Over the years, Garmin's beefed up its line of Forerunner GPS watches, offering something for everybody with graphs and even a dash o' pink. But the new, slimmed-down Forerunner 610 is the first to feature a touchscreen that you can tap to flip menus instead of feeling around for a host of bantam buttons. For your $350, it'll display distance, time elapsed, and pace all on one screen, though you can add other metrics, such as heart rate. The 610 is also the first in the line with a run / walk alert, which keeps Auto Lap and other features active even when it detects you're walking. As always, you can upload your runs to the web in excruciating detail, but this watch jumps on the social bandwagon with "Virtual Racer," a Nike Running-esque community where you can compare your stats with strangers' (or just try to best your own PRs, if you don't play like that).
After logging some epic runs with the touchscreen Nano, we'd be curious to see how responsive the display is after your fingers become sweaty, though Garmin promises it'll work well through sweat, rain, and touchscreen-friendly gloves. It's available now on Garmin's site, though we suggest you hardcore runners check out DC Rainmaker's review below: it's everything you wanted to know about the 610 but were afraid to ask, including comparison shots with other Forerunners and a glove test.
