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  • Garmin Forerunner 225
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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
637 global ratings
5 star
57%
4 star
24%
3 star
8%
2 star
5%
1 star
6%
Garmin Forerunner 225

Garmin Forerunner 225

byGarmin
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Top positive review

Positive reviews›
Jason
5.0 out of 5 starsHaven't worn a watch in years.....until I bought this.
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2015
I love this watch! Until recently, I had been using Nike+ to track my running with a 4th gen iPod nano + footpod, and was using my iPhone 6 Plus with MapMyRuns for biking. My wife can testify that I like to spend a lot of time researching my purchases beforehand, and I spent a lot of time trying to decide what to use to replace my dying iPod, until finally settling on this.

With my iPod nano setup, I liked the Nike+ website with its coaching and encouragements/awards, etc......but I didn't like not having much information other than time, pace, distance ran, etc. I decided I wanted a unit that offered GPS and all the other information that comes along with it, such as route time comparisons, and elevation changes. My phone would have been ideal, because it offers free tracking apps, has built-in GPS, and I can listen to my music while running. However, it's just so darn big! Trying to strap an iPhone 6 Plus to your arm while running is about like taking a laptop for a jog around the neighborhood. Enter the GPS watches!

I researched several watches meticulously to make sure I got exactly what I wanted, and used www.dcrainmaker.com extensively. That guy knows what he's talking about! I looked at the TomTom CardioRunner at first, because it was available, had built-in HR monitoring, and seemingly everything I wanted except that it was, well, a TomTom. I've never been a fan of their GPS units for vehicles, and have always used a Garmin. So, because of that, I looked at Garmin's ForeRunner line and was depressed to learn that none of them offered wrist-based HR monitoring, at least at the time. However, i saw that they were about to come out with the Garmin 225 which offered HR monitoring, so I decided to test my patience and pre-order it.

An agonizing wait! I checked online every day for 3 weeks to see when it might be shipping when, alas (!)...one day I got a glorious Amazon email informing me that it was about to ship! Before this watch arrived, I hadn't worn a watch in years....I always had my phone with me, except when running, so who needs a watch? I had planned on probably only using this when running, but haven't taken it off my wrist since I got it 2 weeks ago, except for showering and sleeping. When I first got it, I wore it while sleeping for a couple nights to try the sleep tracking, but after a couple nights I decided my wrist needed a rest from wearing a watch at night. After all, I obviously know how much I sleep & don't need a watch to tell me. However, the rest of the time, it's on my wrist & I love it. It syncs with my iPhone via bluetooth, all you have to do is be within 30 feet or so of your phone, enter the menu on the watch, and it automatically syncs. The Garmin app could use some work, seems pretty basic, but I guess it does the job. I have found myself using the step counter more than I thought I would! It gives you a new step goal every day based on your history somehow, and I find myself looking at it throughout the day to make sure I've hit it. The other day, my wife laughed at me because I was only a couple of hundred steps from goal, so I paced around the house for a few minutes before bed to make sure i hit that darn goal. At least it made me feel accomplished!

The most impressive thing about this watch, to me, is the battery life so far. I got it just before July 4th, charged it to 100% immediately upon taking it out of the box, and just now plugged it in today....even though I didn't have to. Over 2 weeks later, and it was at 44% charge, even after all the daily activity tracking and going on 3 runs of approximately 2 miles each (don't judge, I haven't been running much lately). It could have easily gone another week probably before absolutely needing to be charged, unlike my wife's FitBit HR which requires charging about every 5 days (probably because it's HR monitor stays on continually, while the Garmin 225 only comes on when running or when you want to check it). Smart move Garmin, seems to make a big difference in battery life!

Enough rambling. 5 stars easily. It has everything I wanted = quick GPS activation, quality HR monitoring on the wrist (who wants to wear a chest strap?), easy bluetooth transfer of data to my phone, great battery life, daily activity/step counter monitoring, wrist strap is comfortable, and it looks good enough for me to decide to wear as my daily watch. And this, coming from a guy who previously hated to wear watches & haven't worn one in years. I'm a medical sales rep & was worried at first about how it would look while I was out wearing my daily dress clothes, but I've received several compliments on it while in the field and had several people ask about it. It doesn't look like a Rolex, but it's still decent looking for a fitness watch.

Here's the other watches I serioiusly considered & why I didn't pick them:
TomTom CardioRunner - as discussed previously, I just never liked TomTom's GPS as much as Garmin. Personal preference. Also, it looked a little more aggressive, and probably wouldn't pass for a daily watch for wearing at work, if I decided to wear it daily.

Polar M400 with chest strap - had good reviews on several fronts, but again....a chest strap. Nah.

Garmin Fenix 2 - more expensive, but better looking & more features. I love to go camping, etc. and the Fenix seemed to be the top-notch GPS watch out there, but I eventually passed because....it's more expensive, heavier, still no wrist-based HR monitor, and honestly it seemed that there were several people in the reviews who had problems with it. Reliability is pretty darn important, so after much consideration, I decided to pass for now & might possibly consider in the future if I liked the 225.

My setup now is ideal...I'm using the FR225 for running along with a newly purchased iPod shuffle. Because the FR225 doesn't work for biking, I take my iPhone 6 Plus with me & just use MapMyRun. I figured, if I'm biking....I'd still bring my phone anyways, so why not just use it as a GPS tracker while I'm at it?

I'm sending my Garmin data not only to Garmin's Connect website, but also I've linked it to my Nike+ account (so I didn't lose all the miles I've accumulated there), as well as MapMyRun & Strava.

Couldn't be happier with this watch, absolutely no issues so far.
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29 people found this helpful

Top critical review

Critical reviews›
salamander
3.0 out of 5 starsA decent running watch: HR fairly accurate, accelerometer a pain point
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2016
I've owned the watch for about 3 weeks now and wanted to post an initial review. I will update this as I use the watch more.

Summary: it's a good watch - but just okay. it has some obvious accuracy issues. Garmin support has been pretty unhelpful so far.

Pros:
- Snug, comfortable fit - I've never worn a wrist strap quite like this; it's very well made. It is stretchy, soft, pliable plastic that grips tightly in heavy sweat.
- The watch interface is easy and intuitive
- The controls are straightforward and easy to learn
- Overall the construction and quality of the mechanics are top notch; the watch is very light
- Built-in HR has been fairly accurate in my experience, despite what other reviewers have noted - but YMMV
- GPS signal acquisition is very fast, even in rural areas; less than 30 seconds
- GPS measurements seem fairly accurate for outdoor activities

Cons:
- Accelerometer - by far the biggest let down for this device, as you can see from Garmin's own support article here: https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId=%7B8fc7d8e0-6676-11e3-f27b-000000000000%7D; basically, Garmin removed the ability to manually calibrate the accelerometer (a feature present on older watch versions) and the watch will arrive to you uncalibrated and inaccurate. The _only_ way to calibrate the device is to run outdoors - an option that might not be available to you in the dead of winter. Therefore, if you got this watch for christmas, you might not be able to use it for 5 months. Luckily there was some warm weather recently and I was able to get in about 6 outdoor runs (which meets the minimum number of outdoor activities required to calibrate the device, according to Garmin), but the accelerometer is still very inaccurate. It's about 30 seconds off my pace and .1 - .2 miles off distance on a typical 3-mile treadmill run indoors. Luckily, you can edit your workouts after they post to Garmin Connect and correct the distance inaccuracy.
- Watch face is larger than digital display area
- Workflow is a bit clumsy and repetitive - you have to synch the watch to the phone which then beacons out to their cloud service; to update the device, you tether it to your computer. seems like you're always jumping back and forth between the app on your phone, the garmin connect app on your PC for synching and the Connect website for stats. They need to consolidate this and make it easier. The only app I want to use is the cloud one - I shouldn't have to jump through the other two apps all the time. The cloud interface comes with a lot of bloatware features that I don't find useful, and it's not possible to customize most of this. I've also found it to take several seconds to load the page.
- Some customization/quick-use features are lacking on the watch itself - such as hotkey button presses for switching GPS/bluetooth on and off (very useful if you run indoors frequently)
- The bluetooth connection is a bit flaky; if you're exercising with a separate bluetooth device such as headphones for music, I've found that the Garmin watch will suddenly connect/disconnect 5-6 times in a row at various points in my workout, buzzing me each time. Very glitchy.
- Support has been pretty awful - after 2 days waiting for a response to my issues above, I was disappointed to receive a copy and pasted text from the link above, which I already mentioned to them I had read. Then they asked questions that were clearly already answered in my original text. Pretty lazy and unhelpful support so far, but maybe that will change after I post enough mediocre reviews on various social media websites.
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4 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Jason
5.0 out of 5 stars Haven't worn a watch in years.....until I bought this.
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2015
Verified Purchase
I love this watch! Until recently, I had been using Nike+ to track my running with a 4th gen iPod nano + footpod, and was using my iPhone 6 Plus with MapMyRuns for biking. My wife can testify that I like to spend a lot of time researching my purchases beforehand, and I spent a lot of time trying to decide what to use to replace my dying iPod, until finally settling on this.

With my iPod nano setup, I liked the Nike+ website with its coaching and encouragements/awards, etc......but I didn't like not having much information other than time, pace, distance ran, etc. I decided I wanted a unit that offered GPS and all the other information that comes along with it, such as route time comparisons, and elevation changes. My phone would have been ideal, because it offers free tracking apps, has built-in GPS, and I can listen to my music while running. However, it's just so darn big! Trying to strap an iPhone 6 Plus to your arm while running is about like taking a laptop for a jog around the neighborhood. Enter the GPS watches!

I researched several watches meticulously to make sure I got exactly what I wanted, and used www.dcrainmaker.com extensively. That guy knows what he's talking about! I looked at the TomTom CardioRunner at first, because it was available, had built-in HR monitoring, and seemingly everything I wanted except that it was, well, a TomTom. I've never been a fan of their GPS units for vehicles, and have always used a Garmin. So, because of that, I looked at Garmin's ForeRunner line and was depressed to learn that none of them offered wrist-based HR monitoring, at least at the time. However, i saw that they were about to come out with the Garmin 225 which offered HR monitoring, so I decided to test my patience and pre-order it.

An agonizing wait! I checked online every day for 3 weeks to see when it might be shipping when, alas (!)...one day I got a glorious Amazon email informing me that it was about to ship! Before this watch arrived, I hadn't worn a watch in years....I always had my phone with me, except when running, so who needs a watch? I had planned on probably only using this when running, but haven't taken it off my wrist since I got it 2 weeks ago, except for showering and sleeping. When I first got it, I wore it while sleeping for a couple nights to try the sleep tracking, but after a couple nights I decided my wrist needed a rest from wearing a watch at night. After all, I obviously know how much I sleep & don't need a watch to tell me. However, the rest of the time, it's on my wrist & I love it. It syncs with my iPhone via bluetooth, all you have to do is be within 30 feet or so of your phone, enter the menu on the watch, and it automatically syncs. The Garmin app could use some work, seems pretty basic, but I guess it does the job. I have found myself using the step counter more than I thought I would! It gives you a new step goal every day based on your history somehow, and I find myself looking at it throughout the day to make sure I've hit it. The other day, my wife laughed at me because I was only a couple of hundred steps from goal, so I paced around the house for a few minutes before bed to make sure i hit that darn goal. At least it made me feel accomplished!

The most impressive thing about this watch, to me, is the battery life so far. I got it just before July 4th, charged it to 100% immediately upon taking it out of the box, and just now plugged it in today....even though I didn't have to. Over 2 weeks later, and it was at 44% charge, even after all the daily activity tracking and going on 3 runs of approximately 2 miles each (don't judge, I haven't been running much lately). It could have easily gone another week probably before absolutely needing to be charged, unlike my wife's FitBit HR which requires charging about every 5 days (probably because it's HR monitor stays on continually, while the Garmin 225 only comes on when running or when you want to check it). Smart move Garmin, seems to make a big difference in battery life!

Enough rambling. 5 stars easily. It has everything I wanted = quick GPS activation, quality HR monitoring on the wrist (who wants to wear a chest strap?), easy bluetooth transfer of data to my phone, great battery life, daily activity/step counter monitoring, wrist strap is comfortable, and it looks good enough for me to decide to wear as my daily watch. And this, coming from a guy who previously hated to wear watches & haven't worn one in years. I'm a medical sales rep & was worried at first about how it would look while I was out wearing my daily dress clothes, but I've received several compliments on it while in the field and had several people ask about it. It doesn't look like a Rolex, but it's still decent looking for a fitness watch.

Here's the other watches I serioiusly considered & why I didn't pick them:
TomTom CardioRunner - as discussed previously, I just never liked TomTom's GPS as much as Garmin. Personal preference. Also, it looked a little more aggressive, and probably wouldn't pass for a daily watch for wearing at work, if I decided to wear it daily.

Polar M400 with chest strap - had good reviews on several fronts, but again....a chest strap. Nah.

Garmin Fenix 2 - more expensive, but better looking & more features. I love to go camping, etc. and the Fenix seemed to be the top-notch GPS watch out there, but I eventually passed because....it's more expensive, heavier, still no wrist-based HR monitor, and honestly it seemed that there were several people in the reviews who had problems with it. Reliability is pretty darn important, so after much consideration, I decided to pass for now & might possibly consider in the future if I liked the 225.

My setup now is ideal...I'm using the FR225 for running along with a newly purchased iPod shuffle. Because the FR225 doesn't work for biking, I take my iPhone 6 Plus with me & just use MapMyRun. I figured, if I'm biking....I'd still bring my phone anyways, so why not just use it as a GPS tracker while I'm at it?

I'm sending my Garmin data not only to Garmin's Connect website, but also I've linked it to my Nike+ account (so I didn't lose all the miles I've accumulated there), as well as MapMyRun & Strava.

Couldn't be happier with this watch, absolutely no issues so far.
29 people found this helpful
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Ark Runner
4.0 out of 5 stars Great running watch!
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2015
Verified Purchase
This watch was made for running. It tracks your runs with GPS, has a heart rate monitor, and backlit display for dark runs. You can find a cheaper watch that will track GPS, or one that tracks steps and keeps up with heart rate, but if you want it all in one watch, this is the one.

GPS:
The GPS is comparable to the Nike sportswatch that used the TOMTOM GPS. For the most part, the distances are the same within just a few feet. GPS is not always tracking, as that's a drain on battery life - and what this watch does better than others is synch quickly. Usually GPS tracking is ready within seconds. My old watch could take minutes to synch up. I have, however, noticed that the distances seem a bit off if I haven't synched this watch within a few days. That's still a lot better than my old watch that might not ever synch up to track if I hadn't plugged it in within two days.

Heart rate:
This is comparable to the heart rate strap I had been using. I have heard some people had concerns about tracking if the watch isn't tight enough or if your wrist is too small; but I had no problems.

Battery time:
This watch advertises 8 hours of battery life with GPS active. None of my runs have been 8 hours. That said, I think 8 hours is probably accurate - I can usually do 2 1-hour runs and a 2-hour run and end up with 50% battery life. It recharges about what you'd expect: roughly 1-2 minutes per battery percentage. So 50% charge takes about an hour to an hour and a half.

My only qualms with this watch are the USB plug port and the user interface for the Garmin website. The plug in port clasps the watch and plugs into it from the back. It is impossible to plug it in on the first try. Usually, it is impossible to plug in on the second or third try. The UI for Garmin connect is clunky and doesn't have the intuitive feel that other running tracking sites have (e.g. Nike + or Mapmyrun). Fortunately Garmin will synch to other apps (like Nike+) and I have not had to use the cluttered mess of a website that is Garmin Connect.

Overall this is a great watch that does everything you need out of a running watch. Do you need it to run? No. But if you like to keep up with your records and miles without handwriting it in a notebook like a caveman, this is a great watch.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Why I give this 5 stars...
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2017
Verified Purchase
1. HR Monitor

The heart rate monitor works "reasonably" well. It doesn't work all of the time. Sometimes it registers 180BPM when I know my heart isn't even going 60. But it works fairly accurately, most of the time - better than I had expected from a simple wrist monitor.

If I needed or wanted 100% accuracy, I'd use my chest strap monitor. But I don't for two reasons: (a) convenience and (b) comfort. You just can't beat the simplicity and ease of use of a wrist monitor.

2. GPS Accuracy.

Again, it is not 100% accurate. I find that there are times where distances seem a little skewed. But on the whole, for most of the time and most of my routes, it gives me reasonably accurate information. I'd say, at worst, it might be as much as 5% off. Usually, it's within 1%.

BTW: I live in Hawaii, where GPS coverage tends to be a little bit spotty. But most of the time, the Garmin 225 synchs up with the satellites in 5 seconds or less. Just once it took more than 30 seconds. It was an overcast day but not particularly heavy rain clouds - not much different than the day before or the day after. But, for whatever reason, the Garmin took extra long to synch up on that day.

3. User Interface.

The U.I. is easy to navigate from screen to screen. Does what I need it to do.

4. Blue Tooth.

The range on this thing is insane with my iPhone. I wander about 50 feet away before going out of signal range. And it connects up almost instantly when I power it up from sleep.

5. Garmin Connect App.

The app works easily and intuitively. It tracks everything that I need and then some.

6. Tactile Buzzer.

The Garmin 225 has a tactile warning signal, a gentle buzz to alert you. I find that I look forward to the gentle little reminder at the one mile intervals.

7. Display.

Neat, clean display. Shows you a little bit of information, but it is enough to satisfy me ... I don't really need a whole lot of information while running. Sometimes, I wish that the HR could be displayed at the same time as elapsed time, pace, and distance - but if I really needed that, I could have bought a more expensive running watch.

8. Water Resistance.

Not a watch that I would go swimming with, but it is "good enough" to survive a forgetful shower or any sort of downpour rain event.

9. Battery Life

The battery easily lasts 3 days of intermittent use. Sometimes it will last me up to 5 days. For me, this is satisfactory. (Certainly beats my iPhone that I sometimes need to multiple charge in one day.) Recharging portable devices is just something one has to learn to live with in this modern age.

10. Aesthetics.

The watch has a utilitarian design. Nothing fancy. Not particularly oversized. Not ostentatious. I tend to like simple things.
I especially like the double-pronged wrist strap. (Some people complain that the strap tends to be too "grabby". I think that the strap simply works as intended. It secures the watch to my wrist.)

Bottom line: The Garmin 225 is not perfect, but then again I didn' t pay for perfection. I paid for "good enough". In that respect, I think that it does everything that it needs to do satisfactorily. Other reviewers might have taken the same experience and dinged the Garmin a star or two for its weaknesses.

I chose to look at the big picture: "Was I happy with the purchase?" And the answer to that question was a resounding, "yes!" So, that is why I gave it 5 stars.
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bob
5.0 out of 5 stars I quite like this watch
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2017
Verified Purchase
I quite like this watch. I bought it under the wrong premise, which in retrospect is pretty obvious. I though it was more of an all around workout watch and I could let it track statistics while I was in the gym and report it to my phone. It could, but that's not its intended purpose. It does, however, do what it's made to do very well. It tracks your vitals during a run and syncs that information to your phone whenever the two connect, which seems to happen randomly throughout the day or whenever you open the app on your phone.

Style-wise I appreciate the simple, straightforward, clean look. Mine is red and black and has a large face with five buttons to navigate the menus. I choose not to wear it at work because it's a little clunky, but I also have a more rugged watch just for that. I wouldn't use it as an every day watch, but I already have different watches for different occasions.

If someone was looking for a solid performer for a strictly running watch, I would recommend this one without reservation. With its pulse monitoring, GPS tracking, and interval modes along with the phone app and continued Garmin support this watch is a strong and affordable contender in its field.
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Bill
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Watch I Have Ever Owned
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2015
Verified Purchase
I have been using Garmin Sports watches for 7 years. When I first read the feature listing for the 225, I didn’t hesitate to order (in mid-May). I made this upgrade because of this watch’s strapless heart rate functionality. I am so ready to ditch the strap.

Upon receiving the watch on June 17, I eagerly dove in and explored the numerous options and settings available. This watch is awesome. Garmin did a great job of combining functionality, display options and ease of moving around within the settings (once you become familiar with that process). If I were advising Garmin’s design department, I would be hard pressed to think of anything additional to include with the 225. That completes my “praise” section.

The watch is great and the end result of working through the learning curve is well worth the effort. But … in my opinion, Garmin did a poor job with their documentation for new users. Ignore the very brief users manual that comes with watch and go straight to the URL listed to print out a “real” user’s manual. Even with that you may become frustrated (but don’t give up), in trying to master the basics regarding use of the 4 operating buttons on the watch. Here’s what is not in print but is essential to setting anything up on the watch (for reference, upper left button is #1 – then move clockwise to identify buttons 2,3 and 4):

While the manual frequently lists change commands starting with the “menu” command, there is no guidance as to how you get to “menu”. There are 2 methods to get there. First try pressing 3 until you get back to the home screen which lists “menu” at the bottom of that screen. If that doesn’t work, it means your watch is in the locked mode and you must first push button 2 to unlock it. Once unlocked, button 3 will return you to the start screen and you can than reach “menu” by selecting the down arrow with button 2.

I will not ramble regarding other setting topics, but just felt like the above menu navigation topic would be helpful and keep new users from becoming frustrated before they could even get up and running.

I conclude by reiterating that the 225 is the perfect watch for any runners who love to see all the metrics associated with their workouts. Once you unravel the “getting started issues”, you will be glad you bought this watch.
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salamander
3.0 out of 5 stars A decent running watch: HR fairly accurate, accelerometer a pain point
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2016
Verified Purchase
I've owned the watch for about 3 weeks now and wanted to post an initial review. I will update this as I use the watch more.

Summary: it's a good watch - but just okay. it has some obvious accuracy issues. Garmin support has been pretty unhelpful so far.

Pros:
- Snug, comfortable fit - I've never worn a wrist strap quite like this; it's very well made. It is stretchy, soft, pliable plastic that grips tightly in heavy sweat.
- The watch interface is easy and intuitive
- The controls are straightforward and easy to learn
- Overall the construction and quality of the mechanics are top notch; the watch is very light
- Built-in HR has been fairly accurate in my experience, despite what other reviewers have noted - but YMMV
- GPS signal acquisition is very fast, even in rural areas; less than 30 seconds
- GPS measurements seem fairly accurate for outdoor activities

Cons:
- Accelerometer - by far the biggest let down for this device, as you can see from Garmin's own support article here: https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId=%7B8fc7d8e0-6676-11e3-f27b-000000000000%7D; basically, Garmin removed the ability to manually calibrate the accelerometer (a feature present on older watch versions) and the watch will arrive to you uncalibrated and inaccurate. The _only_ way to calibrate the device is to run outdoors - an option that might not be available to you in the dead of winter. Therefore, if you got this watch for christmas, you might not be able to use it for 5 months. Luckily there was some warm weather recently and I was able to get in about 6 outdoor runs (which meets the minimum number of outdoor activities required to calibrate the device, according to Garmin), but the accelerometer is still very inaccurate. It's about 30 seconds off my pace and .1 - .2 miles off distance on a typical 3-mile treadmill run indoors. Luckily, you can edit your workouts after they post to Garmin Connect and correct the distance inaccuracy.
- Watch face is larger than digital display area
- Workflow is a bit clumsy and repetitive - you have to synch the watch to the phone which then beacons out to their cloud service; to update the device, you tether it to your computer. seems like you're always jumping back and forth between the app on your phone, the garmin connect app on your PC for synching and the Connect website for stats. They need to consolidate this and make it easier. The only app I want to use is the cloud one - I shouldn't have to jump through the other two apps all the time. The cloud interface comes with a lot of bloatware features that I don't find useful, and it's not possible to customize most of this. I've also found it to take several seconds to load the page.
- Some customization/quick-use features are lacking on the watch itself - such as hotkey button presses for switching GPS/bluetooth on and off (very useful if you run indoors frequently)
- The bluetooth connection is a bit flaky; if you're exercising with a separate bluetooth device such as headphones for music, I've found that the Garmin watch will suddenly connect/disconnect 5-6 times in a row at various points in my workout, buzzing me each time. Very glitchy.
- Support has been pretty awful - after 2 days waiting for a response to my issues above, I was disappointed to receive a copy and pasted text from the link above, which I already mentioned to them I had read. Then they asked questions that were clearly already answered in my original text. Pretty lazy and unhelpful support so far, but maybe that will change after I post enough mediocre reviews on various social media websites.
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Real_name_goes_here
4.0 out of 5 stars I bought this watch half expecting to not like it and return it
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2015
Verified Purchase
I bought this watch half expecting to not like it and return it, but god help me I love it! It has some quirks however, which I will discuss later. Most of them could be fixed through firmware updates or Garmin Connect updates.

A big selling point on this watch was the built in activity tracker. This meant I could just use 1 watch for activity tracking and for GPS tracking runs, which is one reason I was willing to spend the $ on this device. The other big selling point was the optical HRM. This works *very* well. I have compared it to my EKG strap and it works only a few beats off. It also has a light seal so when you're running light won't get in, as happens with the Fitbit optical HRM (in my experience).

Unfortunately, not everything is perfect. Since this is a pretty new watch, I'm hopeful that Garmin will fix some of these in firmware. The first is, there is no 24x7 hour heart rate monitoring. I assume this is a battery life issue, but if they disable it when you're sleeping I bet you could get away with it. Even if it was off by default it would be a great option. It wasn't a dealbreaker for me since you can still see your heart rate on demand from the watchface. The other thing I don't like is my watch does not automatically sync my steps. I checked online a little bit and I think this is the way its supposed to be. I don't see why they couldn't add a feature to sync your steps a few times a day, as other fitness trackers have done. Again, this is not a dealbreaker since its very easy to manually sync your step/sleep info.

If you are a very serious athlete, you may want to go with one of their nicer watches as this lacks some features you may want like vo2max estimations. For a beginner or intermediate watch, you can't go wrong with this!
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yojimbo
5.0 out of 5 stars The best run-tracking watch I've used so far
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2016
Verified Purchase
The best run-tracking watch I've used so far, and a nice fitness-tracker as well. If you're not willing to pay the extra price for the latest model (which brings more smart watch elements in), than this is a great option for those two functions. One caveat: you'll have to wear the watch fairly tightly to take advantage of the heart rate sensor. If that's uncomfortable for you and accurate heart rate measurement is important, then there may be other options. But that also seems to be a consistent issue on all wrist-based heart monitors.

Run Tracking: Easily navigated menus, quick response and load times, quick and strong GPS signal acquisition, accurate measurements, good battery life, and a good selection of statistics tracked. That covers all the bases for me with a running watch.

Fitness tracking: Very accurate step count, a nice vibrating reminder to move after 60 minutes of inactivity, and the option to check your heart rate at any point (it only automatically tracks during activities, but you can manually check at any time). There is no sleep tracking, which is a minus, but it's not comfortable enough to wear while sleeping anyway.

If you're looking for a good watch to run with, and also like the idea of tracking steps and getting movement reminders during the day, then I recommend it.
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Crystal
3.0 out of 5 stars Like the features, Bluetooth / size are having me send it back
Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2015
Verified Purchase
I got this watch about a week ago and it is my 1st GPS watch. I have decided to send it back, there are quite a few pros and a few cons that have weighed in my decision. I am going to try the Vivoactive next to see if it handles my cons.

Pros:
1. I like the run mode - as someone who always used apps on my phone, I loved having the custom screen and being able to set custom laps for my runs.
2. Heart rate monitor seems to work well, I have checked it against my phone and both come up similar.
3. Once I turned off my phone's Bluetooth (see con) it seems to work pretty well.
4. I like the buttons on the phone and it was pretty intuitive and easy to figure out. I figured it out quickly having never used a GPS watch and didn't need to read the instructions.

Cons:
1. I can't get it to stay connected to my phone (Samsung Galaxy S5) - I restart both the phone/watch then it will connect, then it stops. When it stops it then messes up my daily steps (they freeze). I am replacing my fitbit flex with this - so losing the step count and having it freeze was annoying. Once I turned the bluetooth off on my phone - it stopped locking up. I even did a hard reset, deleted the app and watch from my computer and started over - it did the same thing. I googled it - I see lots of other people have issues. For a $300 watch - this annoyed me, and the main reason it is going back.
2. It is big and really not that comfortable to sleep in. I am a female and it is just too big to wear every day - which is not ideal since it is my activity tracker and it has a sleep function. My wrist is also sore - I have always been a watch wearer so that is not a factor.
3. It is very masculine - with only black and the size - just doesn't feel like a females watch. I have other sports watches I have worn regularly that were way more attractive - I am more of a tom boy so me saying it is not feminine counts as a lot.

I will miss the built in HR monitor - but hoping the Vivoactive will retain my pros and get rid of my cons.

Edit: I have had the Vivoactive over a week now and like it better.
1. It is smaller, more comfortable and attractive - I have the white and am going to do the purple bands, I like that it is feminine
2. Activity tracking is pretty much the same - this was important since replacing my fitbit flex.
3. Run mode it the same, walk mode does steps vs pace, I am sure you can change it.
4. No HR Monitor in the wrist - this is why I got the FR225 to start with, but since I am not a serious athlete and a walker/jogger (5k through 1/2 marathons), gym goer who does weights, zumba, cardio kick boxing and such - really turned out not to be that big of deal for me right now.
5. Bluetooth works great and connected right away with zero issues. The notifications are actually pretty nice, but not why I got the watch.
6. Cost - I got the white one for $199 on sale and it was prime, so the $100 savings was nice.

I would say - if using for an activity tracker/gps watch and you don't need HR monitor in the wrist - go with the vivoactive.
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SpecialEd
4.0 out of 5 stars Great as running watch, not so great for gym workouts.
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2015
Verified Purchase
I bought the Garmin 225 to replace my 610 (the back had become completely rusted and pitted from my sweat during my workouts). As a running watch it is great. The GPS takes longer than the 610 to acquire the satellites, but works fine afterwords. The accelerometer does a good job of tracking distance when I start running before the satellites are acquired.

I have worn the 225 and the 610 together to compare their performance. The 610 feels like dragging around a ball and chain in comparison. When running, the heart rate monitors track exactly: while warming up, jogging, running, or sprinting. Where they differ is during gym bootcamp type workouts. For example, doing jumping jacks for 1 minute, the 610 with a heart rate strap would record a maximum of 120 beats per minutes. The 225 records over 150 beats per minute. During pushups, the 610 records as many as 120 beats per minute. The 225 is consistently over 130 beats per minute. I can raise the heart rate reading of the 225 by 10 beats per minute simply by making a tight fist over and over again while I'm walking on the treadmill.

I'm pretty thin, 6'4" 200lbs 8% body fat, so my wrist is not very big (I can wrap my thumb and index finger around my wrist). I have to wear the 225 much farther up my arm than I am used to with my 610. My thin wrist might also contribute to the strange reading during gym workouts. I also sweat profusely while I'm exercising (why my 610 has rusted so badly). Unless I get the watch REALLY REALLY TIGHT the heart rate monitor becomes erratic after I've worked up a good sweat. This happens both for gym workouts and for running workouts. Right now about six hours after removing the watch, the outline of the watch can still be seen on my wrist.

The Garmin Connect app is acceptable. After my workout I can quickly look at the plot of my heart rate and my course and pace (when using the GPS). It would be nice if these plots could be enlarged and rotated. Also plotting heart rate and pace against distance rather than just time like is done in the Garmin Training Center application on my computer would be useful.

If you are looking for a good GPS running watch with heart rate monitor, the 225 is a good choice. If your main use is gym workouts and want mostly a heart rate monitor, I recommend something with a heart rate monitor strap.
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