Syncing incorrect time

I agree that the GPS lock does fix the time but it's not really good enough that it doesn't just synch with the phone in other cases.

Why the hell not?

You would think time synch would just be a basic function that since it's connected to a phone would be a be a simple basic requirement of the watch.

Garmin does not and should not assume you and all other FR230/235 users have (or use) mobile phones running the Garmin Connect Mobile app; there are users who only sync their watches (using the supplied docking cables) with PCs and/or Macs running Garmin Express, and that's perfectly okay.

However, Garmin can safely assume every properly functioning FR230/235 has the capability of acquiring GPS information from satellites as designed, so logically that's a far better primary source for time information if you choose only one. Having one primary source may be a requirement in the design of the watch, but using the one you individually have and prefer to use (i.e. a phone) is not a requirement.

Just because you may prefer to think about everything else in the consumer IT landscape revolving around one's mobile phone, it doesn't mean that's the right view that others (including product manufacturers and users) ought to adopt. My watch is on my wrist more often than my phone is in my pocket, so why shouldn't my watch be self-sufficient in terms of setting the time? GPS information is far more trustworthy (as not having been tampered with) than my phone's clock anyway, and it's not like you're requesting that the watch ignore your phone's clock but merely leverage its Internet connection as a conduit to sync with a third-party Internet time server via the Garmin Connect Mobile app.

I would guess that somehow the garmin watch has to be setup to be the slave device and take the phone as master source of that were connected.

It doesn't have to be. The system works fine as it is, and if your particular circumstances are that you'll never be outdoors and/or in a position to acquire GPS information from satellites directly, then in all likelihood the FR230/235 is not the right model of device for you.

Why the hell not?

Garmin does not and should not assume you and all other FR230/235 users have (or use) mobile phones running the Garmin Connect Mobile app; there are users who only sync their watches (using the supplied docking cables) with PCs and/or Macs running Garmin Express, and that's perfectly okay.

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Can you please explain why they have Bluetooth on the watch? Take away all the smart features and make it just a GPS running watch and would agree with you. But it is a selling feature so make it one that is reliable.

If the phone is not a major feature then remove that connectivity and allow people to use only direct connect as you say to a computer. Can't have it both ways without providing a product that works every time with each option provided.

I personally bought the watch as an upgrade to the VivoSmart which only gets time from the watch and I expected this to be the same case but with additional smarts and GPS as additional bonuses.

Can you please explain why they have Bluetooth on the watch?

To allow syncing of data to and from the cloud-based Garmin Connect service, wirelessly over Bluetooth leveraging a phone/tablet device's Internet connectivity as the conduit.

The Garmin device is the primary and authoritative source of captured activity data. The Garmin Connect is the authoritative source/repository of user profile information. Garmin Connect Mobile (using Bluetooth as the data transport mechanism) and Garmin Express (using a docking cable and the Universal Serial Bus on a computing device as the data transport mechanism) facilitates the exchange of information from one to the other, and there is no way to remove the dependency on Internet connectivity.

The time servers from which your phone may have automatically acquired or synchronised its clock time over the (Internet, or cellular mobile) network are authoritative sources for current time-of-day information, but your phone's clock is not an authoritative source for such, and Garmin has no reason to regard it as a trusted proxy, when its devices and Garmin Connect Mobile apps cannot determine how the clock time on your phone was set. The only arguable advantage of syncing with your phone's clock time is removal of the dependency on Internet connectivity[/i] to set the time on the Garmin device.

I personally bought the watch as an upgrade to the VivoSmart which only gets time from the watch and I expected this to be the same case but with additional smarts and GPS as additional bonuses.

The vívosmart does not have a built-in GPS receiver, so using GPS satellites as the authoritative source – independently from any computer, tablet or phone handset – for setting the current time-of-day on the Garmin device is simply not an option. I don't know if the vívosmart simply use the clock time on a connected mobile device (running a Garmin Connect Mobile app) to set its date and time automatically, or leverage the mobile device's Internet connectivity to query an NTP server directly as an authoritative source.

The Forerunner models are not subject to that very limitation, and can use authoritative information from GPS satellites directly without reliance on any computer, tablet or phone handset or dependency on Internet connectivity. That is logically an improvement by getting closer to primary information sources and removing unnecessary dependencies, and your personal views of which information sources could be trusted and/or what is convenient for the user have no bearing on that logical view (and no standing with anyone else).

If your expectations do not align with the status quo and vice versa, then you are the one who should change your expectations to match. If your preferences are not accommodated, that's too bad. It's not personal, but in fact the very opposite of personal, in designing the system to work that way.

Seem to be making a bit of a thing of this. Keep your Clock option on the default Set Automatically in Settings, System, Clock and most of the time there is nothing to worry about.

If the time of day ever looks wrong go outside and get a GPS fix. Presume if you buy a GPS running watch that is something you are going to be doing a lot anyway - before you start each run of course.

Now and again Garmin issue updated time zone map files. These contain info on daylight saving hours. This might need updating if your watch is an hour out. Connect to Garmin Express to check if there are any updates.

Is there a specific reason why do you need to talk to a satellite to know the correct time when you ARE connected to the mobile app? I understand the reasoning when you aren't using Connect Mobile/IQ, But why not both?

The sync process (or its auditing, at least) mentions syncing time, So it's a little misleading, as well.

EDIT: Less passionate, more rational this time around, i hope ;)

It is a pain when you travel. Try and get a GPS lock when you are buried in the depths of an airport. I shouldn't need to switch to manual time to change time zone.

Would love a sync from phone - or manual time zone feature. Phone is the obvious choice - why is it not available?

I shouldn't need to switch to manual time to change time zone.

I haven't found it necessary, actually, to allow my Forerunner (630, which runs the same v7.50 firmware file as the 235) to lock on to a GPS satellite signal after a recent flight across time zones, before I observed that the time zone on my watch has changed. As soon as I switched my mobile handset back on upon landing, and it automatically updated the time zone for the phone's clock, the FR630 (which was connected by Bluetooth to the handset) followed suit and changed its time zone, all without ever leaving low-power watchface mode.

Had a similar discussion about the 935 - I think we found that time actually is sync'd through bluetooth connections to your phone. People who were having problems with incorrect time typically had bluetooth disabled, or hadn't sync'd for a while. Hopefully the 235 works the same way.