Garmin Forerunner 15

After running consistently for about a month last year, I invested in a GPS running watch with heart rate monitor. Being a long time Garmin owner, my brand choice was simple to make. After some research, mostly done on dcrainmaker, which is an excellent website for impartial review of outdoor activity oriented electronic gear, I zeroed in on the Forerunner 15. I went to Flipkart for this, as the seller there is the official Garmin online seller too and offered a very good rate.

After more than a year's use let me jot down my thoughts on the unit. I will not get into the details of how to operate the unit. The internet is full of information of that sort. In fact dcrainmaker itself has a damn good description of how to use the unit. 

Here I will tell you about my agonies and ecstasies of using the unit. 

First let me tell you why I am impressed with this unit. First of all it serves its purpose as a basic watch to tell you how far you have run, how fast your pace is (that is minutes per km) and how fast your heart is beating. On the run you can see all this data on the screen in a highly visible and easy to read format. You can also get an idea of calories you have burnt. It has a few add on features that are nice to have. For example, you can set an alarm that will alert you if your heart rate falls or rises below or above a chosen rate. It can be really useful for someone who is a little ahead of others in terms of age, like me :-), and should worry about his heart going too high. 

It also alerts you after every lap with a small beep. The lap is automatically selected as 1km or 1 mile. You cannot make the lap 2 km or any other arbitrary distance. 

The best part about the unit is that after the run you can download all your information about the run into the computer (in the early days of USB my first Garmin could not communicate with the computer) and on Garmin Connect you get a more or less detailed analysis of your run, including a very authentic real time map of your run. Of course Strava also gives you a map for free but Strava's map is comparatively less accurate. 

Another useful feature of the software is you can mention which gear you used during the run and it will tell you exactly how many km you have used it. For example, I know that as on date I have worn my grey champion socks for 67 kms.

The unit has a few quirks about it which you should know.  One issue for me is and I face this quite often, once in a while it takes a very long time for the unit to get a fix on the satellite. But once it gets a fix it is pretty stable. I don't really know how people who run in race events use this watch at all. Because there the starter won't wait for your watch to find the satellite. I guess you have to be ready with the satellite fix and once the starter starts the race off you simply start the run.

I have also had situations where the Garmin Connect was not working for an entire day. And I could neither sync new data nor see old data. After this I started sharing my run data with Strava, so that there is some backup if I ever lose it all on Garmin Connect. 

The most quirky thing I have found so far is with the HRM. The HRM is pretty accurate (I have checked it both by actually holding my pulse in my fingers and manually count the beats and also on my home blood pressure monitor machine) but once your battery ends then comes the challenge of connecting or pairing the HRM back with your watch. The first time it happened with me I found the HRM was just not working even after putting in a new CR2032 battery. Also, with there being no light or any other indicator you cannot really understand whether the battery has fitted well or whether at all the unit is working. 

Much to my surprise I found a simple hack to fix this problem. Apparently it is a usual problem faced by many people around the world. You just need to manually short circuit the unit first and then insert the battery. I used an open safety pin to connect its two ends to the two terminals in the battery chamber. And bingo !!! The unit came back to life and connected to the watch right away. As a new purchase, the HRM came already paired with the watch.

So, if you want to get to the bottomline advice. Get it by all means if your needs are not top professional grade international races or preparing for them. If your needs are basic, this watch will more than suffice.  

Battery Issues (added on 13th August)

The unit's battery runs out on its own even if you keep it switched off. Of late I have been nursing a plantar injury and have not been running for weeks. Today I went out for a short run but found the battery had quite dried up. However, it came back to one bar within minutes of putting it on charge.

More Notes on Battery (11th June, 2020)

I must mention a queer thing that happened with my unit's battery. I had gone on a longish cycle trip one morning last year - or was it the year before? After about 4/5 hours it started emitting a message saying the battery was exhausted or something to that effect. I ignored it. The message kept repeating a few times. Finally when I went home the watch looked like dead. I realised it had probably reached the end of the road. Did a lot of research on how to change the battery of the unit. It is not supposed to be a user replaceable battery. But then there are hacks for everything and youtube videos for all hacks in life. Then I realised the battery that they are suggesting I replace it with is just not available in India. I don't remember the name now but I remember something similar is available but not quite the same thing as the one suggested on the video.

I decided to get the replacement battery when someone came back from the US and then take a chance with it.

Luckily enough, during all these explorations I had kept the unit connected to its charging unit. After a few days I realised it had come back from the dead. As of now, it is alive and kicking. As I write this from my office I am wearing it because I came cycling to work.