Garmin Forerunner 935 Review

Although it has a shorter battery life and is a bit less accurate than other altimeter watches, this one still holds its own because of its all-around training capabilities and quick learning curve.

Performance Comparison

The Forerunner is comfortable enough for your longest runs, ridge scrambling, and peak bagging.

Photo: Scott Sinner

Altimeter Accuracy

While the Forerunner's altimeter seemed to be consistent under clear skies and good weather, we did experience some inaccuracies when moving on trails and coming out of canyons. We would calibrate it frequently when at known elevations, and never found the discrepancies to be too large, but it seemed to overestimate elevation gain during activities.

Overall, we think it does a good job, and if you're willing to sacrifice some battery life and have multiple satellite systems enabled (GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO available), then you'll find it even more accurate.

The watch altimeter reading 9002' at an actual elevation of 9265'.

Photo: Paige Klugherz

Battery Life

The battery life on this watch is good, not great. For most big days, this watch will have enough juice to track the whole thing, but if you're an ultrarunner tackling a 100 miler, we wouldn't guarantee this one would last to the finish line. There are numerous features that you can turn off in order to conserve battery life, such as constant heart rate monitoring and Bluetooth connectivity to your phone.

No GPS altimeter watch will be able to come close to the battery life seen in the more pared-back models such as the Casios or the Suunto Core, but if you're not going to be using it for multi-day tracking or long treks, this one probably has enough.

We loved that the buttons were responsive and didn't dig into our arms.

Photo: Paige Klugherz

User Experience

We found this watch to be easy to get started with right out of the box- something we always appreciate! While there are definitely things to learn in the user manual, such as which button to hold down to access the settings menu, a lot of the functions are very intuitive. We enjoyed the crisp, bright display and unlike the Casios, the five buttons were clearly labeled and did not feel overwhelming.

The accompanying app, Garmin Express, can be accessed via your phone or downloaded to a Windows or Mac computer. It can take up to a few minutes for the watch to sync, but the app was clear and straightforward to use, with multiple ways to view your daily and activity data.

This shows screens in the app where you can add in personal data, navigate through different menus, and view your activity data in multiple ways.

Photo: Paige Klugherz

Comfort and Fit

This silicone strap is comfortable and could be tightened down well for users with smaller wrists. Although the watch face has a large diameter, it's slimmer and lighter than some of the more basic ABC watches, making it one we'd wear in day-to-day life. It even fit well below close-fitting base layers.

Features

The Forerunner 935 scores high in the features category because it satisfies the requirements for a standard ABC watch and also has tons of fitness and smartwatch features to make it the one and only watch you'll need. While you may never get around to using every minor element, they're all there.

Altimeter and Barometer

Altitude is measured using both the barometer and GPS. The home screen of the watch can be customized so that your altitude is always viewable, and you can also enable a widget that will show you a graph of your altitude over the last four hours. Of course, if you're recording an activity, you'll also create an elevation graph for that whole tracking period.

Barometric pressure can be viewed in another widget, showing a trend graph as well as the maximum and minimum readings of the previous six hours.

Here we checked our altitude and the aspect of a nearby peak on our hunt for frozen lakes to ice skate.

Photo: Paige Klugherz

Compass

The compass is another of the many widgets that you can add. It's available as a stand-alone screen or on a screen that also shows altimeter and barometer data. Although we found it to be fairly precise when compared against all the other watches, as is always recommended, bring a second method to double-check the readings when in a high consequence scenario.

Timekeeper

The watch, of course, has all the basic timekeeping functions including a stopwatch, timer, and the ability to set multiple alarms- always a plus! You can also set alternative time zone clocks that can be viewed after entering the clock menu by holding the "up" button when on the home screen.

This is a sample of some of the data screens that you can view on your watch, as well as one of the many customizable homescreens.

Photo: Paige Klugherz

Fitness Tracking

Like the rest of the Garmin line, the Forerunner935 can track tons of different sports and activities. For someone looking to up their training game, this is a really helpful tool for keeping track of not just your runs or rides, but also the days you strength train or do yoga. The watch has continuous heart rate monitoring to give you feedback on your training load, recovery, and sleep.

It also offers VO2 max readings, which can give you insight into your cardio fitness. As with all of the watches that offer this feature, take its readings with a grain of salt. Our testers saw wide ranges of VO2 measurements, even from the same watch. It can be a good way to track a trend, but don't get too hung up on the number since it's known that there can be a significant margin of error with the wrist heart rate monitoring from person to person. (If you are really curious, VO2 max is best tested in a lab setting on a treadmill.)

The fitness meausurements can be a helpful tool to track trends.

Photo: Paige Klugherz

GPS

This watch is equipped to work with three satellite systems: GPS, GLONASS, and GALILEO. While the default is to only use GPS, the other two can be enabled when greater accuracy is needed, although doing so will drain the battery more quickly. With just the default setting of GPS, we did experience some issues with accuracy in the length of our recorded activities, with this watch generally recording longer mileage than other watches tested. Another feature is Ultratrac, which records points less frequently during an activity in order to save battery life. You can also use the GPS functions to upload and follow routes, save locations, or navigate to a waypoint or back home.

Value

This isn't a cheap watch, but if you're a mountain athlete looking to get a better insight into your training, this could be a great tool. There's a lot packed into this one, especially if you're looking for that crossover product that has the mountain capabilities along with the smartwatch features. It's a great option for a hiker, trail runner, skier, mountain biker, etc., and since it's less expensive than other Garmin watches that only offer a little bit more, we think this is the one to spring for within the brand.

Photo: Paige Klugherz

Conclusion

The Garmin Forerunner935 is an easy to use training watch that is just as comfortable and functional in the front country as it is in the backcountry. You may sacrifice a bit of accuracy, but if that isn't as important to you as having an all-around watch, we don't think you'll notice. You'll appreciate the responsive buttons, slim profile, and comfortable watchband. Make sure the battery life will be sufficient for your biggest excursions, and if so, this Top Pick will become a fast favorite.

We took the Garmin (black) for many trail runs and long days of backpacking through the highlands of Iceland.

Photo: Paige Klugherz