All I want for Christmas is a Garmin Forerunner 935

*Disclaimer: I received a Garmin Forerunner 935 to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!*

One way to get the BibRave Pro’s talking is to offer a lucky few of us the opportunity to test the new Garmin Forerunner 935 running watch. My watch needs have definitely changed over the years.  A few years ago, I was strictly focused on triathlons. Now I’ve made a significant switch to ultra running. I still “dabble” in triathlons each summer as more of a means to take a break from the long miles. This range in sports and extreme running is difficult when looking for a running watch that can cover it all.

I put the Garmin Forerunner 935 right away to the test. This was was easy to use. I’m one of those people that likes to plug it in and hope I won’t have to read the directions. I took the watch out right away for a run with zero issues.  It was easy to figure out, pressed Run and went!

I had two weeks before my 50 miler to test everything out and make any adjustments.  Funny enough I didn’t have to make any adjustments to the watch.  The default setting allowed my watch to last the entire 11 hour race in the rain with still plenty of battery life left over. In fact, I think the watch could have probably made it through an entire 100 mile race…but I’m not testing that any time soon. The settings were easy to scroll throughout the race, allowing me to see my pace, distance, elapsed time, current time, and heart rate. The watch also has a “trail run” setting so that when you are doing a good sized climb, it switches to feet of accent instead of current pace.

After the race the Garmin Forerunner 935 connected to my iPhone with ease.  I could immediately see my mile splits, total elevation gain, total elapsed time and my heart rate throughout the race.  The Garmin app also shows other new stats like anaerobic and aerobic performance, cadence, and zone heart rate.  I appreciated the accuracy of the stats.  With past watches, I would have to alter the accuracy of the data collection so the watch would last the entire race.  This is not the case for the Garmin Forerunner 935.

Since getting the Garmin Forerunner 935, I’ve been paying closer attention to my heart rate especially when considering if a run should be easy, tempo, or hard.  There is more stats available if I were to wear the heart rate strap, however, I like the simplicity of relying on the watch heart rate monitor.

There are many other aspects to this watch that I anticipate testing out in the near future, especially once I get back into swimming more consistently and biking. But for now, I’m loving all the great and easy to use features of the Garmin Forerunner 935.  It’s every ultra runner’s dream!