New Garmin, thoughts? (fenix3 | FR920XT | Epix)

rom

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/


Product gets released after xmass must mean it was full of bugs. They may have fixed them but then again if the 620 is anything to go from. The biggest issue with the 620 took almost a year to resolve and probably it was a software tradeoff as if it took that long it was more than likely a hardware issue.

Vito Andolini

I thought I was going to get a free one to test out!

sconhome

In fairness Garmin seem to have gotten their act together. The 920 seems vastly improved over previous offerings.

The only issue seems to be syncing of data and Garmin IQ at the moment. Their build quality seems to be sorted.

tunney

AKW wrote: »

In fairness Garmin seem to have gotten their act together. The 920 seems vastly improved over previous offerings.

The only issue seems to be syncing of data and Garmin IQ at the moment. Their build quality seems to be sorted.

I had 11 910xts - ten went back on build quality
I had a garmin swim - it went back after a day, fogging
I had a Polar RS800 - ditto, ditched it, fogging
I had a Polar RC5 - returned in a day.

I can make 90% of 910xts, swims and most Rs800s fog in a day. Its about knowing how to replicate the conditions.

Some of the Garmins I binned for problems with power meter connections.
The Polar RC5 for being a crippled pos.

I have had the 920xt a month. I have zero complaints with the unit and have not seen a single problem.

The Garmin Connect site issues are a pain but nothing to do with the watch.

viperlogic

Looks like the Garmin design department have woken up at last, new releases are looking less like kids toys. Love the look of the Fenix3 as in it would easily pass as a daily thou may be bit heavy/clunky for activitys.

There is alot of crossover now with Fenix and Forerunner now, wondering what direction they are going. Fenix is near exact same as Forerunner bar possibly better navigation.

Regards quality/bugs, yes the 620 was a joke on release but I've had no issues with the 920XT yet which I've had since launch.

robinph

So have a shiny new 920xt that I picked up at the London expo. Have only been running with it a couple of times, but it seems to flash up a screen at me after about a mile and a half saying "recovery good".

What is that all about and is it something I need to be turning off?

adrian522

It's your recovery time. Essentially there should be a menu item under "My Stats" called recovery advisor. This shows how many hours until you are recovered properly for a quality session or a race.

Once you start a new activity, after about 1K or so as you say it flashes up how well you should have recovered. Usually it says Recovery Good for me at least.

I leave it on though it is a bit of a gimmick it may give me a heads up if I am not leaving enough time between sessions.

The above is based in the fenix 3 but I assume your is the same.

BeepBeep67

Don't wear the HRM and it won't show

rom

robinph wrote: »

So have a shiny new 920xt that I picked up at the London expo. Have only been running with it a couple of times, but it seems to flash up a screen at me after about a mile and a half saying "recovery good".

What is that all about and is it something I need to be turning off?

Yeah I got a 920xt too. Great watch though a bit ugly. If you turn on GLONASS I find it gets satalite lock in less than 10 secs. I never got that before. It does drain battery a tad more but its great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc00cfvVE58

Re recovery advisor. basically it is checking heart rate variability.

[img}http://dingo.care2.com/pictures/greenliving/uploads/2014/05/HRV_300.jpg[/img]

Basically it the time delay between the beats is the nearly the same then HRv suggests that you are not recovered and recovery will take a bit more. It can be a good guide but we would get no training done if you took it as gospel. It only works with the HRM run (same for Vo2max) predictor. as the older HRMs only send the beats per min value every second to the watch in a digital value.

Polar analogue straps would work with other HRV kit as they are essentially sending the beats to the watch so the HRv (gap between beats) can be calculated on the watch. most bluetooth LE or optical hrms I see don't support this as they again only send the beats per min to the watch.

Krusty_Clown

rom wrote: »

Yeah I got a 920xt too. Great watch though a bit ugly. If you turn on GLONASS I find it gets satalite lock in less than 10 secs. I never got that before. It does drain battery a tad more but its great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc00cfvVE58

Re recovery advisor. basically it is checking heart rate variability.

[img}http://dingo.care2.com/pictures/greenliving/uploads/2014/05/HRV_300.jpg[/img]

Basically it the time delay between the beats is the nearly the same then HRv suggests that you are not recovered and recovery will take a bit more. It can be a good guide but we would get no training done if you took it as gospel. It only works with the HRM run (same for Vo2max) predictor. as the older HRMs only send the beats per min value every second to the watch in a digital value.

Polar analogue straps would work with other HRV kit as they are essentially sending the beats to the watch so the HRv (gap between beats) can be calculated on the watch. most bluetooth LE or optical hrms I see don't support this as they again only send the beats per min to the watch.

The recovery advisor is a countdown timer. It bases the amount of recovery time on your previous session/workout (when you were wearing the HRM strap). Looks like the HRV is calculated at the start of your next workout in the first few mins of the activity. Not sure what happens if it detects that you haven't recovered. Don't wear my HRM often enough to find out. Still get the HR spikes with the new strap, so not sure how useful that would be anyway.

robinph

Think this "move" notification is just going to make me get up to put the kettle on more often.

adrian522

Yeah, I turned that off pretty quickly, though I left the recovery advisor on.

AngelaRI

I've had my 920XT for about 6 weeks now, clocked a good number of miles and time, and loving it!! Satellite reception is FAST! Though I have found that if you don't give it a minute before you start running, your elevation is out (I was running 120m below sea level one day apparently) - the elevation gain/loss is accurate, but your starting/reference could be a little off... check the screen with your elevation display and once it stops jumping around (calibrating), you're good to go
Other than that 1 little oddity, I'm highly impressed. I've run with Garmin for 9 years: first my trusty FR305, then my 310xt, and now 920xt. I'm loving the 920 - it's light, MUCH smaller then my previous 2 forerunners (though still too big for my small wrists to use as a day-to-day watch and activity tracker, though I have the vivofit for that, saves battery on my 920 for running), light, slim, accurate, seems just as durable as its predecessors. I also have the HRM RUN bundle, and the new HRM gives me some lovely additional running dynamics stats - usefulness at this point is questionable perhaps, but who doesn't like seeing pretty colours :P Seriously though, I'm loving the VO2 Max data (about which I was pretty clueless previously). I don't take the recovery advisor too seriously though - we're all different, and I find I recover fairly quickly. I'd also never fit in my current mileage were I to follow the recovery advisor... For some things I still prefer to listen to my body.
I also love the bluetooth phone comms - my 310xt was downloadable to my phone only through 3rd party software (invaluable for travelling) and either a phone with ANT+ capability (which mine was), or a USB OTG dongle and ANT stick. No need for that anymore, just regular bluetooth will do.
The downloadable watchfaces are awesome if you want to use standby/watch feature. I don't do that too often due to the still-too-large size, but nice to have the option.
I'm a dedicated runner, no multi-sport for me, so unfortunately those features are lost on the likes of me. But the running-related features are awesome, battery life is phenomenal (same as the 310xt). Worth every cent in my opinion! Lately I've increased my monthly mileage fairly significantly, which for me justified the expense of a shiny new Garmin. That, and I know that I'll get years of reliable use from it, as with my previous 2 (both still alive and well, gifted to family members to get them into running)

Garmin Forerunner 920XT gets 2 happy thumbs-up from me

opus

Yet another new Garmin, the 220 with a built-in HR monitor - FR225.

Presume the first of many with the optical HR sensor.

rom

AngelaRI wrote: »

I've had my 920XT for about 6 weeks now, clocked a good number of miles and time, and loving it!! Satellite reception is FAST! Though I have found that if you don't give it a minute before you start running, your elevation is out (I was running 120m below sea level one day apparently) - the elevation gain/loss is accurate, but your starting/reference could be a little off... check the screen with your elevation display and once it stops jumping around (calibrating), you're good to go
Other than that 1 little oddity, I'm highly impressed. I've run with Garmin for 9 years: first my trusty FR305, then my 310xt, and now 920xt. I'm loving the 920 - it's light, MUCH smaller then my previous 2 forerunners (though still too big for my small wrists to use as a day-to-day watch and activity tracker, though I have the vivofit for that, saves battery on my 920 for running), light, slim, accurate, seems just as durable as its predecessors. I also have the HRM RUN bundle, and the new HRM gives me some lovely additional running dynamics stats - usefulness at this point is questionable perhaps, but who doesn't like seeing pretty colours :P Seriously though, I'm loving the VO2 Max data (about which I was pretty clueless previously). I don't take the recovery advisor too seriously though - we're all different, and I find I recover fairly quickly. I'd also never fit in my current mileage were I to follow the recovery advisor... For some things I still prefer to listen to my body.
I also love the bluetooth phone comms - my 310xt was downloadable to my phone only through 3rd party software (invaluable for travelling) and either a phone with ANT+ capability (which mine was), or a USB OTG dongle and ANT stick. No need for that anymore, just regular bluetooth will do.
The downloadable watchfaces are awesome if you want to use standby/watch feature. I don't do that too often due to the still-too-large size, but nice to have the option.
I'm a dedicated runner, no multi-sport for me, so unfortunately those features are lost on the likes of me. But the running-related features are awesome, battery life is phenomenal (same as the 310xt). Worth every cent in my opinion! Lately I've increased my monthly mileage fairly significantly, which for me justified the expense of a shiny new Garmin. That, and I know that I'll get years of reliable use from it, as with my previous 2 (both still alive and well, gifted to family members to get them into running)

Garmin Forerunner 920XT gets 2 happy thumbs-up from me

In a similar boat to yourself. Other than the LCD could be a little bigger if they didnt have the garmin logo on the front I think its a perfect watch. pace is very accurate which was not the case on the 620. No issues with coming off the charger. Did a tm run the other day and the pace was very accurate without any calibration with just the watch alone. buttons are always better than touch screen. very happy with it I must say ( which is not normally the case) it has not hung or needed a reset. There is never an issue with activities not uploading.