Garmin Adds Touchscreen GPS Watch to Forerunner Line

Garmin International, Inc., has introduced the Forerunner 610 sports watch, which features a weatherproof touchscreen for serious runners seeking an extra advantage, the company said. Forerunner 610 can stand up to rain, sweat, and splashes, and is responsive enough that it can be operated with running gloves, Garmin said. Forerunner 610 was announced in preparation for world-class marathons in Boston and London as well as the Australian fitness expo.

Designed for the runner who is constantly seeking improvement, Forerunner 610 is Garmin’s new flagship model, allowing runners to see how far, how fast, and how hard they have worked. Forerunner 610 won a Red Dot Design Award, a design competition.

Forerunner 610 uses a vibration motor for alerts such as heart rate, pace and distance when audible tones cannot be heard (heart monitor included in some bundles or available separately). With the heart rate monitor, Forerunner 610 also allows runners to track their training intensity via the new Training Effect feature, which measures the impact of exercise on aerobic fitness and lets users know how the workout improves their fitness during the workout.

With the Virtual Racer feature, runners can race themselves over their previous bests or against other users’. The information is taken from runs stored on the watch or downloaded wirelessly from the Garmin Connect running community, where other users log their workouts, track their totals, set goals, share workouts, and participate in an online fitness community of more than 50 million activities around the world. Garmin Connect displays metrics such as time, distance, pace, elevation, and heart rate. This information is shown through charts, illustrations, reports, and a variety of map representations including street, photo, topographic, and elevation maps.

A new run/walk alert allows Forerunner 610’s other features, such as, Auto Lap and Auto Pause, to remain active during a run/walk session.