Garmin Forerunner 620

It’s the next best thing to having your own personal running coach. Forerunner 620 features recovery advisor, race predictor and VO2 max estimate so you can train smarter. When used with the HRM-Run monitor, the 620 also gives you feedback on your running form by showing your cadence, ground contact time and vertical oscillation. For indoor training, the built-in accelerometer tracks distance, so you don’t need a separate foot pod.

It Knows Your Potential

Forerunner 620 can estimate your VO2 max, your body’s maximal oxygen consumption. Knowing your VO2 max is a great way to measure your physical fitness and improve your performance. When used with a heart rate monitor, the 620 crunches data, including your running speed, beats per minute and heart rate variability to estimate your VO2 max. The number itself indicates the maximum volume of oxygen you can consume per minute, per kilogram of body weight at your max performance.

A colour gauge on the watch shows how your VO2 max data compares to other runners of your gender and age range. Based on your VO2 max estimate, the 620 can predict your race times for several distances. This can give you a time target for your next race, assuming you’ve completed proper training.

Train and Race the Way You Want

Forerunner 620 features separate activity profiles for Ride/Race/Run, and makes it easy to switch between them, for viewing only the information you want to see. The “Ride” profile defaults to speed instead of pace, sets the activity as cycling for Garmin Connect, and supports cycling speed and pedalling cadence measurements when paired with Garmin wireless speed and cadence sensors. The “Race” profile is an additional running profile that allows you to set up and quickly switch to different data fields for races than those you use for day-to-day training.

Rest Day or Run Day

With Forerunner 620, you don’t have to guess how much recovery time you need between workouts. It knows your physiology based on your heart rate data, so it factors this against your last workout and then shows how much time before you are fully recovered and ready for your next hard running workout.

When wearing HRM-Run, the 620 provides a recovery check, which is a real-time indication of your state of recovery within the first several minutes of your run. When you’ve completed a run, the recovery time shows how long before you should attempt another hard workout. Colour coding on the gauge makes it easy to interpret — green means you’re good to go. When you see red and a recovery time of more than 3 days, you might consider taking a rest day or just doing a light recovery run.

Following Your Form

The 620 is the first GPS running watch that provides feedback on your running form by reporting multiple metrics. When used with the HRM-Run monitor, the 620 reports your cadence, vertical oscillation and ground contact time. These metrics are called running dynamics, and they affect your running economy.

The HRM-Run has an accelerometer, which measures your torso movement as you run to compute these metrics. Cadence is the total number of steps you take per minute, left and right foot combined. Vertical oscillation is the degree of “bounce” in your running motion, measured in centimetres. Ground contact time is just like it sounds — the amount of time your foot spends on the ground during each running step, measured in milliseconds. A colour gauge makes it easy to see how your running dynamics compare to other runners.

In the Box:

• Forerunner 620
• Charging/data clip
• Manuals

Key Features:

• Touchscreen GPS running watch with high-resolution colour display that tracks distance, pace and heart rate
• Calculates your recovery time and VO2 max estimate when used with heart rate
• HRM-Run monitor adds data for cadence, ground contact time and vertical oscillation
• Connected features: automatic uploads to Garmin Connect™, live tracking, social media sharing
• Compatible with free training plans from Garmin Connect

Technical Specifications:

• Unit dimensions (W x H x D): 4.5 x 4.5 x 1.25cm
• Display size (W x H): 2.54cm diameter
• Display resolution (W x H): 180 x 180 pixels
• Touchscreen: Yes
• Weight: 43.6g
• Battery: rechargeable lithium-ion
• Battery life: up to 6 weeks in watch mode; up to 10 hours in training mode
• Water resistant: Yes (50m)
• GPS-enabled: Yes
• High-sensitivity receiver: Yes