I’m considering a discount Forerunner 610 for rides where I don’t need mapping, which could be most of my riding TBH.

Any unforeseen downsides to this plan? Can you see distance covered and altitude gain on them? The latter is my main point of interest when riding TBH.

Is the altitude likely to work better than my Edge 800 in the wet?

Thanks in advance.

🙂

I use a forerunner 310 xt. It’s perfect for cycling. Screens are customizable and I have altitude gain on 1 screen. Distance, current speed, time, hr etc.
Can’t comment on accuracy though.

I’m thinking of upgrading to a newer model, and it will be an fr again (235 I expect).

Cheers, the issue with altitude is that the sensor hole gets water in and it stops recording height gain.

I have to wrap it in cling film.

235 user. My 1st Garmin so nothing to compare it against but I like it. Just need to remember to charge battery more often.

How much have you found a 610 for ?

It will work fine for cycling. You can put a bit of pipe lagging on the handlebars, then strap the watch on.

Note it will probably default to pace (ie minutes / km) but you can change it to speed if you want. Some of the Forerunners can display altitude gain, some can’t. Not sure about the 610.

Also when you save an activity, it will probably save it as a run. So you will have to change the activity type after uploading to Garmin Connect / Strava etc.

sounds a faff compared to my 235

230/235 was the first forerunner to have biking as activity. Mines great, uses about 10% battery an hour when tracking. About 10% a day the rest of the time.

Note it will probably default to pace (ie minutes / km) but you can change it to speed if you want. Some of the Forerunners can display altitude gain, some can’t. Not sure about the 610.

Also when you save an activity, it will probably save it as a run. So you will have to change the activity type after uploading to Garmin Connect / Strava etc.

The 210 which came out at (about) the same time did this, it would track the ride fine so OK for post-ride analysis, but you would have to change the activity type to Ride. Not a huge issue for me, but certainly something I’d check out if you think it could be a problem.

Jam bo, the Fr305 (used to have one) + 310 xt both do cycling mode, so no need to change results. The 305 is very old. They are multi sport watches rather than running, although still classed as forerunner

I’m using a FR 235 at the moment and seems accurate enough

I compared my 310xt to my 800 a while ago, but only for distance. Both read much the same, but the Vivosmart I was also trying was short on distance every time. The 310 and 800 using 1 second data recording, but the Vivosmart doesn’t, so every time you stop it takes a few seconds to start again. I think the 610 is 1 second recording, so should be accurate for distance.

Use a 610 and works well. More accurate than an Edge 520 under tree cover. Don’t think it displays a total climbed

235 user here. Works a treat on my wrist but need to lock the buttons. Not seen altitude but strava gives you that.

If you’re gonna buy a Garmin watch get a fenix 3.