8,101
edits
Changes
From Fellrnr.com, Running tips
m
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. Because of the nature of GPS, watches that rely on GPS signal alone tend to have serious 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.)
|}
=Optical Heart Rate Monitoring=
I'm currently re-analyzing ve gathered all the results of my testing under my [[Optical Heart Rate Monitoring]] datapage.
=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 ;}
