Excellent price for a great GPS watch with latest inbuilt optical HRM.
Reviews are pretty good as per DC Rainmaker, Currently on special at JB HIFI for $374
Potential to save even more with cashrewards 2.5% cashback = $280.80
So.. is there now a watch that can handle running without a chest strap?
AFAIK nothing is any good beyond walking pace.
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/08/garmin-forerunner-225-dep…
Returned near identical results to chest straps it seems, its let down is recording data every 5-7s instead of every second to preserve battery life, but only affects mapping not the measurements taken.
I thought the exact same, along with every reviewer I saw… Every result I saw was that they've finally cracked it. VERY surprised.
I got one of these a few weeks back, the watch is really light on the wrist and GPS pickup is super fast.
The heart rate data seemed to correspond well to my previous runs with the strap. The watch has an additional silicon seal on the back to improve the accuracy of the optical HRM by preventing light getting in.
My biggest problem so far has been doing my knee in a BMX crash the day of it's first use! I've been wearing it as my daily watch since and the pedometer and sleep tracker and neat for the stats nerd in all of us.
Sounds great! my only concern is no inclusion of Virtual partner as per the Garmin FR 620, but it's something im willing to give up for the inbuilt HR sensor. I'm just about to take mine to Tokyo, so will be interesting to see how strong the GPS signal is in between all the high rise buildings.
I too was tossing up between the 225 and the 620. I never used the virtual partner in my old watch (Forerunne 405CX) so that wasn't a concern. In the end I decided that the benefits of the built in HRM out weighed the extra metrics I would get from the 620 which are well beyond the needs of my (and I suspect most people's) current running level.
The fr220 models are basic compared to the 620. It only has 'running' as a sport and can't be changed like higher models, it can be used for cycling as per dc rainmakers reviews but will record it as a run overwriting any records or acievements.
I've been using the 225 for about 1.5 months now and love it - I am however one of the few who hasn't got on well with optical HRM, I tried to persevere for a couple of weeks with it in different spots on my wrists & further up my arms but my readings always seemed to end up over inflated when worn tightly, or it would drop out if it was looser. In the end I now use it with a chest strap which doesn't bother me anyway and I prefer the freedom of being able to wear the watch where I want vs. where I get the best HR reading (which was awkwardly under my wrist about 1/3 of the way up my arm and still not accurate enough for my liking)
I debated whether to return it to get the 620 instead (as I could get that for about the same price - I paid $350 for mine) but the factor that pushed me to keep this one was the new HR Zone screen - I really like that it's completely distraction free when I want to just do zone training. I don't have to think about it, a quick glance and I either slow down or speed up to stay in my target zone and because I can't add any other metrics to that screen I don't get caught up worrying about my pace or how far I've gone. I think for the first time in my life, my easy runs are actually easy!
During this keep vs return debate, I went to Rebel to try on the 220, 225 and 620 and I found because of the rubber seal on the back, the 225 was comfiest too because it contours to the wrist shape. It's pretty bulky on a small woman's wrist so I couldn't imagine wearing it everyday and using the activity monitor but I like that bulkiness when I'm running - it makes it easy to read and hit the buttons.
There's my 2 cents for anyone debating over buying the watch.
I found that store recently. Pro store with genuine local warranty, and 1st/2nd best prices on eBay!
But I'm all about the Polar M400 @$210.50 (after equal discounts).