How long do you get out of a single charge? I mean in watch mode that is.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

That's pretty much what I was looking for and I just ordered a Fenix 5 on sale for $450. The Fenix 5 Plus adds music, Garmin Pay, and a few other features but those weren't worth an extra $150 to me. As a less expensive alternative you could also look at the 735 - I think it does everything you want for $350.

I personally expect to get 3-4 years max out of a GPS watch before I want/need to replace it. The technology just changes too fast to expect any more than that, and given how much I use mine for training, racing and day-to-day use, I have no issue upgrading on that time frame. Of all the crazy things I spend money on in triathlon/running/cycling, $150/year for a decent watch seems like a solid investment.

Jloewe wrote:

Maybe I’m convinced. To save money I could go back to the old HR strap days.

Why use a heart strap at all? I was a late comer to that technology and dumped it long ago as mostly useless. But if you must measure everything, then yeah, the less accurate optical heart measures on a 935 might be worth the convenience. It's all about trade-offs!

https://onabike.cc/2018/01/14/optical-heart-rate-of-the-garmin-fr-935-how-accurate-is-it-for-cross-country-skiing/

If I was using it as a watch only, I think it would take well over a week for the battery to run out. But I use it for running, swimming and as my daily watch. So I tend to throw it on the recharger every 3 or 4 days and have never tested how long it could really go as a watch only.

In terms of future proofing for Tri/running, one thing the 935 is "missing" and *may* become standard is measuring/calculating/estimating running power. I think the only watch that currently does this is Polar Vantage V. Running power seems kind of niche in 2018, but I bet cycling power did in 2005...I have no idea if Garmin is planning on adding this in on their next multisport watch or not but you could always just get a Garmin or Stryd foot pods which will do the same thing and I believe you can then display it on your 935.

I dont currently use running power or plan to start in the next year or two. I have had my 935 for about 1 year and absolutely love it. I'll be holding onto it as long as it keeps it's battery life.

Hmm....I don't go that long in "just watch mode". Maybe 2 weeks after 2 1/2 years of charge/discharge cycles? I think I charge about once a week of typical usage: ~10 hours of workouts plus daily use as a watch.

Garmin doesn't do "future proof"---They do planned obsolescence. At least from a software App perspective, ie, Connect IQ support. Watches are supported by the Connect IQ library for 2 years from the date of original release. After that, some new library features may not be supported by the previous hardware generations.

That happened to the 920 last year. At least with the TrainingPeaks app...which is the only think I have really cared about. Otherwise, I don't care----I have my chosen watch-face, and the HRV app. Now that I have an Ant+ power meter I've considered the Xert App, but don't know if that has any issues on the 920xt or not.

Yeah, except Apple is even worse...when they do a new release the software updates on the old phones legit make it run slower...and not because of the "memory usage".

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I'm not complaining, and I'm not saying that other companies aren't worse (eg, apple). Garmin documents their IQ support cycle, nothing secretive about it. That's fine, at least you can buy knowing the landscape up-front.

My point was only that the 935 will NOT be future proof---and that it is publicly documented to be that way. It may do everything you *need*, just like the 920xt still does for a lot of us (or the 910 even still). But, it will be more or less frozen at a moment in time...and will not get the latest and greatest stuff---just like the 920/910 has become today. That point will be somewhere not long after the end of the ConnectIQ support window.

Again, the 920 does almost everything I want. I won't be trading up anytime soon. I hope to get another 2-3 years out of it (longer if I can get a new battery in another year or two). The only exception today is being able to use the TrainingPeaks App to download workouts OTA instead of having to plug into a computer usb port.

I've owned a 910, 920, and now a 935. The 935 is best watch I've owned and I believe it's very future proof. There isn't much a new watch can add that is going to top the 935. Music is about the only thing I cant think of. The 935 will be 2 years old in March. My best guess is that a 945 with music is in the works and will be released sometime this year. I do think that will drive the price down a bit but not much.

I never wore my 910 or 920 as a daily watch as they are both fugly and huge. I now wear my 935 as an everyday watch. My co-workers have no idea that it's even a garmin. It only comes off my wrist for bike rides and when I shower. I swim with it, wear it all day, run with it, and I can get over a week of battery life.

Along with the edge 520, I think its best device garmin has ever made for triathletes.

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blog

As long as my Fenix 5x lasts longer than my phone I'll be happy.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

"Future proof" in that sense is a joke. It took my family a long time to internalize, for desktops, that it's both better and cheaper to have me build new decent ones every few years that to get one that will "last ten years" (though many do for light usage anyway). But, ports change (USB 1 - > 2 -> 3a -> 3b -> C, Thunderbolt, HDMI and DP revisions...) and you can't buy them ten years out. Then there are things like 32-bit CPU support. If a company did keep 10-year-old tech viable, they'd be (usually rightly) clobbered for not moving forward.

Hell a bike isn't even necessarily electronic and isn't future-proof to an unlimited degree. That's a concept to give up on.

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The point is, ladies and gentleman, that speed, for lack of a better word, is good. Speed is right, Speed works. Speed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.

The 935 is a robust platform and "future-friendly" in that it will continue doing what it was designed to do. The quality of the watch has been great (taken some hard falls on it trail running and it didn't even scratch) and the software is exceptionally stable. As many have said, it does all the swim bike run wearables that you could ask for with the obvious exception of music. So if listening to music without a phone is your thing, the 935 won't cut it. Other than that, I cannot think of more data that I wish the 935 could collect that it doesn't already.

As for truly future friendly, if/when someone comes out with a truly accurate fitness predictor, that could be a major shift and change how desirable a 935 is. The Firstbeat metrics on the watch are ok, but not exceptionally accurate and thus not useful for training. But if this data were accurate, and combined overall health observation based on daily HR data, I can see that being something I would consider investing in to upgrade. Whether that would be a software update that would improve the 935's accuracy or a new watch, I have no idea.

https://newsroom.porsche.com/...orts-cars-16163.html

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I have a 935. Here's why I like it:

• It's compatible with everything
• Long battery life. The battery has yet to die on me during a workout.
• You can also turn it off to save the battery
• Totally customizable screens (only the stats you want to see) and you can dig deeper if you want by hitting 'down' button
• Open Water Swimming mode
• Alpine Skiing Mode
• Perfect size, good looking

I used TomTom multisport watches for years, they kept failing and I'd just buy a new one. They're a much cheaper watch, but lacked in quality big time. So I took the plunge and got the 935. Couldn't be happier. It's super reliable.

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"The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

According to DC Rainmaker, we won't see another Tri version from Garmin until 2020. They just launched the 5X & 5X Plus series. I have it and it's basically a 935 (My older watch) made out of metal instead of plastic, then they added music, NFC Payments (I use this almost every day) and the main reason why I decided to upgrade... It comes with music, so I can now connect any BT headset to it and stop carrying phones/ipods during my runs.

The 935 is an excellent choice, and my guts tell me they will launch a new "935" version around late 2019, that will also have music, Blood O2 measurement, maps capabilities, and NFC Payments. I just can't imagine what else could they add!

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Follow me on IG: @Commandersnake

I'm not exactly sure where I said that. I believe I've said that Garmin's been operating on a super consistent 12-16/18 month refresh cycle for the Fenix series. The Forerunner tri series (i.e. 935/etc...) has roughly been 2-3 years, but it's not quite as consistent/precise.

Either way, I don't see it as viable to buy any tech-focused wearable expecting a 5-10 year lifespan. I suspect most devices might physically last that long, but software-wise the ecosystem around them is tougher. For bigger brands like Garmin/Suunto/Polar you're better protected and it would likely still function (though, last year Polar tried to kill off all older devices uploading to their platform, but had to press the undo button after people rightfully flipped out).

Garmin is pretty clear within the Connect IQ realm about devices and timelines and such for new features. As noted above by others, it's all fairly well documented in terms of where devices sit and what new dev features they'll get.

The FR935 will be two years old by time tri season starts for most here. So it is what it is. I don't expect much more new features to come to it. I think you'll likely see some updates and such, but nothing major.

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My tiny little slice of the internets: dcrainmaker.com

I think many of us were asking "How soon should we expect a new "935"? in one of the new Fenix reviews (Just looked that up but I could not find it either) and when you said you were not expecting seeing anything new until 2020, I remember that was the day I pulled the trigger on the new Fenix 5X Plus, and then sold my 935 XT.

Having maps (Mostly when riding trails) + Music on my watch made a huge difference for me.

We <3 you, Ray!

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Follow me on IG: @Commandersnake

I look at it this way. I went from a 910 to a 935 recently. My 910 still works great just want some of the 935 functions. If you wait for the latest and greatest you are basically a beta tester. I usually jump a few generations after they have been out for a year to work the bugs out. If your are the first to buy you are the first to get the inevitable problems.

Or to get accurate heart rate measurements.

(To be fair, wrist-based heart rate seems to work fine for some folks, but it's definitely not the ticket for everyone. I've tried Garmin, Suunto and Coros, and none were accurate enough to be useful. Surprisingly, my Apple Watch Series 3 is spot on. It's even better than a HR strap since it doesn't have the spikes that occasionally plague the start of my workouts.)

My 935 gives fine HR during the day, mostly (as far as I know) but did NOT when running. I solved the spikes with wetting the strap contacts before use.

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The point is, ladies and gentleman, that speed, for lack of a better word, is good. Speed is right, Speed works. Speed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.

New version (for Garmin, Suunto, Polar) every three years +/-. Manufacturers have little incentive and less resources (personpower) to be upgrading your old device - they want you to buy a new one and work very hard to make the new model super attractive. If you bought a FR305 to do what it can do - well, it can still do that (I have one and just fired it up, for grins - bulletproof). But can it record power? No. That's why I have a FR920XT. It's fine. Can it do some of the new measures that the FR935 can? No. Music? No. Optical HR? No. Should I buy an FR935? Well, if those features *that my FR920XT will never get* are important - then, yeah, I guess so. Now, what's after the FR935 in terms of features? I duuno - when I bought my FR305 power was for professional cyclists only. Metrics to estimate VO2max were not available. Music, optical HR? Hah. So, your question really boils down to two things: (1) know that the 935 will be left in the dust (and pretty soon - it's a year (more?) since release, right?) and (2) unless you can see the future, you'll never know how much you want the next advance that the 'FR1035' will have that the FR935 will never get. Pretty snide 'advice', I know. One approach is to buy shortly after release - then you are the focus of bug fixes and advances for a couple of years (if that makes you happy). Or buy at the end of the depreciation cycle (FR920 right now) for cheap and use it for a few years knowing that you'll be able to pick up a three year old 'FR1035' in five years or so... Oh, and I think that the FR920 as a daily depends on your size. I'm a male more suited to climbing than sprinting, if you know what I mean, and when I wear the 920 at work or casually, it stands out like a sore thumb. It might be a better fit if you are bigger/taller - but it's a pretty big watch made bigger by the rectangular form factor.

I have both watches as well... wife got me the 935 last February for my birthday. My 920 was and is still a great watch. I do prefer the shape/look of the 935 as I wear my watch 24/7 unless I'm charging it. Which is about once a week for both of them. My use for them is for runs and swims with the occassional bike if my Garmin 520 isn't charged or something.

Initially I was thinking the round screen would limit some fields vs. the square screen but I can fit what I want and need on there. Both watches meet my sport needs but the aesthetics of the 935 win for me.

Both watches exceed in functionality beyond how I use them... I'm certainly not limited by either in that regard.

I just paid $450 for a fenix 5 with sapphire glass. It doesn't have pulse ox, but I don't need that feature. You could use a 935 for 4-5 years without issue. At that point, the tech would be worth updating. I wouldn't overthink it. Garmin watches have their issues, but they are still the best.

The 935 is a great watch but there are many issues with it and Garmin's ecosystem in general. Things that Garmin can improve/include in a new version that would make the perfect watch...

- LTE/Phone connectivity (make calls, text, etc.)
- Music
- Running Power
- Training status that actually works with all workouts (they claim it does but its been confirmed that it definitely does not...especially those who workout indoors)
- Training status that actually just works in general. It is not aligned with training peaks/golden cheetah at all
- Communication between garmin connect and the watch - this goes back to training status not working if you use Zwift or something
- More data fields than 4
- Better graphics
- Improved optical HR sensor. Apple's is currently more accurate and is working much better than the 935 or AW3s in my testing thus far
- Improved HRV testing and statistics...this would align with better HR sensor

Is the 935 screen easier to see than the 920?

I'm finding the dark grey color of the 920 harder and harder to see.....gettin old, eyes are getting weaker.... :(