Friday, June 3, 2011

Garmin 610 Review: The Sequel

Just got an email today that my new Garmin 610 that originally wasn't going to be available until June 22nd was overnighted to my location yesterday and will be delivered today. So, I would say that was a full 180 degree turn in Garmin support.

So I would like to thank Garmin for the quick turnaround.

OK, so if I get the watch today I will start the new review on Saturday. I'll take lots of pretty pictures and/or video of the unboxing, etc. And it helps that I am already familiar with the watch and what it comes with.


Here the review plan and what I plan to (re-)review:

  1. Packaging
  2. Initial setup
  3. Look feel as a watch (not as a GPS running device. I would never strap on the Garmin 305 as a watch).
  4. Setting up the basic running parameters I normally use:
    1. Auto lapping
    2. HR alerts
    3. Training pages
    4. Auto scrolling
  5. Going out on a basic typical run. Comparison with 305.
    1. First run I will use the 610 HR strap. I will do nothing special with either watch (This means I will not clear the Timer Started/Lap screens when they pop-up. This is to see if the GPS accuracy issue pops-up again. All of these runs will be with 1sec recording.
    2. Second run. If the GPS accuracy issue pops-up again, I will first try the clear the Timer Started screen one I start the watch.
    3. If I see an auto-lap GPS accuracy issue I will do a third run clearing both the Timer Started screen and the Lap screen
    4. I will test 1-3 with Smart Recording.
    5. I will test the 610 with the 305 HR strap.
  6. Uploading to Garmin Connect and to 3rd party log site (http://www.runningahead.com) using ANT+ connection
    1. Quickness to Garmin Connect
    2. Any uploading problems, error that occur.
  7. Miscellaneous
    1. Charging
    2. Battery Life
Right now I am doing basic HADD training (lowish HR training). I really will not be doing any runs that make use of workouts, intervals, Virtual Pacer or Virtual Racer. I do have a 5 mile race on June 13th. Maybe I'll use the Virtual guy for that.

Don't know if anyone else is reading this, but if you have any other suggestions please leave a comment.
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2 comments:

  1. ofp1June 3, 2011 at 1:35 PM

    Hello, I am really interested in your review, just waiting for your tests in order to buy one for me, actually I have the Polar RS 800 SD and I will like to begin using GPS assisted runs.

    Thanks

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  2. Running 201June 27, 2011 at 10:02 AM

    ofp1 - They came out with a fix for the watch in their latest firmware v2.30. I had my first run with it yesterday morning and this evening I will run a USATF certified 5k with it. Yesterday's run seemed promising with regards to the GPS problems. I had no GPS accuracy/pace problems. Course was about 0.02 short, but that is still with error.

    There have been other problems with the watch that I haven't encountered also, such as the watch band falling off, display problems, watch locking.

    The new firmware v2.30 also has a bug that renders custom workouts upload to watch (like from Garmin Training Center) as useless. I'm sure this will be fixed in v2.04

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