Forerunner 230/235 Owner's Manual

PDF format.

Interesting indeed as it answers some outstanding questions :

– VO2 requires a “compatible HRM”, no mention of the 235’s optical sensor
– no “back to start” navigation
– no virtual partner/finish time (it has the race predictor hence the confusion maybe ?)

Interesting indeed as it answers some outstanding questions :

– VO2 requires a “compatible HRM”, no mention of the 235’s optical sensor

DC Rainmaker says: "Note that for the VO2Max tests though you do need to have a traditional heart rate strap paired to the FR235, since that’s not capable of leveraging the optical sensor for that test (common due to lack of accurate heart rate variability on optical sensors). Update: It looks like they are enabling this with native optical sensor."

The 235 definitely has Back to Start - DC shows it in his video.

DCs version was a pre-release model, it could have had functions that didn't make it into the production version. I guess until someone gets one we won't know if the manual is wrong or not!

CW

DCs version was a pre-release model, it could have had functions that didn't make it into the production version. I guess until someone gets one we won't know if the manual is wrong or not!

CW

I'd expect this to be in the production versions, but if it's not, this watch also has Connect IQ, and there are already CIQ data fields that give you "back to Start" info, and likely will be available for the 23x devices.

That's the thing you won't get in an owners manual, is how CIQ can give you more stuff. See https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/ for what's there for other devices today. You won't see any 23x stuff today, but you will in a short time (The latest version of the CIQ SDK (1.2.0) is in beta, and when it's released, will include support for the 23x devices, and that could be any day now.)

Here's a forum where people can submit ideas fore CIQ stuff, to give people ideas to develop something that's not currently available:

https://forums.garmin.com/forumdisplay.php?509-Connect-IQ-App-Ideas

DCs version was a pre-release model, it could have had functions that didn't make it into the production version. I guess until someone gets one we won't know if the manual is wrong or not!

CW

Exactly, Garmin will be held to the manual, not to internet posts about a non-final version...It will look bad but it will only upset a small number of potential buyers.

I'm also concerned that Garmin are going to be working hard on "segmenting" the 235 from the 630, especially after the initial reaction where people are more interested in an optical sensor than geeky metrics that are unlikely to find any real life use.

I had already made up my mind about buying the 235 after seeing DC Rainmakers first impressions, but now that I find no sign of a virtual partner feature nor estimated finishing time I'm a bit disappointed. These were important for me, as is the possibility to show four data fields and the back to start function (although the latter is not a showstopper).

I think we should view the manual a beta just like any preview video that DC Rainmaker has made.
I work in IT and we almost never complete the manual before the code!
Anyway it would be highly unusual if Ray has shown us Back to Start and the Finish Time feature on a 230/235 for Garmin to then decide to omit it on production devices at the last moment!

I think we should view the manual a beta just like any preview video that DC Rainmaker has made.
I work in IT and we almost never complete the manual before the code!
Anyway it would be highly unusual if Ray has shown us Back to Start and the Finish Time feature on a 230/235 for Garmin to then decide to omit it on production devices at the last moment!

Thanx Tim. Also the manual shows the old Garmin Connect App, not the new one.