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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2020
In summary, this watch does many things right, but falls short on basic capabilities that my wife's $50 fitbit does. I wouldn't wish the frustrations I've this device has given me on my worst enemy.
The ability to challenge, compete, monitor other Garmin users is awesome. It keeps me motivated and allows me to compliment others' hard work. Kudos! (You'll most likely only have 2 friends on the app, and 5 people you haven't spoken to since college.) However, this and all of the stats it gives you will make you invested in the data, so when issues arise that mess this up, it magnifies the frustration level.
I need a watch for running that can play music to my Trekz wireless headphones. This does that job, meaning I can run without phone (just my keys). Multiple times though, the watch has frozen just prior to a work out when I began setting up the music, and has frozen during a workout while skipping tracks. When driving 20 min to and from a park and running for 2 hrs, it is frustrating waiting 10 min for the watch to figure its life out after you're all stretched and ready to go, and losing data for a 12 mile run is very painful. (on a nitpicky note, if you hit the wong button during your run trying to control music or switch menus, it will lap you forward to a different work out step (eg, "run" to "cool down") when you're not ready, and there is no way to undo this. (see: MY DATA IS RUINED!!!))
The watch also shows me burning 10,000 calories a day just resting, and only 300 calories during a 10 mile run. I called support (very nice and professional) and you have to give yourself a "athlete rating" 1-10. why I have to do this on a Garmin and not a Fitbit IDK, but even setting myself as a 6 and restarting everything still did not resolve issue.
I am distance running training, and I need to mix in treadmill with my outdoor running to save impact on my joints. At the end of the treadmill run, it gives you the chance to type in the treadmill distance to adjust the speed/distance, etc which is a nice feature, but it is supposed to learn so you don't have to do this. In my situation, the watch has not learned my cadence/speed for over 12 weeks. Adding incline to the treadmill also messes with this, and there is no option to add this as a scaling factor.
I tried once to use watch with dumbell workout tracking. The feature is there, but it failed counting reps miserably. Wrecked my workout and never attempted to use feature again, very disappointing.
The Garmin (running) coach is spectacular feature, it has really driven me to become a better runner, and train responsibly. (I have gone from no activity at all to a 1:45 half marathon in less than 6 months.) The feature's strength is in its ability to adjust your training plan based on how consistently you finish your workouts and ratchets them harder or easier. HOWEVER, I worked midnight shifts for a time, and if midnight passes and you miss a workout you intend to do at 2am, YOU CANNOT RESCHEDULE. Any rescheduling needs to happen before midnight. That being said, I have had one time where I sucessfully rescheduled on phone app (android) but training plan would not go to watch, no matter what i tried. again very frustrating when you make the effort to stick to a set training plan.
Similarly, when on midnight shift, you have to define your bedtime. I did not at first and weeks went by without tracking my sleep. The watch has a heart rate monitor, and my past Fitbits have detected when I sleep and even naps, this is a dumb requirement for Garmin IMO.
The software and app are pretty, but don't work well. PC software crashing my top of the line computer. App has a lot of stats which are awesome, but if you leave it open, it will constantly sync to the watch and drain both batteries. Otherwise the watch battery lasts me days, and charges in less than 30 min.
Overall, great GPS and training tool, but I feel Garmin stuck this tech into a very basic and cumbersome watch at a low price. What i received, (while cheaper than some) is neither cheap nor effective. I would consider this a running watch and nthing else, since I have trouble tracking my calories, sleep, and other workout types. The good things about this watch would make me consider trying a higher level Garmin, but the downsides makes me weary I'm wasting my time and money with Garmin and should get an Apple watch or Samsung Gear.
The ability to challenge, compete, monitor other Garmin users is awesome. It keeps me motivated and allows me to compliment others' hard work. Kudos! (You'll most likely only have 2 friends on the app, and 5 people you haven't spoken to since college.) However, this and all of the stats it gives you will make you invested in the data, so when issues arise that mess this up, it magnifies the frustration level.
I need a watch for running that can play music to my Trekz wireless headphones. This does that job, meaning I can run without phone (just my keys). Multiple times though, the watch has frozen just prior to a work out when I began setting up the music, and has frozen during a workout while skipping tracks. When driving 20 min to and from a park and running for 2 hrs, it is frustrating waiting 10 min for the watch to figure its life out after you're all stretched and ready to go, and losing data for a 12 mile run is very painful. (on a nitpicky note, if you hit the wong button during your run trying to control music or switch menus, it will lap you forward to a different work out step (eg, "run" to "cool down") when you're not ready, and there is no way to undo this. (see: MY DATA IS RUINED!!!))
The watch also shows me burning 10,000 calories a day just resting, and only 300 calories during a 10 mile run. I called support (very nice and professional) and you have to give yourself a "athlete rating" 1-10. why I have to do this on a Garmin and not a Fitbit IDK, but even setting myself as a 6 and restarting everything still did not resolve issue.
I am distance running training, and I need to mix in treadmill with my outdoor running to save impact on my joints. At the end of the treadmill run, it gives you the chance to type in the treadmill distance to adjust the speed/distance, etc which is a nice feature, but it is supposed to learn so you don't have to do this. In my situation, the watch has not learned my cadence/speed for over 12 weeks. Adding incline to the treadmill also messes with this, and there is no option to add this as a scaling factor.
I tried once to use watch with dumbell workout tracking. The feature is there, but it failed counting reps miserably. Wrecked my workout and never attempted to use feature again, very disappointing.
The Garmin (running) coach is spectacular feature, it has really driven me to become a better runner, and train responsibly. (I have gone from no activity at all to a 1:45 half marathon in less than 6 months.) The feature's strength is in its ability to adjust your training plan based on how consistently you finish your workouts and ratchets them harder or easier. HOWEVER, I worked midnight shifts for a time, and if midnight passes and you miss a workout you intend to do at 2am, YOU CANNOT RESCHEDULE. Any rescheduling needs to happen before midnight. That being said, I have had one time where I sucessfully rescheduled on phone app (android) but training plan would not go to watch, no matter what i tried. again very frustrating when you make the effort to stick to a set training plan.
Similarly, when on midnight shift, you have to define your bedtime. I did not at first and weeks went by without tracking my sleep. The watch has a heart rate monitor, and my past Fitbits have detected when I sleep and even naps, this is a dumb requirement for Garmin IMO.
The software and app are pretty, but don't work well. PC software crashing my top of the line computer. App has a lot of stats which are awesome, but if you leave it open, it will constantly sync to the watch and drain both batteries. Otherwise the watch battery lasts me days, and charges in less than 30 min.
Overall, great GPS and training tool, but I feel Garmin stuck this tech into a very basic and cumbersome watch at a low price. What i received, (while cheaper than some) is neither cheap nor effective. I would consider this a running watch and nthing else, since I have trouble tracking my calories, sleep, and other workout types. The good things about this watch would make me consider trying a higher level Garmin, but the downsides makes me weary I'm wasting my time and money with Garmin and should get an Apple watch or Samsung Gear.
