Discussion: Replacement for Garmin Forerunner 205?

I have sad news: I lost my beloved Garmin Forerunner 205 watch - it was awesome, robust, worked well and looked like I could launch a space shuttle with it (oh, and did I mention it was cheap?!). I found a GPS watch actually motivated the geek in me to get out and train.

So, what should I get as a replacement? It doesn't look like I can find the 205 any more. I want something that is bomber, but am not interested heart rate monitor. When I go to the Garmin site, they have a zillion running watches, which confuses me and hurts my brain.

Help!

I want something that is bomber

...Canuck translator to aisle four, stat!

Have just been going through the same journey and made my decision this evening.
FR 220 seems to do everything I require and has USB and bluetooth connectivity. I am over Ant agents.
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/11/garmin-forerunn...

How did you lose your 205? If you were running in the woods and suddenly saw that it was no longer attached to your arm, chances are that you hit something with your arm while running, and the spring-loaded attachment post retracted just enough to allow the 205 to be pried off your arm and drop into the leaves on the forest floor. After several years, the holes on the plastic studs on the case become worn, and no longer provide a secure socket for the spring-loaded post.

Those spring-loaded posts that attach the wrist band to the 205 case are for polite society...not crazies that run through bush and bramble. So toss those weak little posts, and instead run similar-diameter wire all the way through both case studs and the wrist band, bring it around underneath the band, and twist it into a tight loop with the other end. Bomber.

Dozens of 205s on ebay.

DC Rainmaker's Black Friday / Cyber Monday deal summary: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/11/technology-frid...

What is the best Garmin for most accurately logging tracks? I'm currently using a 610 and it is reasonably good given all the usual problems such as tree cover, etc but it records a waypoint only once every four seconds. That means that if I am changing directions, such as on a bending path or when tracking the boundaries of a clearing or thicket every time I make a turn I have to stop for four seconds to make sure the Garmin 610 records that point. Otherwise the track is just rounded off. Clearings and thickets become smaller. Trails become smoother.
So are the 305s or other devices that record a point every second that much more accurate?
Time is money, after all.

Hey gordhun: according to DC Rainmaker's 610 Review and the 610 Manual, the 610 records every 1s or "Smart", so you might dive into your options and poke around.

I used to exclusively run with the 1s setting on my 305. I switched to "Smart" for a long trail run, and then used it a bit for training and realized:

it's really just as accurate (and sometimes more so, dunno why)

it's amazingly faster to upload to AP

Not a lot of hard evidence on point 1 (accuracy), but it has more accurately matched my measured (with a wheel) distances, and tends to be much more consistent for climb values. Again just anecdotal (only a dozen or so runs since the switch), but I think I'm a believer in Garmin "Smart". That's on my 305. I'll try "Smart" when I do my 3km track run sometime soon and see how it takes the constant curves. :)

I'm hoping for a 220 for Xmas. The main things that I don't like about my 305:

time to satellite find

need to use gel for the old HR strap to work before 1mi (and I'm a HR fanatic)

I have a 610 on my wrist right now.

Go to Setup, then scroll down to System, then scroll down to Data Recording. Once there, you can choose Smart or Every Second.

Is the touchscreen stuff on the 610's robust (aka bomber) and okay for orienteering? Will it last?

What is the difference between 220 and 610? I'm not too interested in wireless stuff and excessive features, but I did use a lot of the features in the old 205.

I lost my 205 probably fell out of my pocket while biking from Victoria to the Swartz Bay ferry terminal (a ride of about 40km), and I was rushing to catch the ferry. :(

I'm definitely a big geek/nerd, my 405cx has worked well for 5 seasons now, but it has started to have some smaller problems, plus I would like to have much faster startup!

I'm picking up a 620 this afternoon, looking forward to getting it (from my wife...) for Christmas. :-)

Like ShadowCaster, I'm interested in the essential difference between the 220 and the 610.

wirst gps isn't the right choice if one wants to record accurate tracks. Here is some of my tracks, I never got anywhere near this accuracy with my garmin 205/305.

http://www.attackpoint.org/sessiondata.jsp?session...
Note scale, head's diameter is about 10 meters.
http://www.attackpoint.org/sessiondata.jsp?session...
poor accuracy of google imagery is annnoying.
http://www.attackpoint.org/sessiondata.jsp?session...

So what do you use Jagge?

For complete in-depth reviews of garmin products consult the dcrainmaker site. The 610 has been replaced with the 620. The 610 can now be found nicely priced, but is not waterproof. Be sure to check out the FR10 if you need only limited metrics and do not need hr. Good luck