Hasta La Gadget!

Some of us like the feeling of running – it makes us feel extremely light, not to mention that running happens to be great exercise for one to burn all those additional calories that have accumulated around the waist. Having said that, Garmin, a name that is synonymous with GPS navigation devices, has just unveiled a couple of GPS running watches, and they are known as the Garmin Forerunner 620 and Forerunner 220. Both of them are said to be the lightest, thinnest, most advanced offerings for runners from Garmin, making it your very own non-living personal running coach.

Let us take a look at the Forerunner 620 first – it will arrive with a bunch of advanced features including recovery advisor, race predictor and VO2 max estimate that will come in handy in helping runners train smarter and to achieve new race goals. When used in tandem with the NEW HRM-Run monitor, the Forerunner 620 will also be able to deliver the relevant feedback on running form. Assuming you prefer to hit the treadmill instead of pound the pavement, both the 620 and 220 will feature a built-in accelerometer that is capable of tracking distance and pace, meaning you do not need to obtain a separate sensor. Either way, these two models will come with Garmin’s special one-inch Chroma color display.

Not only that, equipped with Bluetooth Smart wireless upload capabilities, the Forerunner 620 and 220 are capable of sending runners’ run data to the Garmin online community known as Garmin Connect, all without requiring one to be tethered to a computer as a compatible smartphone will do the job. Not only that, the Forerunner 620 and 220 are pretty tough, being water-resistant to 50m with rechargeable batteries that are said to last up to six weeks in watch mode and up to 10 hours in training mode. Expect the Forerunner 620 to arrive in blue/black and white/orange color configurations, while the Forerunner 220 will feature black/red and white/violet shades. Depending on whether you are picking up the HRM-Run Bundle or Heart Rate Bundle, they will retail for $399.99/$449.99 and $249.99/$299.99, respectively.

Press Release
[ Garmin delivers two more GPS running watches – the Garmin Forerunner 620 and Forerunner 220 copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Dedicated GPS navigation devices have been around for quite some time already, although there is the very real and present danger of such a niche market to go out of vogue with the plethora of devices these days (smartphones and tablets, especially) that already come with their fair share of built-in GPS navigation capability, hence doing away with the need for a dedicated GPS device. Still, companies like TomTom and Magellan are still around, and the latter has decided to expand the worldwide availability of their Magellan Switch Series of crossover GPS watches across the pond, specially targeting athletes who run, bike, swim or participate in a wide range of outdoor activities. The Magellan Switch and Switch Up watches will be made available from this month onwards from select retailers and via Magellan’s European distribution network.

In order to offer more support for their European users, Magellan has decided to expand its Magellan Active website (active.magellangps.com) by throwing in more languages such as French, Spanish, German, Italian and Dutch, and of course, the mainstay, English. Magellan Active makes it a snap for multisport athletes who want to record their performance data on Magellan’s Switch Series, as it is easy to upload and track data online using intuitive charts, maps and metrics, all from a single location.

The Magellan Switch Series of crossover GPS watches will include some more innovative features including an ‘Activity Pacer’ which will tell runners should they be on target with their goal, while offering specific targets in order to attain the desired result. There is the Switch GPS watch which was specially designed for runners, and remains as a powerful fitness training device that has been packed with innovative features which will include nine customizable sport profiles, easy-to-read high resolution display, eight hours of battery life, a high sensitivity GPS receiver, 50 meter water resistance, and compatibility with ANT+ sensors.

The Magellan Switch Series will be available as of now from Magellan’s European distribution partners serving UK, France, Germany, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Benelux.

Company Page
[ Magellan GPS watches arrive in Europe copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

There may be a few more years remaining before a forced retirement, but there’s no question that dedicated automotive GPS units are on the way out. Integrated products, apps and the aviation sector will keep companies like Garmin afloat, but now’s as good a time as any to focus on other markets — and where better to slap that global positioning goodness than on our wrists. Watches seems to be a growing focus for the guidance giant, following last month’s GPS-less Garmin Swim introduction. That device has a relatively narrow target (namely, swimmers willing to invest $150 in the sport), but the company is back with a more versatile wearable, complete with an altimeter, barometer, compass, an optional external ANT temperature sensor and Bluetooth connectivity. There’s also a GPS receiver, which can be used not only to calibrate the time and sensors, but also to track a route, direct you towards waypoints and guide you back to your starting point with TracBack.

The Fenix, as the full-featured watch is being called, is expected to retail for $400 when it hits stores at the end of August. Four bills hardly qualifies it for the luxury wristwatch category, but as digital wearables go, that’s certainly approaching the top end. We had an opportunity to try out the device in an office setting (not exactly an ideal environment for a rugged GPS watch, but that’s the best we could do in the middle of NYC), and the Fenix had quite a bit of heft to it — it’ll surely look out of place on smaller wrists, and probably won’t score you any points among fashion-conscious friends. Inner geeks should be appeased, however — the enclosure definitely seems an adequate size for housing all of those instruments. It also functions quite nicely as a watch — in default mode, it displays the time and date in large characters on the backlit LCD, with a nifty ring around the digits to indicate seconds. The Garmin Fenix is on track for a late-August ship date, but you can scroll through the gallery below or dive into the PR after the break to get your fix in the meantime.

Continue reading Garmin unveils Fenix, its first GPS watch for deep-pocketed outdoorsy types (hands-on)

Garmin unveils Fenix, its first GPS watch for deep-pocketed outdoorsy types (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 07:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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