My new FR935 will be here today (coming from a Vivo series of activity trackers). Are there any tips or tricks with regards to setup or general use that any of you would like to share with a newbie?
I've always avoided auto pause as it can be triggered anytime the GPS signal gets a bit weak. I've never been concerned about stopping/starting an activity because I am at traffic lights or similar.
So far, I'm very impressed. The Bluetooth paired up immediately and I actually like the buttons to scroll through menus rather than the touch screen in Vivo series.
Menus seem intuitive.
The only issue I had was the firmware was on version 4.20 and was not updating via Garmin Connect on my phone. I was able to pair with my computer and push the firmware update to the device with no problem.
I've never been bothered where the updates come from. When I put mine on charge on the computer I always fire up Garmin Express too and synch through there. I have also left mine in it's natural state, no changes to watch face or added data fields or other stuff. I seem to experience fewer problems that way. Get used to your watch in it's natural state before you add stuff. That way you'll know that it's working properly.
Assign Widgets to a hot key like Hold Start, so I can access widgets during an unpaused activity
Assign Screenshot to a hot key like Hold Back. I can snap my recovery HR and anything else I want
Add Timer and Stopwatch to controls menu
As far as apps go, I like LapHistory (great data field for interval training), Dozen Run (great single page data field for long runs — you may prefer Dozen Cycle), and My Day Advanced (replaces several activity tracking widgets)
As far as watch faces go, I like Rings (for activity tracking) and Alpha, for minimalism.
Firmware updates via the mobile app (GCM) can you slow to arrive. It will take 1-2 days until the watch gets them, if you are impatient then Garmin Express is the way to go.
GPS Only is good enough 99 out of 100 times and saves some battery (instead of GPS+Glonass)
Every second recording doesn't add battery overhead vs smart, just filesize is differnt. Smart is good enough 9 out of 10 times, but if you like to analyze afterwards 1sec is a fine default as well.
Turn down backlight brightness, 5% or something is plenty for me for example (again saving battery)
Wifi sync is awesome ;)
Buy a screenprotector (brotect airglass is awesome), might not be necessary but gives a good feeling and I actually feel it kinda improves the display