Would you buy a 735XT again?

I've been using my FR735XT for 18 months. If I lost it today, I'd rather go for the 935.

Now some comments to your requirements:

acurate step counting

This one is the trickiest. The 735XT will count steps quite accurately, but certain conditions have to be met. Step counting is a very simple technology and is prone to false positives and negatives in many circumstances. The bottom line is that for some people it is acceptable, and for others it isn't.

the ability to tell the tracker when I'm running vs cycling

I'm not sure I understand this one. You can start a running activity on the watch and you can start a cycling activity. But if you don't start your activities manually, then the watch won't know what you're doing. Another limitation is that no matter what activity you are doing, step count is not inhibited, which can result in counting steps when cycling or swimming.

accurate GPS for trail running

As a dedicated trail runner I can say that I never experienced any GPS accuracy issues. There are however two limitations that make the FR735XT less optimal for trail running than some alternative models. One of them is relatively short battery capacity and the other is lack of course elevation profile during run.

I've been using my FR735XT for 18 months. If I lost it today, I'd rather go for the 935.

Now some comments to your requirements:



This one is the trickiest. The 735XT will count steps quite accurately, but certain conditions have to be met. Step counting is a very simple technology and is prone to false positives and negatives in many circumstances. The bottom line is that for some people it is acceptable, and for others it isn't.



I'm not sure I understand this one. You can start a running activity on the watch and you can start a cycling activity. But if you don't start your activities manually, then the watch won't know what you're doing. Another limitation is that no matter what activity you are doing, step count is not inhibited, which can result in counting steps when cycling or swimming.



As a dedicated trail runner I can say that I never experienced any GPS accuracy issues. There are however two limitations that make the FR735XT less optimal for trail running than some alternative models. One of them is relatively short battery capacity and the other is lack of course elevation profile during run.

I'll have a look at the 935 feature set. Thanks.

I will consider FR 645. I think the one feature that really miss out is the lack of barometer to measure elevation.

I will consider FR 645. I think the one feature that really miss out is the lack of barometer to measure elevation.

IMHO, the barometer is overrated and prone to being faulty. My friend has a Fenix 5 and has gone through 3 watches with Garmin and none of them have been accurate. I did a trail run with him last week that had 1480' of elevation change (according to the trail map). My 735XT measured 1469 and his F5 measured 1150ish. Once he ran the manual corrections on Strava it went back to the 1480ish.

I will consider FR 645. I think the one feature that really miss out is the lack of barometer to measure elevation.

Owning the 910, 920, and a 935 which all have a barometer I wish Garmin would do like the 735 and just use GPS for elevation. On all the units with a barometer (a small hole in the watch,) they all go bad eventually if you swim a lot due to chlorine getting in the little hole and ruining the barometer sensor. Now most triathletes don't really swim much so not everyone has had the bad barometer problem but many have. (go to the 920 and 935 forums) and you will see. GPS elevation is close enough for most people

No. I dont buy again the 735xt. I had two 735xt and the left buttons fails around a year of use. Bad quality.

Thanks all.

I've had mine for 25 months and it has been working like a champ - including 3 pools sets per week and a lot of open water swimming during the summer.

It will be replaced very soon by an F5+ - if I can work with its GPS. Main reason is, that I need a CIQ3 watch for some of the Data Fields I am using and I am afraid that the 935 will be taken out of the update loop in year or so due to memory limitations. It really looks like Garmin will be going for watches with some serious memory on board.

I have had a 735XT since June 2017 and am very happy with it. If it failed tomorrow I would probably get a Fenix 5 instead.