Garmin Garmin Forerunner 735XT GPS Watch
4.3
5
32
32
Great all rounder
I was looking for a device that could do everything and am very happy with the 735. Now I'm able to track swimming, the odd run, my commutes plus activity tracking. Still use my Edge 520 for proper rides but could use the watch if needed.
08 September 2016
Great piece of kit
My mid life crisis manifested into getting fit so I opted to do a sprint Tri to see what I had left. Training with an iphone strapped to me for strava, a standard Fit Bit and a watch (with only the waych in the pool) so I could monitor and check progress was a little excessive. There must be something out there that can do all of this surely?
There is. This watch has it all, to be honest it provides me with more information than I currently know what to do with or how to interpret which will no doubt serve me well as I grow into the sport. For now it records routes, provides in activity data sync's with Strava and has its own online Garmin Connect site with training plans, further logging of data and even free downloadable watch faces so you can customise the look and the data.
So far I have managed to get one convert to the watch (Your welcome Wiggle) and I am working on the others.
Its worth the money, its easy to use and looks pretty cool.
On top of all this it has a TRI activity tracker so all you have to do is push one button in and out of transition. Cant wait to use it.
06 September 2016
Superb all rounder
Have had the watch for 3 weeks and only take it off to charge about once a week. Even the charging process seems to take no time at all. To sum it up it does everything. The best bits for me are the swim workouts and live strata segment alerts. I have replaced my 610, edge 510 and Garmin swim with one device perfect device.
05 September 2016
Does the job most of the time
Impressive technology but I think some room for improvement.
I don't find it particularly intuitive to use. The way of navigating around the controls is a bit messy. I don't use it all of the time - I bought it to use while swimming and running so many of the functions are redundant for me. However when wearing it out and about it is handy to see alerts and messages on my watch...
Lane swimming seems very accurate to me. On 2 occasions I counted 120 lengths (x25m) and it measured 3km. Other times we have diverged but I suspect that this was due to my counting of lengths being inaccurate.
I have no way of assessing the accuracy of measurements of my open water swimming but nice to see it mapped out and to have some baselines now to compare myself with in future. Likewise with running.
The heart rate monitor is quite often inaccurate.
If worn all the time, the step monitoring and updates on progress could be motivational.
I don't find the app very user friendly or intuitive but perhaps much of this is because I only want basic data and don't desire to use it to its full potential and compare myself with others.
05 September 2016
what an investment
The watch is surprisingly light and comfortable to wear and (at least on paper) seems to have a great battery life. But for me the negative points won in the end:
- the screen does not look at all like on the pictures. It is much darker and only becomes alife when light is shining on it. In a slightly darkened/ shady room the screen is not readable
- the backlight is meant to come on when you look at the watch, registering the wrist action. This is only happening when you lift the arm up, titling of the lower arm is not registered as it is for other watches (Microsoft Band) making pressing a button every time you want to look at it necessary
- it took me an hour at least to figure out how I can select a customer watchface. In true Garmin fashion, the menus and documentation is cumbersome and in my opinion not at all user friendly
- buttons buttons buttons - I have dreams of pressing buttons navigating the menus
- this is a watch that can be worn all the time, but no - despite what others might have said about it, it is not fashionable :)
- basic features you might want with a watch, like alarm, countdown etc, seem only be possible through installing apps
In summery what this watch is really missing is a touch display, a brighter screen as seen on smartwatches, and menus that are designed with the users need in mind.
05 September 2016
Great piece of kit.
This has been one of the best buys of the year for me. I wanted a Garmin watch preciously but the various models seemed to miss out on one or two features that I wanted. This one ticks all the boxes though. Built in HR monitor, waterproof for swims, track rides and runs as well as indoor workouts, great triathlon transition feature for ease of use, track your walks/hikes etc. It's also a good everyday size, not something which looks like it's been designed and built by the MOD.
01 September 2016
DO NOT BUY - DOESN'T SYNC CORRECTLY
Great watch, but FOREVER having sync problems to either Android, Windows or Windows phone. May need to return it. Just done a super sprint triathlon, and been trying for 30minutes+ to get it to sync. Sometimes says sync failed, sometimes says sync OK... yet still the garmin dashboard hasn't refreshed an strava not updated. Garmin support is useless and don't get back to you
14 August 2016
Excellent all-rounder
Cracking watch. Used it now for swimming (open and pool), run (indoor and out), and cycle (indoor and out). Training for my first triathlon and the insights the watch has given me have really impacted my training plans and therefore my fitness.
Seems accurate within acceptable margins (for example I have a Garmin Edge 1000 - when setting the watch and the Edge for a cycle they do not agree on certain metrics, mainly elevation) however if used as a indicator to aid training its great.
Syncs perfectly via iPhone 5 at which point you get access to all your activity data via Garmin Connect which is great.
Why not 5*? Not sure yet how robust it's going to be. The watch face is very exposed so prob only a matter of time before it scratches. For me though I couldn't justify the extra for the more robust Garmin Fenix 3 Sapphire.
Upshot: Keen amateur multi-discipline athlete? Buy it.
19 July 2016
Stylish, easy to use, lots of useful info from use
This watch is just fantastic. I was a bit wary about paying a large amount of money for it, but now I've used it, it is totally worth the money paid. I love the heart rate function especially. Not as large as other watches I've used before. Multi sport recordings. Fantastic for open water and pool swimming, which was main reason for purchase.
12 July 2016
A mostly pleasing purchase...
I bought this watch primarily for swimming (open water and pool) and cycling.
The Good:
GPS locks on in seconds and holds a solid signal.
The GPS appears to provide an accurate record of the activity
Its light and (dare I say) stylish.
Easily customisable, allowing you to set up data screens.
Battery life is much better than expected and charges super fast.
Downloadable widgets allow useful features - i.e 8 figure grid references of location.
Pairs easily with iPhone
Notifications are brilliant -text messages, phone ringing, whatsapp, Facebook etc
The bad:
The accuracy for indoor pool swimming isn't (in my case) always accurate.
I've done sets of 100s in the pool and when I finish some it's showing 75m etc.
The sleep tracker is an estimation at best - last night it reckoned I had 11 hours. I have two small children so that is an impossibility.
I'm not sure why the HRM continues to show a heart rate even when the watch is no longer in my wrist (probably an explanation for this).
Step counter is an approximation too-as I've measured out 100 steps on a number of occasions and it's never spot on.
The ugly:
Cost- there are no two ways about it- it's expensive.
Overall, I'm really pleased but it would be nice to have a truly accurate device for all functions. After all, you are parting with a big chunk of change.
02 July 2016
Love it
Fantastic function, easy to use and comfortable on wrist
30 June 2016
The best watch on the market
I have bought this watch for my wife. I have used Garmin products for the last 5 yrs & it's the best watch they have produced. Totally geared up for long distance triathlon.
The only negative is the cost.
17 June 2016
Love this watch....
Very sleek light weight tri watch and a bit more.
Does everything I expect from a tri watch but the additional features are great. Love the steps tracker and wrist HR monitor so you can keep track on the go and also the HR zones so u can monitor your HR whilst training.
Easy to use and configure. Would definitely recommend.
15 June 2016
Brilliant
Quite possibly one of the best items I have bought in the last couple of years.
14 June 2016
This watch does everything
It is all I need to track my cycling, running, walking, sleep. Really good battery life considering I use the GPS 3 times a day it can last a week without charging, and only takes minutes to recharge. A great fitness watch :)
12 June 2016
Amazing watch
I absolutely love this watch. Had an unsophisticated watch before being the Forerunner 610 which still done a good job but this is a different level. Picks up gps immediately, great screen to view, hr works very well for me and much easier thn chest strap. Really enjoy using this great product
10 June 2016
Excellent all rounder
Brilliant all rounder for those serious about fitness. The main thing that makes this is the Garmin Connect software that provides some really easy to use and intuitive analysis of your efforts
09 June 2016
awesome sports watch
i have too many sports watches but this is the best, much better than my apple watch, its waterproof, great for swimming, and battery lasts all week
very light compared to nike watch, like the simple touch with extra lump for strap that locks it in.
09 June 2016
Great all in one solution
been using this for a few weeks now and been very impressed with the range of functions. Its replaced a forerunner 610 and Garmin swim and works better than both plus has the added advantage of smart features. Battery life is surprisingly good considering how much it does with activity tracking and blue tooth last 4 days with 2 hours training each day.
06 June 2016
Forerunner 735XT
hi bit of kit,
it was a lot lighter and fragile a feel than what i had expected, comparing it to the other forerunners, but as long as it is durable and will last be through my events i will be happy.
so far, it has functioned perfectly.
04 June 2016
Jack of all trades
Lightweight on arm,clear screen visibilty, easy to navigate through menus, additional widgets already available and expanding. Does everthing you need for all disciplines. I can finally put the tom tom sport, heart rate monitor and fitbit in the drawer !
30 May 2016
Lightweight multi-functional tracker
This is my first wearable GPS and I've been really impressed with it so far. Lightweight and watch sized, you hardly notice it on your wrist. Picks up GPS signal pretty quick and based on my strava downloads, seems accurate. In fact, it's now replaced my watch and cycle mounted GPS. I easily get a week from the battery and that's with a couple of shortish rides thrown in.
30 May 2016
Buy buy buy
This is far the best garmin watch light weight easy to use every thing that you need in a watch
29 May 2016
Super lightweight, feature rich multi-sport watch
Very attractive lightweight multi-sport watch. I upgraded from a Forerunner 110 to a FitBit surge to this. It has ALMOST everything I could want in a watch. I love having the wrist based HRM as opposed to having to wear a chest strap. As a race organiser, the course feature is very important to me.
The watch is highly configurable - from all of the various data screen options, right down to what type of watch face you would like!
I also love having the smart notifications - being able to read text messages, Facebook notifications and see who's calling me.
My one concern with this watch is that I fear the screen would scratch very easily, so I'm purchasing a screen protector.
The biggest downside to this, and other Garmin watches that allow you to download courses, is that is doesn't support GPX files at all, so any courses that you may have manually made in other sites such as MapMyRun etc. cannot be used - they will need to be completely re-created in Garmin Connect.
28 May 2016
Great slimline multipart watch
Really useful watch. Set it up quickly and got it working with a variety of other devices. It is much slimmer than 920 model and seems to do same functions. You can use with chest HR band when you not need accurate HR data. Wrist monitoring is still still in accurate. Small weakness I have found- you can customise sports to create Duathlons etc. However there are a limited number of customisations so if you do many multi-sport events( pool triathlon, aquathons, indoor and out door brick sessions) it cannot cope with you storing more than 3 customisations.
27 May 2016
Good watch, but not worth the money
I’m back with a Garmin device after using a Fenix 3 followed by tomtom sparks.
I’ve been using it for a week now and although I’m happy, although not impressed for the price I paid. Just to mention I mostly use these kinds of devices for running, swimming, cycling and gym.
PROS:
- It’s really light, much more than the Fenix 3. But of course, this is a plastic watch.
- The HRM works great with constant exercises. For example running, cycling.
- Battery: I’ve been using it for cycling (GPS + HRM) for 3 hours and it’s still 89%. Really good performance for this watch.
- Constant HR recording. I thought this would reduce the battery live quite a lot, but the watch is clever enough and works great.
CONS:
More than multisport, this is a triathlon watch. You have indoor profiles like running or cycling, but not gym or any other indoor exercise (if you need a watch for everything but swimming, go for tomtom sparks).
- This is a plastic watch. For the price I was expecting robust material like the Fenix 3.
- HRM – it works when I’m cycling or running. I’ve realised that when doing sports with no constant HR (like spinning) it’s recommended to use the HR band. It doesn’t react very quick to changes with your HR.
I expect new updates in the future, adding more sports like gym. Profiles are just a piece of software, so I don’t understand why this was not added from the beginning.
Overall it’s a very good device, but you might want to consider other options for this price. For example the new F3 with HR incorporated, or the cheaper vívoactive HR.
27 May 2016
Light, Accurate and Wearable
This is my first Garmin and i couldn't be more impressed. It is light and much smaller than the other watch i looked at (Fenix 3) so happy to swim with it on.
I bought it so i had one device for Swimming, cycling and running. I have even managed to get it syncing with Map My Ride. The pulse reading is addictive to look at in the office and the GPS has been spot on so far. Highly recomended.
26 May 2016
Moved up from 310 garmin to 735, world's apart on features, looks and functionality. Found device easy to set up, loads of info when training if needed. Device does not look anything special and does feel a little cheap, time will tell on how robust it is. No problems connecting with phone and uploading garmin connect and then across to strava. Battery life seems ok, however only using device for training and not a day to day activity tracker.
23 May 2016
Not good enough - faulty & had to return
Ok, so the good bits first. It's light, sleek and looks the part. That's about it given the fact it has had to be returned.
I'm a great Garmin fan having owned and continue to own a number of their fitness products but I have to say I was hugely disappointed with this watch. Firstly, the swim mode recorded the wrong distance - exactly half of what I did despite me setting it up correctly and Garmin Connect showing that I had set the pool length to the correct distance (25m). Not only was the distance incorrect this then meant that the stroke count and SWOLF score was also incorrect.
Next, the heart rate. It's also faulty. My resting heart rate is about 52bpm. The watch was showing this as over 100 which I thought was odd. A simple manual check of my pulse confirmed this. Next test was walking/ running and then the turbo trainer. Again, the reading seemed higher than I would have expected and worryingly when stopped it displayed that my heart rate was increasing. Again a manual check confirmed that the watch was giving the wrong readings. So I then tested it against my chest strap paired to both my old Forerunner watch and my Edge bike computer. Both the latter gave the correct (and the same) readings but the watch was wildly out.
A phone call to Garmin suggested a reset of the watch which did not resolve the issues.
So in summary, it's simply not fit for purpose. Given all the testing Garmin must have done this is a huge disappointment. I know that these things happen but given that Garmin are one of the market leaders in this field and my previous experience with their products I was expecting nothing less than it to work out of the box.
To put it simply, for the price I could have bought a used car that was more reliable.
20 May 2016
At last a do-it all watch
I have had so many Garmin forerunners I have lost count. Problem is I have always needed different ones for different sports, because the Triathlon watches are just too bulky. I also hate chest straps. However when I bought my FR 235 I had found a great watch with HRM, I could wear it all the time, but not for Tri's and not for swimming. The 735XT is great though, now I can use it for swimming, and Tri's and it's very light and comfortable. I think it will also be much better getting my tri-suit over it during transition. Finally I can use one watch. I will never get rid of my Edge on the bike, because it's right where you need it, but as watches go, for me this is as good as it can get.
16 May 2016
(1).jpg?w=125&h=125&a=7 "Garmin Forerunner 735XT GPS Watch")
Expand All
Collapse All
