Is the 235 really that bad?

Holy cow, you're right! I wonder if they added that in one of the later software updates. I swear I checked when I first got the thing, and there was no GPS option.
Thanks!

It was there early on. I had one of the preorders, and used Other for indoor biking until someone sent me the file that allowed me to do it separately. (which Garmin apparently added in the following update)

Half the point of wanting the watch is for running/workouts - the other half is for an all day activity/sleep tracker.

Are you foregoing the latter half of that?

For me its a running watch first - and a big part here is HR so I dont really want to think too much about it - it should just work, no compromises. Sure, activity tracker and such is nice but its second. If I really think much about it, i cannot even say why I would need it... what will I really do with my sleep information? Besides that... these features work nice without HR anyway so I can still use them if I feel like. Im not sure though if I even want to sleep with that watch on.
The only kinda interesting thing I would miss is resting HR... its just not worth the risks/downsides for me.

Really wanted one device (a watch) to be the end all/be all and not have to look back.

And I hope the next forerunner will be the one for me. There will be never an end with these "gadgets" though... a company always needs to find reasons why you should buy the next thing

And I hope the next forerunner will be the one for me. There will be never an end with these "gadgets" though... a company always needs to find reasons why you should buy the next thing

Yeah, none of these devices are really super polished yet. I think by the time the next Forerunner comes out, Apple Watch 2.0, Fitbit Surge 2.0... there is going to be some serious competition and those devices will be a huge leap over what we have today.

The 235 is so close, but it's not quite best of breed with everything. The one thing I forgot to mention up above is the sleep tracking is very poor. That is one thing the Fitbits do very well; far better than anyone else. Apple Watch, obviously, doesn't even try because the battery is so terrible you HAVE To charge it overnight.

That said, I think Garmin could very easily put some resources into it and correct it via software. The hardware is obviously there.

As all of this gets tossed around - I get fuzzier as to what the actual benefits are of having this over say, a Fitbit or the Apple Watch, which could both be had for less $ - if that's me being ignorant, I'm sorry. I am just trying to research/learn with hopes of making the best purchase I'll get the best use out of. I'm sure those other devices are good non-exercise activity trackers also and maybe the best way to go is to always wear a chest strap while working out.

The more I think about it - I've got a little one at home and I don't feel like having someone find me in a ditch - so, the likelihood of me leaving my phone home is slim. I thought I'd avoid ever having to think about my phone for working out with the 'ultimate watch' - yet, it doesn't seem like that product exists sub-$600. So, maybe there's a middle ground where I can use a watch with the phone's GPS from a pouch or just use running apps with my phone in the pouch.

Someone take the wheel here - I'm losing it lol.

I also had an AW before the 235. I actually still have it collecting dust on my shelf. The AW is a great companion for the iPhone. That's it. For exercise, it's a joke. I got the 235 for accurate gps. With the AW, I was getting different distances running the same route each time, and that was with me having the phone also. I can't comment on the Fitbit as I've never owned one.

The 235 is a great activity tracker! It's only the wrist based hr that is lacking. For everything else it does what it says it does. My sleep tracking, daily hr, and gps have been great. I will always carry my phone with me while running for the music factor, but for tracking distance it was a joke.

As all of this gets tossed around - I get fuzzier as to what the actual benefits are of having this over say, a Fitbit or the Apple Watch, which could both be had for less $ - if that's me being ignorant, I'm sorry. I am just trying to research/learn with hopes of making the best purchase I'll get the best use out of. I'm sure those other devices are good non-exercise activity trackers also and maybe the best way to go is to always wear a chest strap while working out.

The more I think about it - I've got a little one at home and I don't feel like having someone find me in a ditch - so, the likelihood of me leaving my phone home is slim. I thought I'd avoid ever having to think about my phone for working out with the 'ultimate watch' - yet, it doesn't seem like that product exists sub-$600. So, maybe there's a middle ground where I can use a watch with the phone's GPS from a pouch or just use running apps with my phone in the pouch.

Someone take the wheel here - I'm losing it lol.

Well, thanks to connect IQ there is this thing called custom apps for the FR235. This means you have a 'Find my car' app which actually shows you a pointer and direction to a location (could also be your front door). It's no route though, but still something.

There is also a custom datafield (which you can use in activities) called 'Chart', which shows you the route you walked/travelled. Again, no directions on getting back but also a helper to find the way back home ;)

The apple watch is a smart watch which you can use for these kind of things, battery life is not as good though and not sure if you actually need your phone to get gps tracking?
The FitBIt is more of an activity tracker afaik...
The FR235 is actually targeted at running, but can be used as an activity tracker as well. Battery life is pretty great and as mentioned, is very flexible for a sportswatch.

It all depends on where your priorities are. I hate running with a chest-stap and use it just about only for running, for that this watch (yeah, OHR glitches aside) is quite perfect.

New user... Vivoactive HR convert

So i'm not going to lie to you, I've only had the FR 235 for 24 hours now so take everything I say with a grain of salt but I'm really not sure what everyone is complaining about.

I had originally pre-ordered the Vivo Active HR but when Amazon took forever to ship (I was leaving for a trip soon) I switched my order to Crutchfield. Then I convinced myself into the FR 235 mainly because of looks and I heard of so many miserable bugs with the Vivo Active.

I mainly do two work outs, crossfit and running and I wanted daily activity tracking and smart notifications for my job.

So far, this thing does everything perfectly for me. I had no issues pairing it with the phone, it was easy to figure out how to work and yeah I'm sad I can't pick the exact work out i'm doing but oh well. It tracks my heart rate during my work out, that's what counts.
I guess I haven't experienced battery life. It took 2 hours to fully charge my device yesterday and it's pretty much a full battery according to the indicator.

235 OHR saved the day

Might be quite odd to hear this. But, today when I went out to do my LTHR test run my Chest Strap ditched me ( i guess it ran out of battery), it was not getting connected to my watch. So, I fall back to the OHR for the run, and it worked flawlessly. I made sure the watch is snug fit on my wrist and never had an issue with OHR during the run.

This is the run: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1163203376

So, i might me speaking the opposite to what we all have been saying. But I would rephrase it as, when chest strap fails,we still have the OHR for backup :)

sorry for dumping the original post and going MIA, been busier than usual..

despite the negative reviews - I ordered the watch from REI. I'm hoping that if it is THAT bad - they'll honor their return policy (especially being it's an expensive item).

Also, just hoping that it's a case of what a few people have posted - that you hear about all of the problems and not from those who are enjoying the watch.

my next question would be - i've noticed that the watch shipped on Firmware 3.30..what would you guys suggest as far as updating the watch? definitely update it or leave it (only reason I ask is because I'm fairly certain there is no way to downgrade)?

thanks for all the input, I have been checking back and reading through the posts - awesome to be able to get input from people who have experience with the device or other devices.

I'm one of the happy users of the 235 so take this for what it's worth.

IMO there were far more problems with the 3.X firmware versions than there are with 4.3. At that point I don't think they even had the custom interval workout feature working.

Version 4.2 worked just fine for me and the only problem for me with 4.3 is the messed up RHR numbers that seems to be effecting everyone.

Also, just hoping that it's a case of what a few people have posted - that you hear about all of the problems and not from those who are enjoying the watch.

I enjoy using my FR235 very much, and have said so several times in this forum (as well as elsewhere, such as on DC Rainmaker's blog). You/we do hear from satisfied owners and users; it's just that there is no basis on which to form a view on what proportion of owners and users are satisfied, perhaps so as to (mis?)inform the probability of oneself as a prospective owner and/or user also being satisfied, simply by counting what you see expressed in forums such as these.

my next question would be - i've noticed that the watch shipped on Firmware 3.30..what would you guys suggest as far as updating the watch?

Change the data fields on the Heart Rate data screen for each activity profile, if you're of a mind to do so at all. You'll lose the option to do so after updating the firmware to version 4.30 or later. Perhaps you'd want to change one of the two data fields on that data screen to the newly available Strava Suffer Score (Connect‑IQ) data field, and their other data field to Lap‑HR. Some FR235 users have been whinging about the loss of the undocumented feature to which no user has a rightful claim.

definitely update it or leave it (only reason I ask is because I'm fairly certain there is no way to downgrade)?

There were other FR235 users who were complaining about user-specified pace alerts not being triggered when doing custom workouts, and that actually was something they were reasonably and rightly expecting to work properly.

At that point I don't think they even had the custom interval workout feature working.

Custom interval workouts were working in firmware v3.30; I've used them then, and the watch executed all the steps. However, if the user specified any intensity target (if I recall correctly, HR alerts were also not working, even though the focus seemed to be on pace alerts back then) for a step in a custom workout, the alerts for breaching thresholds were not triggered. This issue was resolved in firmware v4.10.