Garmin International, one of the leading companies when it comes to satellite navigation products, has announced a new additional innovative set of running watches – the Forerunner 220 and the Forerunner 620. Both come with the obvious GPS functionality but there are also some other key differences which help them to stand out from the previous Forerunner models released by Garmin.
Why is it so Unique from Other Running Watches
Both of the Garmin running watch models have colored, one-inch Chroma displays to easily read data and these watches offer advanced features such as the race predictor, recovery advisor, heart rate monitor, and the VO2 Max which can provide benefits to runners since these features can help to estimate their capabilities and achieve their goals in terms of running.
These watches can even be used for indoor training with the built-in accelerometer which tracks the pace and the distance. With this feature, the user can now exercise with the use of the treadmill without the need of having a separate sensor.
How VO2 Max Along With the Heart Rate Monitor Help Improve Performance
When the watch is used with a heart rate monitor, it records important data such as heart rate viability, heart rate per minute and the running speed. It will then use these date to create an advanced algorithm and estimate the VO2 max of the user. When this process is done, it will then reveal a number that will indicate the maximum amount or volume of oxygen that the user is able to consumer per minute at the user’s maximum performance.
Based on studies, the more oxygen that the user is able to use during their maximum level of exercise can increase the energy that they can produce. There will be a color gauge on the watch which shows the performance of the user compared to other people who belong within their age range and gender. Through this, the runner will be able to know how far they can go and if they can still improve their actual performance beyond the usual limitations of their body in terms of running.
Aside from that, the heart rate monitor of these watches also has additional features which are the recovery check and the recovery advisor. These features will help in planning the best recovery time for the user every after hard workouts. It will act like a coach by telling the user the amount of time that they need for full recovery after a hard workout and letting them know when is the next time they should perform a hard workout again. It is very easy to know if the watch thinks that you are either ready or not for the next workout. It will show a red-colored sign if the watch thinks the user still needs time to recover and a green-colored sign means their body is now ready for another workout.
The Accelerometer
The built-in accelerometer of these watchers measures accurate torso movements to precisely calculate the different running metrics and these are:
- Ground Contact Time – the time that each of your foot spends on the ground in every step while running. It is measured in milliseconds.
- Vertical Oscillation – it is the bounce in the user’s running motion. It will show the vertical motion of the user’s torso and this is measured in centimeters.
- Cadence – It shows the number of steps that the user does per minute.
Run With the Community
These watches have a Bluetooth Smart wireless feature which gives you the chance of uploading your results to the online community of Garmin without the need of connecting anything to a computer. With this feature, you can now transfer your results or data to a compatible smartphone via the Garmin Connect Mobile application. These watches have a live tracking feature which allows the user’s fans or friends to follow their actual stats while running. With this feature, it’s just like you are running with someone or a group of people.
Other Additional Features
These watches have a walk/run alert which will automatically turn on the Auto Pause or Auto Lap when it detects that you have stopped running. It will start evaluating your performance the user starts running again. These watches are water-resistant to 50m thus, you will be able to use it will running under the rain or even if you sweat a lot. These watches have rechargeable batteries included and it can last up to 6 weeks when in watch mode and up to 10 consecutive hours when in training mode.
Find out more about these new watches on: http://sites.garmin.com/forerunnerCoach/
We have also previously blogged about Garmin Forerunners on this link.
