Garmin Forerunner 225

Garmin has just introduced a pioneering GPS running watch that measures heart rate directly through your wrist so you can more accurately monitor your training sessions, without the need for cumbersome chest straps or other alternative devices.

The Forerunner 225 heart rate monitor makes use of an optical sensor that projects light onto your skin and then calculates the amount of light returned. The sensor is able to detect slight changes in blood pumping to your wrist and employs a sophisticated algorithm to calculate your heart rate.

The Garmin Forerunner 225 sports watch has a built-in accelerometer, as well as using GPS to calculate distance and pace. In this way, it is able to store the data related to distance and pace, regardless of whether you run on an indoor track or on a treadmill, without the need to use a pedometer.

On the other hand, this unit also integrates a useful activity tracking function, as it counts steps and calories burned each day. As if that weren't enough, the Forerunner 225 will alert you if you've been sitting for more than an hour to get you moving. Just walk for a couple of minutes and the inactivity indicator will reset.

Calculate your effort

When designing this GPS running watch, Garmin has put a special emphasis on how to calculate the effort when you are training. And it has done so through an indicator of different colors to determine your heart rate zone and your beats per minute in real time.

If your training plan calls for you to run for a specific time or distance within a specific zone, this visual, full-color interface will help you see the zone you're in at a glance so you can focus on your effort.

Garmin Forerunner 225 automatically sets your zones by estimating your age-based maximum heart rate using a familiar and simple mathematical formula. However, you also have the ability to adjust these zones on the watch and customize them to your needs.

In addition, in the Garmin Connect online community you can create more advanced training sessions or download training plans for free, send them to the watch and then receive guidance as if you were giving them to a personal trainer.

This new running device is waterproof up to 50 meters deep, monitors the total sleep period and periods of movement or deep sleep. As for battery life, Garmin guarantees up to 4 weeks in power saving mode and up to 10 hours in training mode with GPS active.

The new Garmin Forerunner 225 GPS running watch will be available from the second quarter of 2015, in black and red, at a price of approximately 300 euros.