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[[File:Garmin235.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The {{Garmin 235}} , showing the display of heart rate.]]I had remarkably high hopes for the Garmin 235. I was naïve enough to think that it would be like the [[Garmin 225]], but with better [[Optical Heart Rate Monitoring]], better [[GPS Accuracy]] and adding in [[Connect IQ]] to boot. Sadly, the GPS accuracy is even worse and the optical heart rate monitoring is still not viable. The 235 has one of some cool novelties, but if you look at the four basic questions I use to evaluate the nicest mixes foundational capabilities of features in any a running watch, it comes up short.* '''How far did I run?''' This is the most basic question, and having tested its predecessor, sadly the 235 has distinctly grim [[Garmin 225GPS Accuracy]] . Even with my low expectations of recent Garmin devices I was rather disappointed. It's possible that the variants of the 235 that lack the optical heart rate monitor (230/630) might do a little better, but I wouldn't expect a huge improvement. Of course, the error that you'll see will depend on the nature of your route. On straight lines and with a clear view of the sky it should do okay, but in tree cover and on twisty courses it's likely to be pretty ugly. How much this will bother you is likely to depend on how what you're using the watch for and the nature of your personality. * '''How fast am I running?''' Knowing how fast you're running can be a nice to know, or it can be vital for your training or race performance. Because of the nature of GPS, watches that rely on GPS signal alone tend to have high hopesserious problems with current pace. Thankfully, Garmin has added support for the display of current [[Pace From A Footpod]] while getting all other data from GPS. (This was added in the 4.70 firmware, released June 2016. )* '''Where am I? '''m still testing the The 235has extremely limited support for navigation, but it's better than nothing. ** '''Back To Start'''. This is a simple arrow point to your starting point, so it won't help you backtrack. However, knowing where your hotel is in a strange city or where you parked your car is immensely valuable, especially if you're running a circular route.** '''Back To Waypoint'''. You can mark a location and use the arrow to point to it later. Again, this is a simple "as the crow flies" pointer. ** '''Connect IQ Apps. '''It's possible to add more navigation by installing a [[Connect IQ]] app. Connect IQ application take over the role of the display and recording of your activity, so while they can add some navigation they may not have the functionality that you'd expect from a running watch. I tried dwMap (V1.4.0018b) and it will give you navigation, but you have extremely limited options for displaying other data, with just four predefined fields shown.* '''What's my initial impressionscadence? '''[[Cadence]]''' '''is one of the most critical and often overlooked aspects of running. If you get your Cadence right, many other things naturally fall into place. . There is support for Cadence from the internal accelerometer, though I find that's not as accurate as the [[Footpod]] which it supports. While the 235 has alerts for heart rate, pace, distance, and time, it lacks an alert for Cadence which would have been the most valuable. The 235 is not a full reviewgood choice for ultrarunners, as its battery life is too short. You can charge the 235 while you're running, but I'd recommend getting a watch with a longer battery life so you don't have to charge it so often. See [[Best Running Watch#Watches for Ultrarunning| Watches for Ultrarunning]] for more details.{{BuyAmazon|AZID=B0160BC1FO|AZN=Garmin 235}}=Garmin 230/235/630=Garmin produces three similar watches; the base 230, the 235 that adds [[Optical Heart Rate Monitoring]] (OHRM) to the base 230, and the 630 that adds extra functionality to the base 230. I don't see that the additional price of the 630 is worthwhile, so if you don't want the OHRM then go for the 230. {| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"! ! Garmin 230! Garmin 235! Garmin 630|-| Upload| Bluetooth/USB| Bluetooth/USB| Bluetooth/USB/WiFi|-| Battery Life| 16 Hours| 11 Hours| 16 Hours|-| Running Dynamics| No| No| Yes (with Run-HRM Strap)|}=Garmin 235 Pros=* [[Connect IQ]] allows the 235 to include rich apps to extend its core functionality. For instance, the [https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?213535-Watchface-ActiFace-FR920XT-Vivoactive-epix ActiFace] app makes the activity monitor far more inspiring. * Garmin has added support for displaying your current [[Pace From A Footpod]] while getting all other data from GPS. For situations where pacing is critical, such as running a marathon, this is a must have feature.* The 235 is a nice size, looking more like a watch than a brick. I find it a lot more comfortable than the [[Garmin Fenix 3]], [{Garmin Epix]], or [[Garmin 920XT]], though I have rather tiny wrists.

* The Optical HRM does not work Like many other recent running watches, and the 235 will act as well as the an activity tracker. I found this is an area where [[Garmin 225Connect IQ]] really shines, providing rather more sophisticated visualizations and motivations than other manufacturers. As noted above, I particularly like the ActiFace watch face that displays a graph of your activity level over the last week, and adds badges for things like reaching double your step goal. The 235 will automatically detect when you go to sleep and wake up, rather than having to be told. This makes the sleep tracking a lot more convenient, as I dontend to forget. I didn't think its find the sleep tracking to be as good enough to as the Basis watches, but in the 235 does an acceptable job for casual usage.* You can enable notifications from your smartphone, which relays the phone's notification messages, such as texts, calls, or other things you've enabled. For instance, it will notify me when someone joins my conference line. * The 235 has some [[Firstbeat]] features that normally require a heart rate strap, such as recovery time, training effect, and [[VO2max|V̇O₂max]] estimation. (See below for the issues with the heart rate accuracy that limits the value of this.) * The 235 can be charged while running, though the optical heart rate is turned off. This may make it slightly more viablefor ultrarunning. * The 235 can be configured to alert you when a metric is out of range. The alerts include heart rate, pace, distance, and calories. You can also have time-based alerts such as a reminder to take a drink. However, there is no alert for [[Cadence]] which is probably the most valuable alerts you could have.* The 235 will cache the GPS satellite locations for the next few days to reduce startup time. The satellite cash is downloaded when you sync the 235 either via a USB connection or through the Bluetooth sync to a smartphone. I find the faster acquisition is particularly useful when travelling to a new location as older devices can take minutes to get a fix when travelling. I hate standing around on a street corner in the cold, dark, early hours of the morning waiting for my watch to tell me I can start running. I've found that the satellite acquisition was on a par with other modern Garmin watches, which means it's wrong too often for me extremely rapid when the cache is available, and relatively slow if the cash is expired.* The 235 will upload your workouts via a Bluetooth link to trust your smart phone. If you plug the 235 into a computer itwill function as a flash drive, giving you direct access to your workouts as '.FIT' files. This provides compatibility with a wide range of software. * The 235 will record your personal best performances, such as fasted 5K or longest distance. Tightening the strap really tight helpsThese are a nice novelty, but does for most people you won't be setting PR's on a regular enough basis for it to add much value.* The 235 has a surprisingly nice strap. I sometimes fear that Garmin has a department that specializes in unfriendly and uncomfortable straps. While the 235 is not completely resolve anything like as nice as a Suunto, it's far better than most Garmin watches. * The Garmin Connect smartphone app and website are both excellent, and Garmin is continuing to improve them. =Garmin 235 Cons=* The [[GPS Accuracy]] is terrible; see below for details.* See below for the details of the issues[[Optical Heart Rate Monitoring]]. * I love the idea of having continuous hear rate monitoring, especially to get things like [[Resting Heart Rate]]. However, the poor accuracy problems limit limits the value, and the continuous monitoring seems to add problems where the 235 gets "stuck" at a particular value. * My initial [[GPS Accuracy]] testing suggests I'd expected the 235 is rather grimheart rate data to be used for calorie calculations, though I donbut it doesn't seem to have enough data to say more. * [[Connect IQ]] allows the 235 to include rich apps to extend its core functionality. For instance, the ActiFace app make the activity monitor far more inspiringany effect.

* The 235 will automatically detect when includes an internal accelerometer to give you go an idea of pace and distance while running on a treadmill without a footpod, but I found the accuracy was rather poor. I've yet to sleep and wake upcome across a watch that can reasonably estimate your pace from the movement of your wrist, nor does it seem likely that this functionality is practical. =GPS Accuracy =The Garmin 235 did a rather worse than having even I expected, and I had remarkably low expectations. The images below back up the more rigorous statistical analysis to be toldyour find on my [[GPS Accuracy]] page. This makes Given that the [[Garmin 225]] did worse than the [[Garmin 620]], and the 225 is essentially a 620 with Optical Heart Rate Monitoring, it's possible that the sleep tracking 230 or 630 might do a lot more convenientlittle better than the 235. However, even if those invariants are proportionally better, as I tend to forgetit's still a really grim level of inaccuracy. * {| class="wikitable" |- valign="top"|[[File:BridgeGarmin 235.jpg|none|thumb|x300px| You can enable notifications from your smartphonesee the 235 does terribly in the middle twisty section, which was not possible with is a difficult section for most GPS watches. However, they rarely do quite this badly. The 235 also does quite poorly under the earlier 620/225/220bridge, which counterintuitively is a section that most watches are able to handle without issues. This relays You can see a few tracks where the phone's notification messages235 seems to get significantly lost, such as textsand the spread of the blue lap markers is further indications of some fundamental issues. If you compare this image with the equivalent on my [[Garmin 225]] review, calls, or other things you've enabledll see how much worse it does than even that rather mediocre watch. For instanceTo show how the tracks should look, it will notify me when someone joins check out my conference linereview of the [[Polar V800]] or [[Suunto Ambit3]]. (This diagram has tracks color coded with green indicating good accuracy through to red indicating poor accuracy, and the lap markers as blue dots.)]]|- valign="top"* The |[[File:AccuracyGarmin 235 .jpg|none|thumb|x300px| This close up section of a zigzag shows the 225 failing to track the shape of the trail, with far too many red colored lines, and the blue lap markers widely distributed. (This diagram has some tracks color coded with green indicating good accuracy through to red indicating poor accuracy, and the lap markers as blue dots.)]]|- valign="top"|[[Firstbeat]] features File:ZigZagGarmin 235.jpg|none|thumb|x300px| Most GPS watches tend to show the tracks that have the green lines shifted slightly down and to the left, blue up and to the right. The 235 does not show this typical pattern, though it may be that normally require the green lines are a little closer to the actual trail than the blue lines. It's not unusual for a heart rate strapGPS watch to be more accurate in one direction than the other. You can see the lap markers shifted based on direction which is also typical. (This image has the tracks color-coded for direction, such as recovery timewith green coming from the right, training effect, and blue from the left.)]]|}=Optical Heart Rate Monitoring=I've gathered all the results of my testing under my [[VO2max|V̇O₂maxOptical Heart Rate Monitoring]] estimationpage. Yet again=What's Missing=While I don't consider these missing features as 'cons', it's worth understanding the issues features that are missing compared with other watches. You'll notice that the heart rate accuracy limit 235 has a rather short list of missing features ;}* '''Altimeter. '''GPS is far less accurate vertically than horizontally, so a barometric altimeter can provide a much better idea of your ascent and descent. It can also be useful for navigation if you're ascending or descending a mountain. In some races I've been far more interested in how much ascent is left rather than the distance to the value top.* '''Navigation.''' The navigation capabilities are useful if there is a risk of getting lost. I've made good use of thisfeature when running in an unfamiliar city, or when running remote trails. (On a screen this small it might not be much use anyway. )* The 235 '''Extended battery life'''. Some porches can be charged while running, though extend the battery life by turning the optical heart rate is turned GPS reception offfor short periods. This may make can dramatically reduce GPS accuracy, but it more viable 's a useful trade-off for ultrarunningsome ultramarathons.* '''WiFi Uploads'''. While the automatic upload of workouts via WiFi is nice, the upload will typically only go to the manufacturer's web site. * '''Running Dynamics'''. Some of the newer Garmin watches support [[Running Dynamics]] that can show and record Vertical Oscillation (VO) and Ground Contact Time (GCT). (You can get this with the 630.)* '''Web Configuration'''. Some watches allow you to setup the configuration via a web site, and then download your changes. This is vastly easier than fiddling with the watch. =Visual Comparison={| class="wikitable"|- valign="top"|[[File:Garmin235-top.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Garmin 235 top]]|[[File:Garmin235-side.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Garmin 235 side]]|[[File:Garmin 225-top.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Garmin 225 top]]|[[File:Garmin 225-side.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Garmin 225 side]]|[[File:Garmin 620-top.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Garmin 620 top]]|[[File:Garmin 620-side.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Garmin 620 side]]|- valign="top"|[[File:Suunto Ambit3-top.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Suunto Ambit3 top]]|[[File:Suunto Ambit3-side.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Suunto Ambit3 side]]|[[File:Suunto Ambit2-top.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Suunto Ambit2 top]]|[[File:Suunto Ambit2-side.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Suunto Ambit2 side]]|[[File:Polar V800-top.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Polar V800 top]]|[[File:Polar V800-side.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Polar V800 side]]|- valign="top"|[[File:Garmin Epix-top.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Garmin Epix top]]|[[File:Garmin Epix-side.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Garmin Epix side]]|[[File:Leikr 1-top.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Leikr 1 top]]|[[File:Leikr 1-side.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Leikr 1 side]]|- valign="top"|[[File:Polar M400-top.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Polar M400 top]]|[[File:Polar M400-side.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Polar M400 side]]|[[File:TomTom Cardio Runner-top.JPG|none|thumb|150px|TomTom Cardio Runner top]]|[[File:TomTom Cardio Runner-side. JPG|none|thumb|150px|TomTom Cardio Runner side]]|}