Garmin Forerunner 235 Advice

Mathsrunner
Mathsrunner Posts: 93 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all, I was wondering if any of you kind people with experience of the Garmin Forerunner 235 have any advice on whether I should pick one up? I am mainly a runner when it comes to exercise, both training indoors and outdoors although I do mix in a small amount of (basic) weight training and other things like cycling and ellipticals. I've done some research on the watch and it seems to be the best in its class, but I have also heard battery life can be quite short and the HRM can be inaccurate, both problems which are not present on the 230 (although in both cases it is only due to the removal of the optical HRM).

I am somewhat reluctant to pick the 230 however as I'm not overly enamoured with the idea of a chest strap to measure my HR. My main problem (apart from the nagging doubt it would be uncomfortable) is that when I work out I sweat a lot - we are talking drenched t-shirts after longer runs.

Anyway, any advice/experiences would be much appreciated :)

Replies

  • mmteixeira
    mmteixeira Posts: 118 Member
    I am a FitBit owner, but I have been looking at the Garmin units - I thought about the 235 - I am waiting to see the new Garmin Vivoactive HR to be released in April - it is supposed to have golf gps included in a new multi-sport design...
  • festerw
    festerw Posts: 233 Member
    The soft chest straps aren't really uncomfortable, they fit fairly tight and don't move once fitted right. The only issue I've found with a lot of sweat is that after a year now the strap has stretched so it needs replaced but there was no issue with bad readings.
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    I had the 235 for almost a month and returned it due to a lot of bugs (they may have worked some out by now, this was at the end of January. I got the Tom Tom Spark Cardio instead. I previously had the TomTom Runner and really liked it. The Spark is great - simpler than the Garmin (and with fewer features) but much less buggy. I use the running mode, treadmill mode, and gym mode mostly, all of which use the optical HRM. I've found TomTom's optical HRM to be much better than Garmin's. The Garmin, if they fix the bugs, will be a better watch than the TomTom, but they're aimed at different people. The Garmin is definitely aimed at more serious athletes and for the data geek. I am a data geek, so the extra data was hard to give up, but for almost $100 less at the time, the TomTom was the better watch for me.
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,445 Member
    edited March 2016
    There's at least one thread here on MFP from someone who is happy with the HRM in the 235. I still have reservations due to many others (some in my running groups) that have issues (mostly small wrists/slippage when they sweat).

    I am a believer in the chest strap and have to agree the new HRM4-RUN strap is very comfortable (I say this coming from a Polar H7 that I had to tape and use body glide to keep my chest from bleeding). I have the 630, and while it has some bugs/quirks, it is still the best running watch I have ever owned. I would recommend the new Forerunners without hesitation (with the HRM strap of course :wink: ).
  • scorpio516
    scorpio516 Posts: 955 Member
    If anything, lots of sweat helps chest straps! I personally would choose the 230 (in fact I did). Chest straps are comfortable.
  • scorpio516
    scorpio516 Posts: 955 Member
    mmteixeira wrote: »
    I am a FitBit owner, but I have been looking at the Garmin units - I thought about the 235 - I am waiting to see the new Garmin Vivoactive HR to be released in April - it is supposed to have golf gps included in a new multi-sport design...

    It will. The original Vivoactive has golf mode built in, just have to download the courses.
  • Mathsrunner
    Mathsrunner Posts: 93 Member
    Thanks for the help everyone, still not any closer to deciding though :s

    I think I read too much into my purchases and end up unable to decide, I've spent hours on DCRainmaker's site looking at his in depth reviews of multiple watches. Obviously I'm edging towards the 235 - I'm thinking if the HRM isn't great I can just get a chest strap (obviously it is a waste of a chunk of money over the 230 if that's the case), does anyone know what the battery life is like on the 235 with HRM turned off? Also people are mentioning bugs with the unit, anything serious?
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,445 Member
    Have you been to Garmin's forums? While you will mostly only see the bad stuff on there, it does give you an idea of what some folks are having trouble with.
  • tcatcarson
    tcatcarson Posts: 227 Member
    I recently bought the 230 on special offer, and the Garmin HR chest strap - all in, cheaper then I could find the 235.

    I love it.

    A good looking everyday watch with activity tracking, smart notifications and very customisable: watch faces, apps, data fields.

    For running it it a one button effort to turn it to GPS tracking mode and off I go.

    I do not miss the wrist HRM novelty during my day to day life, and I like the apps and website links.

    Ask me more if I've not rattled on enough for you.
  • pomegranatecloud
    pomegranatecloud Posts: 812 Member
    I love my 235. It's such an improvement over my previous Garmin. I've had it for 4 or 5 months. I don't find that the battery life is too short. I've been wearing all day in addition to for runs, and I rarely get below 85%. The HRM works fine for me. I've found it's on par with using a chest strap. The only issues I've had with inaccuracies have been when I wore it over a jacket, which is of course to be expected because there's no skin to skin contact.
  • greghenley1
    greghenley1 Posts: 90 Member
    edited March 2016
    I have the 235 and love it. As far as battery life goes I am very happy with it. I ran a full marathon last weekend in 4:26:22 and the watch still had 57% battery left. I started with about 92% and I had Optical HR and GPS + GLONASS on. Also had the Garmin Foot pod and Tempe connected. The only thing I turned of was the backlight and Bluetooth (didn't carry phone with me). I usually only charge mine on Sunday nights and it usually lasts all week using 24/7 HR, activity tracking, Bluetooth connection and notifications with phone. This includes 5 runs per week ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Battery life with the Optical HR off should rival that of the 230 (which I had prior to the 235). My plan for ultra distance races is to turn off Optical HR and GLONASS and connect an external HRM to save battery.

    As far as accuracy of the Optical HR. If you follow the owners manual and move the watch away from the wrist bone and tighten it up a notch or two you won't have any problems with sweat or water messing up the HR. The only time I don't use the Optical HR is when I am doing speed work on the track or Treadmill and want precise HR readings (the Optical is a little slow to react to sudden changes in HR). I will connect my Wahoo Tickr for those workouts. Another than that the HRM works great for every day running and Gym workouts.

    I haven't really experienced any major or for that matter minor bugs with the watch it seems to just work. There are couple of things Garmin could have done better. 1. The backlight sucks!! Make it brighter. 2. I would love to have the same data screen customization that the 630 has (4 screens instead of 2). You can work around this with ConnectIQ apps.
  • KathyApplebaum
    KathyApplebaum Posts: 188 Member
    The optical HRMs aren't supposed to be as accurate as the chest straps, but I've been using an optical with my Forerunner 620 for over a year now and it's been plenty good for my uses. (The chest strap never meshes well with my sports bra.)

    The 235 definitely has some nice features. I told a friend at lunch today that if I had to shop for a new watch, I'd get the 235 instead of a 630.
  • Mathsrunner
    Mathsrunner Posts: 93 Member
    tcatcarson wrote: »
    I recently bought the 230 on special offer, and the Garmin HR chest strap - all in, cheaper then I could find the 235.

    I love it.

    A good looking everyday watch with activity tracking, smart notifications and very customisable: watch faces, apps, data fields.

    For running it it a one button effort to turn it to GPS tracking mode and off I go.

    I do not miss the wrist HRM novelty during my day to day life, and I like the apps and website links.

    Ask me more if I've not rattled on enough for you.

    Had a busy weekend so a bit tardy with keeping up to date with my question. The watch I choose is basically going to be my first 'proper' sports watch so I was wondering what features you find most useful on the watch and are there any features you have discovered that you now find indispensable, or anything you notice that is missing? Also the watch will end up being a gift to me for my birthday off my girlfriend so the extra cost for the 235 is not really an issue, but I would have to purchase the chest strap myself if I went that way, so if the 235 and the 230 with chest strap had been the same price would you have still gone with the 230?

    Thanks to everyone for their help, you're all great :)
  • MNLittleFinn
    MNLittleFinn Posts: 4,271 Member
    scorpio516 wrote: »
    If anything, lots of sweat helps chest straps! I personally would choose the 230 (in fact I did). Chest straps are comfortable.

    I'll echo this. I just started using the garmin soft strap HRM, and it works just fine for me and, really, after amile or so, the only reason I remember I'm wearing it is that I get the HR readings on my 230. Also, on cold runs, I always have my 230 outide my jacket.....can't read it if it's under, and if it was a 235, I wouldn't get an optical HR reading if it's outside.
  • workout_junkee
    workout_junkee Posts: 473 Member
    I debated the 230 vs 235. I ended up with the 235. I was unsure about any wrist HR accuracy. If I want my HR I can wear a strap or do it the old fashion way.
  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
    I have a forerunner 110 (do they even still make those?) Before that I had a 305. Have always used a chest strap. The new chest straps are slightly more expensive but a lot nicer and like someone else said I never feel it there. I've checked it with machines at gyms and the HR seems really accurate. I have an UP3 fitness tracker that uses some sort of wrist based HR and I can confirm while it's pretty accurate at low numbers it's really inaccurate at high numbers. I always put my chest strap on before a run.

    The only feature the 110 doesn't have that the 305 did and I wish I had, was the instantaneous pace. I don't think I'd want to spend the money on the wrist tracker only to have it be faulty and give me incorrect data.

    Also check out dcrainmaker for reviews on GPS watches, his reviews are solid.
  • Chiqui74
    Chiqui74 Posts: 72 Member
    I've worn a Fitbit Charge HR since last June but I needed to replace my 6 year old dying Garmin so I figured I'd get one that I could use for running AND activity tracking, which required two devices until then. So, a few days ago I got a Garmin Forerunner 235 and I'm not sure about it as far as a replacement for the Fitbit. The Health and Fitness section of the Connect dashboard doesn't work half the time, it doesn't sync with MyFitnessPal for calorie intake, yesterday the system was all screwed up so whenever I tried to sync the information on the watch would just get erased and the date reset the the day before. It was a mess. I like it for running, but it's not looking good as far as daily activity tracker.

    I never had issues with the Fitbit.
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
    edited March 2016
    I'm going to buy the 235 for several reasons but specifically the lack of the HR strap is nice. During the summer I have to quit wearing mine because the humidity and amount of sweat makes it move around a bit and it rips the skin off my body in a couple places on really long runs. I finally stopped wearing it. Body Glide doesn't fix this issue for me.

    Personally I'm pretty much "meh" about logging my HR every run. I can tell if I'm on a sustainable pace without it. I wouldn't mind it for logging effort while running slower during the summer but all in all it doesn't contribute tons to my workouts. I'm more interested in some of the other features of the 230/235 but the 235 looks cooler (for wearing all day) and if the HR sensor is fairly accurate I'll get that over the 230 for sure.
  • greghenley1
    greghenley1 Posts: 90 Member
    edited March 2016
    _Waffle_ wrote: »
    I'm going to buy the 235 for several reasons but specifically the lack of the HR strap is nice. During the summer I have to quit wearing mine because the humidity and amount of sweat makes it move around a bit and it rips the skin off my body in a couple places on really long runs.

    These are the same reasons I returned my 230 and purchased the 235. Absolutely love not wearing a HR Strap on long runs!!

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