Synopsis: Overall, this is a good, basic running/ fitness watch that makes a nod at also being a smart watch. There is nothing flashy here. The watch doesn't do color, just back and silver/white on the display. For those who have used or who remember the traditional Kindles, this is actually pretty nice in terms of contrast as it is easy to ready in low light and high light conditions. In the dark, you still need the light from the lighting button. Unless you are a pro/ elite level runner who will use the advanced features of the higher end watch offerings from Garmin or their competitors, or are someone who doesn't mind paying an absurd amount for a the latest tech gadget, this watch is more than adequate when paired with external sensors such as the HRM Run. As you read this, please bear in mind that I haven't had the opportunity to run the higher end models, so my only points of comparison are the spec sheets and the price points. I will try to avoid providing second hand anecdotal evidence for or against them.
What's Good:
-- The weight. This watch is very light. Unlike my dive watches and other larger, necessarily robust watches, this guy is light enough that I don't feel a need to take it off to type or when doing wood work (both activities that involve repetitive motions that become annoying with larger watches on. For those who mind having something heavy on your wrist during a run, that won't be an issue with this watch.
-- The Band. The silicon band that comes with the watch seems to be robust and is stretchy and comfortable. I have had sport watches in the past that became uncomfortable in hot conditions after a while as moisture built up under the bands making them itchy or painful. To date, I have had no such problems with this watch. I also like the securing ring on the band which has a tooth on the inside to lock it into one of the fitment holes. The stretchiness is important as you need the watch snug/tight to adequately place the optical heart rate monitor.
-- The Smartwatch functions. I don't own an apple watch (which wouldn't work with my phone anyway) or a Gear S3, so I don't have a basis for first hand comparison. However, I have observed the frustration of my friends and family with such devices when trying to use them for input tasks (two way communications with the cellular device.) This watch passes on notifications from your phone, but you have no ability to respond with it. For me, this is the best of both worlds. I get to keep situational awareness while avoiding getting caught up in the minutia of responding with a yet smaller computer interface. This is a personal preference, but I do like the way it works. It is also nice that notifications turn off during a run.
-- The interface. The UI (User Interface) is menu driven. It took me only a few minutes to get used to it, so it has to be fairly simple. Overall, it is intuitive once you absorb the designer's logic, you just have to be patient. It does not have a touch screen, so you have to use the buttons. This isn't a problem for me.
-- The GPS. Because this is a lower end offering, the watch only uses the GPS constellation and not the GLONASS constellation (Russian GPS). As a result link up times are a little slower and accuracy can be degraded as the US places a mandatory limit on how accurate civilian GPS instruments can be (its a strategic thing.) Overall, this watch isn't too bad. At the end of my recent runs, the watch is generally off by about .03 to .05 miles from my phone which uses both locating systems and you can see the differences in the map. Part of this is, I am sure, due to the frequency of updates which is not user changeable unlike on the higher end devices (I would love to minimize the time between fixes.)
-- External Sensors. You can still use external sensors with this watch. I love this feature as I prefer the HRM Run over the watch which has its own accelerometer. This becomes very nice when I'm pushing my daughter in a running stroller. For bikers, you could also use a cadence sensor.
-- Movement Tracker. I like to track steps. As a teacher though, I take everything out of my pockets when I get in front of a class so I don't fidget with it, so its nice that the phone will continue tracking for me. Its also nice that it will tell me if I've been sitting too long. This is good for two reasons. Research shows that you start to lose focus and effectiveness after about 50 minutes of continuous concentration, so its a reminder to take a break (the movement bar seems to ping after about 45 to 50 minutes). Its also a great reminder to remain active instead of just sitting there like a lump on a log.
-- Battery life. The phone is advertised as having up to a 13 day battery life. I haven't seen it. However, it does seem to last about 5 days with workouts which draw significantly more power than standard operation.
-- Charging. The charging of this device is impressive. My first forerunner, the venerable F405, had to charge on a cradle that was poorly designed and didn't positively engage the device. Over time, the connections would degrade and eventually stop working. The new version uses a clip that actively clamps onto the watch. Even with oxidation, it should last a long time. The other part of the equation is the speed of charging. In this aspect, the watch charges very quickly. My personal experience is that a full charge takes less than 1 hour. So if I'm at my desk and notice that my watch is low, I can put it on to charge and have it back on my wrist in time for my next break.
What's not?
-- User control. The sacrifice you make to get a robust watch is that you sacrifice control. You can still adjust view fields on the exercise screens, but can't change how often the watch takes position fixes which would affect accuracy. There are some other little niggly bits of control that are sacrificed as well, but they are well hidden. Now, that having been said, how much control does the average user really need? If you ask the fruit company, they will tell you not much.
-- Accuracy. As mentioned with the pros, the watch is not quite as accurate as I have come to expect from my phone. However, it is within the tolerance of the system so really, how much are you missing?
-- User feedback. The watch does not provide the same level of feedback as the higher level watches. Such esoteric values as VO2, Lactate threshold, expected recover time, and foot contact time simply are not measured. Now, here's the thing. If you are an elite level athlete or a professional, or have a personal coach that actually cares about this stuff, you might care. If you are an every day runner or biker out for fitness and fun or a weekend warrior out to train for your local half, do you really need that extra information and will it be of benefit to you? This is a question you have to ask yourself. My answer was clearly no. Now that having been said, the higher end watches all rely on the chest strap sensor to develop those metrics. Would it be possible for Garmin to move the calculation muscle to your paired analysis device (computer or smart phone)? Well, the answer is that there is nothing technically in the way, so clearly it is a selling point for their higher end lines. Will it show up on Garmin Connect in the future? Who knows.
-- Limited activities. The watch has limited workout options: Run outdoor, Run indoor, Bike, Cardio, and Walk. If you are looking for something that will track your cross fit WOD, this may not be your baby. Nor is it really designed to track golf, basketball, Frisbee golf, ultimate Frisbee or weight lifting as separate activities. Of course, most of the devices that are built around that desired capability are not reported to work well in that application. If you really want something that has specialized tracking capabilities for a wide variety of sports, by all means, pay for the higher end models.
-- Garmin Connect. Perhaps I'm just getting used to it, but Garmin Connect has some issues in the way that it appears on my phone. It tends to be difficult to navigate and can be hard to get it to sync.
-- Only two potential watch faces. There are two built in watch faces and there are no options to be able to create your own. This would be worse if I cared more, but I personally like the simple, in your face faces that are standard with the watch. The higher end watches have infinitely adjustable faces.
Wrap up. Over all, I am very happy with this watch. It is the rare blend of having most of the features that I wanted and all of the capabilities that I need, while maintaining a reasonable price point without having to turn to the factory reconditioned items that may have been a lemon to begin with. I highly recommend this watch/ fitness tracker. If you don't believe me, check out the consumer reports review of this watch.
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From the manufacturer
Forerunner 35 is slim and lightweight — perfect for daily runs, training and racing. It features built-in wrist-based heart rate as well as GPS that tracks your distance, pace, intervals and more. And since all these stats are captured by the watch, your watch is all you need — no phone, no chest strap. Just put on Forerunner 35 and go.
Forerunner 35
Easy-to-use GPS Running Watch with Wrist-based Heart Rate.
- Monitors heart rate at the wrist, all day and night, using Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate technology
- Built-in GPS tracks how far, how fast and where you run
- Connected features: smart notifications, automatic uploads to Garmin Connect, live tracking and music controls
- All-day activity tracking counts steps, calories and intensity minutes and reminds you when to move
- Automatically uploads your data to Garmin Connect, our free online fitness community where you can join challenges, receive insights and share your progress as you meet your goals
Running Metrics
Monitor key aspects of your running and fitness progress by tracking distance, calories, pace and more.
Wrist-based Heart Rate
Elevate wrist heart rate technology monitors your heart rate at the wrist 24/7 so you can run without a chest strap.
Connected Features
When paired with a compatible smartphone, Forerunner 35 pulls text, social media and other notifications, and it alerts you on your wrist.
Run/Walk
Going on runs with walking breaks is easy, thanks to the run/walk mode. Let your watch tell you when it’s time to slow down or speed up.
Run. Sprint. Race. Tri. Spin. Swim. Bike. Row.
Find the training partner that fits all the ways you like to move.
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Forerunner 735XT
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| Price | — no data | — no data | — no data | — no data | — no data | — no data |
| Auto Pause | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Auto Lap | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Color display | no data | no data | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Connected features | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Step counter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Connect IQ | no data | no data | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Wrist-based heart rate | no data | ✓ | no data | ✓ | no data | ✓ |
| Advanced running dynamics | no data | no data | no data | no data | ✓ | ✓ |
| Strava Suffer Score | no data | no data | no data | no data | no data | ✓ |
| Lactate threshold | no data | no data | no data | no data | ✓ | ✓ |
Product information
| Product Dimensions | 1.4 x 0.5 x 1.6 inches |
|---|---|
| Item Weight | 1.6 ounces |
| ASIN | B01KPUHBK6 |
| Item model number | 010-01689-00 |
| Batteries | 1 CR123A batteries required. (included) |
| Customer Reviews |
4.5 out of 5 stars |
| Best Sellers Rank |
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| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| OS | iOS, Android |
| Connectivity technologies | Bluetooth, GPS |
| Special features | Bluetooth |
| Other display features | Wireless |
| Human Interface Input | Dial |
| Scanner Resolution | 128 x 128 |
| Color | Black |
| Whats in the box | Forerunner 35, Charging/data clip, Manual |
| Department | mens |
| Manufacturer | Garmin |
| Date First Available | August 31, 2016 |
Warranty & Support
Product Warranty: For warranty information about this product, please click here. [PDF ]
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Watch and app are great!!
I really like this watch...but I like the app best of all!! The watch is comfortable to wear and the controls are easy to use. The accuracy of outdoor running distances is very good. The heart rate monitor seems fairly accurate compared to manual measurement in most cases. The one feature that does not seem to work well is the indoor run distance tracker; it is way off compared to my treadmill but frankly this feature isn’t really that important to me and the watch could probably do without it. When you pair the watch to a phone you are alerted when your phone rings or you get a text. You can see who is calling or read the text without looking at your phone. The app gives a lot of cool information for each run (distance, split times, split paces, average pace, elevation gain, heart rate, cadence, route, steps, and many more). It also tracks total daily steps, 24/7 heart rate, and estimates VO2 max, among others. The real-time pace lags a bit so it would be difficult to do accurate interval-type workouts. I don’t cycle or swim so I can’t speak to those features. The sleep tracking app is pretty cool, but I can’t verify the accuracy of light and deep sleep totals because...who knows? I do know that the app does make me more conscious of when I go to bed and how much sleep I get. My wish for this watch would be a bigger button for starting and stopping the timer (years ago I had an old pre-GPS Nike watch and its start/stop button was nice and large and easy to locate and press while running). Any watch I have had since has made me wonder why the button isn’t more pronounced, but I think most everything on the market has a small button. But I digress... Overall this watch is a very good buy for its price point, especially when you use the app/pair to a phone. There are many cool features and lots of data in the app that definitely make you more mindful of your health and activity. I would definitely recommend!
Top reviews from the United States
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Top reviews from other countries
- BrendanReviewed in Canada on March 12, 2018
Great for weekend warrior types (like myself)
Color: BlackStyle: Watch OnlyVerified Purchase - MarcieReviewed in Canada on January 22, 2021
The FONT is huge!
Color: WhiteStyle: Watch OnlyVerified Purchase - rajpal singhReviewed in India on March 16, 2018
Difficult to operate.. needs more smooth functioning.
-
Cliente de KindleReviewed in Mexico on August 23, 2020
Buen reloj para corredores
Color: WhiteStyle: Watch OnlyVerified Purchase -
Noé Martín Carreón AguiñagaReviewed in Mexico on December 21, 2020
Excelente producto y el color verde es hermoso.
