Review: Garmin FR60 Sport Watch

My first Garmin - the quirky 301

I’ve been a runner for five years now and ever since I started, I’ve had a Garmin watch.  My first watch – which I still have and occasionally use – was the Garmin Forerunner 301.  It’s big, clunky and every time I look at it, I’m tempted to ask it to ‘Beam me up, Scotty’.  Despite Scotty’s (yup, I named it) awkward looks, I’m still extremely fond of it.

With its GPS system it served me well for years, as long as I wasn’t running in a big city (tall buildings blocked the signals) or in the trees (ditto).  In fact, I never would have given up on it except that one day on a run – around mile twelve – it started to count back down.

Yup, down.  As in, counting backwards.  The further I ran, the less mileage it displayed.

Crazy.

I looked in disbelief when I got back to our summer cabin and the final distance it displayed was eight odd miles.  I was  99% sure that I’d done over sixteen miles, but I actually had to get in the car and drive, checking my odometer to prove it to myself.

My (husband's) Garmin 405

After that, I caught it counting backwards every once in a while.

It had Star Trek personality and it’s own sardonic humor. It was – is – a good friend.

But then my husband received the Garmin Forerunner 405 as a present.

Woo, this baby is sleek!  Guiltily, I put my old Scotty to rest and borrowed my hubbie’s newer model.  It too is GPS based and this new version works very well everywhere – big cities and forest included.  It also has not, to my knowledge, ever counted backwards. At least not yet.

I miss my 301′s quirky personality, but the 405 stole my heart anyway.

So when I was asked to review the Garmin FR60 Sport Watch I was interested to see how it compares to my other two watches.  I’m quite fond of Garmin as a brand, seeing as it has traveled many, many miles with me and measured my journey from couch potato to reluctant 10k runner to half marathon addict.

The FR60 Sport Watch

The sleek FR60 W / photo courtesy Garmin

One of the things I like about the FR60 is its sleek style and the colour options (typical girl, I like things to match!).  The model I was sent is pink, which receives my thumbs up.  The watch face is oval and is easy to read without being too big.

Unlike the Garmin 405 which is touch-based instead of using buttons (the 405 only has two buttons), the FR60 has six buttons.  Therein lies my biggest complaint, I did find the buttons are a little awkward to maneuver.  When the watch is on, it is a bit of a challenge getting your other hand over to the right angle to properly push some of the buttons.  That having been said, I think some of the awkwardness was due to my unfamiliarity with which button does what.  Over time, I’d probably find it easier.

The FR60 is not a GPS-based sport watch. Instead, it uses a wireless foot pod to track speed and distance, indoors or out.  It also sends workout data wirelessly to your computer for later analysis.

So why use the FR60 if it doesn’t use the super-handy GPS technology?  The FR60 is more versatile for athletes who perhaps want to track indoor workouts as well as outdoor.

In the gym or on the road, the FR60 tracks all your workout data, including time, heart rate, calories burned, lap times and averages. FR60 boasts advanced training tools, such as training alarms and Virtual Partner™, which lets you race against a virtual training partner to improve your performance.

“At the heart of its success is FR60′s wireless ANT+™ technology, which allows it to connect to other ANT+ compatible devices, like the included heart rate monitor, optional foot pod, or even ANT+ compatible fitness equipment.”

Another feature I like is that you can also track weight, body fat, body water and six other measurements when using the FR60 with the Tanita BC-1000 body composition scale. The readings are stored on FR60, then automatically sent to Garmin Connect when in range of your computer.

Test Runs

FR60 watch and wireless foot pod

Now, I’m an outdoor runner and not much of an indoor athlete. So I was curious how the FR60′s wireless foot pod stands up to the Garmin 405′s GPS unit to measure my runs outdoors.

I strapped my 405 (I should say my husband’s 405, but you know what I mean ) on one wrist and the FR60 on the other wrist.  I slipped the wireless foot pod onto my shoelace ( you don’t have to unlace your shoes, yay!).

I took them both on several runs and the verdict was… they were very similar in measuring distance. Within a few yards.  As a matter of fact, there was more variation between my 405 and my girlfriend’s 405 than there was from the FR60 – when we used all three watches, the FR60 gave the distance smack dab in the middle of what our two GPS watches did.

Verdict: the wireless foot pod seems to work just fine with regard to measuring.

FR60 also connects wirelessly to a lightweight, flexible digital heart rate monitor, providing instant feedback. FR60 continuously tracks heart beats per minute and displays your heart rate zone, so you can monitor and improve your fitness level.  The heart rate monitor is a strap you place around your chest/back.  I found it easy to put on, comfortable and once adjusted it did not slip down or chafe at all.

The half marathon training program I’m following uses heartrate feedback for recovery between training sets so I found having the heart rate monitor really handy.

Pros:

• Sleek appearance with color options
• Well designed and performs as promised
• Great for measuring indoor workouts as well as outdoor workouts
• The watch is easy to put on, the heart rate monitor is easy to put on and the wireless foot pod is easy to put on.
• Reliable
• Options?…too many too list

Cons:

• I found the buttons a bit awkward to access
• I found my 405 is a bit more intuitive – I did need to read the manual for the FR60

Final thoughts:  I won’t be giving up the Garmin Forerunner 405, it is definitely my favourite. But if I did indoor activities as well as outdoor, I would have no hesitation using the FR60.