recovery? I know that a lot of runners do, simply because they feel like it’s the least important part of their training.
Well, here’s the thing- it’s actually extremely important, and the FR620 will emphasize that. In fact, it has a recovery advisor which calculates what kind of recovery you should do based on your workout.
Finally- try using this watch as somewhat of a running coach. A good coach tells you what to do, how to do it, and provides encouragement, right? Well this watch will calculate your speed, so you know if you should slow down or speed up. It tells you your cadence, which should help you figure out if your stride is long enough or too long. And the social media sharing capability lets friends encourage you while you’re mid-run, which is always a nice little boost.
Garmin Forerunner 620 GPS Watch: Features
The Garmin FR620 has a ridiculous number of features. I’ll cover them as much as I can, but I’ll probably miss a few just because there’s so much to cover.
First off, the basics. As you’d expect, this watch measures your distance traveled and speed. Just about every GPS watch on the planet offers these, but that’s because they’re the essentials.
The built-in accelerometer comes into play when you’re running indoors. Even though a treadmill tracks distance traveled, it doesn’t hurt to double-check it against your watch. Plus, anytime you run through a tunnel, on an indoor track, or anywhere else that satellites can’t find you, the accelerometer’s got you covered.
You can bundle this model with or without a heart rate monitor. Generally it’s a good idea to have one, especially if you’re just getting back into running. Keep track of your heart rate to make sure you are getting a good workout without over-doing it.
Another very cool feature is that this watch can connect with an HRM-Run monitor. This is really when this watch starts to shine, because it can calculate your ground contact time, vertical oscillation, cadence/pace, and more.
In fact- the FR620 is the first watch that can help you improve your form by giving you these types of metrics. For example, if your vertical oscillation is higher than that of other runners, you know that you’re pushing yourself into the air too much. Likewise, if your ground contact is high or low, think about how you can change your form to optimize this number.
As mentioned earlier, this watch can “talk” to Garmin Connect. That way you can easily track your progress, follow training plans, and just be a part of a cool community of athletes.
Social media sharing is really nice if you have a few friends who are also competitive athletes. But even if you don’t, you’ll always smile when someone “Likes” your Facebook status saying that you’re out for a run.
Finally, this watch has Wi-Fi capabilities for faster upload/download speeds.
Garmin Forerunner 620 GPS Watch: Reviews
This watch is still very new to the market, so there aren’t many reviews out there just yet. As time goes on, I might update this section based on what customers are saying about the watch.
From what I can tell, a lot of big-time runners are excited about this watch. The fact that it can provide metrics to help you improve your form is super cool (if I do say so myself).
Summary
The Garmin Forerunner 620 is definitely going to be the go-to watch for serious runners for a while. Even though it costs over $400, that’s more than worth it to those runners who live, breathe, and sleep to run.
Right now on Amazon.com, there are only a few of these watches left in their inventory. I’m sure they’ll get more shortly, but if this watch sounds like its right up your alley, definitely order ASAP before they’re all gone.
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