Best Activity Tracker For Runners- Get in The Zone With Forerunner 235

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Best Activity Tracker For Runners

The Garmin Forerunner 235 is a GPS running watch with wrist-based heart rate designed for runners. The elevate wrist heart rate technology makes it easier to analyse your pace and see it improve over time. The watch is equipped with smart features to set personal goals and smash through them.

In addition to run tracking the forerunner 235 is a capable activity tracker with advanced features to stay connected and it automatically syncs activity data to the Garmin app. Notifications are displayed on the watch screen without distracting you from your workouts and widgets can be customised. Download apps and additional watch faces from the Connect IQ store.

Forerunner 235 Features Elevate Wrist Heart Rate Technology

The Garmin 235 watch uses the Elevate heart rate system to record wrist-based heart rate continuously so that you don’t need to run with a chest strap HR monitor. The heart rate zones and beats per minute BPM are displayed on a colourful gauge. You can easily monitor your best heart rate zones for optimum performance.

Garmin Forerunner 235 Practicality

Forerunner 235 is very comfortable to wear throughout the day and is a lightweight device. It’s amazing to see how much technology is fitted inside the watch including GPS for navigation, audio for alerts, haptics, an accelerometer, a rechargeable battery and all of this is enclosed within a 5ATM water-resistant shell.

Forerunner uses a customised charging cable with a unique clamp design on one end and USB on the other end. The display is beautiful to look at and big enough to show the vibrancy of the colourful graphs and customisable watch faces that can be download from the Connect IQ store.

The straps are interchangeable and the colour options include black grey, frost green, marsala and an exclusive black/volt Nike strap. The straps can stretch and provide adequate ventilation to keep your wrist comfortable. Unlike other activity trackers, the Forerunner 235 watch looks great even when worn recreationally. The colourful straps give the Garmin activity tracker some character and make it look more like a stylish watch instead of a fitness tracker.

Garmin Forerunner 235 HR Recording

I’m a regular Polar device user and thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to compare the Forerunner 235 HR recording against another reputable brand like Polar.

For this, I used the Polar H7 heart rate monitor and the results were comparable except for a few peaks in the HR readings for the Garmin Forerunner.

The 235 watch provides great estimates when switched to smart recording, which means that the GPS and heart rate data is recorded in 6-second intervals instead of every second. The resulting data file takes up less storage space and the recorded data is enough to meet the needs of most users.

When data tracking is switched to every second, the forerunner 235 provided great stats. The data was almost as good as the Polar H7 heart rate readings when considering that Optical heart rate sensors are not as accurate as chest strap HR monitors

Garmin Forerunner 235 Training Profiles

Garmin Forerunner 235 can be toggled between 4 different activity profiles which include:

1. OUTDOOR RUNNING
2. INDOOR RUNNING
3. CYCLING
4. OTHERS

Each of the above profiles can be customised to show specific metrics depending on the information you would like to prioritise.

A good example would be when running outdoors you might want the GPS function to be visible and accessible but for alerts to be switched off. But when running on a treadmill, you might want the GPS to be switched off and notifications turned on. The Forerunner 235 is highly customisable so that your preferences are remembered when you switch between the different activity profiles.

In addition to the activity profiles, the watch features various training features to help you improve your fitness level including:

1. Training calendar
2. Intervals
3. My workouts
4. Finishing time

The “training calendar” and “my workouts” features let you go onto Garmin Connect web and your plan your training in advance. The Garmin 235 watch lets you set a duration, interval distance and time directly from the device. It will then calculate an estimated finish time based on the set distance and your current pace.

Whilst activity tracking, the display can be customised to show 5 screens in total and 2 of those can each be divided into 4 data fields. The screens can be customised differently for each activity profile.

Garmin Forerunner 235 Smart notifications

Smartphone notifications that are sent to the Forerunner 235 can be expanded and read directly from the watch. You can customise how you would like to be alerted of notification whether its vibration, audio or both.

Garmin Forerunner 235 Physiological stats

When you’ve been running for longer than 10 minutes the Forerunner 235 will estimate your VO2 Max (numerical measurement of your body’s ability to consume oxygen). The recover advisor will also provide you with details of the rest time you should take between intense workouts. The data is assessed for accuracy by First Beat, a Finnish company that does the same for other brands like Suunto, Sony, Samsung and so on.

The watch will also estimate a finish time for 5k runs, 10k runs, half and full marathons by measuring your performance at 10 minutes intervals.

235 All Day Activity Tracking

The forerunner is predominantly a sports watch for runners but it is also a fully-fledged fitness tracker that tracks 24/7 heart rate, sleep, steps, distance, calories burned and the minutes spent in each intensity zones. Sadly it doesn’t track incline measurements for stairs climbed as it does not have a barometer. If you remain stationary for long periods of time the Forerunner 235 will remind you to get up and move, either through a buzz or audio alert.

Pros

This is a 24/7 fitness tracker. Similar to a Fitbit it tracks distance, steps, sleep and calories burned.
All-day heart rate measurement and during fitness activity sessions.
It features GPS+Glonass for smart tracking or second-on-second tracking.
Vibration and audio are built in to aid with alarms, smart notifications, movement alerts.
Read your messages and notification on the large watch display.
It can measure your VO2 Max score (numerical measurement of your body’s ability to consume oxygen), race time predictor and it provides post-workout recovery advice.
The watch automatically records laps at 1km/1 mile intervals or the distance can be customised.
Automatic pausing for track running.
Interval training is entirely possible thanks to the interval run features.
Large display for easier control and reading of data.
Anti-glare display that can be read in direct sunlight. There’s also a backlight.
The watch is compatible with Connect IQ to download apps like Strava and watch faces.
The Forerunner reads the number of laps and time using the Garmin Connect app on your smartphone.
It displays weather and calendar events from your smartphone.
It is water resistant up to 5 ATM.
Answer phone calls directly from the forerunner 235 watch.

Cons

There’s a bit of a learning curve to get used to the navigation.
It doesn’t include virtual pacer functionality

Where Can You Buy The Garmin Forerunner 235 Activity Tracker?

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Garmin Forerunner 235 Activity Tracker Product Rating

The Garmin Forerunner 235 activity tracker is a comfortable and stylish device for both indoor and outdoor running.

The Forerunner 235 is one of the best activity tracker for runners and is equipped with smart features including VO2 Max score, accelerometer, GPS functionality to analyse routes and distance for beginners and serious runners.

Product Rating: 8/10