Thursday, June 12, 2014

Garmin Forerunner 220 Review & Storage Solution

Earlier this year I got a nice little bonus from work and decided to treat myself to a new GPS watch. Up until then I had been using my cell phone and the MapMyFitness App to track all my runs. After doing some research I settled on the Garmin Forerunner 220.

I loved the purple color of the watch. I also liked that it is really simple to use. I liked that it had the built in accelerometer for tracking treadmill runs. (I have yet to try that feature as all my runs have been outside.) I spent the extra $50 to get the added heart rate monitor strap.

I like that while I am running I can quickly look down and see what my current time, pace, and distance is. I love that you can set vibrating alerts. I have mine set to tell me my current pace at each mile I hit. I can choose to ignore it or see how I'm doing. You can also set up workouts. I have only played with this feature a little bit but you can use it to set up workouts like intervals, progression runs, and Fartleks.

The GPS on the watch seems to work very well. It connects quickly and even caches your location so you can get quicker connecting times for the next time you run in the same area. The watch is comfortable. I'm also in love with the fact that I can upload my data to any site that allows me to. I am no longer only married to MapMyFitness. I have many running friends that use Strava so now I can link there as well. So definitely no regrets on this purchase.

I am very happy with my Forerunner 220. It was pricey at $300 for the Garmin Forerunner 220 Heart Rate Monitor Bundle. I bought mine at REI and got the REI Membership plan. I get 10% back at the end of the year. So I paid $300 and will get $30 at the end of the year. Membership was $20 so in the end I get $10 back. However, now I am a life long REI Member and can get money back on other eligible purchases.

My next mission was to find a solution to help protect my purchase when not using it. I looked online and found a Garmin case but it had soft sides, which in my opinion does not keep it very safe. I wanted a case I could throw in my gym bag and not have to worry about it. I also wanted it to fit the watch, heart rate monitor, and the charging/upload cable. After searching and not finding exactly what I wanted I decided I would have to come up with my own solution.

While shopping in Marshalls I came across a cute Vera Bradly Hard Sunglass Case. Bingo this would be perfect to use to keep all my Garmin Forerunner 220 parts together. Not to mention it is cute and was only $7.99!!!

Any large sunglass case would work. There are so many options for colors and designs. Some even have little handles. Jackpot!

Show me your GPS watch case ;)