Hello!
Excuse me for the late review. I've been busy doing
this. We've worked far out on the countryside and have used the watch but due to not having access to computers out there I have not been able to write. I have not yet read others reviews to try to make it as unbiased as possible. There might be a lot of repeating what others have already said. Sorry about that.
Package:[/u] Package looks ok. Wish you'd used the orange part mith a mappattern. Think it looks nice. In the 615 an adapter that made it possible to charge from the cigarettelighter was included. I liked that but it's not important. The battery is big and strong now plus that it's slightly better for the environment with one thing less. I do however think that a papermanual should be enclosed even if it takes up space, costs to produce and is not environmentally friendly. I don't like having to start up the computer and insert a cd just to check something before I go out running.
Look and feel: Big display as I like it. Good that the quadview is implemented. This watch is easier to overview then 615/625 and 505 but could still have bigger figures actually. The 625 use bigger figures. I guess it's the borders on top and button that makes you want to shrink the figures in order to make it look better but I think the display could be used better. Backgroundlight is also very nice.
The buttons feels fine. Tried them with my gloves on and it seems like they will work through the skiingseason. (may we get lot of snow. :-) )
The watch is very big and looks clumsy. I don't have a problem with this, it fits good on the arm and I rather have a big watch with a big display than a smaller watch with a smaller display but others first reactions have been ”Have you bought a wristweight? Oh my god, it's a watch. Shall I help you to carry it?”
Navigation in watch: Quite intuitive if you're used to globalsat but not too smooth. Would appreciate borders with names (link)
Navigation in watch: the navigation is quite easy since I'm used to the system from 615. It's not supersmooth and I would still ask for headlines on all pages like
here, also remember Zingo had an interesting idea that I can't find right now but in all, navigation works fine. I wonder if the exercisepages ”custom 1-4” could be made possible to rename? Also, now when we have the local time in the border below, could page with local time be removed from between custom page 4 and 1? Or could local time be set as one of the parameters you choose? In that case those who like it could choose to put that in one of the custompages? Still not a very big thing, it's much more easy to navigate now when the pages have name #1 to#4 but it wouldmake it a little smoother.
Shortcuts. The only one I found is ”getting into normal watch” mode. Are there any other?
GPS:625xt coldstarts about as fast as the 615. Often faster and sometimes a little slower. Wonder why. Could it be the antenna on the 615 that makes the magic? Both of them are muuuch faster than 505 which is horrendously slow. Have run coopertest with both watches and the XT showed the distance correct down to the meter. So as long as the track is round and flat everything works perfect. :-) On trails I don't see any special patterns of distance. Sometimes the 625xt gives a longer distance than the 615 but just as often, shorter. Here is also 2 snaps from my coopertest showing the different accuracy of the watches.
Running/exercising: Watch is easy to start running with as soon as you know what all buttons do. Have just started with the intervals. They work but I wish I could set them from the computer and that all parameters (time/pace/distance...could have zones to set just like heartrate does instead of just thresholds.
I do not like that just like 505 there is a delay on a second or more when pressing lapbutton until lapsound comes. I also think the watch could sound a little louder.
Heartratemonitor: Fits comfortably enough but it seems like it's jumpy. Had the same problem with my 615 this summer. Have not looked to much into it but it seems like it's showing to high bpm when I'm running and when I stop to measure, it drops to the the right bpm...will look deeper into this.
Manual: Have some errors that could be corrected.
- It constantly shows green backlight while it's white? Is it to difficult to visualize white backlight on paper?
- Page 12 theres a 505 instead of a 625xt.
- Change mutisport to multisport on several places.
- Page 18: Pacer – evaluated time should say evaluated distance, right?
- Page 28: The trainer is really difficult to understand. Not sure if there is wrong text on the wrong places. Seems like terminology is wrong too. Like it should say ”pace” instead of ”time” etc...and what do yo mean here: The distance for 10 km and time for 45 minutes which means the virtual trainer will finish 3km within 15minutes to compete with you.
- Manual doesn't explain how to come back from TOD.
Conclusions, questions and suggestions:Hybridrecordings as discussed
here I have not found. Where is it? As default the watch resets itself when gps is fixed if you start running before fix.
The only shortcut i found was to ”go into normal watch” mode. Are there or will there be others? On the forum there's been a discussion about switching gps on/off for instance but still being able to operate the watch. I had hoped for that to be included.
Please improve interval training. I would also be nice if presets could be uploaded/downloaded/shared among users
Is there a chance that you could get more profiles than one in the watch? I can see myself using different setttings for intervaltraining than normal running...and then one profile for my wife.
...off course I also have to beg for a single frontbutton again...
Finally, I don't know what ”XT” stands for. I assume it's ”extended” or something like that and that is just what this watch is. An upgraded 615/625 with a bigger memory, better gpschip and quadview. It's a nice watch that could and probably will be even better as firmware develops.. Hopefully the price is competetive with older watches like forerunner 305 (because I guess that's the segment where this watch is aiming).
Anders
Author
Topic: GH-625XT samples review (Read 14642 times)