Garmin Forerunner 410 GPS Heart Rate Monitor
|

Garmin Forerunner 410 GPS Sports Watch Review

Share this article

The Garmin Forerunner 410 GPS Sports Watch is one of the top products in the Garmin fitness monitor range, and the next version up from the Forerunner 405.

The main design difference to other heart rate monitor watches is the navigation. There are just two buttons to press on the edge of the watch compared to some other designs with four. While this reduces the chance of buttons pressing into your wrist when running, this doesn’t take anything away from the ease of navigation.

As well as the buttons on the side you also have a touch sensitive top bezel section around the main display. This allows you to roll your finger tip around the top of the watch which will quickly scroll through the different menus.

Using the Garmin Forerunner 410

To start using the watch you just need to press the top button out of the two available on the right hand side, then hold down the ‘training’ portion of the bevelled section surrounding the main watch face.

The display is laid out clearly enough to display a variety of workout statistics at once

How quickly this then acquires satellites and becomes ready for you to use can depend on how often you have been running, cycling or generally exercising in that location before. It can take a little longer for new places.

One of the many nice features with the Garmin Forerunner 410 GPS heart rate monitor is the amount and type of different information you can show on the main display at any one time.

This can include workout statistics such as your distance and elevation covered.

Configurable lap distances

While larger pieces of fitness equipment such as treadmills and exercise bikes will show how many laps you complete based on a fixed distance, the Garmin Forerunner 410 lets you customise how long each lap will be.

While this is a useful feature it’s probably not something you will want to change often after first being set so that you can more accurately compare your training progress over time.

As well as setting a pre-defined lap distance, the fact that this is a GPS enabled heart rate monitor means it also has a useful feature where you can set the start of a lap to be a particular spot. Each time you pass that point in your training session you will have completed another lap.

A feature that you may not have seen on any other heart rate monitor watch that is present in the Garmin Forerunner 410, is the addition of a virtual training partner.

A high quality backlight will help display training information during night time workouts

This essentially allows you to set a target for your run and a little man will be displayed on the screen to represent the pace you need to match to achieve that target, together with how far ahead or behind you are.

If you are running or cycling in the dark then there is also a very clear backlight that can be activated to provide up to 10 seconds of light before you need to activate it again.

Much like the other display features of the Garmin Forerunner 410 this is configurable.

You can even set the light to stay on indefinitely if you are cycling and want to be able to monitor your heart rate and progress throughout your ride.


Garmin Forerunner 410 GPS Sports Watch

Garmin Forerunner 410 GPS Sports Watch – Features Summary

  • Advanced high sensitivity GPS sports watch with enhanced touch bezel interface; includes heart rate monitor
  • HotFix satellite prediction finds satellites quickly so you can start running straight away
  • Records your time, pace, distance, position, elevation, calories burned, heart rate and more
  • Premium soft strap heart rate monitor calculates calorie consumption based on heart rate fluctuations
  • Race against previous runs and compete with a virtual partner over a set distance, time or pace

Planning training sessions with the Garmin Forerunner 410

As well as being able to plan how far you want to travel on your workout, you can also use your computer to include details such as what range you want your heart rate to be in as well as your speed.

This is possible using the Garmin Training Center software that is provided with the Forerunner 410, and which then allows you to sync the workout directly to the watch.

If you prefer not to have to setup different workouts on your computer all the time then there is a function directly on the watch that means you can program basic information such as how long your work sections will be and how long your rest sections will be.

After your training session

When you finish your training session you can then use the Garmin Connect service from your computer to review your basic statistics.

This is possible using the wireless USB stick that can be connected to your computer and allows the watch to sync the information from your last workout session wirelessly.

Thanks to the built in GPS you can then also see a map of where you travelled during your latest run or cycle as well as other useful statistics such as your heart rate and time taken.

In the box with the Garmin Forerunner 410 GPS Sports Watch

  • Power adapters – cover US, UK and most European countries
  • Replacement soft wrist strap
  • Tool to help take apart the strap housing and make the change
  • USB Charging cable
  • Premium edition soft heart rate strap
  • Garmin USB drive for wireless device downloading
  • Garmin Forerunner 410 watch

Garmin Forerunner 410 GPS

The Garmin Forerunner 410 GPS Sports Watch has a lot of very nice features. The ones you will probably use most are the configurable lap times and if you are competitive and like challenging yourself, then racing against a virtual training partner.

While this is at the top end of the price market for this type of heart rate monitor and activity tracker, you still do get a lot of training and display options for your money.

Add to that the ease of use and how quickly you can scroll through different screen displays using the touch sensitive bezel, and the detailed information you can sync to your computer, and you have one of the best training monitors available today.

Update September 2021

This product is no longer available for purchase online. To find current alternatives, please see the recent reviews of Activity Monitors.

Share this article

Similar Posts