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Reading Time: 4 minutesWe like the Garmin Forerunner 935 and, with its hefty price tag, ALL of us should like it.
Sure, it’s not perfect. Maybe it’s more perfect than most or less imperfect than most…depending on how you see it. Either way it would be foolish to deny that the Garmin 935 is a REALLY GOOD TRI Watch. I use mine most days.
However, the world does not stand still. The competition will be catching up…slowly. And you can bet your bottom dollar that Garmin are working on a Fenix 6 and a Forerunner 945 right NOW. Probably they are even conceptually working on a Fenix 7 and a Forerunner 955 right now. But let’s not go there.
I want to explore what you all want improving on your 935. Let’s leave the question open-ended as to whether or not your desired improvement could theoretically be made by firmware changes rather than a new hardware component. Let’s also leave out the correction of peripheral bugs; although please note that GPS inaccuracy is NOT a trivial bug IMHO.
Further note: I do NOT see a 935plus version coming up (I could be wrong) and I do NOT see most of these making their way into the 935 unfortunately.
Discussion Base: Firmware 7.6 (changelog here)
Edit: I will put in bracket either [935] or [945] or [No] to indicate if when I think these features will come.
These are areas for improvement as I see it. comment below or you can make a multi-option vote below to express your innermost tech desires. Let’s see what we all want
- Screen – I want a beautiful high res, OLED colour screen. Something like the Apple Watch 3 would be a battery-eating, awesome improvement on the existing 240px diameter resolution. [NO]
- Navigation – The 935 has navigational abilities with its onboard barometer and compass. Maybe you want some more improvements, maybe even a smaller-screen version of the 5X’s onboard maps? {NO]
- GPS improvement – let’s talk about just making GPS a bit better. Currently Open Water GPS is actually pretty good compared to other devices but as a foundation for Garmin’s running power and instant running pace then the 935’s GPS is simply not good enough and not as good as other devices. Keep the same hardware but make it work better please. [NO]
- GPS + GLONASS + Galileo – the chip is already Galileo compatible and Garmin support Galileo on their Foretrex product. Potentially we are talking about 1m levels of accuracy with Galileo as well as increased likelihood of achieving stated accuracy levels. Theoretically this should make instant pace more accurate, more often. [945]
- oHR/Elevate – I love my steady-state running optical heart rate monitor an the 935’s most recent iteration of Garmin’s Elevate sensor. BUT it’s just not good enough for anything else, for me, other than steady state running. Better algorithms please and/or better hardware eg build in data quality measures into the algorithm like Valencell (copyrighted). [945]
- Improved sensor connectivity – I’ve not found anything to upset me with how the 935 loses connections, others have found connectivity an issue. [945]
- Lighter – hey, it’s 49g already [945]
- Size – larger than the existing 47x47x13.9 mm, 30.5 mm dia screen. [NO]
- Shape – rectangular with ability to further minimise wasted space eg by increasing font size and removing units of measure displayed. [NO]
- Onboard music – like the Forerunner 645 [935, maybe – doubt it]
- Music STREAMING – like the Apple Watch [NO]
- Onboard SIM – Really? Sure you don’t want a Fenix 6? The 935 is a tri watch, remember? Although a SIM could open up some new and cool features [NO]
- Touchscreen – Please don’t vote for this. Please. [NO]
- Garmin pay – NFC payments from your favourite bank [935, maybe – doubt it]
- Firstbeat metrics – Hey you already have 12 Firstbeat features. don’t be greedy now :-). Although there are 20 in total. [945]
- Adaptive Training – Garmin are already moving down this route by integrating Firstbeat metrics. If done properly your training program will be adapted day-to-day based on your readiness-to-train and dynamically within the workout itself. Theoretically ‘perfect’ stimuli could be recommended to you…the optical HRM you are using will likely make it ‘less perfect’. For an existing power-based solution like this see Xert (run or bike). [945]
- Realtime coaching – In-workout instructions either on-screen or audibly [945, doubt it]
- Running Power improvements – in addition to improving the algorithm, I would like Running Power to be treated like Bike power eg with all the same power-features, like Zones [935, eventually]
- Better lapping functionality – I’d like laps within autolaps and laps within segments and laps based on GPS, all customisable [NO]
- FE-C to control that pesky smart trainer [945, maybe]
- Battery – Wanting a better battery life is NOT an admission that you are rubbish at Ironman. You want to be able to do an Ironman (HIM?) in a reasonable and average time AND be able to have all your device’s bells and whistles enabled eg oHRM, GLONASS and smartphone connectivity features like Group/Live track, whilst listening to ‘Keep on running‘ [945]
- Pervading gym connectivity to non-ANT+ and non-BLE devices eg Polar Gymlink [NO]
- Foot-based running gait metrics – to augment HRM-RUN and RD-POD. Kinda like RunScribe. [945, maybe, doubt it]
What features do you want to add to the existing 935?
You can only vote once a week BUT can make many selections. Please make a selection before trying to see the results. Click wisely young padawan:
