We’ve just seen the leaked specs for the top-of-the-range Garmin Forerunner 630 and now we have the new 230 as well.
I confess to not being quite able to decipher where this product fits in compared with the 225 and 220.
It has ConnectIQ and it has GLONASS to complement the GPS; it’s similar to the 220 in shape and size; battery life is significantly improved from 10 to 17 hours. The screen resolution is better than the 220/225 and in fact the same as today’s leaked 630.
Garmin’s Product Comparison charts seems to say it lacks the virtual pacer and all the activity tracking features of the 220/225. Specifically, I am unsure if that is correct ie i think it will have activity tracking
It doesn’t appear to have optical HR but that’s not clear. Presumably it will not have optical HR as the 630 does not have it either.
So my guess is that it is a scaled down 630. With the scaling down broadly resulting in the features and functions of the 220/225 plus a few extra tid-bits for good measure (battery+GLONASS+IQ).
It comes in 3 colours: black+white; purple; yellow.
Not very exciting.
I could speculate that a 235 might come with OPTICAL just like the 225 compared to the 220. Then you might speculate similarly about a 925/935/930 and a 635/630/625. That would be a bit more interesting.
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The 230 looks promising, I’ve read it does vo2max which leads me to the conclusion it has 1 second recording. If that’s so I’ll probably go back to garmin. Did a private half marathon at 04:15 with the backlight on and my m400 had a low battery alert at 1hr 50. Never had that with the forerunner 610
VO2max is a good measure of progress, what else do you do with it?
In my experience 1 second recording allows for much better pacing than the smart variant which had been the standard on previous garmins with the exception of the top models, ie 610 and 620.