Garmin 010-01689-00 Forerunner 35; Easy-to-Use GPS Running Watch, Black

Before I bought this watch, I researched for months many different running watches before I made my decision. I kept coming back to this watch, but was delaying due to the negative reviews. Let me tell you who this watch is/isn't for. Sidenote I've had an Apple Watch before and I absolutely hated it. People think when they get the watch they will use it to call/text but come on, the screen is so small anyways, I'd get irritated and never use it for those features. The one feature I did like, the sleep tracker, I never used because the watch would die like every day and I'd have to charge it at night in order to use it the next day! Super irritating. Also, mileage was ALWAYS off when running. Like, off by a lot and I could probably have fixed this, but was too lazy to and felt like that shouldn't happen with an Apple Watch. The Garmin watch is meant for a runner. If you aren't such a serious runner maybe running 1-2 miles then I'm sure you can get away with something else but the main reason I needed a watch was to track my mileage and timing ONLY during my daily runs and races. I average around 30 miles per week and so holding my phone while running just wasn't cutting it. I am a millennial and like my technology but I didn't need a damn watch to do all these special features that I had at my disposal before but never used. This was one of the negative comments I kept seeing- how this watch was simple. Well, I just need it to tell me my distance accurately so that's what it's for. Bonus points that it also gives HR continuously and tracks your sleep so to me it's amazing. Also without a touchscreen I don't have to worry about accidentally hitting a button. It's easy and that's all I need. ALSO I only have to charge it like weekly not even that if I actually waited for it to die which I never do. That is huge for me especially after having the Apple Watch. It is GPS acquired and I've run with it on a track and multiple races so I know it's definitely accurate. Had this watch since January and have had no issues. Love when you're done running you can sync the phone easily to come up in the app so you can see everything even in more details. One thing I will address is the pacing. People say the average pace pr mile is slow and takes a while to catch up. While this may be the case, this does not bother me one bit because i've been running for so long I have my pacing down. I'm looking at the time like oh, at 2:00 minutes I am hitting .2, at 3 I should be at .3, for example. I always know what my mile time is going to be around and it's always at that time so this doesn't bother me at all. In summary, while the watch screen may not be like super fancy looking, I've been over the Apple Watch since I got it and this watch literally does what it's supposed to- accurately give you your running distance and time.

While I was in the military from 1895 till 2005 I was in excellent shape. I was doing about 4 hrs of progressive weight training/week and getting 7.5 hrs/week of very high intensity cardio. When I retired, I was probably in the best physical condition of my life, at 6% body fat. I was 51, then. After I retired, for the first few of years, I maintained a gym membership and kept up my training. By 2010, I was working in my consulting business, and I began teaching part time at a local university. More time on my ass and less time in the gym. In 2013, I began teaching full time, and I became almost totally sedentary. About the only exercise I was getting was walking across campus between classes. Just before Christmas, I calculated my body fat percentage using the Navy method. At 5'8" and 178 lbs I found myself to be 29% body fat and obese! That did it for me. I realized I had to start to get back into shape, and I realized that it would be a lot harder now at 65 than it was when I was in my 20s. I have never been much of a distance runner/jogger. In the Navy, I ran my 3 miles a year for my two physical readiness tests, and that was about all the running I actually did (even though I was a sprinter in college). It also occurred to me that I probably just couldn't jump on a Stairmaster, and workout at 175 bpm heart rate for 90 min, either. So, with the recommendation of my internist, I decided to start increasing my activity by walking. We live in a subdivision on a street that is an oval of exactly 1/2 mile in length (I drove around it eight times and it really is exactly 1/2 mile). I started walking around my street on Dec 26. I started going around twice (i mile), then I increased the distance by a lap a day, until I was up to 10 laps on Jan 3 (I took Jan 1 off). Since then I had been walking between 8 and 10 laps daily, trying to increase my pace as I went. Somehow, I knew I wasn't getting enough feedback from just the mileage/time calculations. Back when I was working out in gyms, I always wore a chest strap, with one of the more advanced Polar watches. Now that it is over 10 years later, I explored more modern technology, in the age of FitBit and Apple Watches. Actual review starts here: One of the first decisions I made about getting an exercise watch, was that it would need to have GPS, since I have resigned myself to a walking regimen until I get my weight under control, and I regain some of my cardiovascular endurance. I also wanted a watch that used ANT + as its transmission system, because I knew that at some time I would want to add a chest strap for more accurate heart rate measurements (I purchased a Powr Labs strap that arrived today, more about that coming up). I also wanted the watch to be water resistant enough to allow me to swim (This is south Florida, and in the summer, it is a lot easier to do laps in a pool than it is to even walk, and by Summer, I will probably need to change to an activity that will allow me to increase my heart rate above the aerobic zone). The final thing was that the watch needed to be easy to read in a number of different lighting conditions. As I was purusing the various devices here at Amazon, I was immediately struck by the Garmin watch. Ergonomically it appeared to fit exactly the way I would want a watch to fit (I haven't worn a watch in over 20 years), and the way the contrast is set to make the LCD display easier to read with more intense light, it appeared to be perfect for outdoor use in Florida. After reading a number of reviews, that suggested it was a good watch (but not great) at $200, I figured that for under $100 it was probably more than enough to satisfy my needs. The watch came the other day, and I spent about two hours reading the manual and playing with the features. I took the watch outside, selected the "Walk" activity and the watch set the time and date through the GPS signal (None of the Polars I had previously owned did anything like that, and the most annoying thing about those watches was setting date and time). Yesterday was my first day actually using the watch. Before I left for school, I did four laps around my street, and sure enough, the watch registered 4.1 miles ( I stopped it after walking up my driveway). It also had my HR average at 122 bpm, which seemed reasonable to me. At school, the class I taught yesterday was in the library, which is about a half mile from the building in which I have an office. Since "walking" is to be my fitness thing, I walked to and from class from my office building. After I got home, I walked another two laps around my street. After dinner, I synched the watch to my iPhone. After the synch, all of the activities I did since I began wearing the watch were displayed. I guess I'm still fascinated by the GPS thing, and when I tapped each of the saved exercises, I was treated to a GPS map of my actual walking path. The repeated oval around my street wasn't too interesting, but at school I took two different paths to and from the library, and it was very cool to see them clearly defined on the map display. Today is my day off from school, so this morning I set out walk my 10 laps around my street oval. Just before I left the house, the Amazon Prime truck arrived dropping off Powr Labs ANT + chest strap. I took some time to synch the strap to the watch, and then set out on my walk. I walked eight laps, then paused to remove the strap so that I could proceed with just the watch measuring my HR, so I could make some "in the ballpark" comparisons. After two more laps, I went into the house and synched the watch to the iPhone. Of course, I got the same boring GPS map of the "circle" on which I live, but the thing I was most interested in was how close the average HR measurements were between the watch and the chest strap. For the chest strap, the eight lap HR average was 130 bpm (I try to walk at a little over 3.5 mph pace), and the two lap average for the watch alone was 132 bpm. As far as I can tell, the physiological variables were probably more noisy than the actual differences between the measurements, and, at least for my wrist physiology, the watch is probably "close enough for Government work". So, in conclusion, all I can say is that I really love this watch. It does way more than I really need it to, and things I need it to do it does exceptionally well. If you are a competing tri-athlete, you may need something more powerful and complicated, but for me, and I'm sure the many people who want to invest in a product that will help get them off there asses, for the cost, there really isn't a lot that competes well with the Garmin Forerunner 35.

Another good Garmin product, but with several issues: Issue #1 : Heart rate monitoring accuracy is unfortunately hit or Miss. Running with my Forerunner 35 my heart rate is not accurate, it is usually 15-20 BPM low. Compared to my Forerunner 25 with a Garmin chest strap my history on my regular 5-8 mile run is quite different. On a Treadmill my Forerunner 25 + Chest Strap compares closely to a professional heart rate monitor with a cuff, the difference is nearly always less than 3 BPM, the model 35 difference is 8-15 BPM lower than the professional HRM. I have also run wearing both the 25 (with Garmin chest strap) and the 35 on the same runs and have seen those same differences. Issue #2: battery life is quite short, usually about 3 days with an hour run each day is about the limit before it’s recharge time. This is in sharp contrast to My Forerunner 25 which can easily go 8-10 days with a one hour run each day and 3-4 weeks with no running. The best I can get from the 35 with no runs is maybe 5-6 days. Issue #3 : the Forerunner 35 is far more fragile than the 25. The first day I wore it I somehow chipped the side of the case, two weeks later while running I caught my toe on a raised piece of sidewalk and took a tumble; while I wasn’t hurt, the band snapped and the Watch face was damaged, suffering a crack across the screen and a chunk broken out of the corner of the display when it landed about 20 feet away. It still functions but the GPS uptake time has greatly increased. So in summary, the 35 is good but the screen is easily damaged. The model 25 has a wide bezel to protect the screen while the model 35 does not, this leaves the model 35 screen completely unprotected if you take a fall, the heart rate is inaccurate by at least 10%. But it does have a wide range of functions and the gps seams accurate. A What I won’t do is wear it as my day-to-day watch, as I do with my older model 25. The 35 is pretty expensive and just too easy to damage for daily use. Update: May 20, my Garmin 35 has pretty much given up. Today, during my morning run I noticed that the screen is now only half visible, the other half is completely black, and both the GPS and Bluetooth seem to have quit as well. I can only assume that the fall I had in late January caused severe damage internally and now the watch is done. I’ve reverted to using my Garmin 25 with chest strap, the model 35 is now wiped out, I won’t replace it. This review needs an update. Like some others I had some issues, most were caused by a fall that chipped the screen and caused functional problems. I called Garmin and explained I had damaged the watch and Garmin replaced it at no charge. The replacement looked new and Functioned properly. During my conversation it’s the Garmin representative he gave me some hints to get the best from it, i detail these below because I had never seen them elsewhere. 1. Heart rate monitor responds poorly, often “sticking” at some obviously wrong count. I.e. showing 8 bpm when I’m running an 8 min pace and my hr should be about 160+. 2. Slow/incorrect response doing intervals and other similar response problems. There were problems with the initial GPS uptake at new locations as well so I called Garmin support and talked with a very helpful tech savvy guy who was able to cure all of the complaints in just a few minutes. First, make sure the “Garmin Connect” app is on your phone, Bluetooth is enabled and the FR35 and phone are paired. Wait until they sync. Next fully charge the watch then shutdown the watch by holding the top left button on the watch until “Shutdown” is displayed then select yes and the watch will shutdown and the screen will blank. Shutdown fully powers off the watch. Now leave it powered off for at least 12 hours then take it outside where you have a clear view of the Eastern sky and press the same button used to shutdown the watch briefly, this and the 12 hour shutdown will have the watch restart all of its OS components, reconnect all GPS components and reset clocking as well as doing some internal house keeping by clearing out stale files and freeing up operating memory. All this is kind of like rebooting Windows, cures a bunch of problems. Now that the watch has been restarted and settled down, go wash you’re hands, especially the place on your wrist where the back of the watch will be, also clean the back of the watch as well. Now go for a run, you’ll probably find that the problems you had before are gone. That’s how it was with my watch. Now it’s my habit to reboot before every run and the last six months have been completely trouble free.

I dreaded joining the masses and getting one of them new fangled smart watches that counts your steps, reads your text messages, makes your coffee in the morning, etc. I feared becoming dependent on it like our current generation has become with their smart phones. Nose in the screen, only to look up when a slice of pizza is thrust between them and the screen. I considered myself a classic watch collector and wearer. The ol' tick tock watches. Remember those? But alas, I needed a new running watch (my forerunner 10 bit the dust), so I figured I may as well upgrade considering these Garmins are dirt cheap now (my first garmin gps watch was over 200 dollars back in 2003 and all it did was tell time and pace). Holy sh*t, this Forerunner 35 is amazing, and I will admit I rarely take it off, against my previous stubborn attitude. I've even developed a watch tan. Ive never had a watch tan in my life and I'm the watch guy in my friend group, and I spend countless hours a week outside running and at the lake fishing. The text feature is convenient, the heart rate and step count features and helpful, and it even tracks how long you sleep! Features aside, it is well made, sleek, stylish, and the battery life lasts surprisingly long (I rarely drop below 1 bar and only need to charge it a couple of hours for an entire week's use. I can't find anything to hate about this watch (maybe a split screen feature like my past garmins that shows curent pace, avg pace, distance, etc. on one screen). But I can live without that for 120 dollars. I hope this watch has a long life because I love it. *Update*: Still love the watch, but I looked down today during a long bike ride and the watch screen had separated from the body. Seems as if the glue melted? I tried popping it back in as I rode but the smallest bump would cause it to pop back out. It still works. I ran some E6000 glue around the edges when I got home. Hopefully it holds. I also *thought* I heard something drop on the ground just before i looked down and noticed the watch had separated, so I'm hoping a vital part did not fall out. Dropping to 4 starts for less than ideal craftsmanship. Will update again if something indeed is wrong with it.

I've had this watch for about a month and a half now, and I love it!!! I had the Forerunner 15 (which is also a great watch) before this, and I like the 35 even better! It is definitely slimmer than the 15 and looks more like a smart watch than just a GPS watch. It is not touch screen - it has the same 4 buttons as the 15, and the interface is similar. The 35 has a bigger face and the time is displayed in white with the background black which makes it easier to read in the dark (it does still have a backlight button like the 15). I wear my watch all day, but not at night. It's supposed to do sleep tracking if you wear it while you sleep, but it bothers me to have something on my wrist while I sleep, so I haven't tested that feature. I think the step tracking is accurate - it seems comparable to what my 15 was calculating. The GPS is very accurate - within .05 of a mile I would say. If I'm running on a measured course, it usually is a bit under what the course is supposed to be, but that's probably because I'm running as close to the inside as possible making the distance I actually ran a bit shorter than what the course is supposed to be. The 35 offers several features that the 15 does not have: smartphone notifications, bluetooth connectivity, displaying the weather, and heart rate. Starting with the smartphone notifications: it is pretty simple to set this us - just connect via bluetooth through the garmin connect app (I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 and it was easy to set up and works well). There is a setting where you can set which apps you get notifications from and you can set it to beep or vibrate or both. I have mine set to vibrate and it works perfectly. You can NOT send messages from the watch - it ONLY READS notifications. If you want to send messages or make calls from your watch, this is not the watch for you. However, you can answer/reject a phone call from your watch. This has been surprisingly useful - if my phone is in my bag, across the room, or somewhere else, I can answer the call from my wrist then look for the phone so I don't miss the call. Also, I keep my phone on silent all the time, so its nice to know when I get a message and not disturb others. There is a do not disturb mode - the watch won't vibrate/beep which comes in handy sometimes. On to bluetooth connectivity: You don't have to plug in your watch to sync it with garmin connect! It will automatically sync with your phone when bluetooth is enabled! I didn't think that this would be a big deal, but now that I have it, I don't think I'll buy another watch without it - its just so convenient. Weather: It will display the weather, but you have to have the GPS on your phone turned on (I don't leave the GPS on my phone on, so I don't use the weather feature). I set it up at first and turned on the GPS just to see what it looked like, and its pretty nice - it gives you hourly temperatures and rain chances. Heart rate monitor: I think I like the idea that it has a hr monitor more than I actually look at it. There is an option to turn the hr monitor off if you want (I assume it would save battery). It calculates your average resting hr which is nice (I haven't tested its accuracy, but the numbers seem right). It also gets your hr during a run/workout which is nice, but I rarely look at it. One final feature that may be the best thing about this watch - it does "find my phone." You have to have it connected up by bluetooth and be in range (which is surprisingly far and can even go through a wall/door). When you select find my phone on the watch, it makes your phone ring (even if its on silent), vibrate, and the flash for the camera blinks. I haven't tried it with my phone turned off, but I don't think that would work since it has to be bluetooth connected. I almost forgot about music control! This is a great feature that lets you play/pause/skip. I don't use it because I don't listen to music when I run, but it works well - I played with it when I first go it. Overall, I love this watch and highly recommend it! Pros: Accurate GPS HR Monitor Phone notifications/answer calls Bluetooth connectivity - automatically syncs "find my phone" control music from it Interface and overall look of the watch is much sleeker than the previous forerunner models which have a very sporty look Cons: Can't send a text from the watch Have to have your phone's GPS turned on the use the weather feature There is nothing that the watch does poorly, the cons are just features that would be nice if it had them. Another quick note: Battery Life - It has not been an issue for me. I charge my watch every night, but it usually still has 2/3 bars of battery when I plug it in. I run every morning for 30-75 minutes with the GPS on which is the primary loss of battery. If I don't run, it stays at 3 bars the whole day. I think the HR Monitor can drain the battery too, so if you wanted you could turn that off.

Using it a few days now and I LOVE IT! I bought this as a replacement for my old Garmin Forerunner 10. I was just looking for a basic running watch to track my distances and that was capable of interval training at an affordable price. I bought this one on sale, so I paid a comparable price to my old watch. I wasn't looking for bells and whistles, the old one had nothing. So far, it works well and is accurate and battery life seems decent. Beyond that, I am really enjoying the extra features and the ease of use of them. Not over-complicated, but actuality gives me useful information. I never knew I wanted all of it! I hadn't planned on wearing it all day, but I have been, so I'm glad I got the color I liked, totally worth it. Now I finally know how many calories I'm burning both during my workouts AND when I'm not working out! The app is full of useful info and charts and graphs... it does it all automatically. I'm looking forward to seeing my progress over time. Again, I love this watch!

I am impressed. This watch does very well for what I bought it for: GPS tracking of runs and walks. What I did not expect is how well it does a couple of other things: 1. Accurate tracking of indoor runs (on treadmill). The indoor run setting is great for those mornings when the weather keeps me from running outside but I can still go to the gym. I was amazed at how accurate the distance (based on steps) was. I ran 3.00 miles on the treadmill, and the watch, which was measuring steps, indicated 2.98 miles. That is awesome, because I can still get credit for running with my health insurance app even when I can't get outside. 2. Accurate heartrate monitoring on the "cardio" setting. I did not buy this watch to be my companion during weight training or morning yoga sessions, but it does well enough tracking my exertion by heartrate during those activities that I find I'm using it all the time. 3. Battery life. I got eight days on my first charge, and I was using it quite a bit because it was new. I turn it off every night (don't like sleeping with it), but wear it all day including tracking activities and gps monitoring walks and runs. impressive. Charges quick, too. 4. The app. The garmin connect app is great, the watch syncs by bluetooth easily, and the data and display of data available through the app are really helpful, more useful than I would have expected. Plus, the app syncs with lots of different health apps, like the one used by my health insurer, which gives you points toward things like movie tickets and amazon gift cards for working out. 5. the smart watch capabilities (phone notifications) seem to work really well, but personally I don't want to be notified more than I already am, so I will admit I turned that feature off pretty quickly. Well done Garmin.

I bought my first FR35 in January 2020 and it lasted about 2 years before I was having to charge it every 48 hours. If you use the GPS a lot it will deplete the battery a bit quicker. When I am just using the treadmill and working out indoors it was still lasting four days. I am now on my 2nd FR35, and just bought its replacement (see reason below). What I really like: It is pretty simple to use and the Garmin Connect website is great to help you see your results and plan your workout. It syncs with MyFitnessPal, which is excellent for meal planning. I use it to plan my Keto friendly meals. And it is a WATCH. I grew up wearing watches and never adjusted to using my phone as a watch. I just automatically look to my wrist when I want to know the time. If you are planning some serious and specific training process and want a lot of stats this may not be your watch, but for most of us it is going to cover your needs. The connect website provides personal records, badges and challenges that help keep me motivated. About the only thing that I don't love is the sleep monitoring. The auto feature is very basic and it will not track naps. If you sleep outside of an 8 hour period during the night, you will need to manually record those hours (if you care). I don't really care that much so it is a little annoying but not a deal breaker. Update Oct. 2024. I bought a replacement Forerunner 35 about two years after the first in 2020. My crystal cracked recently on the replacement but it appears to still be water tight and while noticeable from a side angle, the crack does not really impact viewing. I just bought a 2nd replacement if and when the current one either becomes a charging problem or does go kaput because of water. I tried the Forerunner 55 but it was way too complicated to operate and for whatever reason, was giving wildly low estimates of my distance. I was losing a quarter of a mile in a 20 minute run on a treadmill. Actually reporting I did less distance than the treadmill indicated. The display font is also much smaller so not recommended if you have old eyes like me. So I returned that one. It was $10 cheaper but the complication of using it and accuracy problems led me back to the FR 35. That is the best thing about the FR35 watch IMO, it just keeps track for you and does not become a nuisance.

I had a lot of questions about how this watch connects to an ANT heart rate monitor. In case anyone is wondering, it's an automatic connection that usually happens after selecting an activity, but before starting that activity. The screen will flash briefly "HR monitor connected". The optical HR sensor built into the watch stays active before starting the activity and several seconds after the activity starts. When it stops shining green, but you're still collecting HR data, then the ANT HR monitor is connected (there is no icon that shows which HR monitor data is being taken from, this is the only method I've found that lets me know which HR monitor is being used). Pros: * Very consistent daily calorie expenditure (my watch always estimates ~500 calories under how many I should be eating, took a few weeks of weight and calorie counting to get that number) * Tracks all my metrics for my activities and I can view them in Garmin's app / website. * Amazing battery life, usually charge it once a week for an hour. * Great "smart" watch functions. vibrates when I get calls, texts, and emails. Cons: * Randomly, the watch will vibrate and display "GOAL". It does this every day and I have no idea what its talking about. Towards the end of a week it will start displaying things like "GOAL x7". * Very difficult to extract metrics from an activity into a .csv or excel spreadsheet. Need to download third party software that processes a .fit file. The .fit file contains all the data from a specific activity. It's tricky to find the link in Garmin's web page to download this. * I don't trust the step count. It increments when I'm on the bus or driving. Use go up by a lot when I first got the watch. Fast forward three months and it usually counts 1 step for every 5 seconds of motion in a bus/car. * The information on sleeping is a cute, but useless function. Impossible to characterize a person's sleep pattern based on wrist motion, especially if there is more than one person in their bed. Overall: Amazing watch for tracking work outs, counting daily energy expenditure, and notifying you about phones, calls, texts, etc.

I have gone through about 7 watches and returned them all because when you try to read a message you cant see it. My eyes are good and if I cant see it, no one can! But this watch is awesome, the font is large and the display is a very beautiful smoke grey digital look that is easy on the eyes. This watch keeps me in shape and beeps when I need to get up and start moving to keep those calories off. It receives all notifications from text to whatsapp to phone calls, etc. The app is the best part of this phone as it keeps track of everything and is well designed and professional. If you are a health nut or a jock, this watch is for you. There are a ton of things this watch can be used for but for now, I am just happy getting the notifications. Also, I prefer this not being a touch screen. The screen stays clean and isn't covered with my finger prints and swiping isn't necessary. We do it enough on our phones already. Its awesome!

UM dos melhores custo beneficio. Marca tudo que voce precisa saber em um treino de bike/esteira/corrida ...e com uma excelente eficacia!

Difficult to operate..needs more smooth functioning.

Just started to pick up running 2 months ago and wanted a basic watch to track GPS and pace as my iPhone was not able to track distance accurately. Bought this because of it's price and also compatibility with Nike Run Club app. Works well for me and I'm quite pleased with it.