Garmin Forerunner 220 - White/Violet

Garmin Forerunner 220 - White/Violet..

Special Price Garmin Forerunner 220 - White/Violet By Garmin

Most helpful customer reviews

103 of 110 people found the following review helpful.
An excellent training tool for the serious runner. Notable improvement from Forerunner 210.
By Jerry
Pros:
- Thinner and lighter than the FR210
- Color display with better resolution
- GPS signal works well, even in midtown Manhattan, where it's densely populated and loaded with skyscrapers (average satellite lock time: 5-6 seconds for me)
- GPS is accurate and reliable. I have yet to experience problems. Will update if this changes.
- Heart rate monitor (bought as a package) and Bluetooth to iPhone work well
- Waterproof so I don't have problems with sweat or wearing it when I shower
- Variety of screens you can choose from to display data during your run
- Can transfer data via Bluetooth to my iPhone app (which is linked to Garmin Connect) or through the cable provided
- Garmin Connect is actually quite useful in detecting patterns in your training, monitoring the physiological responses you have during various types of workouts, and sending training plans to your watch
- Functions and buttons are very intuitive; I spent less than 3 minutes looking at the manual before mastering the watch

Con:
- Wish there were more color combos (like all black)
- GPS takes forever to establish connection with the satellite for the first time (but it is very quick after)
- The Garmin Connect app on the iPhone is a bit glitchy, but tech support said they are already working on updates
- Battery life was very average in this day and age

This watch is probably one of the best I've seen in the market for a while. The $250 (or $300 if you get the heart rate monitor with it) is well worth it if you actually use it/serious about running. This little device will tell you everything you need and want to know about your body and your training. If running is a hobby, then I suggest just using mapmyrun.com and/or just getting a simple wrist watch. The value lies in being able to train on heart rate and logging decently accurate mileage (not accurate enough for tracks) without having to map it out beforehand.

As a competitive runner logging 60 to 80 miles per week, I would recommend this watch to runners who are serious and want to be scientific with their training.

51 of 56 people found the following review helpful.
Great motivator for those that love running data!
By J. Lee
I've had this watch for about 10 days now and I've only gone on 4 runs, each about two miles long.I am loving it so far. My main complaint would probably be all the hubbub that went on with many stores claiming these were in stock and not actually being in stock. But I'm sure many of those inventory problems have all been settled.

Pros:
* Very low profile and works as an everyday watch. Love that I can just always be wearing this and can just press the RUN button a few times and go.
* The band is removable. One of the main reasons I went for this particular watch was that the wrist strap is changeable. I had seen too many people post pictures of their old watches with a tear and having to use duct tape to keep it together. Some people have complained that it feels cheapy but I think it's fine and would last a while. I believe Garmin sells the replacement bands for about $20 or so.
* GPS preloading is great, ready to run within seconds of going outside.
* Indoor treadmill tracking has been pretty accurate. Just turn off the gps and the watch will use the integrated accelorometer to calculate your distance. When you're running with gps, the watch will use the gps data in combination with your arm movements to make calculations when there is no gps.
* So much customization! It was a little overwhelming when I first got the watch but it's pretty intuitive and does not take long to get used to.
* Little bit of color in the screen is nice. You can only pick one theme color at a time but it still looks nice and is customizable.
* Not sure if the cadence is measured by the watch or the HRM monitor, but that's interesting information to have as well. Apparently good runners get around 180 spm.
* I haven't used it yet, but one of the features I liked when I was choosing which watch to purchase was the ability to set RUN/WALK intervals.

Cons:
* The Android Garmin Connect app does not yet work with their newest watches quite yet. Garmin says they will release this soon though.
* I did have one occasion where it took a few tries for the Garmin website to accept a data transfer for one of my runs.

Reading other reviews about previous versions of Garmin watches, this appeared to be the first time that Garmin offered many of the advanced features on their second tier of watches. From my understanding the main difference between this and the 620 is the Virtual Trainer feature, 4 data fields per screen (vs 3 on the 220), the VO2 max measurement, and the recovery advisor. So if you don't care for those 4 features, I would save the $150 and go with the 220 over the 620.

54 of 63 people found the following review helpful.
Great GPS watch ever, worst App
By Wei
Update 2: I am thinking to give it a 4-star because of the frustrating app. So guy who don't have a iphone 4s or up, don't feel sorry, the app doesn't work! 3 out 5 times, the app will self-terminate. And now that I have used the watch for 4,5 workouts, except the first 2 times, I can not transmit my activity to my 4s via bluetooth: both phone and watch tells me they are connected, the data just doesn't appear on the phone. The watch still stands 5-star, but the app... 1 star at best. Come on Garmin, fire the developer, and hire some good one, like...well, me, maybe.

Update: Good battery lift. Today I took it out for a bike ride. Went out with battery fully charged. Total GPS on time is 2h40m. When I plugged it to computer it shows 81% remaining. Seems it should stand for at least 10h battery lift. Also the iPhone app crashes many times, and sometimes it connects to watch but does not download data. No wonder it has only 2 star in review. Hope Garmin can make a better app, it won't cost you too much anyway.

I got it from my local REI store as amazon is out of stock, as a replacement of my Timex run trainer.

It is very light weight, and of small profile, just like a regular watch, maybe even smaller than, like, Casio G-shock. If it is not for the color, I think no one will even notice you are wearing a high-tech GPS watch.

I like its LCD (or LED I don't know) screen. It shows different color which extends the information convey-ness from 2-D into 3-D: some alert could be shown not by words, just by color. The visible angle is wide, you can see the characters very clearly even you see it from almost 180' angle, good feature when you are in motion.

It's ability to locate GPS is incredible. I opened the box right away when I headed out the REI store. For the first use, it takes about 15 second to locate satellite. It can even find and lock on satellite when I was in the middle of the 2nd floor room of a 3 floor building. I don't need to stand out my front door to wait it lock on satellite in a 30-40F cold weather. Just press the button before I put on my shoes and I am all set when I tighten my lace and ready to head out.

There is nothing to mention the accuracy of 2-D location, which is accurate for most watches. But the altitude on this watch is much accurate than that of my previous Timex run trainer, which is one of the reason I switch to Garmin. I compared the elevation data chart with google map for altitude, the error is just 2 3 feet.

The Garmin Connect Mobile is also a fantastic feature, but some favorable feature is needed: I thought the watch could find my paired iphone once I put it within the bluetooth range, but it's not. I need to put the watch into "run" mode and open the Garmin Connect on iphone, then they will automatically connect and transfer data. As I do not bring my phone when running, and already switch the satellite off during my cool down time which means "run" mode is already off when I entered my home, I hope in the future it could search and transfer data to iphone even it is not in "run" mode, just like my bluetooth mouse, I power on my laptop and the mouse is connected automatically.

Another thinking is it'll be better if Garmin allow to connect laptop computer via bluetooth, current it only works with cable if I want to transfer data to computer.

All in all, I think this watch is very good and like it a lot over my previous Timex. As I have used it only 1 times, I don't know the durability and may potentially existing bugs.

By the way, no offence with another reviewers, I don't agree it is for "serious runners" only, anyone who can afford should get one. Running with knowing those kind of data gives your exercise a lot fun, and which is just the motivation for you to keep on going, like beat yourself of last record, show off your progress in front of your friends..:)

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