Discussion: New Forerunner: one second recording returns

Garmin Forerunner 610 announcement and an in-depth review

Great review and nice looking watch. I was getting ready for an upgrade but the review says that the back of the watch is "metallic (and magnetic)" so I'm going to wait on a purchase until I find out if that causes issues with the compass.

That is a pretty good GPS review website. Here's his list of reviews.

I was going through all the Flying Pig photos a few days ago, and I was surprised how many orienteers wear a GPS, particularly the Garmin 305 and 205.

You could wear your watch on the opposite wrist from your compass. Doesn't take long to get used to; I adopted this when I kept pushing the wrong button for laps (backwards of my other running watch). (205 user)

This thread has been such an emotional roller coaster! First it was, "oooh, maybe the UI is better than the 405's!" Then it was, "oh shoot, potential compass interference?" And now, thanks to Janet, "HA! I already wear my watch on the opposite wrist!"

Of course, I'm totally not looking to buy another watch just yet...

Yeah you could totally do that but my 'O system' has everything in the left hand/thumb/wrist/arm. Compass, watch, map, description sheet. Its simple and works and isn't worth deviating from.

Maybe the weight imbalance is doing your knees in, hammer.

I've always worn my watch on the other wrist, but then again, I've always carried my compass in the other hand.

I wear GPS and e-punch on my left arm/hand and a Timex Ironman watch and compass on my right. If I need to add anything else I may have to grow an additional arm.

A touch screen? Not something I would want on a watch I'm using for orienteering; that is not unless the screen can tell the diference between finger touches and touches by branches and other forest features.

@hammer
I call it "the equipment hand." ;) Dont fix it if it aint broke; I do the same thing, for what its worth.

Watch seems pretty pimped up, but you cant beat the great 205.

The touch screen can be locked, just like the touch bezel for the 405/410. I orienteer with the touch bezel locked, and branches don' t have an impact, except for potentially pressing a physical button, which would be the case for just about all sport watches.

hmm.... I would like to test that out....

Having got a little overexcited and acquired a Forerunner 610 at the London Marathon Expo I can report that the magnetic aspect is very minimal. The watch had to be placed right next to my compass to have an effect. I think only the contacts of the watch are magnetized whereas the whole of the charging cradle is. As I wear my watch on the opposite arm I'm not too worried about it but I'd probably recommend testing with your own compass if you use the same arm.

I like the touch screen, it is much better than the bezel on the 405 and it really does work with gloves on which means the 610 is actually practical for cycling with. However, the 'lock' for the screen can not be turned on like on the 405, it comes on after a period of inactivity so wouldn't be on if you were recording an orienteering run. Having said that the touch you have to give the screen is fairly firm, I haven't managed to set it off with clothing yet which is what the 405 bezel used to do, will report back after I've done some Orienteering with it.

i wondered if you could test it one more time with watch and compass on the same hand? i might go for a new 610 but i dont want to change my "setup" (compass, map, stick, etc...). would be nice if you could find out if the compass gets distracted or not. i guess the distance between watch and compass is about 10cm.

JJ would know better than me, but I have a hard time believing any electronic device short of a laptop could pull a compass from 10cm away.

My intuition agrees with Eric's. The only time I've ever see anything local to the runner affect a compass is when you put something right under the needle. I've seen this with staples, if one is folded under so that you don't realize that it's under the compass, or when I was carrying a control (with steel frame) in the same hand as my compass. These are with spacings of less than 1 cm, and the watch would have roughly 1% of the effect at that distance. The electronic aspect is probably irrelevant, the only issue is the iron in the watch, and most watches use stainless steel anyway, which (depending on the specific alloy) isn't even magnetic.

alright, thx for your help :)