Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is my 5th running watch and so far the most impressive by a LONG shot. I had a Garmin 910XT which I thought would be just about anything I ever wanted it to be. Well, if you don't know what you are missing then the 910 seems great. The 920 is an actual smart watch and not just a tri watch. It is bluetooth enabled much like the Fenix 2, but is more triathlon focused. Let's break this down into a few areas: The watch: This is used as an actual watch where the previous models were not. It has a lower profile than the 910XT, but the buttons are following the curve of the face some. Not 100% sure I like that yet or not, but it is definitely sleeker. It has a color display! And, it is a higher resolution display over the 910. The menu system is vastly improved over the 910 as well. The buttons are also softer to push than the 910 and tell you when you have paused an activity and asks if you would like to resume it. The packaging: I wouldn't have brought this up, but it did change significantly over previous watches. There is NO AC adapter now. There is a USB cradle (more about that in a minute) that can be plugged into a simple phone USB wall charger or obviously your computer, but this is a stray from the past. It doesn't bother me, but the 910 came with a pile of adapters for international plugs so if you are expecting that, it won't be there, but hey, it is USB and that is about as universal as it gets anyway. The charger: BIG improvement over the 910. The 910 wasn't bad, but I always had to fumble with it to get it to seat and then it was good to go. The 910 is like a big alligator clip for the charger. The 920 has a true cradle that is easily seats into. It feels and acts like a much better design. Bluetooth integration and wireless integration: The 910 had none. To sync wirelessly you had to use the ANT+ stick. That is now gone. The 920 remembers wifi hotspots that you have configured (have to be added through your computer though) and will sync whenever it is on that hotspot. The bluetooth integration allows you to sync with multiple apps on your iPhone/Android and it is really easy to setup. Also I can get notifications on my watch from my phone such as text messages or who is calling me and not have to stop and pull my phone out. Clearly my phone has to be on me or within 10-15 feet, but it works great! I did notice myself turning off notifications from some apps though and they have a "Smart Notifications" feature that I am going to play with more. ANT+ sensors: This through me for a loop at first. I was trying and trying to figure out how to add my devices, it had already added them. This felt a little too smart for its own good. I didn't get any confirmation that it had added or anything, it just started registering my heart rate and my cadence. I will update this section when I sync my power meter on my bike. Fitness screens: This is great. There are menus for indoor vs outdoor swims, biking profiles, runs etc... Much easier navigation over the 910. It will feel different, not necessarily better at the start, but I can tell that it is going to be faster changing through multiple sports. Running: The visualization of running was really cool to see on cadence and heart rate both. There is a gauge, much like an RPM gauge in a car, that shows you right where you want to be. Out of the box the hear rate zones are based off of age and not fitness level so it said I was zone 5 most of my run which is not true. That is upper zone 3 for me. I liked the pause screens that I could hit while at a stop light or whatever and having it tell me that it was paused and asking if I want to resume or save my activity. The 910 made you stop and then "reset" your activity which always felt quirky to me. It has a great metronome feature too that I can actually hear (that is saying something) and it great for cadence training. Biking: To be fair, I haven't had as much time to play with the biking features yet. It is easy to setup power zones though and sync with your ANT+ power meter. Garmin has had great bike features for a long time though and this just builds on that. Like the run cadence, I like the power meter visualization a lot. Swimming: I will update this when I have a chance to swim more with it, but I know a lot of people were complaining that the Fenix 2 didn't have the swim capabilities that the 910 did. Well, this has all of the 910s features and more, but I honestly didn't use all of those features anyway. It tracks distance well and is a lifesaver in the pool for me not having to count and to set distance or time alerts. The phone app / Garmin Mobile Connect: This is a little quirky to me and I hope they polish it a little more (I am sure they will) as they go. It doesn't pull all my health data all the time and I am not sure as to why. It uploads to connect.garmin.com correctly, but the app doesn't always show it right. It is good, but not great. This would be my only/biggest complaint of this watch right now. Activity tracker: As I said earlier, this is a Fitness Tracker / Smart watch. It did WAY more in this arena that I was expecting it to. I wasn't looking for this, so for me it was an added bonus, but I have liked seeing what data it collects. Steps taken, sleep patterns, etc...still accessing weather or not it is super accurate (that remains to be seen), but I don't think any of those devices are 90% accurate anyway. I am talking about the fitbit or jawbone or those types of things. All in all, I am very impressed with this watch. I noticed that for the holidays they are dropping the price of the 910. I had a few people ask me if they should pay the extra money ($200 more) for the 920 and I would say yes. For me it is a no brainer. You get way more of a watch that you did with the 910. If you are only trying to replace an old 205, 305, or 310 and don't care about the other stuff then you can probably save yourself some cash, but I sure think it is worth the extra money!!! UPDATE 7-28-2015: The swimming features were even improved over the 910. It now has a rest lap feature that will let you hit the lap button and have it start a rest timer. No more stopping and starting or wondering how much longer in your rest, it will do it for you. Also, the screen changes from black on white to white on black when in the rest lap. It will switch back as soon as you push the lap button again. I still don't worry about my SWOLF or some of the other things that it tracks in the pool, but they are great features if you care. Garmin also just announced that they are selling a swimming HRM strap that will be compatible with this.