I've had various Garmin Forerunner's throughout the years and have currently been running with the 610 (with the heart rate strap) along with my Band and I have found the Band to be really good. For example my most recent run:
Garmin: Distance - 18.12, Avg Pace - 8:27, Calories - 1996, Avg heart rate: 143
Band: Distance - 18.0, Avg Pace - 8:30, Calories - 2266, Avg heart rate: 144
I have found this to be very consistent with my other runs.
For the Band, I've had much better luck on the treadmill than I had with the Garmin foot pod. Neither is 100% accurate to be sure, but I just had miserable results with the foot pod to the point where I stopped using it. I've also found that the Band's GPS locks in faster than the Garmin (which really surprises me).
There's only a couple of things that are holding me back:
1) Auto-pause. I hate having to manually stop the Band when I come up to a busy street where I have to wait to cross. A couple of times, I've accidentally stopped my run because I accidentally hit "end run" on the touchscreen.
2) Historical data - I have about 8 years of running history saved from my Garmins and I just don't want to give that up. I like looking through the years to see how I've improved (or not I suppose)
3) I don't often run in the rain, but I know the Garmin doesn't have any issues (including the touch screen working). I worry that the Band either wouldn't survive, or would at a minimum have some serious touch screen issues with wet hands.
Garmin: Distance - 18.12, Avg Pace - 8:27, Calories - 1996, Avg heart rate: 143
Band: Distance - 18.0, Avg Pace - 8:30, Calories - 2266, Avg heart rate: 144
I have found this to be very consistent with my other runs.
For the Band, I've had much better luck on the treadmill than I had with the Garmin foot pod. Neither is 100% accurate to be sure, but I just had miserable results with the foot pod to the point where I stopped using it. I've also found that the Band's GPS locks in faster than the Garmin (which really surprises me).
There's only a couple of things that are holding me back:
1) Auto-pause. I hate having to manually stop the Band when I come up to a busy street where I have to wait to cross. A couple of times, I've accidentally stopped my run because I accidentally hit "end run" on the touchscreen.
2) Historical data - I have about 8 years of running history saved from my Garmins and I just don't want to give that up. I like looking through the years to see how I've improved (or not I suppose)
3) I don't often run in the rain, but I know the Garmin doesn't have any issues (including the touch screen working). I worry that the Band either wouldn't survive, or would at a minimum have some serious touch screen issues with wet hands.