Would you buy the 235 again?

My question is, is the optical heart rate sensor on the 235 as great as the HRM band and strap is on the 920?

I don't know, since I don't have a FR920XT to compare and don't really care, but I would imagine the chest strap HRM will still have a non-trivial advantage in performance, reliability and battery life over any consumer device employing an optical HR sensor today. The great thing is that now consumers have more options (of different compromises) from which to choose.

Are you 100% satisfied with it

100% satisfaction is fleeting, and can be eroded by time, new user experiences, introduction of other features or technology in the market that one's product doesn't have, or even just what one imagines could be done better, etc. No, I don't believe in 100% satisfaction with a consumer product, and I'm not 100% satisfied. I'm happy with my FR235, and have no regrets for my purchase, but that's a subtly different thing.

and would you buy it again?

Right now? For about the same price I paid, but in black/orange and with a replacement band (in reversed colours) like Garmin offers in Asian markets, yes. As other competing products are introduced to the market, maybe not.

Or would you wait for the next generation of optical sensor before buying ?

No. Optical HRMs – especially wrist-worn ones, and (doubly) especially those integrated with a fitness tracker or other user-interactive device, as opposed to something like a Scosche Rhythm+ which is specialised and requires a UI on a separate device to be useful – are not going to match chest strap HRMs in another generation or two. The question is only how much of a compromise will you make, one way or the other.

I would buy it again. I have had zero problems with mine. I know others have had a plethora of issues, but it would interesting to see problem 235's versus working 235's. So I hve been very happy with mine. The Race Predictor is totally whacked but that is just refining the algorithm.

I guess I would buy again... Perhaps later though.

Main reason though is a lack of proper alternatives giving the same functionality. My main and only issue with this product is still the OHR, although I must say it does seem to have improved so there is still hope. But adjusting to increases/decreases in HR is soooo sloooow... And I still don't trust it completely.

But yeah, the complete package is pretty great. The flexibility, looks, nothing else really in the same league afaik.

Are you 100% satisfied with it and would you buy it again?

LOL, no I would not buy it again. Two reasons:

1. I bought it specifically for running but I actually have to turn off the HR whenever I run due to cadence lock, making it pretty pointless :mad: . If there was a simple solution to this problem then Garmin would have fixed it by now, so it's starting to look like a fundamental flaw. If you do experience cadence lock then it messes up your daily/weekly averages and there is no way to remove the false data.

2. The non-exercise HR information can simply not be trusted. The watch and GC show different RHR values so which ones are we supposed to believe? My RHR before the last update was around 45 but straight after the update dropped to around 38, so which one was correct? Who knows...

Based on my personal experience with the watch, yes, I'd buy it again. However, seeing all the comments on this forum would make me a little leery of it. But then again, you mostly hear from those having problems, not those like my having little or no issues. In all, I'm glad I got the watch from REI. While I love to support my local running store with my dollars when I can, REI has the one year return policy. The watch has done everything I bought it for, helping me to push my training further, and to leave the phone at home during the rain. The App store has brought other useful things to light and the continuing creativity of the developers is refreshing.

100% satisfied? That's a rare beast. I'd at least say in the 90s.

Absolutely not because of the oHRM! Outside of the oHRM I would buy the FR230. I find the 235's oHRM and 24/7 monitoring to be a joke. I won't do in activity without a chest strap because of the erratic readings of the oHRM. I constantly get unbelievable spikes of 160+ bpm while sitting down or watching TV. If you find the recovery time and training effect features important, an unrealistic HR throws these numbers out of whack. I've had my 235 since the first week of December. If you look at my calorie intake vs what the 235 says I've burned throughout the day, I would have lost 50 lbs these last five months. I'm very familiar with the limitations of an oHRM and I have tried several different makes. In my opinion, Garmin's Elevate technology is by far the worst available for a sports/activity device.

I would definitely buy again. With the initial release the oHRM was a bit flaky then got a little better with the first sensor hub update, and with the latest update I get just as good data as I ever did with the Mio Fuse and FR225. I only ever had cadence lock problems during the colder months and with the earlier FW versions.

Nope, wouldn't buy again. I wish there was a trade-in program for the 230 because honestly the OHR features have mostly gotten in my way but everything else about the watch is great.

At rest, the HR is all out of whack quite frequently (if not just showing "--") and the sensor presses way into your wrist which can get uncomfortable if you're wearing it for 24x7 tracking features (even wearing it not all that tight - really).

During exercise, the OHR is so worthless I turn it off an use an external HR monitor (has to be turned off because sometimes the unit gets confused and forgets it's supposed to be using an external HR source and starts thrashing). That's not for lack of trying - I've tried wearing it loose, tight, under wrist, over wrist, other arm, warm weather, cold weather, different software versions - I mean I've given this thing a lot of chances and it's been more miss than hit. On one recent occasion I forgot my usual external strap and though I'd give the builtin OHR another chance - I ran an entire track workout and it thought my HR was between 80 and 90bpm the whole time - ha, if only that were true!

I ran an entire track workout and it thought my HR was between 80 and 90bpm the whole time - ha, if only that were true!

I think either yours is defective, or you're not wearing it snugly enough. I always cinch it two holes tighter than I normally wear it, so it doesn't move around on my skin while running.

While it's never going to be as accurate as a chest strap, mine is "close enough" to not deal with the inconvenience of a strap. It's definitely not far off enough for me to ditch it altogether! If the normal behavior is as far off as you're experiencing, there's no way this thing would have gone to market.

As to OP, yeah I'd buy a 235 again! If mine got run over by a car today, I'd go buy one locally and not try to save the few bucks buying online because I'd want it back ASAP. After using a Fitbit (Charge HR) and an Apple Watch, the 235 is a FAR superior workout buddy and all-day smartwatch.