Still worth it?

I'm a recent Garmin Forerunner 235 user and it works awesome for what I wanted. I lile to run with Music and I like to hear my pace reports. The FR235 paired with my phone does all that.

The available IQ apps allow for add-on activity profiles for Walking (which isn't a native activity for the FR235).

Customisable watch screens are great, there are clever people in the Interwebs!

SMS messages, phone call notifications and challenge rewards display beautifully on the screen.

Rebel Australia have a great deal on the FR235 right now!

Absolutely.
If you do not intend to use it in the mountains (barometer) or swimming, I think the 235 is giving you good advantage over the 30 at a much better price today than models like 735 or 645.

True that you will not get some details/metrics, but based on your post, I do not consider these differences are worth the higher price.

A very good device indeed, but if the price difference to a 735xt is not much i'd go for that one (courses functionality, more memory for connect iq apps)

I looked at the Samsung Galaxy & Fitbit Ionic watches, but didn't like them. I like the FR235, but also concerned about the older technology and whether they will come out with a newer model.

Any suggestions?

I'm looking to upgrade/change my watch after having the 235 for so long and seeing all the new features on current watches - in particular having a data field with information provided by a 3rd party (in my case, having a data field which shows my glucose level via Nightscout)

I was hoping that Garmin would be releasing a 245 model with access to Connect IQ 3 but the rumours of a successor have been flying around for nearly a year now and no product has been launched or announced.

So I'm stuck. Go with the Vivoactive 3 which had the gestures and the right price, but cones with a touch screen I'm not in the least bit interested in, or the 645 which has the features (and more!) but is much more expensive than I wanted to pay?

I don't even really want anything that special. A 235 with CIQ3 would tick most of the boxes!

I'm getting tired of waiting for an upgrade now though!!

I went to A Snails Pace yesterday and they had the FR235 for 199.00, so I ordered it. If they come out with an update soon, oh well...

Not too bad ... I paid over $400 3.5 years ago. You did good. The 235 is a great running watch. I am one of the lucky ones where I have not had any real issues to speak of. Hope the same for you!

6Gun

Although i'm sick to death of my Forerunner 30 taking 10 - 15 minutes to get a satellite lock and then the same time on top waiting for the heart rate to establish i think i'll hold off.

I'm very interested in some of the functionality present on the 645 and 935 including performance condition, training effect, training load and training status and to a lesser extent the recovery time thing and predicted race times (which the 235 has) I've been put off by the horror stories about the band and casing cracking on the 645 and the 935 is out of my budget.

The 235 is so cheap at the moment though grrrr, but just can't help feeling that paying for older tech than what i have just for 2 metrics is not really an upgrade. Although access to the glonass network would help my satellite woes.

I've had nothing but problems with my 235 and unequivocally regret my purchase of it. It would be a nice device if it worked as advertised, but in my case, it just doesn't. I've been through two replacements, all three devices have had similar issues.

Bugs:

• The GPS stops working every week, and nothing short of a entire reset brings it back. I eventually stopped using it. It wasn't worth the bother.
  
• Syncing with android is totally schizophrenic. The only way I can reliably sync is with the physical cable. I was using a Note 5, then a LG Stylo 3, now a Oneplus 6t. All the same sync/connectivity issues. Its not the phone.
  
• The watch battery on all 3 watches never went to 100%. Best I could get was 98%, and then it went from 16% to dead immediately. The voltage scaling was off.
  
• The pedometer was never accurate. Not even close. I eventually stopped using that too. No amount of stride calibration helped. Bad data is worse than no data.
  
• The clock would occasionally show the wrong time (off by hours and minutes; not even a timezone thing). Even with the GPS turned off and time set manually. I usually had to manually reset the time about once a month. Imagine that: In 2019 a "smartwatch" that can't even keep time.
  
• Notifications work about 60-80% of the time. Sometimes will stop working until the phone is reset and re-paired to the phone.
  
• Occasionally "forgets" downloaded applications and watchfaces, resetting to default.
  
• The Garmin Connect app frequently gets stuck on a black screen and has to be force stopped.
  

Annoyances:

• If you have a fat wrist, or wear collared shirts, you WILL hit the activity button, which activates the fitness mode. This consumes more battery, and causes the device to vibrate on countdown to power safe mode. The only way to stop this is to lock the entire watch, locking out smartphone functionality too.
  
• Heartrate monitor is not accurate at all.
  
• The android software occasionally forgets your credentials and forces you to log back in.
  
• The watch is large and "clunky" by 2019 standards.
  

These issues are not unique to me. There are multiple forum threads about every issue listed above. Overall, it isn't close to being worth the original asking price. Overall, given the history of GPS problems with this model (just browse 235 GPS and you will see thread after thread) I would NOT purchase this device if you need dependable GPS capability. It is ironic that Garmin released a device with such more GPS, since GPS systems are watch Garmin is known for.