The rise of fitness wearables from luminaries such as FitBit has seen the rest of industry jumping on this potentially lucrative bandwagon. Garmin’s latest entry wearable, the Forerunner 235, is primarily targeted at runners, featuring activity trackers and heart rate monitoring. Released a year after the Forerunner 225, is the 235 a simple incremental update, or a serious consideration in your shopping list?

Inoffensive Looks

Featuring a large watch face and riddled with buttons on its sides, the 235 is a pretty good looking device. Utilising soft, rubber straps, it also fits snugly against the wrist without feeling uncomfortable even on a hot sunny day. Weighing a scant 42 grams, it’s also easy on the wrist, and we almost never noticed it other than when checking the time. It isn’t the most premium feeling watch out there, and Android Wear devices such as the Moto 360 will definitely attract more attention, but you could do a lot worse when picking a sports watch.

Onto the screen, the 215 x 180, 31.1mm LCD display isn’t the sharpest on the market, but it gets the job done. The bezel around the display is pretty thick though, and causes the display to look smaller than it really is. Additionally, the backlight is off by default, and you’ll need to hit a button on the top left corner to temporary switch the backlight on, which can be annoying if you’re in a dimly lit environment.

Fitness Credentials
The Forerunner 235 is a true fitness wearable, and there’s definitely a lot going under the hood to cement its credentials. Featuring multiple sports modes such as running, bike and a free-tracking setting, you’ll get access to info such as pace, distance, time, average heart rate and even calories. Interestingly, there’s also a Training Effect, which measures how effective the training was for you, though I’m unsure what metric it uses to determine the score which is based on a 5 point scale.

GPS tracking is also fairly quick, and there’s a recovery time recommendation after every workout. As for connectivity, there’s a Garmin Connect application where you can build your customised workout online, sync it to the 235, and you’re good to go. It’s a little limited though, as the watch itself does not contain previous data which can you can then use to test yourself against. The heart rate monitor is also somewhat inconsistent, especially when doing high intensity workouts. It takes some time to pick up the current heart rate, which can cause your workout results to be somewhat off compared to other, more capable heart rate monitoring devices.

Running Companion
Garmin’s latest Forerunner is a pretty interesting device if you’re serious about your fitness. It has a ton of software, a comfortable design, and a battery that lasts forever. It may be a little confusing to navigate, what with its array of buttons, but you get used to it fairly quickly and it does what it needs to do.

The only downside is its heart rate sensor isn’t the best, and there is no VO2 option like on its more expensive siblings. If your workout consists mainly of long distance running, the 235 is an easy recommendation.

Price: RM 1450

Dimensions: 45 x 45 x 11.7 mm

Weight: 42 g

Display: 215 x 180, 31.1 mm

Battery: Up to 9 days for regular watch + activity tracking + notifications + heart rate, 11 hours for training

Water rating: 5 ATM

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Value: 7/10

Features: 8/10

Performance: 7/10

Design: 9/10

Usability: 8/10

Verdict: A solid running watch, with excellent 24/7 tracking. Heart rate monitor is a little off though.

Total Score: 7.8/10