- Easy-to-use fitness watch for indoor and outdoor use
- Calculates time, heart rate and calories
- Water resistant to 50 meters
The FR70 delivers great functionality and performance in a watch that can be worn on a daily basis. The menus are very user friendly and the display is large and easy to read. The form factor of the watch is very well built and feels comfortable on the wrist. I wear this watch as my every day timepiece and have enjoyed it.
This watch has a timer, dual alarms, and a very useful interval feature among many others. The interval functionality is something I can foresee using very much and have not seen on other exercise watches that I reviewed. It allows for a user to program the amount of time or distance of active exercise along with the amount of time or distance for rest along with the quantity of intervals or sets that you will be performing in a workout. It even allows for you to mix the criteria. For example, you can program that you would like to run for a mile (using the footpad to track the distance) and then rest for 2 minutes and perform this set five times. Additionally, you can program a warmup and cool down at the beginning and end of the workout.
The one thing that prevented me from giving this watch a full five stars is the difficulty in pushing the buttons on the side and top of the watch. I have only had the watch since Christmas (9 days) so perhaps the buttons will break-in and become easier to push in the future. I guess the benefit of this is that the buttons should not get accidentally pushed.
One other item that was troublesome is that the strap has a rubber notch on the top of the loop that the end of the strap fits in. This notch, makes the watch strap very difficult to pull the strap out when you want to take your watch off. The fix I found for this that works very well is to rotate the loop 180 degrees so the rubber notch is on the back side of the strap. This fix works well and I feel it will prevent the strap from wearing down in the future.
I previously owned the FR50 and was very happy with its functionality; however, the strap broke from repeated exposure to Chlorine. This was a concern to me when researching the FR70. Much like the FR50, the design of the FR70 incorporates the watch straps into the watch body itself. This is worrisome because when the straps on my FR50 broke, it basically rendered the watch useless. I contacted Garmin about fixing the broken straps on the FR50, they stated that it would be 60 dollars to get the watch refurbished. I did not want to invest this amount of money into a 3 year old device so I began to look for a new watch at this point. Other reviews of the FR70 stated that the material the FR70 straps are made of are supposed to be more durable but only time will tell. I already had purchased the foot pod and bicycle pod, so it made sense to stick with a Garmin product. That being said, after reading up on the new Suunto Quest and Polar offerings as well as touching and feeling those devices at my local sporting good store, I would have made a change if I felt the functionality of the FR70 was not equal to the other watches on the market. In fact, I feel the FR70 excels in the menus and functions that are offered.
I have only owned this watch for 9 days. Thus far, I am happy with my Christmas present and look forward to using this watch more.
Buy Garmin FR70 Fitness Watch with Heart-Rate Monitor (Pink) Now
Just in case anyone is considering the FR70 as an upgrade to the FR60, I am pretty sure they are the exact same watch, with a few tweaks in style. I can''t find any function that this one does that my old FR60 didn''t do. On the other hand, I like the strap better, it''s more comfortable and flexible and it has cute swirlys on it. I like the pink touches as well. My FR60 broke, hence I requested this one for Christmas. I agree, the buttons are hard to press, but that''s the only thing I don''t like. I use it with a footpod and once you calibrate it, it''s pretty accurate. I LOVE having the instant pace--with GPS, even if the watch SAYS it''s giving instant pace, it isn''t, really. But with foot strike, it really is instant. I find this handy for sprinting, as well as to make myself feel better about my runs, because even if I only averaged 12 minutes a mile I can console myself that I did hit 6:30 pace for a bit. As a running watch, I would definitely recommend the FR70 over one of the fancier, more expensive GPS watches.Read Best Reviews of Garmin FR70 Fitness Watch with Heart-Rate Monitor (Pink) Here
I''ve been using this watch and monitor for about a month now and am very pleased. It worked right out of the box and provides reliable herat rate monitoring for my cardio and weight workouts. It''s made my workouts much more productive since I can keep my heart rate in the zone without guessing or using the often inaccurate monitors built into the training equipment. The heart rate monitor strap is comfortable and doesn''t need to be really tight to get a good reading (something I was worried about). The only minor downside is that you have to upload and view your workout data on the Garmin Connect web site but once the software is installed it works very seamlessly. When I plug in the USB ANT+ interface it automatically syncs the data from the watch to the web site. The amazing thing is the range of the ANT+ wireless. The first time I plugged in the USB stick the watch was in my workout bag in another room it started syncing immediately. Once you get the data up on the site, you can view it or export it. Since I don''t use this for running or cycling, the FR70 is completely adequate. If you need to track distance you would probably want to get one of the higher end GPS enabled watches.Want Garmin FR70 Fitness Watch with Heart-Rate Monitor (Pink) Discount?
Before purchasing I read all the reviews so I knew what I was getting into as far as complaints go. I decided to buy this one over others because the display screen was easy to read. I played around with it a bit the night before my first work out and had some trouble navigating and pressing the buttons but I got it set up and decided to wait for my work out when I was wearing the HRM.From the first time I used it it worked really well, yes buttons were a little hard to press. I saved my work out and tried to transfer it to my macbook pro from 2005. The drive doesn''t work on older computers but I didn''t mind too much because I had the info I need written down. I felt like there were some modes I didn''t have access to but once again didn''t mind.
I have been using it for two months and have great results with it, I''ve mostly been keeping track of calories and found out that the cardio machines at the gym tell me I''m burning twice as much as I really am. After two months it said it was low memory so I referred to the owners manual which I ended up accidentally resetting the whole thing and the display was different and I didn''t have the info I wanted. Upset for a while, then I found videos online the videos are very helpful and realized if I didn''t press so hard on the mode button I had access to all the other modes I thought I didn''t have. I figured out how to customize each training mode and now after two months I feel like I have better control of the thing and I don''t need to press buttons so hard. I am very thrilled with this gadget, have had some ups and downs but realize it is just a learning curve and I am happy with the way it works, the display and the results in my performance and physique I''ve seen.
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As other people have said, I definitely did my research on which HR monitor watch I wanted to invest in. I am happy to report that it paid off and I made the best choice for what I needed. I''ve had the watch about a week and have used it every day and it has made the transition to be my everyday watch. The face is small and unobtrusive, yet all the information is clearly visible. The strap is also very comfortable.Initially, I was extremely frustrated by most everything about the watch. The buttons didn''t cooperate, I couldn''t get anything to sync or connect. This watch is definitely not for people with long nails and works more smoothly without them. But once I figured out the right way to hit the buttons they''ve been working just fine. Yes, they are a bit more difficult than your everyday watch. However, I can press them while swimming without worry that they''ll let water in as I''ve done to many other watches. I have a 28 inch waist (32 bra strap band size) and the heart rate monitor strap that comes with the watch is too big for me so I''ve had to safety pin the strap to make it smaller.
In terms of functionality, it''s amazing once things are figured out. The workout screens for each of the different sport modes is customizable along with the scrolling and scrolling speed. I linked it with a Garmin Foot Pod [Retail Packaging] and calibrated it out on a local track. In the run mode, the watch shows heart rate, pace (or speed depending on set preferences), cadence and steps taken after your run. It''s an amazing amount of data for the lack of GPS. I''ve used the general mode to track time and laps while swimming which worked perfectly, and I''ve tracked my heart rate during Zumba class. All the information was synced with my computer and uploaded to Garmin Connect. I haven''t tried it on the bicycle yet though.
Overall, the FR 70 is a fantastic beginners watch for running among other sports. It gives you lots of data and with the addition of the foot pod can track distances easily. It''s easy to use after the initial set up process and fiddling and easy to see. I have not stopped talking about it to anyone who will listen.
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