My first foray into the world of GPS running watches was the Garmin ForeRunner 305, which I LOVED. It was easy to use and extremely accurate with regard to distance and average pace. The only reason I eventually moved to the 405 in the Summer of 2010 was because my 305 would no longer hold a charge of greater than an hour.
Before I purchased the 405, I knew that the bezel control was a bit flaky, but if had know exactly how AWFUL it was I NEVER would have purchased it:
The bezel worked ok as long as it was completely dry, but this is almost NEVER the case while running. Because of this I always had to keep the bezel locked, and have not been able to consistently flip screens since mid-2010. Sometimes when I try to unlock the bezel mid-run the screen will begin flipping out of control, and will leave it completely unusable until it dries.
This watch has taken a lot of abuse from multiple falls (see damage above), and has seen me through almost 6,400 miles of running and 9 marathon. However, it has been such a pain to use that I don’t have any particularly fond memories of the 405. The only reason why I continued to tolerate it was because of the cost of the watch and its continued strong battery (it will still cover me for a 3+ hour run).
This year I have noticed a steady decline in the overall distance accuracy. It can sometimes be off by as much as 2/10 per mile. Now that I have very specific target paces for St. George Marathon training user the Hansons Plan, I really needed a more accurate watch.
This led me to finally pull the trigger on a Garmin ForeRunner 220. I has fewer overall features than the 405 (or 305), but has all of the ones that I actually use like Distance, Pace, Heart Rate, Auto Lap, etc. It also has a built-in “accelerometer” to help maintain accuracy when satellite signal is weak. This should really help when running under the dense tree cover in Percy Warner Park. However, the BEST FEATURE of this watch is that it is controlled exclusively through BUTTONS just like my old 305. No more wonky touch bezel!!!
Yesterday was my first chance to try out the 220, and so far, so good. The watch is light and comfortable and the distance calculation was dead-on accurate with the 1/4-mile markings on the Harpeth River Greenway. I love being able to flip between different screens during my run again to see my overall, lap, and heart rate statistics. It even has a dedicated screen for the current time which is nice.
It will be interesting to see how well the battery holds up over time, but I think this is going to be a really good watch for me! It even has my favorite color….RED!