Garmin 610 Tips and Tricks

Just picked up this watch yesterday. Any tips and tricks from those of you who own one?

I've already read about the run/walk feature and plan to use that for drink/nutrition reminders. I also read you can change fields at anytime by simply holding down on a particular field, that's pretty cool.

What software should I use to sync? Garmin Connect, Training Peaks or Sport Tracks? I already manually input workouts in to Running Ahead.

Thanks in advance.

Hope someone answers you besides me as I have been using mine since December and have not yet figured out all the intricacies.

Anyone...anyone...Bueller?

Ben Z wrote:Anyone...anyone...Bueller?

Us poor folk are stuck with the 405 still...

I b real po' folk with my 305.

Dave-O wrote:

Ben Z wrote:Anyone...anyone...Bueller?

Us poor folk are stuck with the 405 still...

Ha, well fair enough. But after months and months of only 2-3 runs/charge and inability to use when wet I had enough of the 405. Plus the 610 was on sale so I couldn't resist. (Yes, I'm trying to justify buying probably my fifth running watch in six years.)

Vibrating alerts and countdown alerts. The 610 (and apparently 310 and I would assume 910) has this feature and I love it.

On the watch I setup the following workout, via the Workout feature, on the watch (though you can easily setup even more complex workouts on Garmin Connect and them transfer them to the watch I read) in less than 20 seconds:

Warmup - This is any length or time duration you choose once you select warmup = yes. Once you are ready to start the actual workout you simply need to click the lap button and the watch vibrates informing you it's time to go.

8 x 2:00 intervals, 2:30 recoveries - The watch switched to a new screen with X/8 intervals displayed on top and a countdown of each interval (or recovery period) displayed on the bottom. With 5 seconds left in each interval there was an audible alert every second informing me the interval (or recovery) was about to complete, and then the watch vibrated at the conclusion of each interval/recovery informing me it was time to speed up or slow down. Very cool.

Cooldown - After the last recovery the watch automatically started the cooldown by counting back up with a normal timer. All I had to do was hit the lap button again once I felt my cooldown was complete. Then the entire run was complete.

I love how little I had to check my watch with the audible and vibrating alerts turned on. All I had to do was focus on the running. Very cool.

Next up I'll be trying something similar for tonight's progression run. I'll setup an alert when it's time to progress from easy to moderate miles. Then, when the time calls, I'll see about creating 1, 2, 3 min ladder intervals, tempo runs, etc. online and then transferring to the watch. So far I am very pleased with this watch.

Can you setup a vibrating alarm with no beep as a wake up alarm in the morning, Ben?

Jerry wrote:Can you setup a vibrating alarm with no beep as a wake up alarm in the morning, Ben?

If this is a serious question then yes, that is possible.

Ben Z wrote:

Jerry wrote:Can you setup a vibrating alarm with no beep as a wake up alarm in the morning, Ben?

If this is a serious question then yes, that is possible.

Haha.

It is. I bought a cheap Casio with a vibrating alarm so that I could be woken up without disturbing my wife.

I like the vibrating alert too cause I run with iPod and can't hear the beep.

This can be a deal breaker next time I need to upgrade Garmin. But for now, stick to my 405.

Any other nifty features on the 610?

Do you have to have the audible beeps for 5 seconds? Can it be set to silence with just the vibration?

dot520 wrote:Do you have to have the audible beeps for 5 seconds? Can it be set to silence with just the vibration?

Yes, I believe so. You can turn off the audible alerts as this is a separate setting from the vibrating alert in the menu I believe.

ounce wrote:Any other nifty features on the 610?

Well, I have not played around too much with anything other than the basic workout feature but one thing I really like is the ability to change data fields on the fly. All you need to do is hold your finger on a particular data field for a few seconds and it opens up a menu with the ability to quickly replace it with a new field. This came in very handy this weekend when I opted to do a timed run instead of a distance run. I was able to quickly change the fields I wanted to see on my HR page rather than going through the setup process from scratch.

And the ability to use it when wet is really nice. I no longer have to worry about the ability to use it when it's raining, when my sweaty shirt sleeve touches it, accidentally leaving it on when I hop in the shower, etc. It works perfectly.

I think you just sold it to me-my 405's been going wild for a couple months now and I've been debating on this one before it's completely done. Where'd you find it on sale?!

I lost my 405 last week (between burlaries and this I am ready to punch something). Now I'm torn between buying the 405 on sale at Costco for $169 or the 610.

Dave-O wrote:I lost my 405 last week (between burlaries and this I am ready to punch something). Now I'm torn between buying the 405 on sale at Costco for $169 or the 610.

Depends on if you want to be a top of line runner.

Dave-O wrote:I lost my 405 last week (between burlaries and this I am ready to punch something). Now I'm torn between buying the 405 on sale at Costco for $169 or the 610.

seriously? that's a steal. i'd love the 610 but i'm worried it dies after 2 short years like my 405. decisions, decisions.

Lauren wrote:I think you just sold it to me-my 405's been going wild for a couple months now and I've been debating on this one before it's completely done. Where'd you find it on sale?!

Picked it up at Road Runner Sports with a coupon.

Got it!! Thank you amazon prime. Can't wait.

I don't know if this counts as a tip or trick but I found the 405 and 610 to be PRETTY similar. A couple of differences:
- That vibration alert thing although to be honest I turned it off on my 610 as I sometimes prefer running with the iPod and deliberately not looking at the splits

- The 610 LOOKS more like a running watch and the 405/410 looks more like a regular digital watch. The face is bigger so you don't pass off the 610 as a regular watch....it just looks funny that way whereas I think you could wear the 405/410 and it looks just like a regular digital watch.

- But because of that bigger screen, the 610 readout is much easier to read than the 405/410. If you use 3 fields like I do, you can make one of them in the middle very large and its super easy to read. Sometimes the 405/410 was pretty tough to read without pulling the watch up closer to my eyes.

- Both grab the satellite signal fast and I've had remarkable accuracy from both. But my 205 was AWFUL for that. "Finding Satelites" took forever. If you are using a 205/305, you gotta upgrade for that alone!

- The timeout feature on the 605 annoyed me at first as if you don't do anything for awhile it gives you a 30 second countdown and then goes into battery saving sleep mode. You then have to unlock it again to get going but it still saves where you were data wise before it went into sleep and so now I actually like that feature as it extends battery life a huge amount versus the 405/410 where I would finish a workout and then throw it in the gym bag and it wouldn't go into power save mode and run out of battery.

I have one great tip put duck tape on the band were the pins are to hold the band to the face of the watch. For me the pin on the left side always seems to want to pop out. Well not always just when I hit my lap button to record my splits, for some reason the pin on the left side always comes undone. Good thing this has only happen to me on the treadmill or I might have smashed the watch on the roads.

Other then that I think it is a great watch. Hell the battery last for my whole JFK 50 race (almost ran out of juice). I guess that means i will have to run faster this year.

Dave-O wrote:I lost my 405 last week (between burlaries and this I am ready to punch something). Now I'm torn between buying the 405 on sale at Costco for $169 or the 610.

405 $139 @ walmart.com $152 w/tax and free shipping.