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735 on sale
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Been wanting to upgrade from my 920xt for a while now. It is worth jumping on the current 735 sale or spending more and getting the 935 or Fenix 5s (with REI 20% coupon).

Thanks!
Bree

http://www.tri-ingtokeepwarm.com
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Re: 735 on sale [akbreezo] [ In reply to ]
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akbreezo wrote:
Been wanting to upgrade from my 920xt for a while now. It is worth jumping on the current 735 sale or spending more and getting the 935 or Fenix 5s (with REI 20% coupon).

Thanks!
Bree

It just depends on what your needs are, financial position is, and how much of a gadget geek you are. For me, I want a lightweight watch and the 735xt is as small as it comes. 20 grams is 20 grams for me so that is huge. The 920xt was a popular device that has green battery life, wifi, etc. The 735xt has the built in optical heart rate and is a fully-featured tri watch, but no wifi. While I am still not 100% sold on optical, and there is room for improvement, the reality is that it is always there and one less thing you need (HRM strap). If you want a smaller watch and optical HRM the 735xt is your watch. Using it for a year it has it typical 'garmin' quirks but it is my daily driver and will continue to be so for the time being.


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Re: 735 on sale [akbreezo] [ In reply to ]
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There's some fine print on the REI sale, unfortunately:

  • Discounts not valid on bicycles, strollers, hard-shell boats, paddleboards, surfboards, any item with GPS technology, action cameras and accessories, activity trackers, personal locator beacons, avalanche transceiver and airbag products, skis, ski boots or ski bindings; snowboards, snowboard boots or snowboard bindings.

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Re: 735 on sale [Thomas Gerlach] [ In reply to ]
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So helpful. Thank you!!

http://www.tri-ingtokeepwarm.com
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Re: 735 on sale [freightrain121] [ In reply to ]
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Aw nuts. Always forget that. Thanks for the critical reminder.

http://www.tri-ingtokeepwarm.com
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Re: 735 on sale [akbreezo] [ In reply to ]
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akbreezo wrote:
It is worth jumping on the current 735 sale or spending more and getting the 935 or Fenix 5s...
  • If small matters get the 735XT
  • If style matters, get the Fenix 5s
  • If battery life matters, get the 935 (e.g., you do IM 140.6 races)
  • If a bigger, higher-res screen matters, get the 935
  • If WiFi matters, get the 935 or Fenix 5s
  • If barometric altimeter matters, get the 935 or Fenix 5s

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Re: 735 on sale [akbreezo] [ In reply to ]
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I bought a Fenix 5s from e global central for a $120 discount. I was a little reluctant because the site has mixed reviews, but I had the watch in 24 hours. The only caveat is that its the Asia version. As far as I can tell, the only difference is that a different base map is preloaded.

“Read the transcript.”
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Re: 735 on sale [akbreezo] [ In reply to ]
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REI has the 735xt on sale without the coupon for $314.99. I just picked one up and upgraded from the 920xt

https://www.rei.com/...t-rate-monitor-watch
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Re: 735 on sale [mlyonsdc] [ In reply to ]
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I just got one from Amazon - Amazon credit card gives 5% back, so that was close to another $20 off, plus I had a $50 gift card I found. I've had the watch for two days now, and really like the small profile and all the new metrics. I'm coming from a 910, so it's a big step up in terms of what is included in the watch.

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Re: 735 on sale [akbreezo] [ In reply to ]
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735 has been about $300 on amazon for at least a week possibly longer. It is likely the price drop is permanent now that 935 is out.

At that price I'd buy it, overlooking a 13 hour battery, if it had an altimeter. But it doesn't. :/
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Re: 735 on sale [exxxviii] [ In reply to ]
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exxxviii wrote:
akbreezo wrote:
It is worth jumping on the current 735 sale or spending more and getting the 935 or Fenix 5s...
  • If small matters get the 735XT
  • If style matters, get the Fenix 5s
  • If battery life matters, get the 935 (e.g., you do IM 140.6 races)
  • If a bigger, higher-res screen matters, get the 935
  • If WiFi matters, get the 935 or Fenix 5s
  • If barometric altimeter matters, get the 935 or Fenix 5s

Most fair enough except the battery comment.

All of the above watches have plenty of battery for ironman, unless you are racing for 13hours+ then fair enough rule out 735.

I've done 2 ironmans on 735 now with hr and power sensors and had no problems.

Excellent battery life for daily usage and training. Barely charge it once every couple weeks (but use 520 for bikes).
Defo my favourite Garmin by far and no interest in looking at new models as it does everything in a nice size form factor.

Highly recommend the 735 personally with over a year of training and racing.
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Re: 735 on sale [Fazz] [ In reply to ]
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Fazz wrote:
All of the above watches have plenty of battery for ironman, unless you are racing for 13hours+ then fair enough rule out 735.

I've done 2 ironmans on 735 now with hr and power sensors and had no problems.
Very good to know. I figured that 11 hours would be the likely limit for battery life in a race, so it would be on the bubble for a full IM. Great to hear it could handle 13. I was anticipating that I would need to buy a 935 to be safe for a full IM at around 11 hours. I will likely stick with the 735XT.
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Re: 735 on sale [exxxviii] [ In reply to ]
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I haven't tested it to 13hours personally but D.C. rainmaker has it at 15 hours in his test
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/...in-depth-review.html

I had plenty of battery left after my two so I'd believe it's rating of 14hours so suspect at 11 hours you will be fine once settings are appropriate to maximise battery in case.
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Re: 735 on sale [Fazz] [ In reply to ]
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I did see DCR's battery life test. But, I also was well below 50% on mine after 5.5 hr HIM with all the options enabled (wrist HRM, GLONASS, wrist raise auto light, and probably one or two other battery suckers). But, yours is one of the few actual first-hand full IM outcomes I have read with the 735XT.
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Re: 735 on sale [Thomas Gerlach] [ In reply to ]
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What are you missing out on without wifi? It does have Bluetooth and connects to your phone. Just curious?
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Re: 735 on sale [carboner] [ In reply to ]
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carboner wrote:
What are you missing out on without wifi? It does have Bluetooth and connects to your phone. Just curious?

Bluetooth is fine but it is finicky. As someone who wrote low-level code directly for the Bluetooth stack nearly 15 years ago I am surprised that we still have the issues that we have today. Heck I just bought two aux cables because my computers have such an issue with connect to Bluetooth speakers. It is embarrassing.

The implementation is fine as far as I am concerned with the iPhone and 735xt once setup but there are still issues bugs etc.


Save: $50 on Speed Hound Recovery Boots | $20 on Air Relax| $100 on Normatec| 15% on Most Absorbable Magnesium

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Re: 735 on sale [Thomas Gerlach] [ In reply to ]
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FWIW I knew some devs that worked at Bluetooth SIG in Seattle. They said their codebase was a complete cluster. The BT 4.0 document was hundreds of pages of confusing mess. The standard is hard to follow, so vendors make assumptions, or make tweaks to their BT implementation. End result is that BT works maybe 80% of time. Maybe.
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Re: 735 on sale [akbreezo] [ In reply to ]
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eBay has a 20% off (max $50) coupon for Memorial Day Weekend (P20MEMDAY) that works with Garmin devices from HRM USA (which says they're an authorized​ retailer) bringing the 735XT down to $265, which is a pretty stellar deal.
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Re: 735 on sale [Fazz] [ In reply to ]
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Fazz wrote:
...Excellent battery life for daily usage and training. Barely charge it once every couple weeks (but use 520 for bikes).

Do you do any GPS workouts with it?

When I don't run, it burns between 5-10% per day. A single hour of running means I lost up to 20% that day.

I have no doubt it could last 10+ days as a watch, but I would be surprised to get as much time between charges as you state if used for tracking with GPS.
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Re: 735 on sale [dfroelich] [ In reply to ]
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dfroelich wrote:
Fazz wrote:
...Excellent battery life for daily usage and training. Barely charge it once every couple weeks (but use 520 for bikes).


Do you do any GPS workouts with it?

When I don't run, it burns between 5-10% per day. A single hour of running means I lost up to 20% that day.

I have no doubt it could last 10+ days as a watch, but I would be surprised to get as much time between charges as you state if used for tracking with GPS.

yes! i had it on full charge and did a 2h30min run with gps and HRM and it is at 60% battery now. this is after use for about a year.

im going to do my first full IM and am estimating a 14h finish. still torn between getting the 935 solely for the battery life, or just use the 35 for the run and maybe swim. was thinking of selling the 735 to fund the 935 but with brand new prices so low now, dont even think i can fetch much for it
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Re: 735 on sale [garg] [ In reply to ]
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Yup, that is about normal drain for me too.
However, I can't see how you'd only "charge it once every couple weeks" if losing about 15% an hour during runs.

The battery would last about 2 weeks as a watch. It might last a week as long as you don't run more than 4 hours or so: 5% watch-drain per day + 15% per hour running leaves you around 5% left.

(Please realize...I'm not trying to be pedantic. This thread is about buying a cheap 735 while a more expensive 935 is out there. The biggest difference between the two is battery life. Therefore, let's give only accurate data.)
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