Garmin 935 - What are your thoughts?

Sheila Leard

I've had the Garmin 920 XT for several years. I'm noticing it is not holding a charge as long as it use to. The 935 looks sleek but and has many features! If you have one I'm interested in your thoughts? 

Al Truscott

From about 1985 through 2013, my every-day watch was a Casio Calculator. Cost: $20, small, convenient. And I had multiple watches for skiing, running, swimming, racing, etc. Then, Garmin came out with the Fenix2, and I've had a Fenix on my wrist ever since. No matter where I am, no matter what I'm doing, every day it records at least one, and usually 2 or more, activities. You name it, it has an app for it: Golf, SUP, walking, trekking, skiing, snowboarding, probably ski diving, in addition to all the in=depth triathlon related stuff you want. Does all the stuff an Apple watch 3 does: BT, WiFi, counts steps, stairs, controls iPhone for texts, music. Controls a VIRB camera if you have one. The list is endless. Only thing it won't do yet is the Dick Tracy Two-Way wrist radio thing that Apple does.

I mention this because this 935 is the Fenix, but with a lighter weight case, for less $$. Same innards, though. Here are a couple of threads for this forum on this topic:

https://endurancenation.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/comment/253461#Comment_253461

https://endurancenation.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/comment/260357#Comment_260357

My thought: if you want a watch to wear all the time, every day that also does S/B/R for you, then the 935/Fenix is worth the $$. If you only want a watch for recording your S/B/R training and racing, there are cheaper alternatives. Battery life? I charge mine less frequently than my wife charges her Apple Watch, less frequently than I charge my iPhone. Yet it's doing it's GPS/ANT+/HR/lap counting, etc. for at least two hours every day. 

Tom Glynn

I've owned most Garmin triathlon watches over the years.  A year or so ago I swapped out my 920XT for the 935.  It's a nicer, sleeker looking watch and for the most part, I'm pretty happy with it.  The only issue I have is with the optical heart rate monitor.  It records significantly higher heart rates on many runs/bikes.  It seems every couple of weeks TraininPeaks sends me a new maximum heart rate notification from a casual run. I've tried everything to fix it.  Tightening the strap. moving it around etc. Not everyone seems to have this problem.  DC Rainmaker gives it good grades.

It' got lots of bells and whistles; tracks sleep, steps and a bunch of other metrics.  I only use it for the swim, bike, and run functions.

John Katsoudas

Overall, I like my 935.  Like @Tom Glynn I only use it for swim/bike/run.  If I was going to use it as an everyday watch I'd buy the Fenix with the metal case.  The plastic-cased 935 is definitely lighter which I like for s/b/r but I don't think it would be as durable as an all day watch.  For me, the optical HR is woefully inaccurate, so I still wear an HR strap with my 935.  I also don't rely on the 935 on the bike.  For training rides, I'm using an Edge 1030.  In races, I'm also using the Edge 1030 as the main ride computer, and the 935 is just recording data in multisport mode but the screen is just too small to be useful to me on the bike.  On the run, I absolutely LOVE the combo of 935 + Stryd footpod.  All in all, for me it was a pretty nice upgrade from my previous 310xt.

Trish Marshall

I just switched to the 935 from the 920.  I like the weight, lower profile and ease of use.  I do plan to hike, golf, walk with it as well, but haven't yet.  Used it for my race last weekend and it was great.  I do use the hr strap when biking (use the 520 on the bike) and running afterwards.  Based on what John Withrow and Rob Peters told me at Al's camp (they both use the chest strap) I will most likely continue to do that.  I did run on a treadmill today with it for just a mile in a warmish gym and the last couple minutes had me at 173 hr, which is my IM IN THE SHOOT of a 5k hr! That was my first run with out a chest strap.  I'll probably continue to wear it running as well to keep data consistent.  I haven't used a ton of the many features, but I am pretty tech handicapped and it was easy for me to set up and begin using.  

Tom Glynn

What @John Katsoudas said about other equipment.  I feed all data into my 935 which then gets uploaded to Garmin Connect/Training Peaks/ WKO.  On my bike, I have a Wahoo Elemnt, which has a bigger, easier to read screen and lots of data fields. When I'm done the ride, the 935 data uploads and the Elemnt data is saved but goes nowhere.  For indoor rides, I use TrainerRoad a lot, so I watch data on my laptop or TV connected to it but collect data on the 935.  When done, the 935 gets uploaded and the TR files just get saved. For the run, the 935 is excellent,  A couple of good screens which are easy to toggle back and forth.