Post Apple Watch, I been going from one dumb watch to another. Mostly Casios, sometimes Decathlon’s Kalenji watch and the horrid Lenovo Watch 9. And since I can’t afford to get another Apple Watch, I was actively looking for a smartwatch with at least GPS tracking and smartphone notifications. So I’ve narrowed them down to a few Garmin smartwatches and finally picked out the Forerunner 235. The Forerunner 235 is not my first Garmin actually. That honour goes to my old Forerunner 15, a crude GPS running watch with few basic features.
It was a close call between this and the Forerunner 45. The latter being at similar price but have a stiffer watch band hence why I ultimately went for the 235 with its classic, soft, easily changeable bands. Plus I like the old design of the 235 better. Out of the box, I got the charging cradle, an extra black colour band and screwdriver to change the bands. It took me a while to figure out how to turn on the watch. I almost thought I had a faulty unit there until I found out online how I had to long press the brightness button for the purpose.
Setup was pretty straightforward. You just need to download the Garmin Connect app available on both App Store and Play Store and follow the steps provided. I love the fact that I can receive notifications from my iPhone on the 235, something I’ve been missing from my cheap Casio watches. Yes, I can’t reply or compose anything from the watch itself, just getting a glance of my notifications is good enough for a non Apple Watch at half the price. I also love how Garmin Connect can seamlessly sync with the Nike Run Club (previously Nike Plus) which kept record of all my running data for the past 6 years. Technically you can change the watch face using a separate Garmin IQ connect app but so far I find the watch face selecting rather underwhelming.
One of the best feature of the 235 is the activity tracking. You can choose between running indoors and outdoors and cycling. Getting GPS connection is super fast, in about 2-3 seconds top. It gave me good motivation to go out and run/cycle every other day of the week since I spend a tidy sum of money on the watch. While working out, it can track the distance, pace, time and heart rate and at other times daily steps, calories and sleep data.
Overall, I’m pretty pleased with my Forerunner 235. On a single charge, the watch could easily last around one week from normal use. 4-5 days if I use the GPS daily. I love the circular watch face design and the soft silicon straps. It looks real sporty and cool compared to the square Apple Watch. Besides, talking from experience, I’m reluctant to bring my old Apple Watch for prolonged or extreme sporting activities for fear of damaging it. The Garmin however feels pretty tough and solid and looks like it could take a beating on the road or a trail. If you’re an active person or hoping to be one, I can’t recommend the Garmin smartwatch enough. The mid range ones like the 235 cost about half the price of the latest Apple Watch but have enough features for your sporting activities.
As good as the Forerunner 235 is, it still lack some of the advanced future that it’s more expensive cousin, the Fenix series offer like multisport tracking, colour screen and a solid metal body. Of course the Fenix series cost as much if not more than the latest Apple Watch so for some people, it’s a matter of taste and preference. Right now I’m very happy with my Forerunner 235. A watch that I love to wear daily for all occasions
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