Garmin Forerunner 935 quick hits mini review

As always, if you want a real review, read DC Rainmaker's review. This is a quick wrapup of my general impressions of the device and whether its worth the upgrade for the average runner from my last watch, the Forerunner 235.

My view is that if you have a lot of Garmin love - you are the kind of person who doesn't run without it, wears it when not running for things like step counting and 24/hr heart monitoring, the answer is a yes.  I'll run through the biggest pluses:

1) Improved battery life over the Forerunner 235. I have had it set to GPS and Glonass, Bluetooth and 24 hour hr on, alerts for calls and calendars on. I have run 6.5 hours over the last four days. And the battery is at 57%.  I'd estimate 10% drawdown is for the background functions, 47% for running, which means about 5% per hour for running. Garmin says 24 hours on GPS - that may be right if Bluetooth and HR is off. For the full kahuna of settings, I'd feel comfortable that it would have plenty of juice left after a 50 miler or a 12 hour run. And going away for a week of travel no longer means stressing out about whether I pack the cable - it should be good for an hour of running a day for seven days plus background draw and still have 50% left.

2) Better display. I find it to have improved contrast and outdoors readability in bright sunlight.

3) More accurate Elevate wrist HR measurement. This is completely subjective, but I see less unexpected spikes or cadence lock where the module gets stuck measuring your footfall cadence instead of your heart rate. It also seems to be giving more accurate readings when I do things like get up from my desk and run up the stairs - getting to the peak and returning to rest faster than the 235. 

4) A more comfortable strap. I don't have to tighten and loosen it depending before and after each run. It measures HR well with a more lax tension; I think it is a little more rubberized and grips to your wrist better.

5) Barometer. I always felt like I was getting ripped off from the estimated elevation gains on Garmin and Strava. Hopefully this is more accurate.

6) Better looking. Small changes include the metal buttons and the improved case and bezel. It just looks more quality than the 235.

7) Additional running metrics, including readings on aerobic and anaerobic training effect. I find it helpful to see these post run. I'm looking forward to getting training status reads after I've been using it for a month as well.

8) Ability to set alarms using Garmin Connect mobile rather than only on the watch. I often realize after turning off the lights that I haven't set my watch alarm for an early race wake-up. It's nice to set it on the phone - a lot easier than fumbling through several layers of menus on the watch to do so.

9) A nice solid feel on the wrist. The weight is heavier than the 235, but not that noticeable. It is a lot lighter than the Fenix line which just was too uncomfortable for me. Given that it has the most desirable of the Fenix 5/5S functions, the size and weight is a real plus here.

10) Improved activity move bar response. Again, a subjective take, but it seems like the move bar is more consistently cleared with exercise. Sometimes the 235 would take forever to do so.

There you have it. Sorry to push you over the edge if you were wobbling, but I don't think if you are reading this you'll end up regretting it.

Elevate HR monitoring on Forerunner 235 (2.6 sensor hub firmware)

I have had good results with the current 2.6 sensor hub update of the 235.  A few thoughts on my experience:

- There is not a lot of monitoring going on overnight. It takes a reading every couple of hours at most. But these readings seem pretty steady although not the lowest resting heart rate in a 24 hour period. 

- My low resting heart rate takes place in the first hour or two after I wake. In previous versions, it took place an hour before waking until waking. (You can see the stretch to the left of the little alarm clock - my reading around 54 throughout sleep through waking. The resting heart rate low of 42 took place around 10 am.)

- Resting heart rate averages are amazingly steady from week to week.

- The HR reading jumps to 90-100 when I start walking, even if when I take a manual HR read my pulse is still in the 60-70 range. I assume this is a false reading based on my walking cadence which is around 100. (The peaks below are during a half hour treadmill walk at a low speed; you can see it drop down immediately to a low resting rate once the walking stops.)

- The HR readings during exercise are extremely accurate. I'm not seeing a lot of false reading or dropouts like I saw in the previous firmware.

Postscript:
I have had the same problem on occasion that some other users have had - no HR reading at the start of an activity. I do check to see if the HR reading has started before the activity is begun - if not, I exit out to the main screen and restart the process. I haven't had this issue of late - but according to the forum that Garmin maintains, it is a known issue and they are working on it.

Also: I am having some unusually low resting readings - 39 is common, when a manual read is more like 46. I think Garmin has tweaked the algorithm productively, but still needs to do a little more with resting heart rates, particularly after exercise. 

Additional postscript 5/8:
The update has killed vo2max readings on Garmin Connect. This is a known issue on the Garmin 235 forum.

Whack-a-mole: WHR 2.6 and 4.2 firmware upgrades for Garmin 235

So many times firmware updates from Garmin is like a game of whack-a-mole; one problem gets solved, another pops up. The latest dual updates from Garmin for the Forerunner 235 (WHR 2.6 updates the code for the Elevate heart rate module, 4.2 is a firmware update for the watch os) are true to form.

Improvement: the optical HR monitor is doing a better job during exercise. It seems like the heart rate is being updated on more like a one second than a 10 second or more basis. It locks onto real heart rate faster, is less confused from noise from your cadence (so-called "cadence lock" - where the optical hr monitor locks onto your footstrike cadence instead of your heart rate - why you may be seeing hr readings of 170 or more on easy runs), and is steadier over the course of a run - less spikes, more responsive to changes in effort. The run today was great - just a little spike around minute 45, but it actually may have been real given the increase in pace around that time.

Unfortunately, the bad comes with the good. Prior to this update, my resting heart rate is usually in a narrow band - usually 48-53. I've seen a reading of 40 once, but anything lower than that, or higher than 55 is abnormal.

This morning on waking, it looked as if the module did little or no reading during the night. It returned a resting reading of 50 as I was lying in bed, which is on target.  But after the run, it showed a 36 resting heart rate. Not on target.

There have been a number of similar observations on the Garmin 235 forum. Hopefully they can get this resting HR issue straightened out quickly without undoing the good work as far as responsiveness during activities.

Edit: resting HR of 48 on day 2, so perhaps the device is making adjustments based on day-over-day data.

I am running the latest version of Garmin Connect Mobile (3.5.0.1) on a Nexus 5X.

Strange "spikes" in resting HR on Garmin 235 (Elevate HR module)

I've noticed some crazy spikes in resting heart rate (RHR) on the Garmin 235 even when sitting perfectly still at my desk.  Here's one example:

Sort of looks like an earthquake (to the right and below the second little workout guy).

This never happens during exercise - only at rest.  I filed a formal complaint with Garmin - was asked if I had the latest updates (a 2.5 Elevate module update, and the 3.3 235 firmware - yes and yes). 

Turns out they are on the case - working on addressing this with a new upgrade.  This is what I heard:

I took a look at your account, and I see the spikes you are talking about. Currently we are aware of some issues with the heart rate on the Forerunner 235, and are working on getting these resolved. This issue will be resolved in a future software update. Although there is no specific time when this update will be out, we are working as fast as we can to get it out to resolve these issues. 

So hold on to your hats, the cavalry is coming, eventually.

Vivosmart HR final wrapup - and some common issues with the Forerunner 235

I've retired my Vivosmart HR (VHR) after several months.  Mostly, its because the Garmin 235 was released, allowing me to measure my resting heart rate (RHR), sleep AND GPS runs on the same device plus having the benefit of Garmin Connect IQ apps.  I would still strongly recommend it as a tracker, with some caveats/misgivings.

• RHR is a little fiddly.  A lot of times it is up to 5 beats on the high side bc it isn't kicking on at the lowest hr part of the day - the hour before wakeup for me.  I would hope Garmin will be fiddling with the algorithm to fix this. Otherwise, its pretty darn close to what I measure with my finger and a second hand.

• Sometimes RHR freaks out, looking like a seismograph when I'm sitting at my desk during the day.  This is a temporary issue that doesn't seem to be resolved by restarts, reconnects, etc.  It's happened two or three times over the last several months with both the VHR and 235, so I suspect it is an issue with the Elevate module. (Note: Garmin just updated the firmware for the 235 which "addressed issue which can cause wrist heart rate to remain on a fixed value."  Not sure whether they've done it for the VHR, but they clearly know it exists, and that its a sensor issue.)

• Intensity Minutes are useless.  A crapshoot as to whether you will be counted or not.  Arm movement seems to help, but doesn't guarantee a brisk walk will be counted.  Bike riding was more missing than hit.

• Steps are also pretty useless.  A wide variation in what's measured - a staircase "up" can show 2 floors, the same one down shows "3".

• Often, there will be a spike at the beginning of the workout that resolves on its own, or if you adjust the placement on your wrist.  Tightening one notch past "normal" comfortable tension definitely improves activity HR monitoring during activities.

The HR issues are pretty similar to what I'm seeing with the Garmin 235. Although they can be annoying, it still works more than good enough for me both in terms of RHR and exercise HR.  And I'm convinced Garmin will work out the kinks if you have some patience - its their MO with other firmwares/devices.

Some non-HR issues:

• I hate the touchscreen.  It activates the backlight at inopportune times.  It messes with HR broadcasting.  There should be a way to by-pass by allowing navigation with the side button.

• I found the quality of the backlight to be second rate.  The lighting was not uniform - it is a minor criticism, but is exactly the kind of build issue that annoyed me on the Vivosmart original (collected a lot of dirt) and the Vivosmart original (dead LEDs).  I guess Garmin views the sub $200 device line as semi-disposable... I don't think most people think like me -- that a device is only good for one product cycle.  If they want to build this brand to be stronger, they need to address hardware issues on fitness bands in the way they have upped their game on mobile software.

Ray Maker covers some of these issues as well in his in-depth VHR review: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/01/garmin-vivosmarthr-review.html