Garmin’s Hooking Me Up…I Think?

Ever since I got my Forerunner 25 a year ago for my birthday, I’ve had issues with it. It hasn’t been the same problem every time, but the issues have remained consistent and recently, have prevented me from even using the watch. The first set of issues began almost immediately, (October). I went for a run, and went to save it upon completion. After clicking “save”, a screen popped up saying that my run was saved successfully – only problem is, this screen never disappeared. I contemplated on letting my watch die in hopes that my run might still be there once I charged it, but gave up and reset the watch, (which deletes any unsaved/recent activity). After doing some troubleshooting with Garmin, it was determined that the issue was that my watch’s software was out of date and all that was needed was for me to stay on top of the updates. No joke, as soon as I would get a notification saying that my watched needed an update, it would freeze on me. I can’t pre-emptively update my watch for an update that isn’t even available yet. Problem number one.

Problem Number two: Strava upload issues. After runs, my data would successfully upload to Garmin Connect, however wouldn’t sync to Strava. I doubled checked to make sure that I had it set to do it automatically, however it just wouldn’t sync. Again, I called Garmin and was told that the issue was that I had two Garmin Express accounts…how that happened, I have no idea. The Garmin employee I spoke with over the phone deleted the account that appeared to be dormant and reassured me that I shouldn’t have any more issues. Keep in mind my watch is still freezing on the “Run Saved!” screen in addition to this.

Problem number three: my run doesn’t even sync to Garmin Connect! I’ve tried resetting my watch, letting it die, and troubleshooting with Garmin but all to no avail. During my last troubleshooting session, I decided that I had enough and wanted a new watch. With very little fight, Garmin started a service request for me and said that I can send back my watch and get a new one. I sent my watch in the mail fairly promptly since the Oakville Half Marathon is next Sunday and I don’t want to use my phone as a means of keeping pace. However, I just checked the status of my order and saw this:

BACKORDERED?!? ARG!! This is so not ideal. A part of me wishes that I didn’t send my watch away until after the race. I only did it before because I was told 7-10 business days, (with today being the ninth). Here’s to hoping that my shipping status changing ASAP!

 

-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy

Product Review: Garmin Forerunner 25

*DISCLAIMER: This isn’t a positive review*

Price: $99.99 USD

After having this watch for a few months, I feel that I can finally write a review on it! Although the Forerunner 35 just recently came out, if you’re looking to save some money on a GPS watch, this review would be useful for you. For starters, the Forerunner 25 is a fairly basic GPS watch, so I figured it’d be ideal for someone who hasn’t had one before and is a fan of low-frills electronics.

Physical Specs:

It comes with different colour wristbands, but since blue is my favourite colour, Daniel got that one, (it was a birthday present).

As you can see, the face of the watch is relatively small, which makes for a nice fit on the wrist.

The charger is fairly simple and just involves clipping on a backing to the backside of the watch.

The face of the watch itself isn’t touch screen, which is a little bit of a bummer. Rather than a touch screen face, you have four buttons, (two on each side), that allow you to navigate though menus such as settings, history, and starting a run.

The all-black button is used to scroll up and down through menu screens and the blue button is used to start, stop and pause runs. 

The button on the left is the power button, and the button on the right is button go back or “undo” the action you just did. 

It also doesn’t measure heart rate at the wrist but rather via a strap that goes around your chest. I haven’t used the heart rate strap since it seemed a tad inconvenient, so I can’t comment on that feature.

Tech Specs:

-It counts your steps and calories burned

-It keeps a history of your runs

-It can be connected to Garmin Connect, Strava, and MyFitnessPal

The Nitty-Gritty:

The GPS takes approximately 10 minutes to catch a signal. 10 MINUTES!! That’s way too long. I’d heard stories about some watches taking a while, but I never thought it’d be 10 minutes. The challenge with this is that since I live in a condo complex, my runs usually start there, so I usually have to walk a half block just to get away from the tall buildings.

 

The most negative feature of all…

 

IT FREEZES! So far it’s happened to me three times, but it occurs sporadically so I never know when it’s going to happen. Two out of the three times that it froze it wasn’t even cold out, so it’s not like weather was the issue. The first two times that it froze I was saving my run. When you finish a run, you press the blue button shown above which pauses the run. It then gives you the option to save or resume. If you press save, a screen pops up that says “Run Saved!”. This is the screen that froze on me. The problem with this is that I couldn’t remember how long I’d been running, so I wasn’t able to manually enter the run. On top of that, resetting the watch, (which unfreezes it), erases your last run so it’s not in your history anymore!

On the third time it froze, it froze on the “save/resume” screen. By the third time, I’d gotten into the habit of checking the time and distance before I save my run so that I could manually enter my run on Strava. DOESN’T THIS DEFEAT THE PURPOSE OF A GPS WATCH?!?!

As you can tell, I’m not very impressed by the Forerunner 25. It’s up-to-date in terms of software, so there shouldn’t be a reason as to why this is happening. It has been helpful because I can see my pace more conveniently than when I ran with my phone, but I shouldn’t have to remember my time and distance IN CASE it freezes. I’m also not covered under Garmin’s warrantee or the warrantee from the store where Daniel purchased it, so I’m kind of stuck. Bah hum bug.

Running Fast, Lifting Heavy Approved: No

 

-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy