Does this mean most of us have garmin connect accounts? If so, do we have a MFP group on there? I just created my garmin connect account so I'm a noob.

Many use Garmin Connect, but don't do anything socially there. We do have a Strava group though. Join Strava (it's free) and you can have it automatically import your runs from GC. After joining Strava, request to join our group. https://www.strava.com/clubs/myfitnesspalclub

Anyone have any thoughts on the Garmin 225 coming out this summer? It's got a wrist-based heart rate monitor based on the Mio heart rate tech embedded in the watch (something about skin reflectivity/transmissivity as heart rate increases). My 210 is still working, but old and sometime struggles to get enough satellite signal.

Anyone have any experience with the Mio tech in general? Thoughts?

99clmsntgr wrote: »

Anyone have any thoughts on the Garmin 225 coming out this summer? It's got a wrist-based heart rate monitor based on the Mio heart rate tech embedded in the watch (something about skin reflectivity/transmissivity as heart rate increases). My 210 is still working, but old and sometime struggles to get enough satellite signal.

Anyone have any experience with the Mio tech in general? Thoughts?

The Mio sensor is in my TomTom Runner Cardio 2014 model. It's worked great. The band on the watch is designed to help block light leakage. All readings have seemed accurate and I haven't seen any dropouts in the results. The only thing is, especially in summer, my arm gets really sweaty under it, so I sometimes slip the watch down a little, wipe the sweat off, then slide the watch back up in place. I don't think the sweat is affecting the results, but it gets kind of gross. You have to wear the watch tight on your arm. I have it a few inches above my wrist.

For running and for limited cycling use (support speed/cadence sensor), the Garmin 620. I love mine and I don't at all mind wearing the HRM strap. I do some mountain trail running - maybe the Fenix or other watches with 'return to start' navigation would have been nice, but I'm quite ok with distance and my own trail sense. So far. We'll see.

Or if you are into trialthon (or some ultra marathons) now or down the road the 920XT will do all that plus swimming and give you more battery life (ultra fans note).

That new FR225 definitely looks interesting though. If your passion leans to running the 620 offers a few more features. If you are looking for activity tracking (I use my phone for steps/general moving about) then the FR225 has the edge. Cost: FR225. Or an older Garmin running watch could provide very good value too.

lporter229 wrote: »

Thanks for posting this. I have the FR220 and this looks like a good alternative instead of replacing the entire unit. My current chest strap HRM has been doing some really wonky things lately. It's been giving me insanely high readings at the beginning of my run and it slowly drops down to where it should be, but it takes about 5 minutes to get there. It also struggles to pick up my heart rate sometimes. Yesterday I had it on and it was reading my HR fine for about 5 minutes prior to starting my run. Then I started it and the HR shot up to 192. Does anyone know if this could be the battery?

My older one was doing that and, even after replacing the battery, would struggle. Wonky results or just intermittent data. The strap was about 6 years old, so I figured it was just plain worn out after the years of use and abuse. I wholly replaced it with another Garmin strap. The battery that was installed in the strap when it shipped corroded after about 3 months of use, but I was able to clean up the terminals and, thankfully, none of the internals was damaged that I can tell and it seems to be working again.

Thanks, by the way, to the responses on the Mio heart rate tech. It's something that I'll keep in mind when I go to replace the watch.