Forerunner 235 HRM

I just got one and I've been using it for a couple of weeks. I don't even notice the little HRM lump. Not irritating at all.

You have to wear the watch pretty tight to get a good reading, but you shouldn't be able to feel it. You don't want to be able to slide it around otherwise it registers your cadence as your pace.

What's more annoying is the software updates that mess with the accelerometer for treadmill runs and the VO2 Max estimates seem weird.

On the treadmill I've run in the same range for easy runs and had the 235 report my pace anywhere from 6:45-14:00. On the second-to-last update my pace was inverted so the faster I ran the slower my pace was according to 235.

Honestly, the best thing the HRM does is give you a reading while you sleep. I think this is good to help you see where your resting HR is.

I have a different wrist based HRM device. It also has a bump under there, and is not noticeable at all.

As others have said, you do have to wear them fairly tight to get accurate reads, but I really enjoy being able to easily check in with my HR anytime and not have to worry about a strap.

I should say, most wrist based HRMs are better for steady-state efforts (easy runs up to perhaps tempo pace), they are less accurate and can have a lot of lag for things like intervals and hill repeats. But I'd say most people probably don't do those types of workouts by HR anyways. I certainly don't.

The HRM isn't very accurate.

correct, I also called garmin and they will tell you straight up that if you want an accurate reading use a traditional unit that has a chest strap.

redux wrote:

On the treadmill I've run in the same range for easy runs and had the 235 report my pace anywhere from 6:45-14:00. On the second-to-last update my pace was inverted so the faster I ran the slower my pace was according to 235.

Unless you run with extremely predictable cadence at any given pace, it has no way of knowing how fast you're going. Personally I hit around 175 when I'm running easy and up to 180, maybe 185, if I go fairly hard. Only when I sprint do I see a major jump. The point being, you're asking too much of the watch. If you want accuracy on a treadmill, you need to buy the foot pod.

treadmill garmin wrote:

Unless you run with extremely predictable cadence at any given pace, it has no way of knowing how fast you're going. Personally I hit around 175 when I'm running easy and up to 180, maybe 185, if I go fairly hard. Only when I sprint do I see a major jump. The point being, you're asking too much of the watch. If you want accuracy on a treadmill, you need to buy the foot pod.

The wrist-based pace detection doesn't depend just on cadence. Even if your cadence never changes, the force of your arm swing typically increases with pace. So it's not quite as bad as you say. I had a Fenix3 that was usually within 20 seconds per mile, until I got going really fast. The 235 doesn't seem to work as well for me.

You're right, though, in saying that it's never going to be all that accurate. Footpods work better.

I've thought about getting the footpod for treadmilling. My cadence is right about where your's is. 175-185, but the average is 180.

However, my point was Garmin fiddles with the software a decent amount, and I had three updates that changed my pace readings. The first one made my pace drop to 6:45, the second made it go slower the faster I ran, and the third seemed to fix all that as it has been consistent after one subsequent software update.

I don't expect the HRM or accelerometer to be 100% accurate, it was just annoying to have such massive swings in pace which subsequently screwed up my distances. Until the last update I just ran based on times and ignored the pace reading.

Don't notice the bump at all. As for treadmill, mine was working well on tit (paces matching outdoor runs) until the last update, but I was in the midst of consecutive treadmill runs when I did the update. Since then, I've had a few outdoor runs again so I'm crossing fingers that it recalibrated pace/stride length, will know in a couple days when I'm back on a treadmill.

"well on tit" Lol, no idea how I managed to write that.

I'm curious, why use a GPS watch on the treadmill? Doesn't the treadmill tell you how fast/far you are going?

theclaws wrote:

I'm curious, why use a GPS watch on the treadmill? Doesn't the treadmill tell you how fast/far you are going?

I wear mine to record HR and so that all of my workouts will be available in one place. I can go in and manually populate the latter thing (and sometimes do, to correct it when it gets the numbers wrong), but it's better if the watch can just do its job.

The treadmills I use are pretty varied pace-wise so I don't trust their readouts at all, but when the 235 is working as it should, the pace matches my outdoor pace quite well, which also matches my expected HR.

If you are the only person who uses the treadmill and you make sure to keep it properly calibrated it will be accurate.

On the 235 you choose the Indoor Run option so it uses the accelerometer instead of GPS.

Interesting. Thanks everyone.

I don't really run on treadmills, so I haven't explored that realm with my GPS yet. But this makes sense.

Why didn't I say that?

A person wrote:

The treadmills I use are pretty varied pace-wise so I don't trust their readouts at all, but when the 235 is working as it should, the pace matches my outdoor pace quite well, which also matches my expected HR.

Hi Y'all

Thanks for all your feedback. I'm glad to hear that the HRM is not noticeable when wearing the watch :-)

I have decided to buy the 235.

Thanks

Peter