Review on 🏃 Black/Blue Garmin Forerunner 620 by Daniel Elgee

Our family had many Garmin products including the Edge 500, FR305, FR310, FR910, FR110 and FR10. While each might have a little quirk from time to time, overall they were really good, solid products that I would recommend to friends. The Garmin 620 is an exception as I wouldn't recommend it at this price point. I'll start with what I love about this product: it's smaller and lighter than most Garmin GPS watches. With GPS disabled, they can be a viable all-day watch with extremely long battery life. I like the internal accelerometer. While I don't think it tracks intervals particularly well, it's fine for a stationary treadmill or indoor treadmills without a pedometer for approximate distance. I also like the convenience of being able to create a workout on Garmin Connect and download it to my phone. What I don't like: The menu structure is very different from previous Garmin products, so I have to refer to the manual far too often. it's not very intuitive. The software on the device and the corresponding Garmin phone connection is really problematic. In terms of basic functionality, I haven't had any freezes or reboots with the 620 itself. But getting the 620 to communicate reliably over Wi-Fi and the phone is really difficult. I've had the best luck with phone transfers, but it looks like something is hanging up with the bluetooth, resulting in nothing downloading. This sometimes requires a reboot of the phone 620. sometimes a complete repair 620 on the phone. The WiFi connection is even less reliable. I think I've only gotten WiFi once in the last two months on the first try to broadcast the workout due to network errors. Sometimes it is transmitted after three attempts. Often 5 attempts and it still doesn't transfer. The only reliable way to transmit? Connect it via USB. like an old 305. Definitely a step backwards. As I mentioned above, I love creating workouts on Garmin Connect. But then again, I could only transfer them via USB. Although I got the status that it transferred normally, it never shows up on 620. The other big problem is the screen. It's just not good for "old" eyes. One of the reasons I went with 620 over 220 was that I could get 4 screens of data at once, similar to what I do with 310 and 910. The problem is that the area is smaller and the circular nature of the screen requires that the fonts were very small. To make matters worse, the screen contrast isn't that great. nowhere near as good as shown in photos and as good as 310s or 910s. Therefore, although 4 data points can be placed on the same screen, they are really difficult to read. It's not a lemon block limitation as both my wife and I have both and both have 620s with the same issues. Some of these issues may be addressed by Garmin with future updates, but this product is currently unreliable and not recommended.