- Comes with FR60, heart rate monitor, USB ANT Stick, quick start manual
- Water resistant to 50 meters
- Can be used for running, cycling and other fitness activities
- ANT+ technology: Wirelessly connect to heart rate monitor, and speed cadence sensor, then share fitness data with your computer
- Battery life: One year, user-replaceable coin cell battery
Packaged in the box were the Owners manual and Watch, Foot-pod, HRM-Strap, USB Ant+ stick. There is no software to speak of since it''s self loading on the Ant+ Stick. You also need to set up an account with Garmin to download your data and analyze it. BEWARE: Firmware Updates will erase your data and settings on the watch and they need to be set back up!!! There is no Off-line option to review your data :-(. This means you upload your data to Garmin then re-download it in Excel or TCX format then upload it into a training website like Training Peaks(Online) or Sport Tracs(Stand Alone Runs Offline). Granted it takes only a few minutes to do but is a little bit of a pain. Also when uploading you have the option to leave the data on your watch for you to review or when the download is completed the workout date is erased. It takes a little bit of faith to let your data go. When setting up your account you can set up your Heart Rate zones based on age and resting Heart Rate. You can add as many zones as you see fit. For Simplicity I just use 5, now when you look at your data though the amount of time in each zone is not displayed on the website on your HR Graph. The graph look really good but the only data given is Avg HR, Max HR. It would be nice if the time in each Zone was given as well. My old HRM(Which was $40) displayed these with times and % in zones on the watch and didn''t need to upload the data. Other data that is Give is Workout Time, Avg Speed/Pace, Max Speed/Pace, Avg Cadence, Max Cadence. All good Data that is essential for training/racing purposes.
For Running the Foot Pod Sensor tracks steps, pacing and speed very accurately out of the box. Pick a spot on your shoes to mount the sensor and pair the device with your FR60, I did a test run at the track and it was spot on after a 1 mile test run. You can either adjust the stride length automatically or manual adjust. There are supposed to be shoe on the market that the Foot-pod will mound directly into the sole under the shoe insert. I believe Nike makes one. Mounting in the laces are just fine for me. The advantage the FR60 has is It can be used indoors without a GPS signal. The combination of the Foot-Pod and HRM gives you very accurate Calorie data when running of a treadmill. I have found that most treadmills are off speed wise to the FR60, for example I warm-up at 10:00 indicated pace on the treadmill and my FR60 shows anywhere from a 9:20-9:35. No a big deal since I''m logging the information for later retrieval.
Since I Cycle I use the GSC-10 Speed and Cadence Sensor for my Bicycle. Same setup as the Foot-Pod with regard to pairing. This can be used indoors as well during winter months on Stationary Fluid Trainer or Rollers to track speed and distance. The downside is NO FREAKING Odometer!!!!!!! what was Garmin Thinking. You get everything else, Distance, Current Speed, Calories, Avg/Max Speed, Avg/Max Cadence, Time, Lap/Distance/Time/AvgSpeed/MaxSpeed/LapCalories, blah blah blah... I had to add my old Speed sensor back to the front wheel to capture Overall ODO distance.
Functionality: The FR60 is pretty easy to set up once you figure out the page layout and logic. You get your data input(AGE, HEIGHT, WEIGHT, ACTIVITY Class(read the manual for this one) into the devise under SETTINGS/USER. After pairing your footpod and Speed/Cadence sensor, You can then set up your "TRAINING PAGES" This is where the FR60 really shines. You can take all the data collected from either your Run/Bike/Other and display up to 3 pieces of data on the screen and have 5 pages to display the data. You can have one screen for Time only and another for Distance and Pace then another for Heart Rate, HR Zone, Calories and so one. If only One line of info is displayed it fits almost the entire screen and gets smaller from there. the Dot Matrix LCD Screen is fairly easy to read at a glace either running or biking.
The FR60, HR Chest Sensor, Foot-pod are all waterproof to 3 Meters so they can be worn during the swim portion of Triathlons or during off road runs that cross creeks or during Steeplechase events. I''ve worn mine during the swim of a sprint Triathlon. For Triathlon the F60 is not Tri Friendly meaning you cannot change sports easy. I just set it up in Other and Just Press Lap during transitions in and out. Since I''m only concerned with overall time and HR. The FR60 can be set up to scan for Pods so it will pick up either sensor when you press the lap button during T1 or T2. If your set on sport specific Timing press and hold the MODE button and you can then change sports.I have been using this watch/footpod/HR monitor now for about 6 months and I absolutely love it. It is like having a coach. I am a fairly new runner and completed a half marathon this past spring and loved it. I decided to get more serious about my training and run a fall marathon. The longer runs were really a pain because I''d have to get in my car and drive the route each time....and then remember them as I ran . And of course if an unpredicted problem came up (angry dog, suspicious person, etc) I couldn''t really deviate without blowing the run and not knowing how far I''d gone . And also......my paces were off. I was running my recovery runs and easy runs WAY too fast. And then at the time I was using an old treadmill that was totally off pace, so my faster runs---well, who knows how consistent they were. I needed help !
And I got it. Everything fell completely into place after getting the watch. It basically sets ITSELF up,too. So easy to use. The Garmin website is awesome. I understand they had bugs at first, but I have encountered none of that. I can look at a run and see my heart rate and pace on a graph. I can also see reports on mileage, etc. And the ability to see cadence per mile is cool,too. I have learned so much by having all this data. It has made me a much better runner. I pay attention to heart rate now,too.
And of course it is wonderful to be able to track my distance and pace as I run outdoors. I can just take whatever direction I want now....I feel totally free and spontaneous out there. And I use it on the treadmill,too. Way more accurate than the treadmill as far as pace is concerned.
I also run in a lot of trees, which is why I avoided the GPS version. The footpod works everywhere and GPS will lose way points in heavy trees or in a city with tall buildings.
It coached me to a 4:14:01 first marathon finish this past October. It is really accurate and I have never calibrated it. Although I plan to go to an indoor track this week and do that this week before I start training seriously again (I wore it in the marathon and it tracked the the distance as 26.58---not bad over that many miles with no additional calibration, but still.....).
I highly recommend this product to anyone who would like to be able to monitor their training. It is all they say and a lot more. I plan to try to qualify for Boston this spring and I know my chances are much improved with my Garmin FR60 (yes, all my friends are definitely tired of hearing how much I love the watch!).I thought about this a lot. I read probably 100 reviews of all the GPS trainers and this watch. I am incredibly happy. I run and I row. I wanted an accurate pace and heart rate for zone training. This watch has been perfect. The calibration was important for me. I ran un-calibrated and it was probably 30 meters off over 800. Not bad but after calibration it is scary accurate. Over a mile it was within 3 feet. You can also find some great information from dcrainmakers blog but he did a 7 mile cross country run and the 310xt and fr60 had the exact same distance. So I don''t know why people had problems with accuracy. I think it might be they didn''t calibrate or didn''t do it correctly. I could also be that the pod was not in the laces tight enough. I don''t think I lost any accuracy from not getting the GPS watch or if I did the ability to use a treadmill is ample compensation. Ok so I thought about how cool it would be to see where I went on the map from a GPS watch, but I don''t really care. I''m looking to improve my run from the data. I''m not going to show my kids one day that I ran down the same beach a thousand times. Who cares. The other big benefit is realtime pace. It seams spot on. I really need to know how fast I''m going so I can predict whats going to happen to my HR. From using this I''ve really been able to see things and train in ways I never could have before.
The heartrate functions are what you would expect. They simply work. No surprise there.
The Ant stick is awesome. I walk up to my computer the watch beeps and a few seconds later my data is up. Much better than having to type it or even syncing an Ipod sorry Nike but your website sucks. Its slow, the first page shows and almost useless graph. Garmin''s site is all business. Its easy to use. Is it perfect? Of course not, but I haven''t been frustrated once using it. I would recommend you follow the directions for the ant stick and have a workout in the watch and the software downloaded before you plug it in. I use a mac and it worked great.
The watch is really normal looking. You would never know it was a training watch. It''s water resistant. You can hop in the shower and not have to worry. You can even go in the pool but your not supposed to use the buttons underwater.
Ease of use... Well its easy if you read the manual, and watch the videos. If you think your going to take full advantage of the watch just by fiddling with it your probably wrong. It can do so many things that it has a fairly large set of menus but they are very logically laid out.
For rowing I use the General mode and just collect heart data. It works perfectly. Don''t be afraid of this watch. If you are looking for a normal appearance watch that you can wear all day and train with when time allows and not have to worry if you charged it or left it at home. This watch is great. I leave it on work, workout, live life and don''t think about it. Its just there at the end of my arm and my data is always updated on my computer.I''ve used the watch for 2 months, and have updated this review several times.
Setup: If you''re not very good with hardware and techno gadgetry, you might not find the owner''s manual to be very helpful, and complete setup very frustrating. However, search "Garmin FR60" on YouTube and you''ll find some great instructional vidoes, by Garmin, on how to set up the watch. These videos include screen shots. By the way, you should know the owner''s manual is available online only, but you can save and print if you must.
Use: Again, the owner''s manual wasn''t very helpful on how to actually go use the watch, and go through the "pages." But it is pretty easy if you''re not afraid to hit some buttons. Take it on a couple test runs before you actually need the watch.
Foot Pod: no problems at all. It''s smaller than I thought it would be, and is not noticeable at all on my shoe.
The ANT stick: once you have everything paired and you''ve signed on to the website (watch YouTube if you''re techno-impaired), the stick does exactly what they say. You get the watch near it, and it wirelessly gets your data off your watch. I have not found how to dump the data off the watch. The software is run/stored on Garmin''s website (you create a free account--very easy and quick)....oh, very cool. Goals, history, multiple sports...great great great.
Pace/Mileage Accuracy: Be sure to follow the instructions for calibrating the watch. It''s so EASY! And very very accurate!!! I didn''t want the GPS watch because reviews have said that 1). the GPS can sometimes take several minutes to find the satellite signal and 2). they lose the signal if they''re in trees. With the FR60, you have none of those problems.
Heart Rate Accuracy: 100%
Heart strap: I''m usually like the Princess and the Pea, but I found the monitor to be so comfortable I dind''t know it was there. And don''t buy this "I''m sooooo little the strap is too big" that you might see on other posts. It fits my 11-year-old skinny son, so shut up.
Design: I have a small wrist, and the watch doesn''t look bulky. The strap could easily fit a pre-teen girl''s wrist, as well as larger-boned women. My husband scams it once and awhile to check his own heart rate, and the watch fits him. The strap is a little stiff, so I''m hoping that will loosen up, though if it doesn''t, the watch was comfortable enough.
I had to give product only 4 stars because I think they really fell down on the set-up and usage instructions, which may be a problem for some. Otherwise, I LOVE THIS WATCH!!!!!!! Once you''re set up and ready to go, this watch should get 10+ STARS.
AMENDED REVIEW: SEPTEMBER 22, 2011:
The battery on this watch finally died. No problem, you can chage it yourself without sending it back to Garmin, which I guess you have to do on their other watches. HOWEVER!!! All my settings and calibrations are gone! Everything. And given how hard this watch is to set up, I''m selling it. And after building a solid running base for a year and working out at differenet paces, the watch is not at all accurate on distance and pace, which is dependent on stride length because of the foot pod. My stride lengthens on faster runs than a long, slow run.
I went to Target and bought a $10 sportswatch. So cheap I can''t even mark splits. The Garmin was useful as a beginner, but now I have a better sense of pacing and don''t need it. I''m going to rock it Old School now!
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Awsome product for new runners. Purchased for wife''s birthday(I am a romantic at heart). She is far from tech savvy as am I but basic functions simple enough to utilize without delving too deeply in manual. Also purchased the seperate foot pod that provides more detailed info and feedback on runs. As time goes by I can see her utilizing more of the functions on the watch and the website but for now viewing her results after a run give her the motivation to get back out for the next time. The Lilac color gives product more of a feminine flavor as opposed to a slimmed down man''s watch.
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