Garmin’s new Forerunner 935 is a high end multisports watch

Garmin is back again with the Forerunner 935, a fully featured running and triathlon GPS sports watch. The company’s latest multisport wearable is definitely designed with the serious runner and triathlete in mind. It features new performance monitoring tools and a host of sensors.

You will find the usual Elevate wrist-based heart rate for 24/7 heart rate monitoring, and GPS and GLONASS coverage. Additionally, the wearable sports a barometer, altimeter, and a compass. The built-in altimeter provides real-time elevation information, while the barometer can predict weather changes by showing short-term trends in air pressure. The compass ensures you never get lost.

“With similar features to the Fenix 5 – our popular multisport GPS watch built for fitness, adventure and style – the Forerunner 935 is catered more towards athletes focused on performance and results,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales.

“As a top-of-the-line GPS smartwatch, the Forerunner 935 not only provides users with insight into how their body is responding to fitness, but also offers data for every activity, allows them to automatically upload to Garmin Connect, and is customizable with free apps, data fields and more from the Connect IQ store.”

Essential reading: Gone for a run – Top GPS watch for running and training

Rather conveniently, the watch is able to track a number of cardio activities such as running, swimming and cycling automatically. Or you can opt to transition between sports by pressing a button. Additional built-in activities include hiking, trail running, skiing, paddle sports, golf and more. The Forerunner 935 is also compatible with the full line of Varia cycling awareness accessories for the cycling enthusiast.

Where the watch stands out most, is in its detailed analysis of performance. According to Garmin, the Forerunner 935 aggregates past training results and then uses that data to evaluate the amount of effort users exert during fitness sessions, i.e. if you are slacking off or overdoing it. It does this through two new additional metrics, training load and training status.

Training load looks at users’ exercise activity over the last seven days and compares it to the optimal range for your fitness and recent training history. Training status does the same thing with a more short-term view, and lets you know if you’re training productively, peaking or overreaching. Additionally, the training effect metric tracks and reviews the aerobic and anaerobic benefit of a training session.

There are also other advanced dynamics for running, cycling and swimming, including FTP, VO2 max, cadence, stride length, ground contact time and balance, vertical oscillation and vertical ratio. Some of these metrics are, however, only available when the watch is paired with Garmin’s new Running Dynamics Pod, which clips right onto your waistband.

The lightweight device (weighs only 49 grams), also shines in the battery department. Despite its multiple functions and sensors, the watch runs a full day in GPS mode and 60 hours in “UltraTrac” mode. It lasts two weeks in “watch mode” when all the exercise features are switches off.

The watch is available from today on Amazon.

All things considered, Garmin’s latest wearable is a nice marriage of style and functionality. A slightly beefed up version of the 735 that came out last year, it offers a slightly lower price and smaller form-factor than the Fenix 5 series, while not compromising on features.

View on Amazon.

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