Garmin Forerunner 235
Back in October 21st 2015, Garmin announced three sports watches — Forerunner 230, Forerunner 235, and Forerunner 630 — but it appears that the FR230 isn’t coming here yet, if ever. The mid-range FR230 is the successor to the FR220, the FR235 mid-range sports watch with an integrated optical heart rate sensor replaces the FR225 (launched in Malaysia on August 6th for RM1,299), and finally, the high-end FR630 replaces the FR620 (RM1,750). Almost a week later on October 27th, it also announced Vivosmart HR, a smart fitness band with an embedded heart rate sensor that replaces the Vivosmart (RM650). Earlier last month on January 6th, Garmin Malaysia announced the arrival of Forerunner 235 for RM1,550, the last device to be available here, after the Vivosmart HR (at RM699), and Forerunner 630 (at RM1,999). AECO Technologies (M) Sdn. Bhd. is the official distributor for Garmin products here.
Garmin Vivosmart HR
The major difference between Vivosmart HR and the older generation band is the inclusion of an optical heart rate monitor. It could measure the heart rate from the wrist 24-7, providing you a more accurate calories burned information, plus quantifies the intensity of your workouts. The best part is, you can even use this as a heart rate strap of sorts, when paired with other compatible Garmin devices.
Vivosmart HR has plenty of sensors in it, to not only capture steps and heart rate, but also calories burned, distance traveled, sleeping hours, floors climbed, and activity intensity. It is able capture the floors climbed data with its integrated barometric altimeter. The activity intensity minutes measured will be compared against activity goals by health organizations like the American Heart Association, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization. As with all recent Garmin’s wearables, Vivosmart HR has the Move Bar to gently nudge you to stay active throughout your day to meet the daily dynamic steps goal.
The Vivosmart HR is not just a fitness band, because it has some smarts too. It has an always-on touch display that’s said to be legible under direct sunlight. When paired with a smartphone, it could receive text, phone calls, email, calendar, and social media alerts through vibration. You can also use this smartband to control music and Garmin’s VIRB action camera. All fitness data collected automatically syncs with the Garmin Connect app on the phone, where its data can also be piped to MyFitnessPal for a more detailed calorie tracking.
Garmin Vivosmart HR comes in a Regular or an X-large size, with Black, Blue, and Purple color options. To top it all off, it also has a 5 ATM water resistant rating. Detailed specifications can be found here: http://aeco.com.my/vivosmart-hr-s.html.
Garmin Forerunner 235
Forerunner 235 is yet another GPS running watch, but this one has a few killer features many do not — a color display (non-touch) and an integrated optical heart rate sensor. Pair the sensor with Garmin’s ‘Elevate’ technology and it could measure your heart rate 24-7 just like the Vivosmart HR, without any chest strap. Because it’s a color screen, you’ll get a colorful gauge that identifies in real-time, your heart rate zone and beats per minute.
You can expect a good Garmin sports watch like FR235 to have GPS. But it doesn’t stop there; FR235 also has a built-in accelerometer so that it could intelligently capture distance, pace, time, and of course heart rate, even while running indoors on a treadmill; no separate foot pod necessary. FR235 is compatible with GPS and GLONASS satellites.
While a being professional running watch at heart, it also doubles as an activity tracker to count daily steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, and sleep hours, again, thanks to the accelerometer and the heart rate sensors.
When paired with a phone, the Garmin Connect app lets you automatically upload your fitness data, do live tracking with audio prompts, plus receive smart notifications with vibrations (email, text, etc.), and share to social media. Before working out, advanced workouts and training plans can be downloaded to the watch from Garmin Connect too. Because it’s connected, current weather conditions and forecasts will also be shown in the app. Not limited to just fitness features, the app can also be used to customize your data fields, download watch faces, widgets, and other applications through Connect IQ. Other features like music and VIRB controls are also possible here, of course.
Garmin Forerunner 235 comes in Gray Black, Lava Red, and Solar Flare color options. It too, has a 5 ATM water resistant rating. Full specifications here: http://www.aeco.com.my/forerunner-235-s.html.
Garmin Forerunner 630
Being a high-end sports watch, the Forerunner 630 is a no-nonsense device. So much so, it probably decided to skip the optical heart rate in fear of inaccurate readings, in favor of the traditional chest strap heart rate monitor.
It has most of the features found on the FR235 like automatic uploads to Garmin Connect, audio prompts, live tracking, music controls, smart notifications, and social media sharing. In addition to that, it also has downloadable data fields, watch faces, widgets, and applications from Connect IQ, just like the FR235.
Where the FR630 shines is in its advanced running metrics. These include ground contact time balance, stride length, and vertical ratio. By pairing the FR630 with Garmin’s HRM-Run monitor, it could measure cadence, vertical oscillation, and ground contact time. It also features lactate threshold, stress score, and performance condition. Once it learns your lactate threshold through a guided test, the data can be applied to your heart rate training during setting up of zones. Because overall training load, sleep, nutrition, and general life stress all play a role in your performance, FR630 provides you with a stress score based off the heart rate measured. Performance condition is another feature that analyzes your pace, heart rate, and heart rate variability, to make a real-time assessment on how you will perform during a workout. Prediction of your race times for several distances is also possible by FR630 after it measures your VO2 max. After a tough workout, the built-in recovery advisor could suggest you to slow down on your training.
Note that most of the features mentioned above requires the HRM-Run monitor which is fortunately bundled with the Garmin Forerunner 630 in Malaysia that costs RM1,999. The sports watch comes in Black and Midnight Blue, has a high-resolution color touchscreen, and a 5 ATM water resistant rating too. The full specifications can be found here: http://aeco.com.my/forerunner-630-s.html.
Availability
All three devices are now available in Malaysia through AECO Technologies’ eight outlets listed here — http://aeco.com.my/contact-us.html — but you can also just purchase them at AECO’s online store: http://aeco.com.my/shop/.
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