Another Apple user who is quite happy with his FR235. While I believe that a rectangular face is better for displaying information and an Apple Watch capable of allowing me to capture GPS data without carrying a phone while running or cycling is appealing the battery life looks like it is still a deal breaker for anyone beyond a purely recreational runner.
From Apple's website:
So 8 hours when paired to a phone and using it's GPS, or 5 hours stand alone. While a lot of people can do a full marathon in 5 hours that's the best case scenario and doesn't allow for any usage prior to or following the race and would also require daily charging while training. (Although it seems that that is the case any way)
First, yeah, that battery life is horrendous for anyone but the very short distance runners.
OK ... given that the FR235 is only good for ~5 or so hours, it is very interesting to see the Garmin apologists describing a similar 5 hours of Apple Watch GPS life as 'horrendous'.
Um, I have a FR225, and need to replace it - looking at a FR235 with similar everything but better screen, or a similarly priced Apple Watch 2 with incredibly superior capabilities pretty much across the board ...
I have been using Garmin for years, but after failure after failure after failure ... I am not sure that I am ready to give them yet more money after the FR225 died in less than 15 months of use ... but still haven't decided what to do (my old FR 15 is working great for my runs :) )
OK ... given that the FR235 is only good for ~5 or so hours, it is very interesting to see the Garmin apologists describing a similar 5 hours of Apple Watch GPS life as 'horrendous'.
Um, I have a FR225, and need to replace it - looking at a FR235 with similar everything but better screen, or a similarly priced Apple Watch 2 with incredibly superior capabilities pretty much across the board ...
I have been using Garmin for years, but after failure after failure after failure ... I am not sure that I am ready to give them yet more money after the FR225 died in less than 15 months of use ... but still haven't decided what to do (my old FR 15 is working great for my runs :) )
I'm not knocking the Apple Watch, it's just I don't think it's feasible for the average marathon runner. For shorter distance runners, especially those with an iPhone, it could prove very interesting. I'm hoping it's enough of a success to eat into Garmin's market, so they realise they have to do much better than the beta release 235 we are stuck with. I would agree that the fairly similar price point through the Apple Watch, the 235 and the Polar M600 may be a worry for Garmin. That said, anybody looking to upgrade from the 225 to the 235, gets a lot more thna 'a better screen' - if nothing else, there is the availability of Connect IQ and phone notifications.
I'm no Garmin apologist (I'm actually moving further away from that every day) but I regularly run 4 hours with the 235, using GPS and Glonass, which results in around a 30-40% hit to the battery, so I would guess the full life is closer to 10+ hours, than the quoted <5 of the Apple Watch. I'm running my first marathon in three weeks and expect a time of 4:30-5:00, so I very much doubt the Apple Watch would be able to cope, even if I were to switch it off completely before and after the race, which would mean wearing two watches.
Don't get me wrong, I could make a list a mile long of all the issues I DO have with the 235 and am seriously considering the Polar M600, which is a little closer to the Apple Watch than the Garmin releases, but the battery life is not one of them. I'm not knocking the Apple Watch, it's just I don't think it's feasible for the average marathon runner. For shorter distance runners, especially those with an iPhone, it could prove very interesting. I'm hoping it's enough of a success to eat into Garmin's market, so they realise they have to do much better than the beta release 235 we are stuck with. I would agree that the fairly similar price point through the Apple Watch, the 235 and the Polar M600 may be a worry for Garmin. That said, anybody looking to upgrade from the 225 to the 235, gets a lot more thna 'a better screen' - if nothing else, there is the availability of Connect IQ and phone notifications.
The only time Garmin annoyed me with this watch is when they completely pooched Instant/Current Pace with the 5.2 update. But as they fixed that after just a week, it's hard to be too furious.