Forerunner 235 and Walking

I can see Phillip's point of view.

When I was shopping for the FR235, I didn't notice that a walking activity was not listed. It was an assumption on my part that it did included running and walking activities based on my experience with the Vivosmart HR+. Yes, I know that it's never good to assume but we all do it from time to time.

It is a little odd to see running and cycling activities on the FR235 and not walking. It is at the core a running watch, but walking comes a lot closer to running than cycling.

Jim's app does a good job of things and is an good option to consider to fill the void the FR235 presents to some.

Just use Jim's app, it's great. You might beyond frustration but you only have yourself to blame for not checking out the features of a watch before buying.

So it's the customer's fault that tracking walks on a Garmin GPS watch isn't supported? I do not "only have myself to blame." I can firmly place the blame on Garmin for the lack of support to track walks. You should also know that I researched dozens of options for weeks before purchasing.

I originally bought a Vivoactive HR. I loved it but the touch screen was a flaky and I didn't care for the bulky design. So I returned it and bought a FR235. I love the FR235, but I didn't have my treadmill desk when I bought it. Now I do, and I would love to easily track my long, daily walks with the FR235. It really isn't that much to ask of a watch that's as capable as the FR235. I shouldn't need to downgrade, or spend twice as much money, for the convenience of tracking a WALK. The capability is there, obviously. But Garmin refuses to add it. Their reasoning for why is beyond me.

And they (and we, too) don't care about your particular use case. Don't assume the Forerunner 230/235 was designed for you specifically, or so much as with you in mind. It's your responsibility to perform due diligence, and match what is on offered by each device on the market to your requirements, to work out the best compromise for yourself (and the money you have to spend) knowing you can't have everything you want the way you want it. Don't expect to be accommodated by Garmin or anyone else in their design decisions made before you were a paying customer for the devices and services to which those decisions pertain.
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Easy there, cowboy! You're right. After all, the FR235 is designed for RUNNERS. Why should Garmin allow us to track a pathetic walk? Don't you dare expect Garmin to track obscure activities like walking on a runners watch. Friggin' millennials, thinking the world revolves around them. I mean, I know my watch that's exclusively intended for runners does allow me to track cycling.... but that's different. Ignore that.

Just use Jim's app, it's great. You might beyond frustration but you only have yourself to blame for not checking out the features of a watch before buying.

So it's the customer's fault that tracking walks on a Garmin GPS watch isn't supported? I do not "only have myself to blame." I can firmly place the blame on Garmin for the lack of support to track walks. You should also know that I researched dozens of options for weeks before purchasing.

I originally bought a Vivoactive HR. I loved it but the touch screen was a flaky and I didn't care for the bulky design. So I returned it and bought a FR235. I love the FR235, but I didn't have my treadmill desk when I bought it. Now I do, and I would love to easily track my long, daily walks with the FR235. It really isn't that much to ask of a watch that's as capable as the FR235. I shouldn't need to downgrade, or spend twice as much money, for the convenience of tracking a WALK. The capability is there, obviously. But Garmin refuses to add it. Their reasoning for why is beyond me.

Easy there, cowboy! You're right. After all, the FR235 is designed for RUNNERS. Why should Garmin allow us to track a pathetic walk? Don't you dare expect Garmin to track obscure activities like walking on a runners watch. Friggin' millennials, thinking the world revolves around them. I mean, I know my watch that's exclusively intended for runners does allow me to track cycling.... but that's different. Ignore that.

I must second that somehow.

Of course, the Forerunner 235 is first and foremost a running watch. But has cycling mode... but not a walking mode... It is kinda confusing. Sure, cycling mode has been on top of the whish list for many customers (garmin introduced it on the Forerunner 620, which was designed for running only, because users, many many users, wanted it), while walking is probabely not so much asked for on a mid-range running watch. Still, I can see the confusion and understand that it can be annoying to customers.

The good thing though, is that garmin allows for 3rd Party apps, and there are plenty. So I guess, even if it's not a native garmin app, it still is very capable of tracking walks. So, in the end, it should not be that much of a Problem.

And oh... by the way: on the specs of my VAHR walking mode is not listed on the specs on all of garmin sites (in my country's site it is listed on the specs, on the US site it is not). So, depending on where I'm looking, my VAHR should not have a walking mode (it has it, though). According to DCRainmaker it also happened the other way around (listed something in the specs on a device, which said device did not have. Just can't remember which device it was... darn). Don't think this is helpful for the customers and can lead to such things too.

Easy there, cowboy! You're right. After all, the FR235 is designed for RUNNERS. Why should Garmin allow us to track a pathetic walk? Don't you dare expect Garmin to track obscure activities like walking on a runners watch. Friggin' millennials, thinking the world revolves around them. I mean, I know my watch that's exclusively intended for runners does allow me to track cycling.... but that's different. Ignore that.

Not just millennials apparently!

Max

Hike and Simple Walk were never solutions for me because they use GPS. However, I just discovered "Indoor Walk" and it seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. Working great with my footpod, too. Looking forward to checking out the activity data when I'm done with this walk.

I'll brag a bit here :)
One of the things that can be done with CIQ apps, is not only can they add to the existing sports, but also do more than a native app in cases!

A garmin walking app? Ok, a few data screens where you can pick what you want to see. What if you had data screens you can customize, "back to start", as well as this one in "Simple Walk"?



(it's on a f5. Pink dots are 1 mile lap marks, and "U and D" are where a floor up or down happened (no floors on the 23x/630/735 though,,,,)

Jim - I have to admit, I'm very happy with your Indoor Walking app. I used it last night and I'm using it right now. I've manually adjusted the activity type and name on over 100 walks in the past couple months. Now I'll never have to do that again - FINALLY!

An option to use a white background would make the app even greater :)

So I don't forget, drop me an email with "Contact Developer" for the app. What I'll probably do is add a "black or white background?" option either on the watch itself or with settings from Garmin Connect on your phone. As indoor walking doesn't have other settings, likely on the watch itself.