Review on Garmin Forerunner 235: Black/Gray GPS Running Watch - Ultimate Fitness Companion by Scott Vazquez

As mentioned before, make sure you are buying this watch for the right reasons! I've been a dedicated Fitbit user for 3 years. I had Charge HR, Surge and Blaze. I was a Charge and Surge (GPS) runner but then suffered a knee injury and became a gymnast rat during the Blaze period. My knee feels better and I'm happy to report that I can walk again! I used Garmin and Fitbit Blaze together on different days and workouts to compare them. I hope this review helps someone transition from a Blaze/Surge to a Garmin 235. I love having an activity tracker, but I also love a GPS running watch. I had a surge but it was so ugly that I got rid of it. So why did I have to get away from the flame? It is advertised as being able to connect to your phone for GPS. It was an epic failure for me and although Fitbit customer support was amazing and replaced it under warranty, the new device still didn't work with GPS. It had a lot of Bluetooth issues, including infrequent connections, allowing me to access music controls. It also incorrectly measures heart rate during high cardio and peak heart rates. Here's what I think of Garmin: GPS is awesome! I've never had a single problem with the GPS. Yesterday I ran with Blaze and Garmin. The Flame (connected to GPS momentarily before disconnecting) gave me 2.35 miles, while Garmin gave me 2.2. I love that Blaze tells you how many steps you take when you run, while Garmin doesn't. The music control works well and always connects. For me this was VERY important and if Garmin didn't have that option I wouldn't have bought it. I really wish it showed the title of the track like Blaze did. I love that you can customize your Garmin, but it may take some practice before you figure out how. Also, it's MUCH easier to download apps, widgets, and watch faces connected to a computer than it is to a smartphone. I got tons of error messages when trying this on my phone. Also like Fitness Pal. heart rate connection seems pretty accurate. I have read many reviews on here that said this product has a bad hormone but I felt that was wrong. Having had many devices with this feature and having experience with Polar heart rate straps (they cut my skin so I didn't have to use them anymore) I find the heart rate monitor quite reliable. It doesn't show heart motion like Blaze, but it's minor and takes a minute to update. It captured my max heart rate, which is where the Blaze struggled. This showed me a peak of 175 which is maybe 3-4 beats higher but much closer than my blaze which said 164. - Regarding the steps. I'm not sure about the reliability here. I wore it yesterday with Blaze and Blaze gave me 12499 and Garmin gave me 10823. On Friday my work schedule is such that I don't normally take many steps and Garmin gave me 10948 steps so I became suspicious which resulted in me wearing both monitors together on Saturday. I assume the correct number is somewhere between two hours. Also, Garmin doesn't let you know when you've reached your goal, and having that feature on the Flame was pretty sweet. VO2 Max is cool, but probably not very accurate. Likewise the offer of relaxation hours. - Love the weather and sunrise/sunset views. It helps me not to look for information on my phone. This is a very attractive watch. I hate that Fitbit is stuck with a square face and I won't be going back to Fitbit until they try a round face that can pass as a regular watch like this! I have a very small wrist (about 5.5 inches) and this strap is weirdly long for me. I wish they made small watch straps for women like me. But nothing looks as weird as the hideous Surge! Here I agree with the reviewer that you are buying this watch for all the right reasons! bad detail. I'm very good with gadgets. So I can only imagine myself being someone who isn't. - The first night I got my Garmin I was 100% sure I would return it because the setup process was such a headache. The app absolutely sucks. If Garmin could hire a Fitbit software developer to sort out their iOS app, I'd be a happy camper. I got so many error messages and still can't figure out how to use the app easily. That's where Fitbit has one on Garmin. It's easy to find the information I want, but at Garmin it often takes me a few minutes to find the information I need. I would like all data from Garmin with the Fitbit app. The clock menu is very difficult to understand. Now if you were to ask me how to access the stopwatch feature, I couldn't tell you how and I'd have to google it. I also had to google various other steps to access the watch's other features. I can't tell when my Garmin is actually charging. I don't see any icon or indication that it's charging and I only have to go back a few minutes later to see if the percentage has changed. - Battery life. Well I have to say this isn't for long. I charged it fully on Wednesday and then only used it during the day (turned off at night) and now it's Sunday. The battery has 31% left. So it lasts about 48 hours maybe 8 more before I need to charge it again. I've read that some users say that the battery life improves over time, so we'll see. Sometimes I wonder if HRM even works. My flame was constantly on/flashing. I just took off the Garmin but it doesn't blink at all. It takes about a minute to turn on again. But when it works, it's reliable. All in all, make sure you're buying it for the right reasons. Don't expect it to be a useless/pretty activity tracker like Fitbit. If you are looking for a good running watch with GPS and reliable activity tracking, then this is the watch for you. I was very sad to leave Fitbit and will probably return if they ever release a Surge 2 that isn't square (I hate the look) so I can use their awesome app and challenge with my friends and co-workers.