Garmin Forerunner 225 Review

I have been waiting to write a review for my new favorite toy for about 3 weeks now. I wanted to really break it in and live in it......... and do some troubleshooting before reviewing it. 

I had been wanting an activity tracker for sometime...something about carrying my phone during an entire 10 mile run makes you wish for something that is handsfree. 

I spent a lot of time talking to others, looking at others trackers and in the store. I finally went for the Garmin Forerunner 225 after I was given a coupon for 20% off at Lukes Locker for a tracker. I went for the Garmin 225 for several reasons. 

1-Its the newest of the forerunners, therefore more updates and a sleeker design.

2-It has a hinged wristband, where most other trackers are all one unit and that can cause wear down as you constantly bend it. 

3-It is so stinking easy to use, 4 buttons total and with one push I can start, pause and save a run. 

4-Garmin is known to be the 2nd best GPS system in the world, only behind the company that the US military uses. 

A Saturday run with some loops around a lake!

A Saturday run with 3 other ladies!

5-It syncs with my phone so gone are the days of having to input my workouts and letting my phone guess how many calories I had burned. It even syncs with MyFitnessPal, which is the calorie counter app I use and therefore I know how many calories a day I need to consume to maintain, lose or pack on weight. ITS WONDERFUL!!

6-It tracks my steps and if I don't move for more than 15 minutes it tells me to MOVE!! Most of the time I like this feature but I think its quite annoying that the minute I sit down to use the potty it BEEPS!!!!

I really try to hit my goal every day. My goal changes every day and is set by the Garmin based on my stats. A normal day for me is 15-18,000 steps. That includes a 5-7 mile run and a full day at work, circling students as they work...offering advice and grabbing supplies. Art is one of the most active subjects as its a constant lab!!! CREATIVE CHAOS!!

7-It tracks my sleep, .........deep and light sleep. I am always surprised to see that I only get 3-4 hours of deep sleep and the rest is pretty light and interrupted. 

Ha, this was on a Tuesday night after being awake since 3:40 (i drive to a friends house about 10 minutes away so I have to wake earlier on Tuesdays), a six mile run and a LLOONNGG day at school......Yup, out at 7:28 and back up at 4:10 to do it all over again.

8-The absolute best feature though is the blue tooth connection which allows me to read any incoming text messages or emails from the front face of the watch. I am always worried that Adam will need me during one of my longer runs and I wouldn't know without carrying my phone. This shows me who is messaging me and the first line of the message. I can choose to scroll and read the rest or ignore it. This also helps with my running group. If someone opts out due to a sick kid or bad weather I get it on my watch and I can go ahead and start my run. 

As great as the forerunner is there is one thing that annoys me. I recharge it probably 1 or 2 nights a week during dinner or when I am sitting down to watch TV. After I do that I have to restart the watch in order to get back all of my activity tracking. It doesn't loose my history but its just one thing I have to remember to do or else it will forget to track my sleep or steps the next day. 

I also waited to review the forerunner until I could compare it against my treadmill. They are up front with letting you know that the GPS isn't 100% accurate indoors and most of the time when I am running on the treadmill its because of bad weather which also affects GPS. So the last two times I have run on the treadmill there has been about .4 miles of a difference...Almost 1/2 a mile...even though it counts every step (hmmm?). I trust the treadmill more on those days because I like to do interval training..meaning I run for a steady pace for 3 minutes, then bust it for 2....repeat again and again until I hit 5 miles...that is probably hard to keep up with for the Garmin as I am indoors. 

The forerunner is waterproof up to 2 feet, keeps a history of my personal records and maps my runs so I can repeat them. All in all its a great watch/fitness tracker and I love that it syncs perfectly with my iPhone 6.