Garmin Forerunner 235 for indoor rowing

[walterpump]

Hi Group: Any comments and experience using the Forerunner 235 for indoor rowing. Thanks all.

[Tsnor]

Hi Group: Any comments and experience using the Forerunner 235 for indoor rowing. Thanks all.

No experience rowing with it. Good, older watch (2015 tech). will broadcast its optical heart rate on ant+ so you can see your HR on the PM5 while rowing and your HR will be captured in stroke data by Ergdata.

The 235 hr sensor stumbles on cycling intervals, so will likely have problems with short interval measurements rowing. Didn't look that bad cycling, but sometimes the rowing motion is very hard on wrist optical.

You can pair a HR belt with the 235 if the 235 is not reliable rowing. Using ant+ from your belt lets you connect the belt to the PM5 and your watch at the same time. Even $30 US belts are better than optical wrist for rowing.

If it helps, for rowing I use a HR belt connected to both my phone and the PM5 to get HR and don't wear my watch watch (a fitbit). This saves getting sweat on the fitbit watch band (cloth), and the fitbit is chronically wrong while rowing. Concept2 is happy to push the rowing workout results to fitbit (or gramin or polar, etc) so nothing is lost.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/11/gar ... eview.html

[Joebasscat]

Hi Group: Any comments and experience using the Forerunner 235 for indoor rowing. Thanks all.

No experience rowing with it. Good, older watch (2015 tech). will broadcast its optical heart rate on ant+ so you can see your HR on the PM5 while rowing and your HR will be captured in stroke data by Ergdata.

The 235 hr sensor stumbles on cycling intervals, so will likely have problems with short interval measurements rowing. Didn't look that bad cycling, but sometimes the rowing motion is very hard on wrist optical.

You can pair a HR belt with the 235 if the 235 is not reliable rowing. Using ant+ from your belt lets you connect the belt to the PM5 and your watch at the same time. Even $30 US belts are better than optical wrist for rowing.

If it helps, for rowing I use a HR belt connected to both my phone and the PM5 to get HR and don't wear my watch watch (a fitbit). This saves getting sweat on the fitbit watch band (cloth), and the fitbit is chronically wrong while rowing. Concept2 is happy to push the rowing workout results to fitbit (or gramin or polar, etc) so nothing is lost.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/11/gar ... eview.html

Apologies for high jacking the post.

Tsnor - When C2 pushes to Fitbit, does Fitbit pick up your HR data for the row duration?

[Tsnor]

Apologies for high jacking the post.

Tsnor - When C2 pushes to Fitbit, does Fitbit pick up your HR data for the row duration?

No, no HR data comes from the C2 log. If you are wearing the Fitbit watch then the fitbit dashboard shows the Fitbit data. If you are not wearing the Fitbit then there is a gap in the daily HR graph.

Fitbit also gives you a calorie total for the rowing workout that is close but not the same as C2 reports in the log. I have no idea where they get it. The data below is 821 calories in the C2 log. (I wonder if C2 pushes wattage, or if Fitbit is estimating from splits?? In any case they are not reporting the C2 calorie data)

Fitbit picks up the distance in kilometers and converts it to miles and shows distance in miles.

This is from a Fitbit dashboard entry for a C2 pushed row.
ROWERG 4:32 PM, Friday August 26, 2022 8.51 mi 01:00:22 mins 851 cals

If you look at Fitbit Dashboard activity details there is no additional information. There is a calorie graph that is a flat line -- total calories spread evenly over the time period. Then there is an "impact" statement saying 0 steps, the calorie count and the active minute count.

[jamesg]

As to C2 folklore, C2 heat rate = 4 x Power + 300kCal/h.

[winniewinser]

Hi Group: Any comments and experience using the Forerunner 235 for indoor rowing. Thanks all.

I had the 245 and now the 255 and it works well for rowing when paired with a chest strap. On it's own it doesn't keep up with HR changes just using the optical sensors on the back of the watch.

I like all the different sport profiles you can use for tracking and the battery life is far superior to Fitbit (previous watch)

[Joebasscat]

Hi Group: Any comments and experience using the Forerunner 235 for indoor rowing. Thanks all.

I had the 245 and now the 255 and it works well for rowing when paired with a chest strap. On it's own it doesn't keep up with HR changes just using the optical sensors on the back of the watch.

I like all the different sport profiles you can use for tracking and the battery life is far superior to Fitbit (previous watch)

How is your battery life with the Polar watch?

[winniewinser]

Hi Group: Any comments and experience using the Forerunner 235 for indoor rowing. Thanks all.

I had the 245 and now the 255 and it works well for rowing when paired with a chest strap. On it's own it doesn't keep up with HR changes just using the optical sensors on the back of the watch.

I like all the different sport profiles you can use for tracking and the battery life is far superior to Fitbit (previous watch)

How is your battery life with the Polar watch?

The Garmin battery life is around 2 weeks with various GPS activities tracked, notifications set to on, HR monitoring on etc etc.

I did have a Polar Instinct and it was awful for battery life. Much like the Fitbit Ionic. I think anything with a touchscreen will be thirsty.

[walterpump]

Hi Group: Any comments and experience using the Forerunner 235 for indoor rowing. Thanks all.

I had the 245 and now the 255 and it works well for rowing when paired with a chest strap. On it's own it doesn't keep up with HR changes just using the optical sensors on the back of the watch.

I like all the different sport profiles you can use for tracking and the battery life is far superior to Fitbit (previous watch)

Thanks for the info winniewinswer.