Just two months after it updated its Fenix smartwatch range, Garmin has announced another new smartwatch called the Garmin Forerunner 935.
Where the Fenix range is designed for the casual outdoor user whose focus is on improving their general fitness, the new Forerunner is a premium fitness device targeted towards those who take their athletic training a bit more seriously.
The GPS-equipped 935 has a bunch of new training and monitoring features that should make it easier for athletes to keep track of specific fitness goals and monitor their performance.
Track your training
For example, the watch’s Elevate wrist-based heart rate monitor allows for round the clock heart rate monitoring without the need for any kind of extra strap as a form of instant feedback. For a more long-term outlook, however, there are also Training Status, Training Load and Training Effect.
Training Status automatically analyses previous exercise and fitness levels to offer an athlete insight into how productive their training is. Training Load gives the user a weekly overview of their activity and helps them keep track of whether or not they’re training in the right zone and whether or not they need to go easier or harder on themselves.
Training Effect is able to to track and review the aerobic and anaerobic benefit of a training session and will let the athlete know afterwards how effectively their training is helping them to continue to push their limits.
These long-term but focused features will make it much easier for users to identify what kind of adjustments and improvements they can make to achieve the specific goals they’ve set.
Cycle and swim ready
Obviously the 935 will be a device well-suited to runners as it pairs with Garmin’s Running Dynamics Pod which is able to track and display six running dynamics on any compatible device.
However, it’s also equipped with features that will benefit cycling and swimming. On a bike the watch will track power zones, and time differences between seated and standing positions. In the water it’ll be capable of tracking distance swam as well as stroke, pace, and time records.
The Forerunner 935 will also come with a new app called TrainingPeaks already installed. This app allows users to download free workouts directly to their watch, watch them in real time along, If a user follows one of these sessions they’re able to sync their data directly to the app and receive a detailed analysis of their performance and progress.
For those who aren’t great at putting their own workouts together, this could prove to be useful.
Garmin say that with GPS switched on, the Forerunner 935 will offer 24 hours of battery life, though in low-energy mode it could offer 60 hours and if you decide you don’t need location tracking at all you could squeeze two weeks out of it before it needs to be recharged.
When it’s released the watch will sell for £469.99 ($500) in black. There will also, however, be a tri-bundle option available for £589.99 ($650) which will come with a yellow strap in addition to the black one as well as HRM-Tri, HRM-Swim, and a Quick Release Kit.
Sоurсе: techradar.com