Garmin International announced a new smartwatch yesterday – the Garmin Forerunner 935. The smartwatch features GPS and GLONASS and is primarily aimed at athletes looking to bring the efficiency of their training sessions to a new level. The wearable features the Garmin Elevate heart rate monitoring technology, a series of sensors, and comes preloaded with a variety of fitness-oriented services and applications.
The Garmin Forerunner 935 features a circular display and while details on hardware specifications are scarce, the product is described as having similar features to the Garmin Fenix 5, which was officially introduced in January at CES 2017. The new Garmin Forerunner 935 is backed by technology provided by Firstbeat, allowing the watch to monitor performance in previous exercises and provide insight into how the wearer’s body is responding to their training. The smartwatch can also be paired with the new Running Dynamics Pod pictured below, a small wearable device that clips to the waistband and giving athletes additional fitness data on all six running dynamics, including ground contact time, cadence, stride length and more. The watch is equipped with an Elevate heart rate monitor, and additionally, it benefits from an altimeter, barometer, and a compass. The altimeter gives wearers real-time elevation information, and the barometer can analyze short-term trends in air pressure and determine changes in weather. Garmin’s latest smartwatch can transition between different types of activities and sports automatically, or manually at the press of a button. Other types of activities include hiking, skiing, golf, trail running, paddle sports and more.
The Garmin Forerunner 935 will also be paired with a 60-day trial of Strava Premium, giving users the option to view their real-time results and leaderboard rankings online. Once it’s synced with a compatible Android smartphone, the watch also connects to Garmin Connect: an online fitness service where users can track sleep patterns and their track workouts, as well as compete with friends in online challenges for virtual badges. The Garmin Forerunner 935 is equipped with a battery rated for up to 24 hours of operation in GPS mode, and up to 50 hours of usage in the UltraTrac battery saving mode. In the standard Watch Mode, the device can last up to two weeks on a single charge. The smartwatch is available two colors for $499, but the company also offers a bundle including additional straps, a Quick Release Kit, as well as HRM-Tri and HRM-Swim trackers for $649.
