8,101
edits
Changes
From Fellrnr.com, Running tips
m
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Garmin 235 Review}}
* There's no 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. If you need to know how fast your running, look elsewhere.
=Support This Site=
{{BuyAmazon|AZID=B0160BC1FO|AZN=Garmin 235}}
no edit summary
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Garmin 235 Review}}
[[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[[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 some cool novelties, but if you look at the four basic questions I use to evaluate the foundational capabilities of a running watch, it comes up short.
* '''How far did I run?''' This is the most basic question, and sadly the 235 has distinctly grim [[GPS 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. Even Because of the best nature of GPS , watches that rely on GPS signal alone tend to have serious problems with current pace, and the poor accuracy of the 235 exacerbates this. If knowing how fast your running is important to youThankfully, then look Garmin has added support for a watch that has the display of your 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? '''The 235 has 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 cadence? '''[[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 good 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 [[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 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 color display is bigger than the [[Garmin 225]], though it is neither square nor circular, but flat on the top/bottom and round on the sides, which is odd. Some of the screens end up with the edges cut off, which can make the graphs confusing.
* 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. I'll add more ; see below for details in the near future. * The Optical HRM is also terrible, but it's on a par with other systems. Again, I'll add more See below for the details in of the near future[[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 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.
* The battery life is annoyingly poor, even for fairly casual running when the watch is used as an activity monitor. I find myself having to charge the 235 far too frequently and it seems to take longer than I'd like to recharge.
* The 235 will automatically pair to a heart rate strap without being in a pairing mode. This means it will link to someone else's strap, which is mightily annoying.
* The 235 includes an internal accelerometer to give you 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 come 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 even I expected, and I had remarkably low expectations. The images below back up the more rigorous statistical analysis to your find on my [[GPS Accuracy]] page. 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 230 or 630 might do a little better than the 235. However, even if those invariants are proportionally better, it'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, which is a difficult section for most GPS watches. However, they rarely do quite this badly. The 235 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 [[Garmin 225]] review, you'll see how much worse it does than even that rather mediocre watch. To show how the tracks should look, check out my review 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"
|[[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 tracks color coded with green indicating good accuracy through to red indicating poor accuracy, and the lap 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 does 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 other. You can see the lap markers shifted based on direction which is also typical. (This image has the tracks color-coded for direction, with green coming from the right, blue from the left.)]]
|}
=Optical Heart Rate Monitoring=
I've gathered all the results of my testing under my [[Optical Heart Rate Monitoring]] 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 the 235 has a rather short list of missing features ;}
* '''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's a useful trade-off for some 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"
