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Garmin Forerunner 620
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My two fastest runs both say I have a footstep of 93cm now I love having that stat... but what use is it to me now?
My cadence for my 10k last night was a lot higher in the last 3k when i concentrated my mind and tried to run more upright. I love the fact that I tried to concentrate on something, and you can see the difference, now is it a good difference, i'm not really 100% sure but it's fun seeing that I can make a difference, that makes me more willing to learn to run differently if it will do me good, as I can see that changes do make a difference.
Does the 620 pair ok with a footpod?
Does the 620 use the footpod for cadence by default when present?
Does the 620 use the footpod for distance by default when present and GPS off?
Apologies if this is already covered somewhere in the mammoth dcrainmaker review...
Ballesteros, the only thing I have checked so far is that yes it pairs successfully with the footpod, and a calibation can be set manually (620 doesn't include the calibration routines that are supported by the 610)
I'll be testing it out with footpod in a few days. I read some comments on DC's review suggesting the footpod overrides gps when both were switched on outdoors for pace and distance - I want to confirm this (this is strange). On the 610 you would only record cadence and see current pace from the footpod when gps is active, all distance / pace recording come from gps. There are one or two comments at the bottom of the review to follow up on.
can i confirm something - is the only way to get HR readouts on the 620 is by using a chest strap? if so is the only way to get Vo2 readouts from the 620 by wearing a chest strap?
The only way to get HR is to wear a chest strap YES.
if the Vo2 results use HR as part of their calculations then YES. I assume they do but am not going to read the manual. ;0
Yes - HR data is used by a Firstbeat Technologies calculation to get VO2 and then Race Time predictions
So far I am so beating my estimated race times
- not convinced yet by this feature. At the moment it is in my gimmick feature list. Maybe a few more runs and it will be more accurate.
If it's accurate for me then i'm a lazy cow, which is probably true and need to get my arse in gear, and run a lot quicker marathon then i have done.
Vo2 is 43 at the moment, but i am going to try to do a heart rate test as my max is slightly based on guesswork. So if it's not accurate then everything else is out,
booktrunk, how are you going to do a heart rate test?
If you are doing a maximal heart rate test then I don't think we would call you a lazy cow
thanks
for some reason i thought the watch got a heart rate from the wrist so no need for a chest strap.
balls, i dont want to wear a chest strap so looks like im back to a 220.
that needs a HRM as well.
not the 220 with out HRM.
i already have a strap for my current garmin but have never worn it so cant see myself doing so now.
i am interested in upgrading for the recovery and v02 but if thats only possible on a 620 & via a chest strap then i wont bother upgrading. i will just have my watch for pace, time and distance and a 220 will cover that.
First impressions very favourable. I like to look at lap pace on the move and it seems a little smoother than the 305. Screen visibility is good - the sun was shining when I set off but it clouded over and I was wearing shades, no problems reading the numbers (although I only have two data fields per screen).
Uploaded very quickly to pooter. Have yet to examine gps trace in Google Earth, will do that later and probably for a route that I know causes the 305 the jitters.
Took a long time to locate the satellites, longer than the 305, but this was my first outing and hopefully the prepopulation will kick in and speed that up in future.
Surprised to get a cadence readout, I thought that was the 620 only.
A little perturbed that a 1-hour run knocked the battery down from 100 per cent to 78 per cent though.
"The FR620 has introduced the ability to get new “Running Dynamics” metrics, which focus primarily on running efficiency areas. These metrics are only available if you have the (also new) HRM-Run heart rate strap. This is the strap that has the little runner symbol on the front of it, and contains an accelerometer in it (it otherwise looks like any previous Garmin HR strap)."
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/11/garmin-forerunner-review.html
https://totriornottotri.wordpress.com
Muttley - Did you wear a footpod? Suprising results on the battery life as I noticed mine went down very little over half an hour. Did you have backlight on? I have to admit it is hard to read sometimes without that on.
https://totriornottotri.wordpress.com
This may well be a stooopid question, however... Why would a 620 need to be paired with a foot pod? Does it not have an accelerometer built into it?
Battery life is "up to 10 hours" in active use, so if you switch off wifi, bluetooth, reduce backlight timeout etc, unpair Ant+ devices (HRM / footpod) ..... , then we should have a 10% drop in battery over an hour (and a big drop in statistics
)
TankDriver - see my earlier post on accuracy of the accelerometer. It depends what you need it for - it was very inaccurate for my interval paces, so I will be sticking with the footpod indoors. Good enough for gps dropouts for me outdoors though
Muttley -- Have you considered doing less running? That way your battery life would be extended and you'd have more time to analyse the statistics you've gathered
Tankdriver - It looks like the accelerometer in the watch is not that accurate. "If the accuracy of the internal accelerometer for pace though isn’t good enough for you, you can always pair any ANT+ enabled footpod to the unit."
AR - I guess 10% is appropriate. Will see this PM.
https://totriornottotri.wordpress.com
Also-ran - thanks for the explanation. I'd definitely be concerned if the footpod was overriding GPS for distance outside despite GPS being enabled. I would also be hoping to see the assisted footpod calibration option retained too. It will be a while before I am able to justify/afford a 620 anyway, so hopefully by then the firmware will have been improved and all the quirks will be well-documented by you early adopters
Good thinking on the battery life. I had the hrm paired although I wasn't using it on this run. No footpod or anything else, backlight was off. Hopefully the battery will become more efficient over time but I guess this is a price we pay for miniaturisation. I would expect though to get more than 5 hours on gps even if 10 hours is a theoretical max.
Two other thoughts: I liked the automatic readout at the end of each lap (1 mile in my case). Lovely and visible. Not particularly bothered about the personal records. A bit cheesy imho.
(Anyone else remember on the 201 how your little virtual man did a moonwalk if you beat the virtual partner?)
Also-ran -- Thanks... I've now read your previous post re accelerometer accuracy... As you say it's a shame its internal calibration can't be overridden as it can with the foot pod (possible on the FR60 anyway).
Toro -- Thanks for that.
Two interesting things from today.
1. When stopped press menu then start to start again. Simple I know but it looks like save/discard is only option. Whilst paused it said Recovery 89bpm [12 bpm]. Anyone seen this or any info on it? I haven't seen this yet.
2. I ran 5 miles then stopped and saved file. It gave a 26hr recovery time. Started new file (after ferry trip) and when I stopped it it still gave a 26hr recovery. 2nd stop was at home and it uploaded both files by WiFi without asking which was nice - I wondered if it'd only upload 1.
I have an easy run in after easy home with 8 x 100m strides and bike commute this AM. See if we can get the recovery advisor to say anything other than good! Especially at 6am!
https://totriornottotri.wordpress.com
Toro, this was also on the 610. This is shown two minutes after stopping/pausing an activity. In theory (if the 620 works the same) 89bpm is your Recovery HR (2 mins after stopping) , and the figure in brackets is the difference between HR at the end of the activity and your recovery HR.
Managed a 46 hour Recovery Advisor today after playing with the watch
. Don't think it likes me anymore
Does anyone know what the "Auto Detect On/Off" option does for the Max. HR setting within the User Profile. I see nothing on it in the manual.
I've done a few more checks/tests with the footpod - will share later but need to do some work now.
Still loving the instant upload to wifi or bluetooth
So, here is a little on footpod test, plus some general observations.
The 610 recorded the distance and actual pace using the GPS and reported the current pace from the footpod (as expected). I ran over a known loop, and the distance was as expected
Unfortunately with the 620, the distance and pace came from the footpod even though the GPS was on. Distance recorded was almost 50% shorter (because of calibration factor used on purpose)
Conclusion: Switch the footpod off on the 620 unless it is really needed (with the 610 it can stay on to be used for pace if required, and of course was the method used for cadence)
This is a little step back imho, and the watch has also lost the automated calibration routines for those who used them; I always preferred manual calibration.
One of the observations I had is that the gps plot of the route I took seemed less accurate on the 620 compared to the 610; that was just on this one run though.
Indoors: The footpod works perfectly on the 620 for treadmill running for pace / distance recorded on 610 & 620. The only difference is that the 620 continues to get cadence from the accelerometer on the watch, while 610 comes from the foot pod. I'm recording a slightly higher cadence from the footpod.
Conclusion: Don't pick you nose with the arm the Garmin is on
As part of these tests, I also did a little HR Max Stress Test to have a little play and see what is going on with VO2.
After doing this I started a jog and got my first 'FAIR' recovery check, followed up with a 46 hour recovery time. My VO2 value has bounced about between 52 and 59 following these tests, so I think I'm giving my 620 a confusing time. I'd better get back to some proper running now.
AR - thanks for answer RE: recovery matches garmin answer! Consider foot pod issue from garmin POV. 1. GPS outdoor is primary. In case of GPS denial use internal accelerometer why use a foot pod. 2. Indoors use accelerometer unless footpod detected which overides.
They may have tried to be too clever giving you the one stop solution but as we know the indoor use is sketchy.
https://totriornottotri.wordpress.com
Thanks for the write-up. Seems daft that the 620 would prefer footpod over GPS for distance, and daft that it would prefer wrist accelerometer over footpod for running cadence! The nose-picking example is one where the latter falls down, but I could think of plenty of others - taking on food or drink, wiping sweat off my forehead, scratching my back, pressing buttons on the treadmill etc.
Hopefully in future firmware updates they will either fix it or give the user the option to select preferred source.
Try strapping the 620 to your ankle and see what the accelerometer makes of that.