Customer Ratings & Reviews

My first smart watch. Battery life usually last between a week to 10 days and is very comfortable. Easy to navigate and the Garmin app allows you to download different watch faces. The built-in heart rate monitor isnt as accurate as some of the wearable heart rate monitors but still good for the value.

The Garmin 235, in particular, with its heart rate monitoring capability really is the best watch of its kind on the market right now. We read the reviews and have had 2 previous generations of Garmin watches. This is far lighter, easier to use, easier to see than anything we've know and loved before.

So far i love this watch. I upgraded from a fitbit surge. It picks up gps signal much faster than the surge did and seems to do a better job at reading heart rate and not missing it like my surge would every time i sweated

Garmin Watch OS has improved a lot, we can change to multiple watch faces. The battery is excellent for a week. GPS is very accurate and very ease of use. This would be the best running watching for this price range.

Exactly what I need to know if I'm getting my steps in. Easy to use for tracking runs. Battery lasts on average more than a week, even after daily runs. I give it a quick wash while I shower to keep it clean.

This was my first Garmin purchase and have been very happy with the functions and easy of use. I'm not a runner, mostly walking and hiking the trails at our local wildlife refuge. I gave up on Fitbit after the first 2 I had lasted less than a year. Several of the features I like the most are the GPS and the maps of your walks. Secondly, the app that allow for notification from your iPhone. I no longer have to pick up my phone to check messages and to see who is calling, I just look at my wrist. Another feature is that you can read the face no matter what angle angle you hold your wrist and is readable even in bright sunlight, something the Fitbit could not do. Finally, Garmin Connect connects to My Fitness Pal and my Humana Go 365. So far 100% pleased!

I’ve had 2 prior Garmin watches before. I run a lot so I buy them for the GPS function. I had the forerunner 610 (bought in 2013, had until 2018) and the vivo HR active (rectangular face). The 235 is great for the running features. It tracks my runs just fine. It monitors my HR, steps taken, and calories burned. I think the steps is slightly off but which watch isn’t. Biggest con is that you can’t lock the watch. I’ve accidentally started ‘runs’ without knowing because I’ve hit the button on the side during work. In comparison to the other two I had, it’s decent. I might upgrade to the 400 level one soon because the lack of locking is an issue for me since it drains the battery if I’m not on a run and it runs for 13 hours when I’m working.

This is my first fitness watch and its what i expected. Nice light watch that has good battery life compared to my gear s3. Screen is really dim but that probably extend the battery life.

I love this Garmin forerunner 235! It is a great running watch. GPS works great and battery life is awesome. Can go 5 days without charge. Bestbuy had it for such a great price! Bestbuy is the best when it comes to low pricing everyday!

Love this watch. Easy to use. Great for running and training. Vo2 max is fairly accurate. Definitely feel fitter as my vo2 max increases. Only downfall is the discrepancy on the treadmill paces when running faster than 8 minute pace.

I got this on black Friday for my 14 yo son. He just recently got into cross country and needed a gps watch. GPS is wonderfully accurate as is the pace times. He loves the different watch faces you can download (he's got a star wars one currently). The BEST thing about Garmin watches is the battery live. Screw having to charge them every day or every 3-4 days like apple or fitbit. This watch lasts 10-14 days depending on how much it is used. The only negative, which isn't really a huge negative is that it isn't a touch screen. The buttons on the side make it really fast and easy to navigate around though. I would buy one for myself but I'm currently rocking a 2 year old garmin vivo hr. Garmin all the way if you want a great watch.

After having 3 fitbits die on me, I switched to this and am not disappointed

Great watch! Sleek! Just wish I could respond to text. Very accurate

I was a Nike+ TomTom GPS user for years, then a TomTom Spark+Cardio user for a brief minute, then I decided to switch things over to Garmin since now you can share your data with a Strava account. This is a very light GPS watch, and despite its over-sized appearance, it really didn't end up looking that big on my wrist, and I have what I consider to be thin or barely medium sized wrists. I like to run looking at only my cadence per mile and heart rate - it's much easier for me to gauge my workout intensity, but the watch display for your metrics can be customized between one or two screens, with varying numbers of metrics per screen, such as pace, distance, heart rate, time duration, etc. - but I'll tell you, Garmins are notorious for their dim displays while indoors or under low light conditions. For me, I got used to it, and the wrist motion activated backlight is a very nice feature with its constant-on time display. Sure, the integrated Bluetooth smartphone notifications are nice, but it's not really what I need from this sports watch. There's just one thing that really bothers me about this Garmin - the battery life. Although it's an easy clip on charger, I certainly expected to have the battery life last beyond a couple days with just one or two 45 minute GPS runs. Even after the firmware update, it just seems... short lived. I turned off the phone notifications and reduced the backlight on-time, but still to no avail. Still though, not a bad runner's watch and the large display is very, very easy to read in the daylight. You "can" track other cardio activities, and I found the heart rate tracking to closely mimick my TICKR X chest strap by Wahoo. So if running is close to 85-95% of your workouts for the week, the Garmin 235 is definitely a solid choice among the various GPS trackers out there.

Everything you need in a running watch plus decent bike watch - very fast GPS ready - have not had more than a 10 second wait for "GPS Ready" Excellent battery life and a quick charge - new charging connect works very nicely.

Very good health monitoring watch with accurate readings. Ready to read in the sunlight and the buttons are easy to press. Bluetooth was easy to setup. Connects with no problems. The watch is light and sometimes I forget I have it on. One negative is that the watch looks and feels cheap. It's not a touch screen so you need to press buttons to navigate. Navigation between workouts and using the menu is a pain. I find myself always pressing buttons and losing place of where I want to go. Overall, a good watch.

Excellent watch at a great price. I would buy again.

I've been wanting a Garmin for years and was gifted one for my birthday. It is exactly what I hoped it would be. I like the apps available to change the face layout, other activities available, training features (i.e. intervals, race predictor, etc.), and the battery life is really good. I've gone as much as 8 days on a full charge once, still being rather active that week. I don't have issues with the screen being dark, if you need to see it brighter, there is a light button, then the face dims again. I love that I don't have to carry my phone unless I want to. Maybe my next Garmin will have the music feature, but until then, I'm happy with the 235. Great buy. Runners will not be disappointed.

I bought the watch for my wife. She is a moderately active person, who recently started running competitively. She has used the watch a couple of times during races and the results (e.g.: pace and mileage) are pretty accurate (close to the results from the time race monitored by NYRR). She uses it daily, even in the shower. She has found the watch to be helpful primarily as she would like to break her personal record more accurately. As part of training for the NYC marathon, my wife relies on the watch for an accurate workout'/training view and modifies her trainings accordingly (e.g.: HIIT). There's a bit of a learning curve, but in time, she was able to learn short cuts and quick data mining that are relevant to her training needs.

I love the watch. I originally had a Fitbit Versa which was okay, but the Garmin is much richer in functionality, and easier to read. Heart rate monitor works well, and the GPS loads very fast.