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235 vs 230 - Battery Life? If I turn off the HRM will I get weeks of battery life?

Former Member over 8 years ago

Hi,

Bit of a strange question... I was considering buying either the 230 or the 235. I like the idea of the wrist HRM but only for when I actually go for a run.

The question I have though is... If I was to turn off the HRM and use the watch for it's smartphone notifications would I get a few weeks from the battery? also GPS etc off unless actually running etc.

I could then turn on the HRM for the times I needed it? so basically I'd have the benefits of the 230 and it's longer battery? and the benefits of the 235 HRM whenever I chose to turn it on?

Hope that makes sense to someone?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

0 Max556 over 8 years ago

The battery is the finest feature of this watch IMHO. GPS is the major power sucker on this watch, not so much the all day HRM. The situation you describe, you would be doing awesome if you got 2 weeks ... best I've done is 10 days (no GPS, HRM, Notifications, Activity tracing) and I still had about 20-25% left - I doubt having the HRM turned off would have given me much more time. If I do 4-5 30 minute (5k) runs using GPS during the week, I will get about 6-7 days before I recharge (about 20-25%) left.

Max

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Thanks for the response.

In the manual is says: "Up to 5 wk. with activity tracking and smartphone notifications" for the 230. Any one got any idea how it wouldn't mean that the 235 could get say 3 weeks? with only activity tracking and smartphone notifications used also?

Seems a bit weird that it wouldn't? If it's basically the same watch plus a HRM?

0 ASmugDill over 8 years ago

Any one got any idea how it wouldn't mean that the 235 could get say 3 weeks? with only activity tracking and smartphone notifications used also?

Sorry, but I'm really not sure what you're hoping to achieve with this thread. Do you want to argue with someone here about how to interpret the information? Or do you want to base your purchase decision on someone's conjecture as to what the FR235's battery performance on your unit if you choose to buy one?

I don't think anyone is going to perform a three-to-four-week experiment of wearing his/her FR235 as a smartwatch only, just because you posed a question – and especially when you haven't come out to ask if someone could do you the favour of performing such an experiment (a request they could simply ignore or reject by rights). Who, after paying the premium of a FR235 (say, over a FR230 or a vívosmart‑HR), is going to not want to use it for a month to monitor HR (in 24×7 tracking and/or for specific sporting activities) and/or track runs and rides?

Don't get me wrong – I think argument and conjecture are valid discussion, and I certainly don't want to silence you per se, but I simply don't see the sense in it if your objective is to make an informed purchasing decision.

0 Max556 over 8 years ago

Thanks for the response.

In the manual is says: "Up to 5 wk. with activity tracking and smartphone notifications" for the 230. Any one got any idea how it wouldn't mean that the 235 could get say 3 weeks? with only activity tracking and smartphone notifications used also?

Seems a bit weird that it wouldn't? If it's basically the same watch plus a HRM?

First, ASmugDill are you sniffing glue and posting again? Please ignore whatever that response was ... please ASmugDill, if you want to post, be helpful (you sometimes are!), not a condescending a$$ . Nobody wants to hear about your philosophy on what is a good question or not. Nobody wants a friggen' lecture, just a simple answer to a question! If you don't care for the question or have a possible solution, politely move on.

Whew! Okay, ... he gets my pressure up sometimes ... You will NOT get 5 weeks (or 3 ... maybe 2 if your lucky). Period! I haven't seen a similar watch on the market that has the battery life the 235 (that does what the 235 does), so although not 3 weeks, it's the best you will find currently. For the best info I can give you I suggest this link titled "235-battery-life-post-your-experience":

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?334805-235-battery-life-post-your-experience!

Max

0 jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Thanks for the response.

In the manual is says: "Up to 5 wk. with activity tracking and smartphone notifications" for the 230. Any one got any idea how it wouldn't mean that the 235 could get say 3 weeks? with only activity tracking and smartphone notifications used also?

Seems a bit weird that it wouldn't? If it's basically the same watch plus a HRM?

What I've found on all the devices I've used, including the 230, the "up to" is really a bit optimistic (under an ideal situation - one notification a day, native watchface, the phase of the moon ( :) ), etc.), and it's the same when the battery life while using GPS - it can be "optimistic")

The only point of comparison I have for WHR vs no HRM is the va-hr vs va, and they are much more different that the 230 and 235, but the same "family".

In normal use, day-to-day use of the watches and doing maybe an hour of GPS a day, I find I need to charge them just about as often. I know with the va-hr (not sure about the 235), the 24/7 HR readings only occur about every 2 minutes, and happen fast when it happens, so the OHRM isn't really on that much.

I'll say the 235 would use more battery than the 230, but in practical usage, once a watch get's near something like 50% for me, I just drop it in the charger next time I do something like take a shower, so the difference could be you charge 230 at 55% and the 235 do that at 50%, but do it as often, and for the time it takes to grab a shower.

I guess I'd be more concerned about the difference with or without WHR if we were talking hours and days vs days and weeks! :)