Garmin 935 is the latest watch. It's a very well rounded watch - love mine.

Never used a 735 so I don't know what they upgraded on the 935, but if it's similar technology-wise then might be a steal on Black Friday.

Check out DCRainmaker.com for the best reviews.

I should add that I'm looking at the sort of mid-range watch. The 935 looks to be the top of the line. I do love DC Rainmaker's reviews. But would love to know if he/anybody else knows if something else is "in the pipeline"

I wouldn't know... but typically the top of the line watch becomes the mid-range watch once they debut their new top-of-the-line watch. They typically release a new one every 1-2 years (735 in 2016, 935 in 2017) so if you can hold out then I'm sure the 935 will become heavily discounted withing the next 6-9 months, but then at that point you'll be wanting the latest tech :)

Triathlon watches are expensive... not many options. I haven't seen anything in the "mid-range". It took me a long time to bite the bullet, I just used my 235 watch for the longest time. I personally wouldn't get anything by Polar... too many of my products are Garmin so having the compatibility is nice.

I don’t think any watch has great optical heart rate at this stage, especially during sweaty activity. The technology just isn’t consistent enough, in my opinion.

If you're looking mid range I'd go for the old 920. Great triathlon watch and you should be able to get one pretty cheap. I do have a 935, but for multisport the 920 is just as good.

Polar's battery life seems significantly less. I roll with the Fenix5x.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

The main thing that held be back from Polar is they won't talk to Ant+ sensors.

Since they won't go to Ant+ I've bought (for me and GF)
Garmin 500
Garmin 810
Garmin 820
Garmin 230
Garmin 310 X3
Garmin 920 X2
Garmin 935

So it looks like a good business move by Polar

Top of the line is 935 and 5x 5plus.
Midbudget would be feenix 3HR/735 and 920.
If you want wrist HR readings you would need 735 or feenix 3 hr. Both solid watches. But if you want to use the watch for ironman 735 is a nogo. And even with feenix 3, i think you would have to use a chest strap for HR to save power.

I recently upgraded to the 935 (was using a 235 and a 510 combo for my races). I was looking at the 735 as well, but the distributor that my LBS uses is no longer stocking the model (I'm assuming that this means it's being discontinued... or a replacement is on it's way in early 2019). There are still plenty of shops that have 735's in stock, and it looks like a solid watch. That said I love my 935, the battery life is amazing, the ability to set-up custom multi-sport profiles (which is there on the 735 as well) is great, so you can just use the lap function, and get distinct strava files for each segment. The one limit on the 935 is that the wrist based HR is less accurate on the bike (this is a known limitation of virtually all wrist based optical sensors), I find I get consistently low readings while riding (I actually found the older optical sensor on the 235 worked a bit better on the bike, but a bit less accurate on the run (it tended to read high), if I recall the 735 uses the older sensor), but on the run it's pretty spot on, and I have slightly darker skin, which is a known limitation with the green light optical sensors (compared to infrared). Swim wise I've found the 935 pretty accurate (obviously with the exception of HR, since Garmin states that you need a strap in order to capture HR while swimming).

The 920 would be a great option at a better price point, but if memory serves, it requires a strap for HR and didn't have an optical sensor.

I still use my 510 on the bike while racing multisport, and sync both the 510 and 935 with my power meter. I use the 510 to look at while racing, so I can keep the 935 on my wrist recording heart rate and everything else, and then just dump the file after rather than saving it, so I don't have a duplicate from the file that the 935 captures.

In terms of the Fenix5, it's basically the same (ish) watch as the 935, except with a metal case instead of a plastic one (and at a slightly higher price point). The only other consideration is that the Fenix5 was a bit glitchier when pairing external sensors like a power meter compared to the 935 (this may have been corrected with subsequent firmware releases, but this used to be an issue). I haven't personally used the Fenix5, but got one for a friend, and she loves it, but it was a bit trickier pairing other devices with it (chest strap and power meter, compared to my 935).

Polar no ANT+.....dead on arrival. Wait for a Black Friday sale and buy a Garmin (waiting on Wahoo Rival but its taking forever).....Bluetooth is flaky (trust me on that one).....

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"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"

I had a Polar V800 when they first came out but I returned it. I'm glad I did. Seems to be the same story with the current watch - they have a long list of features that aren't in the watch today, and they will slowly roll them out. Really, releasing a watch without notifications in late 2018? BTW, I don't think they every hit a target release date for any of the features either.

I currently have a 735. I got it when it first came out and I love it. I am jonesing for a new watch, and if Garmin released a 745 Music I would buy it immediately. I've even toyed with get a new Apple Watch Series 4, justifying that I can get cellular since I never run with my phone. But I have an older Apple Watch and I don't like running with it. Plus I'm not buying a running watch that won't make it through a marathon just on principle.

Wahoo is supposedly releasing their Rival watch. Or it might never see the light of day. Also, we don't know anything about it - does it have ANT+? Is it a competitor to the 735 or 935 or something below, in between or above? And so on.

I've been scouring sites like the5krunner and there have been some mentions of a 745 that Garmin has let slip. Honestly though, at this point I would be surprised if they released anything before CES in January. If they are going to they better do it soon, the holiday season is almost upon us.

tl;dr I believe there is a Garmin 745 coming soon-ish. Stay away from Polar, they over promise and under deliver.

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--Chris

I just bought the 935 a couple weeks ago and I could not love it more. I was going to wait for a Black Friday deal but eGlobal Central had it for $370 with no tax and free shipping (took maybe a week to get to me?).

Prior to this I had the Vivoactive 3 (retails at $270), which I loved, but it did not have the ability to connect to a power meter which I did not realize how important that would be to my training until a year after I bought it. I know a lot of people are against them, but I loved the touch screen of the VA3 and wished they could have an optional touch screen mode for a watch like the 935 (just don't use it in the rain or swimming or whenever else you didn't want it).

And at least for me, I do not see how watches could get much better for triathlon than what the 935 is now. Having a lot of music storage would be nice (500 songs for me is insufficient), be able to call or msg people without a phone would be nice, but almost everything about it is perfect. While there may only be a few technical upgrades from the 735, I think it also comes down to an interface difference that would make the 935 much more preferable, similar to the early days of ipods vs. every other mp3 player (there's just no comparison).

If you have the money and want something now, buy the 935, you will not regret it.

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Today I do what others won't, so tomorrow I can do what others can't.

How fast do you run? Battery life with GPS and LTE is 5 hours. Streaming audio cuts that by an hour, and disabling LTE adds an hour.



I'm in the same boat. Would love to have Wahoo as an option, but can't count on it for now. There's also the Coros Apex due out soon if you feel lucky enough to gamble on a new-ish entrant. Their Pace seems to have gotten pretty good reviews.

Depends a bit on how much remorse you will feel when that device is replaced with the next model and what features you want. The 920 is a good example of what can happen - it was 'born' with ConnectIQ capabilities, but as that platform advanced (rapidly), what was the top of the line (920) wound up not only being rapidly one step down from the top (no big deal), but could not participate in some useful software updates or use the more advanced (interesting) ConnectIQ tools due to a lack of internal storage. Buying a 920 now, you know what you are getting (and not getting). But for those who paid top price for the flagship, only to see it get ignored in the cool updates - a little it of a bitter taste, really. I'm on Garmin, too, but I would not buy anything but the latest and greatest - and soon after it is released. I just get too butt-hurt when my fancy toy is eclipsed by the next fancy toy too soon. Or, buy at the bottom of the depreciation curve, if that device does what you need. I'm not ready to pay the prices Garmin asks for the top of the line, so I'll hang onto mine until it dies and then replace it with something that is a gen or two old at that time, but probably a gen or two above the 920...

Thanks for the heads up about the Garmin 745. I will wait for a bit and see what comes out.

if You don’t use a watch during the bike (display/heat unit), is the 935 a worth while upgrade over the vivo series

For me it was. The following are the main reasons I left the VA3 (which I'm still trying to sell...) for the 935:

1) Ability to connect to my power meter and follow along customized workouts based on power zone goals
2) Ability to have customized swim workouts
3) Better battery life (almost three times as long)
4) Open water swim mode
5) Triathlon mode (the VA3 has an app you can use for this though, just doesn't work as well as one would hope)

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Today I do what others won't, so tomorrow I can do what others can't.

I have a Garmin 735xt that I use as my daily driver and I am now on my 3rd one. The units just aren't durable, the optical sometimes doesn't come on for any reason, and the battery life is abysmal. I still use it as my daily driver as it is small and light and effective when it is working. Fwiw, I actually remember the exact spot yesterday when I was a running and was thinking of an Apple watch (I am not a fanboy, opposite regardless), and I was also thinking that Apple wouldn't have buttons - something I very much still like when my heart rate is through the roof and I can barely think straight. I would still prefer a Garmin device, with buttons, but for the price of these things I really am starting to expect more. I would probably hold off on the 735xt at this point and nurse whatever you have.

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Would anybody care to wager whether we could do better than $370 on Black Friday or Cyber Monday for the 935?

Hard to go wrong with the 935. Supporting both Bluetooth and ANT sensors.

Can anyone else comment on the possibility of a 745? Would love this if so

CES starts in a couple of weeks. They’ve announced watches there in the past. No guarantee though.

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--Chris

What would be the purpose of a 745? Honestly the 735 always felt like a placeholder device until the 935 was ready. If that’s the case there’s no longer a need for a 745 as the 935 (and it’s updates) is the multi sport watch go-forward.

Thanks. The size does make a difference for some.

Because the 735 is 30% ($150 USD) cheaper than the 935. That is a big deal, and it protects that price point for Garmin. Garmin is protecting their market by offering both entry and aspirational products. Without the 735, Garmin would lose a crapton of sales to Suunto and give Suunto a foothold to compete directly against Garmin's 935.