Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS Heart Rate Monitor

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS Heart Rate Monitor:

I recently lost the foot pod for my FR60 and went to REI for a replacement. After looking at the new watches I decided to ditch the footpod and go with the GPS enabled 210 instead. I've had it for about a week and so far its a great watch. It's very easy to use, has a great set of features, and is extremely accurate.

I was a little concerned about the GPS since I do a lot of running in the city around tall buildings and tree lined streets but the watch locks on to satellites quickly and does not loose the signal.

This watch does not have all of the features of the FR60 (training partner, pace alert, wireless data transfer) but other than the wireless data transfer I didn't really use these on the FR60 anyway.

So far the only complaint I have is that the charging clip can be a little difficult to seat but its a fairly minor annoyance.

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS Heart Rate Monitor:

I am a 51 year old who runs and rides about 8 hours per week for fun, fitness, and to avoid cholesterol meds. I primarily use the 210 running, but also find it handy for hiking, walking, and general casual and travel wear.

This is a great watch for running. It keeps your routine simple - just the basic pace & HR info you need while underway, but a few computer clicks back at the ranch pulls up a clear and detailed analysis of your run for review and training/event tweaks.

The game changer is that the 210 really looks like a conventional men's sports watch. It is even OK in many work settings, so it can be on your wrist for unexpected power walks or distance measurements. The 210 also works for any fast forward sport - like cycling where the quick post-ride readout provides the key data needed for basic training.

Quibbles (not enough to lower the rating): As mentioned by another reviewer, the clip connection sometimes has to be nudged to work properly. Calories don't display, but that is IMO a useless feature anyway. It would be good if the beep volume could be increased to be heard over heavy cross wind and traffic noise.

Service and delivery comments:

Delivery was prompt - 2 day speed despite being sent free UPS Ground. Thanks!

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS Heart Rate Monitor:

Great watch out of the box. Had a 405 that drove me crazy with unreliability. This one started out very good, then speed tracking seemed inconsistent and innaccurate after 3-4 months. Satillite connection kept getting slower over time, up to 5 minutes at times to connect on a sunny day. Stopwatch is 2-3 seconds slow on the startup at races. Today,after 6 months, it just died, and will not charge or come on. Not what I hoped for at all. [...] I run 30-40 miles per week, and watch was well cared for.

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS Heart Rate Monitor:

Okay, I've wanted one of these toys for years and finally settled on this one. It was on sale at REI, but was available cheaper elsewhere. However, after twenty years as a member and knowing how strong the customer service is at REI, I decided to buy here to support my coop and in case something went wrong. Good decision!

I had read reviews complaining about slow signal acquisition and about the heartrate monitor going bad very quickly. I was not prepared for anything like this though.

1. Signal acquisition is ABYSMAL.

There have been times when I've done a run and gotten decent tracking, then gone out and done the same run under clear skies and gone for 30 minutes without getting a signal. This has been true in dense forest in Yosemite where I live, sure, but also running along the open road by fields and meadows in Vermont, along a hilltop in Minnesota. Once, I ran to the top of a hill in Yosemite and stood in an open area for 3 minutes with the thing above my head, no signal. Then, a few minutes later, while bushwhacking in dense underbrush, I suddenly saw it was tracking!

It is incredible how bad this is. I have noticed that with a 100% full charge, I can often pick up satelites quickly, but anything less and it won't get them at all. Example. Yesterday I ran from my house for 3.5 miles. It tracked me perfectly through the forest. The watch was on for about 30 minutes, so drained a little, but not a lot. Three hours later, I decided to run to my lunch appointment. The first half mile was along the same route, then I veered into open meadows and still, after over a mile of running, I had no signal. Strangely, after lunch, I stood stock still and it picked up a signal and tracked me home. JUNK.

2. I had read complaints where people said the heartrate monitor twinked out after a month. I think mine literally lasted three uses. I thought the battery had gone bad, but today I tried not one, but two new batteries and could not get the watch to recognize the heartrate monitor.

3. No coordinates display.

On those rare occasions this has worked, it is a fun toy. It's a toy only, of course, because of the extreme unreliability. I knew of course this was not going to have maps and all that like a GPS, but I didn't imagine it wouldn't even let you display the coordinates, which might be pretty handy.

4. Average pace readings.
These are pretty weird and all over the place. They use sme averaging algorithm that seems to average over about a minute, so you don't have an instantaneous display. If you want to do intervals where you, for example, stay above a certain pace, you can't really do that because of the substantial lag time in the display (even when you say not to average things).

5. Battery life. 10 hours and you're done. You lose your GPS. You lose your watch. If you're doing something longer and want to know what time it is, you need a backup watch. This is just the nature of GPS devices because of the power draw, so nothing against Garmin on that point. Just saying.

Bottom line: When it works, it's a pretty cool toy, but it doesn't work so often, you just have to take it as a bonus if you actually can use it.

Given how unreliable it is and the fact that the HR monitor appears to be broken, I'll be returning this.

If you've gotten this far and you're still thinking of buying this, good luck! Let me say one more thing. I read the reviews and knew that people had problems with the signal acquisition. I said "Well, what's the big deal if I wait a minute or two for a signal or miss the first two minutes of my run?" I read the reports where people said the HR monitor broke almost immediately. I said "Well, any piece of equipment can fail, it's a small percentage though, right?"

In short, I thought it would be a ton of fun to have device that does what the Garmin does, and when it works, it is, so I allowed myself to discount all the negative reviews.

Sure, REI has a great return policy and I'll get my money back. No problem there. But it is a pain in the butt for me (and REI), and it's just been a frustrating experience.

I must say, ten years ago I had a Garmin eTrex Legend and it, also, was an utter piece of junk, with terrible signal acquisition. I thought that GPS units had improved a lot in the intervening years. I'm sure they have, but I will not be buying any more Garmin products.

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS Heart Rate Monitor:

Hard to link footpod at first, doesn't track cals burned, contacted Garmin and they are aware of the issue

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS Heart Rate Monitor:

I'm very happy with this watch. I use it for running and other cardio activities as well as recording heart rate during strength training.
The only cons I've experienced are minor:
- You have to make sure the data cable is clamped securely/correctly and does not get jostled during data transfer. (Computers don't like broken USB connections.)
- One time I worked out indoors and then went to run outside and couldn't switch to an outdoor workout and thus connect to satellites. (This only happened once to me so far.) Other times it has re-asked me "Workout indoors?" at which time I can say "No" and it will enable GPS.
- I'd also like to see some small improvements to the Garmin Training Center software.

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS Heart Rate Monitor:

Great out of the box. I couldn't believe what a great upgrade it was from the Polar watches I had owned. It never was easy to get to my total calories burned or to even see them during training but that was a "nice to have". After a few months it became more difficult to detect satellites and the heart rate monitor required a new battery every few weeks. I returned the unit when the HRM failed completely. Gotta love REI's return policy or I would have been stuck with this gadget.

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS Heart Rate Monitor:

Bought this to use for hiking and returned it. I don't understand a GPS enabled product that doesn't even display lat/long, much less a breadcrumb trail or anything like that. What's the point?

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS Heart Rate Monitor:

This is my fifth forerunner, first starting off with the 205. I really didn't use this because as soon as I started to play with the watch I discovered that the "custom intervals" were ones you had to adjust in the watch and you couldn't download your "custom intervals as in the 305, 310, and 405. Because I have set up all my intervals and tempo runs in my garmin training log I found that this was something I really wanted. If I am wrong with my findings then would the next reviewer please correct me. I returned the watch without using it. If you don't care about this I would have probably kept the watch. I really like the new heart rate montior strap, it is like the polar strap with no hard plastic(bled out on a marathon with a plastic one before, no fun). The size of the watch and the functions are quite intuitive. The charging clip is finicky, I do wish they would use a micro usb conector so I wouldn't have to carry around another cable when traveling. This could still be improved upon but overall a very nice simple unit.

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 210 GPS Heart Rate Monitor:

Use for running and indoor training.
GPS great for real time running pace.
Heart rate monitor failed after few weeks. Seems to be a Garmin problem with the monitor strap.