Customer Ratings & Reviews

I purchased the Garmin Forerunner 235 to track my running workouts. While no item is perfect, I have been very happy with this one. Previously, I was using an iPhone app and carrying my phone when running. That served its purpose for a while, but this has been a huge improvement. The watch is very comfortable and doesn't bother my wrist at all, not even on long runs. The watch band has a lot of holes, which makes it really easy to get a good fit. I also wear it for tracking my sleep as well as for my alarm, and I hardly notice that it's there. With each workout segment, you can set your desired intensity target based on pace, speed, cadence, or HR zone (including custom HR zones). And when you establish a target, the watch will give you alerts when you are outside of this range. Now that I know what the alerts sound like, I find myself not looking at the watch nearly as much during runs. When I was researching different options, I had a hard time determining if you could use third party ANT+ heart rate monitors with the 235. But I was happy to see that this can be done. I didn't have any trouble pairing this with the Scosche Rhythm+. You can disable the wrist HR monitor and only use the external device or you can download a data field from the Garmin IQ store that allows you to use both simultaneously. There are a few things about this item that I believe could be better. First, I have not been able to find any available data screen that will give you an interval countdown. The existing timer options start at 0:00 and count up, not the other way around. Not a deal breaker by any means, but this is one improvement I think that could easily be made. Second, I wish there were more variables that could be configured with certain specific workouts. For example, I use GPS+GLONASS when running at the track, as this seems to provide for more accurate location readings. However, it drains the batteries more quickly and doesn't seem to make a discernible difference on street and trail runs, so I haven't been using it for these. So it would be nice to be able to have certain workouts default to a particular GPS setting. But again, not a deal breaker. Another issue is the accuracy of the wrist HR monitor. I've seen this mentioned and even witnessed it myself on one of my earlier runs. It was a really cold day. I was doing an easy (zone 1) warmup, when it started indicating that my heart rate was close to 190. Once I broke a sweat, it settled into a more accurate heart rate reading. To remedy this problem, I've been using a drop of HR monitor gel before each run. This allows it to maintain better contact with the skin, which seems to result in more consistently accurate readings. In fact, I recorded both the Garmin FR 235 and the Scosche Rhythm+ HR readings this morning. As you can see in the picture, other than a minor peak difference early on, the two were very close. The other thing I wasn't particularly thrilled about was the brightness of the screen. Or I should say lack of brightness. But I soon realized the lighting is basically the opposite of my phone or something like the Apple Watch. When there's no light shining on the screen, it's pretty dim and can be difficult to see. But as long as there's good light, it's very easy to see. So outside during the daytime, there's no issue at all. At night or early in the morning, I've just started wearing a head lamp, which I probably should have been doing anyway. With this on, I can see the screen perfectly well. I'm sure it was done this way to preserve batteries. I should add that the wrist HR monitor isn't the best for tracking weight workouts. Neither is the Scosche Rhythm+. I'm not sure why, but the readings are just way off at times. I'll be out of breath, and it will show my HR to be in the 80's or so. For now, I've pretty well just determined not to worry about tracking my HR on these types of workouts. But for running, the 235 is excellent. I'm not sure about the scientific accuracy of the race predictors, recovery advisor, or VO2 max readings, but changes in these areas at least seem to correspond with improvements in conditioning. Anyway, that's about it for now. While not perfect, I've been very happy with the Garmin Forerunner 235. I look forward to using this for years to come and would definitely recommend it to others.

I love this watch! The best part is not having to wear a chest strap to track my heart rate. I run 3+ times a week and cross train 3 times a week and use my watch to track all of my workouts. You can set it up for interval training and it also has settings for running indoors, biking outdoors and indoors. I use the other setting for cross training. It's very comfortable. I thought it would seem big at first but I have no problem wearing it. It's very light. The gps syncs up really fast and as long as it is tracking your heart rate before you start your workout it is pretty accurate. If you start your workout without your heart rate recognized, it normally won't pick it up. The only issue I've had is that occasionally when I interval train it doesn't track my heart rate accurately. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I don't know if I'm moving too much but I'll be totally out of breath and it says my heart rate is 80 or 90 bpm. It will eventually find it, but for a while I know it isn't right.

I am taking up triathlons and this watch is great for tracking my training. I like that it uses GPS so I can see my routes and I get my phones notifications on it too. If you are looking for a good watch for running, biking, swimming, or all of them I would definitely suggest this one.

I like this Garmin watch. It pairs nicely with my Garmin Ant+ heart rate chest strap. I bought it in Manhattan, New York City while on vacation in December. I got it on sale for $130. The watch has quite a few features that I still need to discover. It has great battery life too. I just wish the screen was brighter like the Samsung Gear S3. Overall a great watch. I would definitely recommend buying this watch.

After the Apple Watch and then the Gear s3 I finally found a keeper!! Battery life is great! Get all notifications. Two things that I love about it are it tracks your heart rate and sleep very accurate. Still playing with it!

I decided to buy this watch because it had more options than most others. For example it detects stride length and strides per minute which was really good to know when trying to increase SPM. The battery life was great which was really nice! Notifications were also handy.

The 235 is a really good watch for running. I bought it when my Vivoactive HR quit working after less than a years use. In the month have had he Forerunner, I have enjoyed using it for running and everyday fitness tracking. That being said it lacks some of the features people wanting a fitness tracker might look for. Also there is no barometric altimeter, so for hiking and trail runs that info is not readily available.

This was my first gps watch ever. I honestly didn't know if I'd wear it often or only during activity. Let's just say the only time I don't wear it is when I'm sleeping. Love this watch! It tracks all my runs, records, data, provides me with incoming texts and calls and allows you to control your phones music by fw, re, and volume options. You aren't able to reply to texts via the watch but if you have a wireless headset, it's easy to answer incoming calls that are displayed on the watch. It tracks bicycling and treadmill along with outdoor runs. It's not a watch for this that want to track much more than running.

This review is for people who are either NOT Garmin enthusiasts or are looking for a new/first time smart watch. This watch does it all!! It is great for runs and reminders especially when you don't have your phone in your hand! Highly recommend this watch and overall very pleased so far!!!

Very good watch for runners, it’s another features that I didn’t have time to set yet. Also I can see my messages and my phone calls. Certainly a great watch.

It met my expectations. It record all datas that I need in order to monitor my workout and to improve my performance

I traded in my Apple Watch Series 1 to purchase this item. I had exclusively used my AW as my fitness tracker for two years. I was pleasantly surprised with its fitness functionality and durability. After the first year I began running in OCRs and in no way felt comfortable wearing my AW for such demanding events. In turn I began searching for a more durable replacement. After hours of research as well as a recommendation from a fellow OCR racer (and coworker) I settled on the Forerunner 235. At first glance the 235 is nothing fancy. It reminds me of my first digital wrist watch I had in the 90s. Once you put the 235 on its apparently that this is a durable device. The 235 requires you download an app to sync to your smart device. I have an iPhone. The software was easy to find and downloaded quickly. Setting up a Garmin account was simple and so was synching and configuring the watch/device. I wore the watch to work every day as well as multiple workouts. The 235 is very comfortable to workout with weather it is while running or lifting weights (both activities were tried multiple times). My only complaint was I did not like was maneuvering amongst workouts and other settings within the watch. It was not difficult but it required a number of button clicks to get there. After a while I began to realize that I missed my AW and its smart features more than I appreciated having a rugged fitness tracker I really only needed 5 to 10 times a year. For that reason I returned the 235. Being a bit of a techy, had I not previously had a smart watch, I probably would not have second guessed this purchase at all. I highly recommend the 235, or any other Garmin product for that matter. I would encourage anyone considering this to really weight the options on how frequently you will being using the 235 to its highest ability and frankly most people don’t go anywhere without their phone anyone so a dedicated GPS is not necessary.

I've had this watch for about 3 months and I absolutely love it. I actually started off with the Vivoactive HR, but I have a small wrist and found it uncomfortable. The Forerunner 235 is much more comfortable and I wear it all the time except on the rare occasion I am going to a semi-formal or formal function when the watch is just too sporty. I'm a runner who doesn't run quite as much as I used to, but I love all the statistics regardless. Giving up some of the activity tracking functions the Vivo offered was no big deal (I don't golf or paddleboard) and I'm definitely happier having the additional running functions of the 235. I upgraded from an older model (forerunner 410) and I'm really enjoying all the extra features. I love the activity tracking, although I do find that sometimes the step count can be off by as much 25%. I have a good idea how many steps I cover when I walk and find this watch sometimes (not always) varies significantly. I also use an iPhone and find that to be more consistent and accurate. Having said that, I still give this watch 5 stars because the step count is not the primary reason I got it. Syncing with phone app can be slower than I would like, but again, not a deal breaker for me. Aside from those two minor (for me) glitches, everything else works great. The GPS loads lightening-fast - no more waiting and waiting as I had to previously do on occasion with my older Garmin. The display is great and very customizable. There are so many features, I haven't even figured them all out yet. The smart notifications are really cool, too. I was at a meeting for work where we all had to turn in our phones. No worries for me; I was wearing my Garmin and got my notifications. I didn't need to worry the possibility of a rare emergency, like my kids' school calling because one of them became sick (highly unlikely, but in that rare instance when the phone is taken away, that's when I just know I'm going to get such a call). Or if I'm out with friends, if I get a text, I can quickly glance at my wrist without being one of those people who's looking at their phone so much, it seems like they'd rather be somewhere else. I love the heart rate monitor, too, as I never could deal with the chest strap. I owned one with the old watch and never once used it. Big waste of $$ because I liked the idea but could never be bothered. I can finally now do heart-rate training without any fuss using the wrist-based heart rate. Another feature that's new to me that I like a lot is the recovery time which automatically pops up every time I finish a run. I don't always follow it, but it's nice to have it, since I tend to overdo it sometimes and push myself too much. VO2 max is another great feature. Battery life is good and charging is fast. Having used a Garmin GPS watch for the past 5+ years as well as owning a Garmin car GPS, I am big fan of Garmin. Their customer service is fantastic, too.

I spent a lot of time reviewing multiple fitness trackers. I have been using Fitbit for the last two-and-a-half years, and up until recently, have enjoyed it. However, when I started having sync issues and GPS issues with my Blaze, I knew I needed a change. I have been doing more runs and races, and wanted something that would track and give me all the data I wanted for my runs. The Garmin Forerunner 235 gives me more information then I thought I would ever need, but I love it. I enjoy looking at the historical data on the watch itself, as well as the other running data it collects and displays in the app, such as steps, cadence, pace, heart rate, calories burned, etc. What I really love is that I don't need my phone with me, because it has built-in GPS. I was used to logging calories right in the Fitbit dashboard, which the Garmin dashboard doesn't have. However, all I had to do was install MyFitnessPal, and it integrates beautifully with the Garmin dashboard. It's surprisingly lightweight, almost feels like my son's toy watch, which is great because it's not big and clunky. The face may look big, but I am petite and feel the watch fits perfectly on my wrist without being or looking too big. It's waterproof, so I can jump right in the shower after my run and rinse it off while tracking my recovery heart rate. I also enjoy the sleep tracking, as well as continuous heart rate monitoring which gives me my resting heart rate. Besides tracking running, indoor running, elliptical, it does have an "Other" option. You can customize the other activity tracking option within the app. Initially it tried to track using GPS, so distance and pace would be included in the data collected. However I turned off GPS, and can still get the duration of my workout, as well as my heart rate and calories burned, which is really all the data I'm looking for with workouts such as weight training or interval training. I am more than happy with my Garmin Forerunner 235, and I am continuously excited whenever I use it. I definitely recommend it, and it's worth the price tag. I would say it's more beneficial for those who want something to track running, instead of other types of workouts. If you want something that is just going to count steps, calories, and other workouts, you're probably better off with a different activity tracker.

Love the Forerunner 235. GPS connects quickly, and is accurate. Battery seems pretty long lasting when not in GPS mode. Love that the HRM is part of the watch, and not a chest strap. Easy to use. Only problem is that it is very big on small wrists, and the optic sensor is uncomfortable against my wrist bones. But if I wear the face against my inner wrist, it is fine. Love the fount of information that is at my fingertips.

Had an Apple series I sport watch but sold that to get the Apple series 2. After weighing everything, I decided to get this Garmin 235 and am very happy I did. Got this watch on Black Friday weekend so it was discounted and as we all know, new Apple products may be great and exciting but there is always a length of time before they go on sale. This Garmin watch is great for running and it can be simple or if you want to use all the bells and whistles it can track everything involved with your running.

Before purchasing the FR235, I had a FR15 as my starting out GPS watch. It worked well for what I wanted it to do (track distance). The downside for the FR15 was that the distance wasn't always accurate (I ran a marathon recently and it said I did 26.6 miles), GPS took forever to sync, and it didn't track HR. To supplement the HR I had bought a HR monitor online, but lost it within 3-4 months (I tend to lose things once in a while). After getting the FR235, it was a major, major improvement. The GPS synced within seconds, distance was near accurate (~ +/- .02mi, which is great, 1-2x have gotten a slip up where it cuts a big corner), and it had built in HR. Added perks were bluetooth syncing, watch interfaces (Back to the Future is the best one!), continuous HR, HR zones timing (how long you've been in which zone, and phone notifications (i.e. calls [can answer from watch], texts, emails, etc), I could even find my phone if I'm within range, and it has a great battery life (including several runs, it can last at least a week or two!). The only downsides to the watch are: HR takes some time to catch up at the beginning of a run, hard to find a good positioning on wrist for the HR to check properly (I have mine tight for runs to get better accuracy), and watch will randomly dis/connect from phone even when phone is 10-20 feet away (beeping can be annoying especially during work). I understand that HR won't always be accurate so it isn't a complete letdown; it's still a good estimation of heart rate. Haven't tried wearing it to sleep as it feels uncomfortable to wear and makes it harder to fall asleep for me. And don't know how I feel about it swimming (heard it is a possibility). Again this is a great watch if you're at least an intermediate runner and want to look at more statistics for running and need more accuracy from GPS tracking. If not interested in lots of statistics, then I would recommend a less expensive watch with less features (like Vivosmart HR).

I did a lot of research prior to buying this watch and decided that for what I am doing (running, swimming, marathons, etc) this watch was a step up to what I had before (Fitbit). It’s super easy to configure, syncs with my Iphone perfectly, tracks my pace in laps and miles, waterproof to swim with, comfortable to wear and tracks my activity/routes with GPS. I’m still learning with this watch because there is so many features to it. I also love the band color!! I had to wait a little longer to receive it but it is a minty color and exactly what the picture looks like. Also, ladies if you’re worried about the face of the watch being too big on your wrist don’t be! It’s athletic looking and fits perfectly around my wrist. Doesn’t get in the way or anything! Great buy!

I am a 30-40 mile per week runner training for my 2nd Marathon and I was looking for a Running Watch with GPS, Heart Rate monitor, and great battery life. This watch is perfect for me! It provides all the basic functions you expect with decent battery life. I don't utilize the phone notifications much, but it is nice to know who is texting you while running. I would highly recommend this watch to any runner.

I got this Garmin to replace my old Forerunner 225 that was dying (took forever to get GPS sync). This model is a bit more streamlined, has easy-to-read display and the wrist-based HR function seems to be as accurate as the old chest strap of the old model. I like the battery life and the GPS sync is super fast, so I'm pretty happy with this overall.