New Apple Watch is waterpoof and has GPS...

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.

Second, I had the first Apple Watch, and one of the worst aspects of the design is the huge crown that sticks out on the right side of the watch. When I'm doing yoga or anything where my wrist is going to be bent at an angle, it will press that crown *constantly*, and I was surprised that not enough people complained for them to fix it with the new watch. Ah well. It's not like, as someone who runs 20+ miles with some regularity, the battery life would have me entertaining the thought of this thing replacing my Garmin anyway.

I have owned a couple Apple Watches. I really loved it. But for me the battery life of the 235 is amazing. I wear it 24x7 love the silent alarm feature. When I get up at 4am to go to the gym I dont want to wake the house up. Apple watch had this, but in order to wear it to bed, I had to charge it at some point during the day, which got to be a real pain.

The smart watch features are nice, but I would gladly do away with some of it to make the battery last even 2 days.

For now, I am sticking with my 235 and I am happy with that.

But I do love the Apple watch! hahaha

@canton160 -

I've been a FR235 owner since Dec 5 2015 and a Garmin owner since April 2011. I was a Polar owner for the five years prior to that. I've owned an iPhone since June 2010 and various other smartphones before then. I've owned Mac computers for years as well. So I have a little bit of history with various platforms.

The FR235 has certainly been more solid in recent months. Right now it is still a strong contender for many people.

Whether it remains so is questionable, especially for Apple iPhone users given the FR235's $330 price point vs. $369 for the Apple watch when you consider the substantially greater smartwatch capabilities of the latter.

Battery life is definitely a weak point even on the new version of the Apple watch, reducing it's viability for some users. Depends on the usage scenarios.

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 :) )

Um, you might be misinformed about the 235 battery life. I do 5-30 minute (minimum) GPS runs each week and track all day with notifications and when I recharge after those 5 days, I have at least 30% left. Pretty sure the 235 has up to 15 hours or so with continuous GPS usage. I'm on an off week right now, so I have not done any activities at all and I still have 57% left ... I charged last Sunday night (4 days ago). The 235 definitely has some issues for some, but if there is one HUGE thing going for it is it's battery life!

Btw I have a friend with a 225 and it's a great watch, but he drools over the extra features (apps) available on mine. However, I think the optic sensors are better on the 225. I'm definitely not really a 'Garmin apologist' ... this is my first Garmin product. As a casual runner, I love this watch! Does everything and more for me. The main reason I bought it is that I don't have to recharge it everyday and I am quite surprised that I have not have had many of the issues some describe up here.

Max

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 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.

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.

Yeah, this is precisely the battery life I get while running the GPS. It's about 8-10% for every hour of running. I am guessing the person you're replying to is either a troll or is thinking of a Forerunner 10 or some other ancient, bottom-of-the-market Garmin. I just ran a 20 miler with my 235 this past weekend on Saturday AM, and didn't bother charging the watch until Monday AM... AFTER another 4 mile run!! Good luck doing that with an Apple Watch.

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 Polar M600 would be a no brainer, IMO, if you have an Android phone and don't have a lot of friends or whatever in the Garmin ecosystem. That looks like a VERY nice watch. Having an iPhone, though, I'd lose out on most of the features that make the M600 special. That said, as I just got the 235 this year, it's pretty hard to justify another $300+ sports watch inside of a year! :)

Honestly, I really haven't had the issues that many have had with their 235s. No, the OHRM is not pinpoint accurate. But given that "close enough" is ok for my needs? It's been great. 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.

Oh, and I would still like a notification when I hit my step goal, and they REALLY need to fix sleep tracking. Otherwise, I've been delighted with the watch, and will probably use it until it dies.

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.

I suppose this stuff depends on perspective. Having been in the IT industry since around the time they invented sliced bread, that instant/current pace bug should never have made it past the first round of testing for that software release. It wasn't like it affected an obscure function and only showed up on a few devices, it affected core functionality and was widespread. Still, we might say every team makes mistakes... but over the years this seems to be an endemic pattern of poor software QC on Garmin's part. Again and again they've released updates that simply should have been better vetted.

I'm not intending to be a "hater" on Garmin. I own Garmin devices because they're quite simply the best solution for my needs on the market at present. I just find it frustrating when they could be so much better.

To the person who said the FR235 has a 5 hour battery life...wow lol I just bought this watch cheap from someone and i love it. It's always on my wrist. The only thing i can't figure out is how to get text message notifications? (Iphone user)