Never buy a new model (experimental) product in its first year he keeps repeating in his head..... The attached image is taken after running 10 times up n down the house staircase. You can see a comparison between the Forerunner 405 with chest strap and the Forerunner 235. My old trusted companion which i have had for 6 years forrunner 405 shows 143 bpm and the forerrunner 235 showing at the same time 112bpm. A whoping 30 bpm difference. Really feeling like i was sold an unfinished product Garmin
The HRM of the 235 is just unreliable and works only partially, hence useless
I've had some mixed results with FR235 HR readings. I have a watch I borrow from somebody with MIO sensor in it(adidas Fitsmart) and I have really more faith in this watch that it always works accurate, although I have only used it twice...
Here are some comparisons
Red is mio sensor (fit smart), Green is Polar H7 and Brown is FR235 (this one is shifted because of late start of workout and my lack of experience to edit tcx files )
Purple is mio sensor (fir smart), Orange is H7 (also has some dropouts in the first 5 minutes)..., Blue is FR235 ( speeding up causes HR lock loss)
My run today , really happy with this HR reading actually. Orange FR235, Blue FR235
Yellow is H7, Blue FR235 This one is way off in the beginning, probably cadence lock issue? But for the rest I find it to be OK
I don't know if most issues I see are 'cadence lock'. It really seems that the FR235 just loses lock sometimes and the readings are off then. I would rather have that it would just report that it can't read HR than to report wrong data
The fitsmart watch I use needs some time to show my first HR reading, and sometimes the first reading fails after 30 seconds... But once it reports a HR I have really faith in the reading that it's correct.
As for things that work for me. I don't wear it too tight, too tight works worse for me... As it probably cuts of some blood flow which the optical sensor needs :p
I wear it fair closely to my wrist, it works better, although most people say higher up the wrist is the trick.
Warming up helps, and if it's cold I think it helps to make a fist with your watch hand, to get more blood flowing and to warm up ( I can be wrong here, but I had the idea it helped)
I tried wearing it on the bottom of my wrist, I had some mixed results with that, and I don't find it handy to wear it like this
As for the Mio sensor in the Adidas fit smart, definitely better (although to verify further), also the design of this activity tracker is more suited for arms than the FR235 . I mean it really is designed to stay in place on your arm (maybe by design, maybe by accident...)
I just hope that Garmin can resolve some of the issues we still see and get to the same quality of measurement as with the mio sensor. It would also help if they would communicate more open about this....
The fact that Garmin is making a new Fenix with the same elevate sensor can tell two things:
people from Garmin have actually belief that they can improve the measurements with more firmware/software noise filtering
or the company is filled with sales/marketing bastards who only care about making profit
I really hope it's the first option
I do think with optical HR devices as they currently stand there is a certain amount of expectation management. If you want the optical HR to work exactly as well as a strap in all situations then very likely you will be disappointed. I also think optical HR works better for some than others.
Tim - this is not an optical HR problem, it's a GARMIN optical heart rate problem. The 235 is fine for tempo or steady runs, but it's completely useless for intervals. I ran intervals tonight and typically my heart rate using a mio and garmin 920xt would be in the 180-190 range, while tonight is was in the 130 range using the 235.
I really want to love this watch and I hope this is a software and not a hardware issue....
Tim - this is not an optical HR problem, it's a GARMIN optical heart rate problem. The 235 is fine for tempo or steady runs, but it's completely useless for intervals. I ran intervals tonight and typically my heart rate using a mio and garmin 920xt would be in the 180-190 range, while tonight is was in the 130 range using the 235.
I really want to love this watch and I hope this is a software and not a hardware issue....
I've a similar experience - used to use a 310xt and a mio and have now moved to the 235. I did manage to get ok results from the 235 during an interval set wearing it on the inside of my wrist high up - but still not as good as the mio and 310xt combo. I'm regularly experiencing cadence lock/crossover on steady state runs too.
The 235 is fine for tempo or steady runs, but it's completely useless for intervals.
Have to disagree with this comment, but otherwise agree with what you're saying. For me the optical HRM is worthless for any effort I've run. I also use a Scosche Rhythm+ from time to time, which is optical, and it generally works ok. I've borrowed a friends Mio, which was also good enough. So I have to think it's a Garmin issue until someone proves me otherwise.
On a more positive note, I actually had a really good HRM result last night using the 235 on a treadmill. It tried to lock on to my cadence at first, but corrected itself and stayed consistent. This was my first run out of 15-ish where I had a good consistent heart rate reading. I did nothing different, so I have no clue why it worked better this time.
Have you considered/eliminated the possibility that you have a defective unit?
Of course.. that was my first direction. As I mentioned previously, I've been in contact with Garmin support and have an open ticket with them. They claim it's not an issue with my device, but a known issue that the Engineers are working on (there's an existing case number for this very issue). My girlfriend is also experiencing the same issues with her unit, which was just recently purchased at a different retailer than I ordered mine.
For the record, I'm not hating on Garmin. I have always loved my Garmin devices and still have confidence that this issue will be corrected. I do love this watch otherwise.
Of course.. that was my first direction. As I mentioned previously, I've been in contact with Garmin support and have an open ticket with them. They claim it's not an issue with my device, but a known issue that the Engineers are working on (there's an existing case number for this very issue). My girlfriend is also experiencing the same issues with her unit, which was just recently purchased at a different retailer than I ordered mine.
For the record, I'm not hating on Garmin. I have always loved my Garmin devices and still have confidence that this issue will be corrected. I do love this watch otherwise.
FWIW I've used a Mio Link, 225 and now 235, and I find pretty comparable behaviour between them. They all work well for me. In fact, now that I'm aware of it I look back at my Mio data and see the cadence lock all over the place (although the 235 is worse and more obvious in this respect).
I was happy when I was ignorant; can I be happy now?!?
I was happy when I was ignorant; can I be happy now?!?
I had pretty much the same ignorance. I bought the 235 on spec as my schosche rhythm + used to have this odd high reading behaviour for the first 7 or so minutes of every run which with my relatively short runs made it pretty useless. I tried it on my wrist, upper arm, turning it on 10 min beforehand without difference.
Since joining this forum I realised it was cadence locking too. Fortunately I have only had the lock once on the FR235 in the 2 months of daily use.
I'm having issues with intervals too - i just dont trust what the watch is telling me anymore at all - did a HIIT workout earlier watch thought i was 80 - i know damn well it was 140+ gonna do a few more trials then I'm thinking the watch is gonna have to go back
