Garmin Forerunner 620/220 Barefoot Friendly?! Looks like a yes!

Bidimus

Chapter Presidents
Jul 20, 2011
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Newberg, OR
www.bidiworld.net
Those that know me, know I'm a geek and love my gadgets. My gear choices are really the antithesis of my love for barefoot running. Well my old Garmin 305 is on it's last legs so I figure it's time to start shopping before it dies on me mid run.

I love looking at my performance numbers after a run. Some of it helps me made decisions on what to try next time. Cadence is a hard one though and it's really important. Back when my feet had laces, I would attach a pod to them that would measure my stride along with my HR and Pace. It helps to view these statistics side by side, not to mention it's also fun.

Garmin has a new toy coming out, the Forerunner 620/220. Without going into all the cool metrics these track including HR, Pace, Altitude, Cadence, etc. The one thing that caught my eye was that, in spite of all the awesome measurements it had, I didn't see a foot pod. Upon further reading, it turns out that they put an accelerometer into the watch and the heart rate strap so it's able to take measurements that in the past used to require a foot pod. Add to that a 10 hour battery and you have a really nice barefoot friendly running tracker that works indoors and out.

They're spendy, but for me it's almost worth it. I'm curious if anyone else has any thoughts on them.

http://sites.garmin.com/forerunnerCoach/
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/09/garmins-running-watches.html
 
I have the 310xt and have the footpod attached to fabric that goes around my ankle. Looks like I'll be waiting for the 920xt. 10 hours of battery is no good for me.