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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 itfind the sleep tracking to be as good 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 good enough to 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, and while the readings 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. These are sometimes obviously wronga nice novelty, but 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 they can be fear that Garmin has a little misleadingdepartment that specializes in unfriendly and uncomfortable straps. Tightening While the strap really tight helps 235 is not anything like as nice as a bitSuunto, it's far better than most Garmin watches. * The Garmin Connect smartphone app and website are both excellent, but does not completely resolve 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. I'd expected the heart rate data to be used for calorie calculations, but it doesn't seem to have any effect. * My initial [[GPS Accuracy]] testing suggests the 235 is rather grim, though I don't 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 inspiring.

* The 235 will automatically detect when includes an internal accelerometer to give you go to sleep an idea of pace and wake updistance while running on a treadmill without a footpod, but I found the accuracy was rather than having poor. I've yet to be toldcome 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. This makes the sleep tracking =GPS Accuracy =The Garmin 235 did a lot more convenientrather worse than even I expected, as and I tend had remarkably low expectations. The images below back up the more rigorous statistical analysis to forgetyour find on my [[GPS Accuracy]] page. * You can enable notifications from your smartphoneGiven that the [[Garmin 225]] did worse than the [[Garmin 620]], which was not possible with and the earlier 225 is essentially a 620/225/220. This relays the phonewith Optical Heart Rate Monitoring, it's notification messagespossible that the 230 or 630 might do a little better than the 235. However, such as textseven if those invariants are proportionally better, callsit's still a really grim level of inaccuracy.{| class="wikitable" |- valign="top"|[[File:BridgeGarmin 235.jpg|none|thumb|x300px| You can see the 235 does terribly in the middle twisty section, or other things you've enabledwhich is a difficult section for most GPS watches. For instanceHowever, it will notify me when someone joins my conference linethey rarely do quite this badly. * The 235 has also does quite poorly under the bridge, which counterintuitively is a section that most watches are able to handle without issues. You can see a few tracks where the 235 seems to get significantly lost, and the spread of the blue lap markers is further indications of some fundamental issues. If you compare this image with the equivalent on my [[FirstbeatGarmin 225]] features review, you'll see how much worse it does than even that normally require a heart rate straprather mediocre watch. To show how the tracks should look, such as recovery time, training effect, and check out my review of the [[Polar V800]] or [[VO2max|V̇O₂maxSuunto Ambit3]] estimation. Yet again(This diagram has tracks color coded with green indicating good accuracy through to red indicating poor accuracy, and the issues lap markers as blue dots.)]]|- valign="top"|[[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 heart rate blue lap markers widely distributed. (This diagram has tracks color coded with green indicating good accuracy limit through to red indicating poor accuracy, and the value of thislap markers as blue dots. )]]|- valign="top"* |[[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 can be charged while runningdoes not show this typical pattern, though it may be that the green lines are a little closer to the actual trail than the blue lines. It's not unusual for a GPS watch to be more accurate in one direction than the optical heart rate other. You can see the lap markers shifted based on direction which is turned offalso typical. (This may make it more viable image has the tracks color-coded for ultrarunningdirection, with green coming from the right, blue from the left. )]]|}

No one likes to wear a chest strap, and it can be particularly annoying for ladies as it can interfere with support clothing. This makes I've gathered all the idea results of an optical my testing under my [[Optical Heart Rate MonitorMonitoring]] page. =What's Missing=While I don't consider these missing features as 'cons', it's worth understanding the features that are missing compared with other watches. You'll notice that uses the changes in capillary fill under the watch quite attractive235 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 found the 235's predecessor, ve been far more interested in how much ascent is left rather than the [[Garmin 225]] distance to be one the top.* '''Navigation.''' The navigation capabilities are useful if there is a risk of the least problematic optical heart rate monitorsgetting lost. SadlyI've made good use of this feature when running in an unfamiliar city, Garmin used or when running remote trails. (On a different sensor for the 235 and I found screen this small it to might not be so problematic that much use anyway.)* '''Extended battery life'''. Some porches can extend the battery life by turning the GPS reception off for short periods. This can dramatically reduce GPS accuracy, but it was useless to me's a useful trade-off for some ultramarathons.* '''WiFi Uploads'''. To evaluate While the 235automatic upload of workouts via WiFi is nice, I compared it the upload will typically only go to two other chest based systemsthe manufacturer's web site. * '''Running Dynamics'''. I used Some of the newer Garmin watches support [[Suunto Ambit3Running Dynamics]] with a Polar Bluetooth H7 strap, that can show and record Vertical Oscillation (VO) and a [[Garmin Fenix 3]] Ground Contact Time (GCT). (You can get this with the Garmin Ant+ chest strap630. The graphs below show the two chest strap based heart rate monitors tracking very closely)* '''Web Configuration'''. There are some slight differences in how Some watches allow you to setup the data is smoothconfiguration via a web site, but you have to look closely to see thisand then download your changes. Given these two systems tracking together leads me to believe they are giving a true representation of my [[Heart Rate]]This is vastly easier than fiddling with the watch.=Visual Comparison={| class="wikitable"

|[[File:Garmin235-OHR5top.jpgJPG|none|thumb|500px150px| During this run you see the Garmin 235 having a couple of major dropoutstop]]|[[File:Garmin235-side. For the rest of the run, the JPG|none|thumb|150px|Garmin 235 roughly tracks the true heart rateside]]|[[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]]

|[[File:Garmin235Suunto Ambit3-OHR3top.jpgJPG|none|thumb|500px150px| Here we see the 235 giving an accurate reading, but one that is rather misleadingSuunto Ambit3 top]]|[[File:Suunto Ambit3-side. While I frequently see the 235 displaying a heart rate that is wildly too high or too low, I know I can ignore that informationJPG|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. Where the 235 is more problematic than other optical systems is that it will display a plausible but inaccurate valueJPG|none|thumb|150px|Polar V800 top]]|[[File:Polar V800-side.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Polar V800 side]]

|[[File:Garmin235Garmin Epix-OHR4top.jpgJPG|none|thumb|500px150px| For this run the 235 initially gives an inaccurate reading that is somewhat close to the real heart rate, but then spikes to wildly too highGarmin Epix top]]|[[File:Garmin Epix-side. I tried several times to adjust the tension and position of the 235, but nothing helpedJPG|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]]

|[[File:Optical HRM SensorsPolar M400-top.jpgJPG|none|thumb|500px150px|Polar M400 top]]|This is a view of the optical sensors of the Basis Peak, [[Garmin 225File:Polar M400-side.JPG|none|thumb|150px|Polar M400 side]], |[[File:TomTom Cardio Runner-top.JPG|none|thumb|150px|TomTom Cardio Runner top]], and the Garmin 235 (left to right). You can see the 235 has three LEDs, but their brightness is far less than other three systems|[[File:TomTom Cardio Runner-side.JPG|none|thumb|150px|TomTom Cardio Runner side]]