Garmin South Africa is launching two new Forerunner fitness watches in the country, calling the Forerunner 620 and Forerunner 220 “…two of the lightest, thinnest, most advanced GPS running watches and the next best thing to having a personal running coach.”
The Forerunner 620 will, when paired with the company’s heart-rate monitor, be able to give data on a runner’s form but both the 620 and 220’s accelerometer will track distance and pace out of the box. The Forerunner 620 will also be able to measure a runner’s VO2 max when connected to a heart-rate monitor.
Vo2 max is a measurement of how much oxygen a runner’s body can consume per minute based on their body weight and while at peak performance. The V02 max measurement is usually a lab test but the Forerunner 620 will be able to provide an estimation of the metric and give runners target times for their upcoming events.
Both fitness watches are waterproof up to 50 metres, with the Forerunner 620 featuring touchscreen controls compared to the Forerunner 220’s button-based setup. Both devices will ship with Bluetooth Smart upload functions and Garmin Connect support.
The device are launching with a recommended price of R3,850 for the Forerunner 220 HRM-Run bundle. The Forerunner 620 Heart-Rate bundle will cost R5,800.