My New Garmin... Kinda

Disclaimer: Garmin did not in any way endorse this blog post. My mom bought the Garmin for me for Christmas. These are my own thoughts on my own Garmin.

For Christmas, I got a Garmin watch. That was was literally the only thing I really wanted for Christmas. I was tired of using the Nike+ app on my phone and having it drain the battery. When I finished my half marathon in November, I started with 99% battery and finished with 15%. I just couldn't take it any more.

So Mom bought me a Garmin for Christmas. It was purple (my favorite) and I really wanted to go for a run right then and there to test it. But I had to pull a 9 hour shift at work instead (I chose to do that for some stupid reason). So a few days later, I finally got to test out my new toy.

I loved it, and it worked perfectly. For that one run. After that day, it never worked right again. I fought with it turning off in the middle of runs, not turning on when it had a full charge, and doing all kinds of weird things it wasn't supposed to do. I was done. I didn't know why people even liked these watches if they had so many problems.

After a month of hating my watch, I emailed Garmin asking them how to fix it. They troubleshot it, but to no avail. Then I got the best email they could have sent. They told me that none of those things were supposed to happen with my watch, especially since it was brandy new (well, duh). But, they were going to do something they don't normally do: replace the watch for free.

Well, yesterday, I got my new Garmin. And immediately I noticed a difference. This one doesn't take 15 minutes to find the GPS simply to get the time. It turns on when it's charged. It didn't act up.
So I took it on a run with me in running class today. It worked beautifully.

Some of the great features of the watch (that I've discovered so far):

• It's lightweight. I don't even notice that I have it on.
• You can customize the screens. When I'm running I like to see time/distance. There are also options for time/calories, pace/distance, pace/calories, etc.
• It comes in tons of fun colors.
• Garmin's customer service is great

The only thing that I don't like is that you can't see what time it is while you're running. You can only see the time that has elapsed.

I am so impressed with Garmin and their willingness to replace my faulty product. Matt from Customer Service, I doubt that you will ever read this, but if you do, thank you for all of your help getting my watch replaced. Next time I ever need a GPS product, Garmin will be my go-to.