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It’s been almost exactly a month since Garmin announced their lineup of fall running watches, including three new units: The Forerunner 230, 235, and 630. Each of those units replacing previous iterations of the FR220, 225, and 620. The FR230 and FR235 were unique though in that this time around they got pretty significant feature updates, bringing them far more in line with the FR620 of yesteryear, than other mid-range watches. Meanwhile, the FR235 also got a new optical sensor – this one developed fully in-house by Garmin.This review will focus on the FR230 & FR235. While next week I’ll publish a review of the FR630. The only difference between the FR230 and FR235 is the optical sensor in the FR235 – that’s it.
All other baseline features are the same.For this review I was sent both a FR230 and FR235 to borrow from Garmin. Both are final production units, and this review is based on final production firmware (3.10+). After this review, I’ll be sending back all the demo units as usual to Garmin and getting my own – just the way I roll.With that intro out of the way, let’s dive into things. Unboxing:Since this is a dual FR230 & FR235 product review, it would mean I have two boxes and thus two unboxing sections.
However, in this case I’m temporarily going to provide you with a FR230 unboxing, and then follow-up with the official FR235 unboxing photos at a slightly later date (a week or so). The reason being simple: The FR230 arrived boxed, while the FR235 (final production unit) arrived naked in order to get it to me quicker. Don’t worry, it’s the same unit you have.As for the differences between the two – well, one includes a HR strap (if on bundle) and one doesn’tand the end. But let’s start at the beginning, with the box:Once we crack it open we’ll find this small assortment of goodness worth of parts:Removing the plastic, we get this:Ultimately, that comes down to four things: The FR230, the FR230 charger, the HRM4 heart rate strap, and some paper manual stuff.The charging cable used on the FR230 is the same as on the FR235 and FR630.
It is not compatible with any other Garmin units (I tried, really, don’t do it – bad things happen due to the pins being different).For the HR strap, note that it’s only included on the FR230 bundle including the heart rate strap. If you buy a FR235 you won’t get one (you’ll get an optical sensor).
And if you buy just the base FR230 – again, no strap. In any case, here’s the strap (HRM4):The above strap does NOT have Running Dynamics (that’s the HRM-RUN & HRM-TRI).
It doesn’t matter though what strap you pair to the FR230/FR235, it won’t read Running Dynamics data from it.Next we’ve got the unit itself, first the FR230:Then the FR235 with it. The easiest way to tell my two units apart is that the black FR230 has a white trim, whereas the black FR235 lacks such trim.With everything unboxed, let’s compare sizes. Weight & Size Comparisons:Next, let’s take a look at the weight. The FR230 & FR235 are very similar in weight, only 1g apart! The FR230 weighs 41g, and the FR235 weighs 42g.If you compare that to the TomTom Spark, it weighs in at 47g (depending on band):Next, here’s a side-profile view of many modern GPS running watches on the market.
From left to right we’ve got:From left to right: Garmin Epix, Garmin FR920XT, Suunto Traverse, Suunto Ambit3 Peak, Polar V800, Garmin FR225, Garmin FR630, Garmin FR235, TomTom Spark, Garmin FR25.So basically, I’ve pretty much showed what we already knew – the FR235 is a super-slim GPS running watch that doesn’t weigh much. Running:To start a run, you’ll press the power button once, which triggers a screen enabling you to select an activity profile (note though, in this most recent public beta, this behavior changes slightly to minimize one of these steps). It’s here that you’ll select to Run outdoors or indoors:Note that on the FR230/235, you get four activity profiles: Run Indoors, Run Outdoors, Bike Outdoors, and ‘Other’. On the FR230/235 you cannot rename these profiles, or create new ones. On the FR630 however, you can create your own.Once you’ve selected one, the unit goes off and finds satellite coverage. In most cases, if you’ve been in the same spot as previous and downloaded the satellite cache (happens automatically with the Garmin Connect and Garmin Express apps), this usually takes under 15 seconds.Once that’s done, it’ll bring you to the main data page (you can still see satellite status up top until you start).These data pages are totally customizable, with up to four data fields each.You get a bunch of pages, some tweakable, some not.
Here’s the rundown:Customizable Data Page 1 (1-4 fields)Customizable Data Page 2 (1-4 fields)Heart Rate Screen (Split: HR bpm & HR zone)HR Zone Gauge (a little gauge of your HR)Clock Page (current date/time)Each of these can be enabled/disabled as you see fit. Here’s what they all look like. As far as sensors goes, the FR230 & FR235 both support connecting to ANT+ heart rate sensors, ANT+ footpods, and ANT+ cycling speed/cadence sensors (more on the bike stuff later). For the FR235, you can choose whether to use the internal sensor, or an external HR sensor. Note however, that at present the footpod is really only useful for indoors, and not outdoors – since you can’t select to use it for pace outdoors.With that all set, let’s start the run. At this point, the unit will show you current pace from GPS as well as distance and any other metrics you choose.The unit includes basics like Auto Pause (which pauses the watch recording when you stop at a traffic light), Auto Lap (to automatically create laps at a distance of your choosing), and alerts.
Standard alerts can be configured for Time, Pace, Distance, Calories, Heart Rate, or Run/Walk. Additionally, you can create custom alerts to remind you to Drink, Eat, Turn Around, or ‘Go Home’. These custom ones essentially work on a time/distance parameter – such as ‘every 10 minutes drink’, or ‘go home after 30 mins’.In the event you want to do a custom workout, you’ve got a few options. One way is to create a workout on Garmin Connect (using a desktop computer), and then transfer it to the watch using either USB or your phone. In this case, you can create complex custom workouts like the below:Additionally, you can also create an interval workout using a more simplified interval option on the unit itself. This allows you to program various steps in without too much complexity:Now for the most part all of this stuff I’ve talked about to date is standard stuff for Garmin running units.Where it starts to get interesting is new features like the ‘Finish Time’ estimator. This feature will automatically estimate how much time you have remaining until you hit a goal distance (such as 5K, 10K, etc).
You can enter a custom distance in as well as standard ones, using miles or kilometers. It’ll simply figure out what your estimated time of completion is based on how fast you’re running thus far.Next, we’ve got some post-run metrics. The FR230 & FR235 both support VO2Max, even using the optical sensor (a rarity in the industry). In this case, the unit will give you a VO2Max value after each run (if it changes).
It’ll also plot this online. Right now the FR235 estimates my VO2Max at 55, which is a touch bit below where I’ve had it measured previously. However, at the same time, the FR630 is measuring it also at 55 right now. Note though that historically these features can take many weeks – specifically of harder runs – to even out on the watch as it learns from you.Similarly, I’ve been doing tests using a FR230 and FR630 with HR straps, while also using the FR235 with the optical sensor – looking at recovery time. IN most cases, they’re within an hour of each other (even if I think they’re a bit high overall).Additionally, post-workout you’ll also get a TE (Training Effect) score too, if you look at the summary information:Again, this is also listed online too on the Garmin Connect page (different run below):So what about GPS accuracy? So far so good. You’ve got two options when it comes to GPS, one is to use just the default GPS option, and the second is to enable GLONASS.
Doing so would take a slight hit on battery (usually about 20%). For me, I’m OK with that. I’ve been doing a bunch of runs in/around the city (and in snowy weather), without seeing any real issues. For example, here’s going right along buildings without any GPS variance:Here’s an example from actually earlier tonight where four GPS watches all slightly struggled through just one 100m section of the run – though the FR235 and Ambit3 tracked the least problematic until the turn, though then temporarily seemed offset for another 100m across the bridge before joining back up. On the notifications front, I haven’t had any problems with the unit ‘forgetting’ my phone – it’s been working great the last few weeks for me. I’m not sure if that’s improvements in the Bluetooth stack on the iPhone, improvements from the Garmin side on the device, or just plain luck. But either way – I’m happy.Next, we’ve got Connect IQ.
This allows you to download various widgets, watch faces, data fields, and apps to your FR230/235. This in turn enables 3rd party developers to create things/apps for your watch that can extend/replace functionality of the device. I talk a ton more about that inIn my testing, I tend to keep things fairly vanilla during the initial period (sans-Connect IQ), so in the event something goes wrong, I know it’s definitely a Garmin problem versus an app problem. Backlight and Display:New Section There’s been a few questions and comments on the backlight and the display, both here after posting the review and on the Garmin Forums. So, I figured I’d take a few photos and give my thoughts.First, remember that anytime you see photos of watch backlights – the exact luminosity of that display really comes down to the photographer. I can make any display look as bright or poor as I want merely by changing settings on the camera.
That said, typically I just leave the settings largely on automatic. In this case, the only thing I tweaked after the fact in Lightroom was the white balance of the photo (in total) to get rid of the yellow glow. That’s it.First, the photo you see above is all three watches (FR230, FR235, FR630), simply with their backlights enabled. On one of the units I put it at the pending/watch display screen.
This means that it has white text on a black background. The other two are on usual mid-run screens with data fields.Below is the same three watches, this time all lined up and all in running mode.
From left to right they are: FR235, FR630, FR230Note, I’ve seen some photos/videos of folks posting pictures of a backlight of various units during daylight – I’m not sure I totally understand the point there to be honest. Said differently: Try it in the dark, you know, where the light is for.Finally, I zoomed back and took another photo, this time adding in a Garmin Fenix3 for comparison. As you can see, it’s brighter – so much so that it ‘blows out’ from a brightness standpoint.
Brennenstuhl Pm 230 Manual Meat Parts
The rest of the photo is brighter than the others because there’s simply more light in the photo for the sensor to capture.So is it bright enough to run with? Yes, absolutely.
Approximately 80-90% of my runs with the unit were in the dark. It’s just that time of year for running.Is it as bright as the Fenix3, or even the FR620? But it also doesn’t matter. It’s perfectly readable, and those watches are what I’d describe as ‘excessively bright’.
Yes, it can be nice to have such a bright display if you’re trying to use it as a flashlight, but when I’m running, there’s no tangible benefit to that extra brightness. I can see the display just fine with the current brightness state. Some would even argue it makes it harder to see the text.Of course, any brightness comparisons can be a personal thing and differ from person to person, but it’s not really something that bothers me on any of these units.
Bugs, Quirks, and OdditiesThe FR230 & FR235 aren’t without their oddities. Most of these are fairly subtle, yet others are more concerning. Here’s a round-up of where things stand. If/when these get addressed, I’ll note it accordingly:– FR235 Battery Life: It’s bad. It’s about 2-2.5 days for me, using the optical HR sensor on its usual continuous mode (24×7). It’s supposed to be 9-11 days.
Garmin says they’re aware of the issues and are working on it, with hopes to issue a firmware update in a few weeks. I’m sorta realistic though that something will have to give here – such as reduced sampling rates.
Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong, but it’s a pretty big jump to increase battery life 4x over what’s there today without any negative impacts. Note: For some users, they are seeing more like 5-7 days.– FR235 optical HR is a bitjaggy: For lack of better term, perhaps spikey, the optical HR signal seems to be a bit non-smoothed. It’s rare that I ask for something to have more smoothing, but it seems like that might be called for here. I’m sure there are other ways they can address it, but it’s just a touch bit too variable. This isn’t a deal breaker right now, but is something they should address.– FR235 optical HR quirks with fast pace shifts and some hill sections: As noted in the accuracy section.– Currently within structured workouts (those that you create online and download to your watch), the unit fails to alert on pace based sections of a custom workout (high/low alerts).
Fixed in firmware update on Feb 25th, 2016– A few minor quirks, such as if you power off the unit temporarily (i.e. To reboot), it’ll actually fail to show the 4hr continuous HR graph upon powering back up (such as faintly seen in the background of the bug photo above).Next, is the curious case of the indoor bike mode. This appears to be available on some people’s units, yet not other units. When I asked Garmin about this yesterday, they said it wasn’t a feature they planned on offering – yet it’s clearly on existing production units shipped to real customers. Oddly enough, my unit doesn’t have it as an activity profile I can enable (simply missing). I’ve re-checked in again today asking them to provide some clarification.This mode was simply just like the outdoor cycling mode, but indoors.
The only real purpose here is to automatically categorize the workouts on Garmin Connect as indoor cycling. You can otherwise replicate the same functionality by just turning off the GPS in cycling mode. Still, it has some benefit (and matches functionality seen on cheaper watches from TomTom and Polar).Finally, we get to one particularly sore point – which is Garmin’s inability to get their specifications correct on their own website. Since announcement, the Garmin has listed Virtual Racer as a feature on the FR230/235. Yet, it’s not present. When I asked Garmin about this yesterday morning, they noted it was a mistake and would be removed shortly.
As of this morning, it was still present.Now, you may think this would be a minor mistake if not for the fact that it’s been there a month! Further, if this had been the first instance of it occurring, I’d be less concerned. But almost every product Garmin has released in the last year has had Garmin.com specifications errors that takes days to weeks to clean up. Quite honestly, this isn’t very hard. All they have to do is have a short meeting in a conference room with the web content folks and the product team folks and just scroll down the page and triple-check everything.
It would take perhaps 10-15 mins to go through all 3-4 pages.So yes, this is a clear ‘calling them out’ moment on repeated errors that are so easy to fix, yet significantly impact the consumer if they’re looking for that feature after purchase. In this case, Garmin says there are no plans to include the feature in the FR230/235. Product Comparisons:Like all products I’ve reviewed, you’ll find the FR230 & FR235 in the product comparison tool/database. This means you can mix and match features against other products I’ve reviewed or used. In the case of below, I’ve placed the FR225, FR230, FR235, and TomTom Spark all on the table for comparison. But you can easily mix and match your own. Hopefully you found this review useful.
At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.I’ve partnered with Clever Training to offer all DC Rainmaker readers exclusive benefits on all products purchased. By joining the Clever Training VIP Program, you will earn 10% points on this item and 10% off (instantly) on thousands of other fitness products and accessories. Points can be used on your very next purchase at Clever Training for anything site-wide. You can read more about. By joining, you not only support the site (and all the work I do here) – but you also get to enjoy the significant partnership benefits that are just for DC Rainmaker readers.
And, since this item is more than $75, you get free 3-day (or less) US shipping as well.Additionally, you can also use Amazon to purchase the units (though, no discount). Or, helps support the site as well (socks, laundry detergent, cowbells).
If you’re outside the US, I’ve got links to all of the major individual country Amazon stores on the sidebar towards the top.Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. Thanks for the great reviews. A few questions about the 230(apologize if I missed in the numerous answers already)1. Can you set ALERTS based on HR zones (using strap) with the 230? If so, how many zones?2. Can you transfer data to PEAKTRAINING from the 230?3.
My primary use for the product is accurate monitoring of HR and recording of basic mountaineering/hiking trek data like elevation gain, miles, pace, moving average, etc (not navigation info) for potentially long treks (8-10 hours); Looking for simple functionality for a moderate price. Is the 230 the best Garmin product that fits that bill?Thanks!
1) yes You can. If it’s per zone, then only one zone can be selected.
But You have also custom option per bpm.2) yes, Garmin Connect allows You to export any activity in gpx or tcx format. Both are acceptable by TrainingPeaks. Also You can choose to sync the two services automatically3) Accurate HR monitoring depends on HR monitor You will use (not the FR230), so buy a good one:-P.
As for accurate GPS data (distance, pace and elevation gain) I am not sure FR230 is the best choice. First of all it lacks barometer, so elevation gain is usually 20-25% off! The only moderate price option from Garmin that includes barometer is Vivoactive HR ($250), but I am not 100% sure it will alst 8-10hrs:-/ As for pace and distance in the mountains, pretty much most of GPS wearables might struggle in harder conditions (deep canyons, steep rocks etc), no matter how expensive they are. In such cases You would be much better with bigger devices, handheld ones like Oregon or eTrex. Hi Ray,After some research and reading that the elevate optical HR sensor already made some improvements (mostly because of software updates) I thought the FR 235 was a good option for my girlfriend as a budgetfriendly multisportwatch with optical HR. She’s a spinning instructor so indoor workouts and functionality should be at least working ok (I didn’t even expect super accuracy), but the FR235 registered just crap.I also use a garmin fenix3 with normal strap and with Mio Fuse, both of which record my HR in all circumstances almost perfectly (disregarding a few spikes now and then).I did an interval indoor ride with the FR 235 with average HR recorded of 70 and max 95 means that is was basically sleeping on the bike. So no much imrpovement there.Now I was wondering, is there any multisport watch with optical HR which actually works accurately, also indoor, available now, or something in the loop for 2017?Many thanks,Nicky.
Hello,Wonderful and pretty detailed review. I already have an ant+ heart rate belt, does it make sense to spend extra $105 USD ( that’s the difference between 230 and 235 in my country) for the 235?
Currently i pair my belt with strava and use it while running and cycling. So I am confused if the heart rate sensor is worth the extra 105 bucks, unless there is any other difference between the two models, which from the review doesn’t seem to be the case.Let me know if additional 105 is a good investment. Sankalp, I have been using the 235 for around 4 months now. Unfortunately, I find the HR sensor to be very inaccurate. It is okay just for normal monitoring of the HR, but especially when you are doing complicated runs with change of pace, recovery (like intervals), it is just not there.
Even on normal easy runs, I find that for no reason, sometimes the HR will jump up for a few minutes – for no reason at all. In fact, I have started using the HR strap nowadays and don’t use the optical HR. If the 230 has cadence, and I think it does, then you should not even think of the 235. Hi John,Yes, as far as features are concerned, both are similar. The only difference I could find was the optical heart rate sensor. I will primarily be using it for cycling and hence its ability to pair with ant+ enabled HRM and cadence sensor is great. Since I need heart rate data only for running and cycling I think 230 makes more sense.
230 it is then unless someone comes up with a better argument for why I should go for the 235. The 235 is about 420 USD in India and the 230 is330 USD, which is a huge difference.Thanks for the advice John. When I had a forerunner 305, I was able to adjust the auto lap setting by individual hundredths of a mike.
In other words, I could program the watch to alert me at 0.98 or 0.99, or, alternatively, 1.02 or 1.03. When I got the forerunner 610, it only allowed increments in intervals of 0.05 and was therefore less precise. I am now planning to purchase at garmin 230. Does anyone know if the autolap settings on the 230 can be adjusted by 0.01 or 0.02, like the 305, or is it restricted to 0.05 increments, like the 610. (Prefer the former.) if the answer is 0.05, which of the relatively newer Garman watches allow increments of 0.01 for autolap settings? Great review, as always.I have a question about the accelerometer. There are just too many comments for me to read them all and a quick search did not find the answer.
So I apologize if this has been asked and answered before.I currently own a FR610, a Scosche RHYTHM+ and a Garmin footpod. I only run outside, but I turn off GPS and use my footpod for pace and distance. The distance measured by my footpod is pretty accurate (checked by plotting the route manually), so I suppose pace is accurate as well. Apart from the fact that when it’s cold it takes 10 to 15 minutes before I get accurate HR, this setup worked very well for me. Unfortunately, my footpod seems to have died on me.
After changing the battery (newly bought) my FR610 just won’t pick up a signal. Maybe I’ve broken the sensor?So now I’m trying to decide whether to buy a new footpod or buy the FR235. I like the fact that I can use my Scosche in winter, when the 235 is over my jacket, and use the inbuilt optical HR in summer.
What holds me back is that I don’t know if pace and distance are accurate when disabling GPS and using the inbuilt accelerometer. All I can find about this subject is comments from people who have been using the indoor modewellindoors (like your comment #8).
Would it be possible to check the accuracy of pace and distance in indoor mode when running outside, by comparing the distance by plotting the route manually and/or by using a second watch with GPS?Regards,Rogier. Rogier, I think the question to ask is why would you turn off the GPS for an outdoor run? Are your runs typically longer than 16 hrs? I have a FR 230 with the Scosche Rhythm+ and usually run 2 or 3 times a week for a total of about 4 hrs of activity, and find that I my battery is only around 75% by the end of the week. An hour of charging on Sunday evening and it’s back to 100% and I’m good to go for another week (or more).The GPS is super accurate and very quick to acquire satellites, so I don’t see a reason to turn it off and rely on a foot pod if you are outside.Just my 2 cents.
16 months later and now on firmware 7.10 and the optical HR is still a poor solution. I get good results indoors but take it outside in cold weather – even with long sleeves over the watch. In the hot weather, sweat causes spikes. I’ve tightened, I’ve shaved my wrist, and come to the conclusion wrist-based Garmin optical in this iteration doesn’t work consistently well for me. Back to the strap if I really want good results I can rely on.I wonder if the new Fenix 5s have improved on the technology, or whether wrist based optical in general (or Garmin’s elevate version) is just an inferior HR tech. If so, shouldn’t Garmin be innovating on the add-on strap technology? It’s another thing for Ray to review and us to buy.
I’ve noticed on my FR235 that the activity tracking mode calculates far too many calories for steps walked when not in timed activities. It badly distorts my total calories for the day. This is not so when I use my Garmin 25 as default activity tracker which I am now doing again. For example, as shown on Garmin Connect, for 2.75 miles of non-timed steps the FR235 calculated 622 Calories. That’s 226 calories per mile. On the same day it calculated 312 calories from 3.67 miles timed running activity, which is 85 calories per mile and about the same as expected. Three times as many calories per mile from walking steps as from intensive running?
On other days it has been similarly high since I got the FR235 a week ago. On my Garmin 25 the values for calories per mile of untimed steps work out at about 40/mile. That makes sense as my daily steps mainly consist of poodling around the house, not exactly striding out.
I only looked into this because I noticed that one day when I did no timed activities, my total calories seemed way too high compared with active days. I’ve bought FR235 in hopes to get a device that I can wear 24/7 without the need to wear a chest strap all the time. But HR sensor is very unreliable to say the least. For me it just doesn’t seem to work 90% of time. When I go for a run, a ride or do any other activity, HR seems to be completely off showing way too low numbers which don’t even change.I tried adjusting tightness, position and what not, but it just doesn’t seem to work properly most of the time. I also use Edge 510 with chest strap for bike rides so I pretty much know what my heart rate should be at certain levels of my exercise.I’m also not sure when does sensor read data according to display status? When the heart icon blinks or when it’s steady?
I only rarely see it being steady. Most of the time it just blinks so my guess is that while heart icon blinks, sensor hasn’t had a reliable read of the heart rate.My forearm is very bony so to speak, not much meat there, so I thought that protruding HR sensor might press too hard on my arm stopping the tiny blood flow so I glued a piece of foam around the sensor to make the touching area a bit larger making the force on my skin less pronounced. This seems to yield better results, but it’s still too unreliable to be actually usable.
I actually only did a single run where I think the HR was approximately correct at least in the second half of my run.Do you have any suggestions what I should do to make this work for the most of the time? I really don’t want to either buy a chest strap or sell this unreliable device. I upgraded to the latest firmware but there’s no change whatsoever. I would like to thank you for this procedure because it actually does work. I’ve tried it on a run and on a bike. And especially on a bike I was comparing HR with chest HR and my Edge 510 and they were pretty much both the same.
There si a difference on descents where my HR drops significantly and quickly and FR235 is a bit slow to get back down, but apart from that they’re both pretty much the same. I’m glad and thankful to be less angry about this FR 235 buy which was more or less a miss than a hit at first.
Both will offer You 2)as for the 1): on Ambit, You can press start/stop to pause the run. If You dont press and hold start/stop later (to save the run) all screens remain available. So after one minute You can check Your HR. On Garmin (and actually on Ambit as well), I would just press lap instead of start/stop, on one of pages I would configure lap time and instant HR, and after 1min, I would read the HR. At that point You can stop and save Your activity and have this value also on garmin.connect after run. After I’ve updated to ver. 7.10, the battery life has been reduced drastically.
Before, I could leave the watch on the desk for a week, and still have battery left.Now, if I charge the watch in the morning, the battery is half empty by the end of the day. A 7-8 K run will eat 40% of the battery.Also, the HR is really bad now.
I use a strap, and I get a really bad reading from it most of the time. Sometimes it is stuck on 66 bpm, and doesn’t move much during a run.
The good old “turn it off and on again” doesn’t work.Another thing. Before the update, the watch would connect and syncronize with my phone, as soon as I turn on bluetooth.Now I have to restart the watch before it connects to the phone.This is really bad. Does anyone else recognize any of this? I have also noticed significantly worse battery performance on the 230 since the latest updates (not sure why). The heart rate strap has always worked perfectly and continues to do so (make sure you moisten strap on both sides before running). The Bluetooth synchronization always takes at least 5 minutes (and up to 20 minutes on office network – where I presume certain social networks are throttled).
Even on my home wifi (20mbps) it takes at least 5 minutes and that is synchronizing every day or second day. I’m a cyclist, and I use an edge 25 for my commute. I want heart rate rebroadcast (so I don’t have to stress about a chest strap – I use one on my longer runs, but can’t be bothered to remember it for the commute) and I want to replace my Pebble Time with a more stable platform. I’m after a watch that gives notifications, silent alarm, step tracking and heart rate. Oh, and I want a round watch face this time (hence the vivoactive HR isn’t in the picture)I’ve already been bitten by the Pebble support vanishing, and don’t want the same to happen with a 235 when the 240/245 comes out.Given that my Garmin Edge 705 still works happily with the connect platform, and my wife’s really old Garmin vivo thing is still working, should I be confident that the 235 will be fine once it’s a discontinued product later this year?Thanks!
Having used my 235 for a year and a half now I am very happy with the performance of the watch, even the optical heart rate monitor. Looked at the 935 and while it is a beautiful unit it is more of a want than a need at this point in time.Question about future products: the only thing Garmin appears to be currently missing is in-unit music storage/playback (compared to Tom Tom, Polar and Apple Watch). With all the bluetooth wireless headphones on the market and more in the pipeline has anyone asked Garmin what their thoughts are about incorporating in-unit music storage?
Seems like this would be the perfect upgrade to add to either the 235 or the 630/735 in their next iteration.As always keep up the good work. I have had a good experience with the 230 s0 far. Its had a few quirks, but just recently during a run it just stops recording.
I get no vibration indicating the start/stop button was hit (it wasn’t) and I can manually press stop and then start it up again. Obviously if I run a mile or two without looking I would not realize it had stopped and it basically screws up the run tracking. Its like I stopped the watch on my own or something. I have 7.3, auto-pause is off and just use normal gps. The gps is not the issue since I can restart the run manually. This has happened the last 3 runs.
I have everything updated and even did a hard reset. I have the 230. I have not had any problems with the watch suddenly stopping but the vibration alert has been very disappointing. It is so hard to feel that it is absolutely useless. (This is a particular issue for me because I do run-walk-run and listen to music.) The beeper alert is not much better.
I solved this by purchasing a separate alert device from Gymboss for $25.00 but it would have been nice to have everything on one device. My previous watch, the 610, had a similar issue but it was not quite this bad; the 230 alerts are particularly horrendous. I wish there was a Connect IQ app to correct this (is there?) but that seems unlikley since this more of a hardware problem. Garmin 230 RACE SCREEN/INSTANT PACE app question.Sorry if this is not directly related to your posting but I wasn’t sure how to get something else posted here except by pushing “reply.” I have the Garman 230 and I use a connect IQ app called “Race Screen.” One of the app’s features allows you to adjust the instant pace settings from every second or so to any number of seconds you want. I guess you’d call this a pace smoothing feature.
Anyway, I’ve been using the 20 second setting, which basically averages your pace for 20 seconds and therefore is not subject to the moment to moment wide fluctuations which makes the standard instant pace setting unusable. I realize this setting can never be perfect but I was wondering if others have had experience with this sort of pace smoothing and would recommend a different duration of time, such as 30 seconds or 40 seconds or even 60 seconds?
(I realize that many folks use lap pace for this purpose, sometimes setting the lap distance to, say, a quarter of a mile. I’m not asking about lap pace–my question is strictly about adjustments in the instant pace setting, using the app I mentioned above or another app.). Hello, everyone. I have a really strange issue with my FR 235. Every activity I record with 1 second recording displays very regular spikes in the pace, with a period of about 3 seconds.
This can be clearly seen in the attached screenshot from an orienteering analysis tool (Quickroute). I also frequently get instances where the position is completely out of whack for a few seconds, resulting in strange paths and ridiculously high speeds.For a better description of the problems, including more images and comparisons with my old FR 910XT (which has no problems like this), see this Garmin Forum thread:Anyone know what might be happening? Could this be a hardware fault? I imported your FR 235.FIT file into Endomondo and it looked OK to me. Pace was smooth enough and the GPS track was on the local path.
(Pace was fast for a good lengthen of the trail – between 3 and 4 min/km).One thing to keep in mind is that GPS location data is not extremely accurate – you can expect each point to be out by a meter or so. If you are truly looking at location every second you’ll run into trouble as the random error between data points becomes a factor. This is why most devices have a lower bound value for auto pause, generally about 2 kph. If you select a value lower than that, the auto pause never kicks in as you’re constantly “hopping” around as the error from each successive GPS point makes it appear like you’re moving. I’d suggest you’re running into this problem. Does your 910XT have per second recording? If not, then likely the time between successive data points is long enough to smooth the small random GPS errors.I’m sure Garmin applies a data smoothing algorithm to reduce the appearance of the errors (most services do).
It could be Quickroute and Garmin conflict in this area.Not sure what else I can say or how I can help.Ou Boet. Thank you so much for taking a look at my data! I guess Endomondo probably does some smoothing, just like Garmin Connect. Quickroute does not, as it would defeat the purpose of every second recording. (When analyzing orienteering training, you want to capture every little bad turn.) The FR 910XT does have every second recording, and that is the mode I always use. It has served me well for many years.
Never seen anything like this.I realize that the position will usually be off by a few meters. But I would expect that the error in distance between consecutive points is far smaller than the error in absolute position. Is this a reasonable assumption? Notice that the recorded GPS track draws a very smooth path on the map; it does not zigzag left and right.
So if there are position errors large enough to cause the fluctuating pace pattern, they are only significant in the direction of travel. This seems rather dubious. Furthermore the very regular and periodic nature of the fluctuations make me suspect that something other than “random” position error is at play. In Australia these have been selling for $469 but at he weekend I saw they had dropped to $249, so I didn’t hesitate in getting one try out as a daily activity tracker, & for hiking & occasional mountain biking. So far it seems to be a great buy, getting the job done running update v7.50, & with the ability to play around with watch faces & widgets it has definitely stopped me pondering an Apple Watch 3, which I wasn’t overly impressed with during a 2 week try out!!Thanks for the great review & the users comments & feedback. Just checked on my FR230 (has to be the same as 235).
It’s there just fine.Start any activity and while running, press and hold up/options button (left middle) for 3s. In the menu, scroll down to ‘Back to Start’ and press enter/start button (top right). Beware that this is just simple compass screen with distance given in straight line, not as You came until that point. Also, since FR230 and 235 do not have magnetic compass, directions are based on GPS, aka “You got to be moving to get them correctly”. Amazing review, as usual. I bought a M430 based on your review last May, but grew tired of its looks. Another thing is Polar’s Running Index which agitates me too much after runs.
I know I could just ignore it but the fact it’s there at the end and prominent on Flow, leaves me in a bad mood when my points are below my avg. RI.I don’t care about oHR, as long as its technology is in such a bad state, because it’s useless for anything but steady state runs. Even the m430’s praised 6-led sensor is way too slow to pick up changes during intervals, strides and the like. Also its readings throughout the day leave me puzzled oftentimes. I know for a fact that my RHR is not 30, yet it often shows 30-35 when it starts collecting data, and since there is no avg. RHR provided by Polar those selective readings over a day are kinda useless to me.
The watch/app should create an avg. Based on my activity, but for now, the m430 uses HR values out of context, thus is useless to view trends, like rising/dropping RHR, as you pointed out.Long story short: What’s your favourite watch just for running, that can double as an everyday watch (not like Polar, those things are hideous, imo)? Is the FR 230 still a good no-frills-watch for runners?Cheers, and keep up the good work! Thanks for your reply. Well it seems the 230 is the watch I want, after reading through everything I could find on 230,235,630,735.regarding optical HR (oHR): I can live with reasonable delay if it weren’t for Polar’s Running Index, which according to research papers is based on your resting heart rate reserve (like Stravistix’ Fitness curve). Staying in high zones for too long at the beginning of a recovery jog during intervals means your RI tanks considerably, since the watch is like “WTF, he is close to HRM, yet is slow as a turtle”. The oHR sensor on m430 shows my HR rising well into recovery, making it useless for that kind of workouts.Also, quite often in cold weather or under heavy sweating it seems, Heart Rate measuring will freeze to a certain number and not change until I stop to a halt and/or loosen the watch, and retighten it.
Does Garmin’s sensor has this problem as well?Since Garmin also sports a scoring system of their kind I’m afraid that I might pay for oHR, and then not use it, if it turns out that scores are based on pace againt HR, like with Polar.Does anyone have some knowledge how Garmin comes up with their score/VO2Max at the end of a session? This decides whether I go for a 230 or 235. Quick question: How to set multiple users?
Is there with any Garmin device the possibility to set two user profiles (and I’m not talking about a Run and a Bike profile for the same user)?If two people (e.g. Max and Sandra) want to share the same device (because they don’t go running together they could easily alternate in using the same device), is there the possibility to have two different user profiles with all the personal data (age, gender, weight, height, etc.)?I assume this is not interesting for Garmin as they would only sell one device where they could sell twoThanks for your thoughts. First I would like to say that I love this site. I use it quite often and I sincerely appreciate the insight and info that DC Rainmaker provides.Second, I am currently using a Garmin Forerunner 210. However, the band is now falling apart and, little did I know or try to figure out when I was researching buying the 210, that you can’t simply replace the band, Now, I am forced to purchase a new running watch.I have researched new watches using DC Rainmaker product comparison tool as well as the Garmin comparison tool and have narrowed my choices down to the Garmin 235 & the Garmin 645 (non music). However, I am having trouble deciding if the extra $150 is worth the move to the 645. It’s not a money issue as I can afford either – it’s a “is it worth the extra $150” question.I am primarily a runner with an occasional lap swim routine.
But, I do have a Garmin Lap Swimming watch for that thus I do Not need it for the swimming. And, I am not a biker.With that in mind, is the 645 worth the extra money for what it offers or should I go with the older 235? I plan on purchasing through Clever Training.
Thoughts please. ChadIt’s a tough question and unfortunately one that only you can answer. The 645 as you note it newer and more capable, but $150 more expensive. All I can say was that when I first start running and bought a watch, I didn’t buy enough watch. The metrics I WAS looking at and reviewing run to run eventually changed and soon I found my watch not doing what I wanted it to do. In the end I ended up buy another watch. The only bright side was that I was initially looking at the 620 and by the time I was looking for the second watch the 230 and 235 had come out.
Eventually went with the 230 which I still have and love.If cost/price is not and issue, perhaps open your selection criteria to more than just the features. Perhaps you like the looks of one more than the other. Is one smaller? Does one fit better? My sister recently got the 735. Dimensionally it’s only a tiny bit smaller, but on my wrist is feel very much smaller compared with my 230 (and I’ve always thought the 230 was just that little bit too big for me).So, not an answer to your question but a response none-the-less. Hope this helps.OB.
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