It depends on the individual. Some people cannot handle not having the latest (and greatest) of anything.

I upgrade my Garmin watch every 2nd release - currently still have the 920xt. My wife does the same but on a different cycle - currently has the 935. So we always have the latest 2 versions within the house. Very happy with my 920xt and don't covet my wife's 935. Although the wife is always jealous during the periods that I have the latest.

I ride a Specialized Transition Pro (purchased in 2011) and use a Garmin Edge 800 bike computer (wife has an Edge 520). I do not feel like I am missing out on anything, so I'm not someone who has to have the latest

Take a look at the new Coros Apex, awesome watch. Like it even more then my 935.

Jeroen

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

I actually saw that on my Facebook feed last night and am VERY impressed. I’m one of those people that feels like Garmin has imprisioned the triathlon world by offering the best product with one or two features that you lust for (battery life) that no one else seems to offer then put about 400 different features you could care less about.

Will COROS be the one to free us of that?

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

At this point, battery life is the most important as long as the existing features aren’t taken away

Battery life and an oHR are pretty important to me. See... I’m a disorganized mess and forget where I put HR straps or to charge devices. Also back in the old days before I had a Garmin or an ANT+ stick and had to keep a manual journal I was just plain awful at it. Even if and when I finally replace my dead HR strap there will undoubtedly be days I can’t find it at 5am before work or get out of my car just to find I left it in the basement.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

They could add a 1-button Uber ride request location feature. So if you're stranded roadside because your tire blew out, it would be quite easy to get a ride home.

Or just in case you wanted to Kip a race :)

Don't forget that those features are mostly software built on top of the existing 'core' hardware. For example, you mentioned golf swing earlier. There is nothing golf specific in the watch - it just uses the accelerometer that is already there for 'table stakes' features like step counting. So the fact that those features are there doesn't make other features less good. It's just another app on the watch; just as having WhatsApp on your iPhone doesn't make the email app worse.

You can just delete/not install the apps you think you don't need, and if you later pick up golf you can reinstall the golf app. And if somebody at some point comes up with a Garmin app to quantify the quality of your judo throws, you can install that too.

I guess the only thing you could say is that the time Garmin engineers spend on the golf swing app isn't spend on the running or cycling apps. However, having worked in software platform development it is my experience that the platform gets better when it's used outside it's comfort zone - bugs are found and features are added that may be used to improve the core applications.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

Running power will never take off like cycling power. The metric is far less useful for training/racing and can be downright deceiving in certain situations (downhills, headwind, etc)

My 735 HR is horrible for runs. It'll be OK for easy runs @ around 160 or so, but when I'm doing intervals, it won't track at all, sometimes have had it drop to like 120 or something when it should be 180-190.

May be self-evident, but have you tried snugging up the wristband? I found my 735 (and 935) work so much better when it can't move around.