This is my review for the garmin 235 but all the functions here applies to the 230 as well so I posted this:

TLDR: Additional functions make this a worthwhile buy. GPS is quick, watch is reliable for running – we already know that. Read other reviews if you want to know about these things(DCRAINMAKER website goes into extensive details). I’m going to focus on the extras:

1. GLONASS – This is the GPS satellite owned by russians. It complements the GPS we already know and use. Your phone, your car GPS or the previous garmin 225/220/620 does not have this. GPS fix is almost instantaneous even in tall buildings because of this.

2. Find my phone – If I lost my phone somehwere you can use the phone to locate it by pressing a button! It’s like a keyfinder – your phone will ring loud if you use this.

3. Support for mapmyrun, mapmyfitness, strava, nike plus, and other software – Just set it and as soon as your phone synchronizes with the watch, it will be automatically uploaded. No need to connect to a computer. It is simultaneous – similar to just having the app open when you run.

4. Smart notifications – I don’t want a smartwatch, I just want something that will notify me. This is perfect – from snapchat, facebook messenger, anything that your phone alerts you, it will show it. You can also set it to just notify you of phone calls only. You cannot reply back.

5. Connect IQ Support – what is this? It’s basically an app store for garmin watches. Things I have found useful:
-WATCH FACE – a lot of apps to change the watch face like a smartwatch, I use a normal analog face.
-FINDMYCAR – You can mark where you parked, come back to it later with an arrow pointing to the direction of your car and how far it is!
-COMPASS – I found this useful when navigating/hiking/simple walking or exploring the city. Simple points N S E W.
-dwMAP – if you go online, you can plan a course for yourself and you can follow this route while running or hiking.

6. Calendar and weather sync – Once connected to the phone, you will know how the weather and your schedule looks like during the day.

7. VO2 max – It is the ultimate measure of cardiovascular fitness. I interpret this myself in the laboratory and this is an estimate. I have found it very near my actual VO2 max. This is very useful if you wanna push yourself and see if you’ve improved – even more than just a HR function. (For the 230, you must use an external HR monitor to have this)

8. Recovery advisor – I’m not sure how they came about this algorithm, I’m in healthcare and I’ve never heard of a recovery "time" to run or hike again. I take it with a grain of salt but maybe to some people it is still very useful. Gives you the number of hours before you can work out again. As a rule to myself, I push myself every 48 hours anyway. (For the 230, you must use an external HR monitor to have this)

9. Activity/step tracker- I have been using fitbit for a while but I’d like to say that this took it a step further!!! You can set how long your steps are(different people have different strides) and it will determine the number of steps you made for the day. This is more accurate than fitbit. It also determines the number of steps you need based on your age and activity level(it’s not always 10000 daily), which makes sense. It has a MOVE! alarm if you don’t move in an hour.

10. Sleep monitor – It has deep sleep and light sleep. Just set a typical time you sleep and wake up once then it will determine when you sleep.

11. Silent alarm – you can set as many alarms as you can. Vibration and sound/Vibration alone. It is very good and vibrates pretty good!

So far these are the things I have discovered. I have owned this thing for a week. I will add as I use it.

If you have any questions, just feel free to comment/ask.

I got my garmin 235(again similar to 230 without the HR) watch from road runner sports because amazon ran out of stock.

Great addition to a runner’s arsenal! And a month later…

After much deliberation, I decided to go in and buy one of these watches (FR 230, Purple) since started training for my first half marathon. I decided to ignore people’s complaints about the terrible screen and poor battery (two comments I highly disagree with), and I’m really happy I did. And then I decided to write a review due to the lack of reviews and photos on small-wristed women, and the fact that as of Feburary 2016 I couldn’t find one store that stocked these watches to try it on. You can see in my picture, the size comparison to a Fitbit Charge.

Pros:
– Screen. THIS IS NOT A SMARTWATCH. Many people who hate the screen are expecting everything out of this watch, but honestly I love it. It’s like an eInk screen akin to that of a kindle, but with color. Works GREAT is any normal daylight/working light conditions. I rarely need to use the backlight and I’ve never had issues ever seeing anything on the screen, even in bright sun. Sure, the colors don’t look as vibrant as on a phone or apple/galaxy/moto smartwatch, but what you lose in color vibrancy, you earn in battery life.
– Battery. This thing can hold it’s own. A weekend of wearing it through two separate GPS-tracked runs (2.5hr total), and keeping it constantly connected via Bluetooth to my phone left the battery at 80{60f78fc10f9d225dae0ba0255c415eaf093f5a3220b43cdf3df82aaf7b5f9e5d}. I tracked my whole half marathon with it, set on smart recording with bluetooth connection, and the battery was only 20{60f78fc10f9d225dae0ba0255c415eaf093f5a3220b43cdf3df82aaf7b5f9e5d} less. I’ve noticed that the total percentage when fully charged has decreased (now it’s maxed out at 97{60f78fc10f9d225dae0ba0255c415eaf093f5a3220b43cdf3df82aaf7b5f9e5d}), but I’m not sure if this is actually because the battery capacity is decreasing.
– Weight. The watch does look big (the same size as the FR220/5 so if you can find one , but it’s really quite light! About the same weight as a Fitbit charge, but quite a deal bulkier. I have mixed feelings about using this as an everyday watch, since my Charge really sits on my wrist without me noticing it as much.
– GPS. It found GPS satellites almost instantly while I was sitting in my living room of my house. Have never had issues finding GPS, even when my phone took minutes to lock on.
– Activity Tracker. Honestly this was pretty low on my Pros list because the step count system seems to be exactly the same as that of the fitbit. The only bad mark I’d give it is that on the Garmin app, you can’t just set your walking or running stride length like you can on the Fitbit dash, but you have to fill out the amount of steps you can walk to get to a certain distance. Kind of counter intuitive because that math is super simple to just do yourself.
– Notifications. Seem to work just fine. On my S6+, I don’t seem to need to have the app open or running, I just need to approve the app to intercept my notifications, and it sends it right over. Whenever I have my bluetooth on both the watch and the phone, they pair instantly (except in one instance it locked up and I had to restart the watch).
– Wireless sync. After I set up my MapMyRun and Runkeeper accounts to my garmin account, the second I’m done with the run, all the info is automatically uploaded. No hassle.

Cons:
A couple bugs with the phone connecting sometimes, but this usually only happens when the app on the phone crashed. Sometimes the "Find my Phone" feature also bugs out and doesn’t stop chiming and flashing until the bluetooth connection is ended or the phone restarted.

I will start off by saying that I do not normally write reviews. However, I had been looking at this watch for several weeks thinking about upgrading. I currently have the 210. I wanted to upgrade because I wanted a running watch with a GPS that could also count steps. I am a long term runner with several marathons under my belt. I wanted to share my thoughts as I was looking at the reviews.

Pros:
• Captures satellites in seconds. My 210 with an average battery would take minutes sometimes to lock on. This is a huge improvement.
• As a step tracker, the watch seems great.
• Battery life: I have run several times and am wearing the 230 as my primary watch for a week now. It currently still has 57{60f78fc10f9d225dae0ba0255c415eaf093f5a3220b43cdf3df82aaf7b5f9e5d} battery. Awesome.
• Notifications. The watch easily pairs with my iphone. Texts, phone calls and alerts come across easily. Very cool. (You do need to have the Garmin App open. I have had to reconnect twice. No big deal).
• Connect IQ. Amazing to be able to download watch faces in seconds and be able to change the watch face. Truth be told, this can be a little anti climatic but it is still cool feature in a 250.00 watch.
• Bluetooth sink. Wireless sink with my phone and uploads to Garmin Connect. Nice.

Cons: As you will probably see from other reviews, the watch can be a little dim. I knew this before I purchased it and was concerned about it. After having the watch for a week, it has not been a big deal. People griping about this are being overly picky. Would I like it a bit brighter? Yes. Would I trade the battery life? No.

Overall: I recommend this watch. Big step up over my last Garmin. It has everything I need in a fitness watch. I thought about the 235 for the heart rate. I figured it would not be accurate and would drive me crazy. I have been running my whole life without tracking my heart rate and did not want to start now knowing this is still relative new technology (tracking heart rate from the wrist).