Garmin Forerunner 735XT Review

Garmin Forerunner 735XT Reviews

Review score: 9.4/10 – Updated May, 2024

Latest Price: £229.99 – Save 23% (RRP: £299.99)

Take a look now to discover what makes Garmin Forerunner 735XT worthy of a review score of 9.4 out of 10.

Garmin Forerunner 735XT Review


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View reviews at Chain Reaction Cycles


Garmin Forerunner 735XT features

Garmin Forerunner 735XT specs

Garmin Forerunner 735XT
Spec 1

Colour: Midnight Blue- Frost Blue, Black-Grey

Other GPS found with this Spec: 2

Feature 1

Run, Sprint, Swim, Bike, Tri: Your routine is anything but routine. Forerunner® 735XT lets you change things up with ease thanks to built-in activity profiles for running (indoor/outdoor), cycling (indoor/outdoor), swimming (pool/open water), cross-country skiing, paddle sports, trail running, hiking and strength training. For brick workouts and du/triathlon races, the auto multisport feature lets you switch sports with just 1 button press. The 735XT is compatible with advanced workouts for running, cycling — and even pool swimming. Create your own custom workouts and download for free from Garmin Connect.

Other GPS found with this feature: #VALUE!

Feature 2

Wrist Based Heart Rate Monitors Your Ticker: Forerunner® 735XT is Garmin’s first multisport watch with Elevate™ heart rate technology to measure heart rate at the wrist. Now you can compete with freedom when it’s time to get on your bike or toe the line. There’s no need to wear a chest strap to see your vital stats – see your heart rate zone and beats per minute, all in real-time and displayed on a colourful gauge.

Other GPS found with this feature: #VALUE!

Feature 3

Train Your Heart Out: Wrist-based heart rate may suit your needs to a “t” on race day, but when it comes to training and recovery, you need more in-depth data. With Forerunner® 735XT, you have plenty. Here are some of the advanced metrics you’ll gain with the addition of a heart rate strap: Running dynamics¹ such as ground contact time balance, stride length, vertical ratio and more VO2 max estimate, lactate threshold2, race predictor and recovery advisor Underwater heart rate for swimming4

Other GPS found with this feature: #VALUE!

Feature 4

Prove It: With the integration of the Strava Live Suffer Score, you can get street cred for your sweat. Strava Suffer Score analyses your heart rate during a workout and ranks your total activity effort. With the purchase of a 735XT you get a 60-day free trial to Strava Premium, so you can see your suffer score and use it to push yourself harder than ever. Your suffering has value, so use it.

Other GPS found with this feature: #VALUE!

Feature 5

Connect and Customise: Smart notifications3, automatic uploads to Garmin Connect3 and live tracking make the 735XT the ultimate smart watch for athletes. Keep your phone tucked away when you’re on a long ride or run and get all your notifications at the wrist so you can decide to respond or keep moving. You can even customise your device with free watch faces, apps and data fields from Connect IQ™.

Other GPS found with this feature: #VALUE!

Feature 6

Save Your Efforts: Get more from your miles at Garmin Connect, Garmin’s free online community where you can save, plan and share activities. Beat yesterday by nailing a new personal record — Garmin will keep track so you can view your victories all in one spot. Get digital insights5 tailored to your stats and habits, like cues to move and healthy tips. Connect with other users to challenge and compete. Available on your desktop or compatible mobile device.

Other GPS found with this feature: #VALUE!

Feature 7

A Few More Extras: Just like you, Forerunner 735XT keeps going all day long. This watch becomes your partner in recovery with all-day activity tracking6 that monitors steps, calories and sleep. It’s also compatible with Garmin’s line of Varia™ cycling awareness devices, including rear-view radar, smart bike lights and Varia Vision™ in-sight display.

Other GPS found with this feature: #VALUE!

Price

£229.99

Number of Reviews

46

Review Score

4.6 / 5

Average score in category: 4.1/5

Buy

Quality

Quality is without doubt one of the most important factors that we consider when buying bikes, parts, accessories or clothing. As you’d imagine it’s especially important when buying GPS. Let’s take at a look at the sort of things you can look at when trying to ascertain the quality of Garmin Forerunner 735XT.

The first thing is material. Looking at what Garmin Forerunner 735XT is made of will give you a really good idea of the quality overall. Take a look at the specs above and you should be able to see the material. It’s then up to you to decide if it meets your expectation.

Similarly you’ll also want to spend some time looking at the features too. Again the table above, listing the features will give you a really good overview. However you should think about the sort of features that you’d expect when buying new GPS. It’s worth writing a list of the “must-have” features so that you don’t end up compromising and missing some important features, or alternatively end up buying an unnecessarily high specced product.

There’s also a lot of merit in checking out the brand of the product and looking at the various brands that are selling GPS. Brands like Garmin are of courses extremely well respected in the cycling community so you know you’re getting a fantastic product with them. But if you’re undecided on your product you should write up a list of brands that you’d be happy to buy. It’s a great way of filtering and narrowing down the number of products when you’re searching.

Next up you’ll want to think about the price and use that as a guide to set your expectations of the quality. If you’re buying the cheapest of the options in the GPS category you should probably expect it to not be of as good quality as the most expensive. It sounds obvious of course. But this is where you can get a bit clever and use your combination of features, specs, materials and other factors to work together to get a really good quality product at the best price. We often draw up a list of “must-haves” and use these as filters when shopping online so that you’re only seeing products that meet your criteria. You can then sort by Price>Low to get the best deals.


Comparing Prices

Price, as you would imagine, is the most popular reason for someone buying one product over another. It is the single most important factor in choosing the majority of products we buy. The same goes for GPS.

It’s at this stage of the buying process, when you’re looking at different options, that you should set a budget. Do some research to understand how much roughly you can expect to pay for the sort of level of product that you’re looking for. Then match that to your own personal circumstance and how much you can afford to spend. This will really help you in narrowing down the right product for you.

Price of Garmin Forerunner 735XT

So the first aspect of price that we’re going to look at is the price of Garmin Forerunner 735XT.

We run regular scans across the web to find the best prices for the products that we review, from a range of cycling retailers. The best price we managed to find Garmin Forerunner 735XT was over at Chain Reaction Cycles where the price was £229.99 in our latest search.

Based on this price we’ve scored it 8.4 out of 10 for price.

Average price of GPS

Next we wanted to look at how much you can expect to pay, on average, for GPS.

We found 137 in the GPS category over at Chain Reaction Cycles. We looked at the average price of the products within this category and found the average is £204.89, making it above average at £229.99.

It’s sometimes helpful to look at how much the prices can vary. Especially when setting yourself a budget, or when trying to understand just how much you could spend on GPS. We found that the most expensive product currently available was £849.99, whilst the cheapest we managed to find was £2.99.

With 137 products available we worked out that 44 cost more than Garmin Forerunner 735XT and 92 were cheaper.

Cost of Garmin products

At Chain Reaction Cycles we found 91 products from Garmin, of which 65 were in the GPS category.

For now though we’re looking at Garmin branded products in all categories. The average price of these products was £227.73 making this product above average.

You’ll also be interested to know that the cheapest Garmin product we found was £8.89 and the highest price we could find from them was £849.99.

Of the 91 from Garmin, 31 were more expensive than Garmin Forerunner 735XT and 59 were cheaper.

How much are Garmin GPS?

We then wanted to get a bit more specific and only look at Garmin products that are listed in the GPS category.

The average price of the 65 products that match this search was £258.71, with the cheapest coming in at £8.89 and highest price was £849.99. With the average being £258.71, Garmin Forerunner 735XT comes in below average.

28 products that meet this search were more expensive than Garmin Forerunner 735XT and 36 were cheaper.


Garmin Forerunner 735XT Reviews

Reading reviews is an amazing way of getting a good feel for a product without actually being able to try it or see it first.

There are two different types of reviews, and we also recommend reading both.

1. Expert reviews – In the cycle industry there are loads of really reliable trusted resources for expert reviews. For example if you’re looking to buy a new bike, BikeRadar Bike Reviews are great.

2. Customer reviews – these are probably your best resource for information. There’s no finances or influence involved, they’re purely just honest reviews from customers that have bought and used the product. The reason we love customer reviews so much is because no matter if their view is good or bad, there’s a very good chance that it will be honest and unbiased.

Our best advice is to head over to Chain Reaction Cycles and read the Garmin Forerunner 735XT reviews there.

Based on what we’ve seen in terms of reviews for Garmin Forerunner 735XT, it really does look like a great buy. So for the review score, we’ve scored it 9.9 out of 10. The average review score for all products in the GPS category at Chain Reaction Cycles is 4.1 out of 5.

Owner reviews, as we say, are one of the most important pieces of research that we can do before we buy. So, with that in mind, if you do go on to buy Garmin Forerunner 735XT or another similar product, like Garmin Forerunner 735XT Tri Bundle reviews or Garmin Edge 820 Silicone Case reviews we’d love you to leave a review in the comments below. It will really help future buyers just like you, when they’re looking to buy GPS.


Brand

As we said in the pricing part of the review, brand is a really important consideration, but especially so when looking to buy GPS. But as you’re probably already aware, you’re on to a great choice if you do go with Garmin, as they’re a fantastic brand, making amazing products.


YouTube Video of Garmin Forerunner 735XT

Below we’ve embedded a video from YouTube where we’ve searched for Garmin Forerunner 735XT reviews.


Summary

Overall, we’ve been hugely impressed by the quality, price, reviews and features of Garmin Forerunner 735XT. We’d say that as long as it fits your budget and meets your expectations in terms of features/spec…it’s a really strong contender. That’s why we’ve scored it a massive 9.4/10 overall.


Further product details

  • Product ID 1: 25010853053
  • Product ID 2: 546330UK
  • Brand: Garmin
  • Model number: 010-01614-06
  • RRP: £299.99
  • EAN: 753759157784
  • Description: Garmin Forerunner 735XTBe a better athlete on the track and in the water with Forerunner735XT. This GPS multisport watch is for athletes who want in-depth data as they train and compete. Thanks to a smaller form and comfortable band, the 735XT is the ideal watch to get you through your workout and your workday. Its smart features allow it to connect to your phone to give notifications, calls, calendar appointments and weather updates right on your wrist. It even doubles as an activity tracker to count your steps, calories and sleep. Get the data you need to beat yesterday. Features: Run, Sprint, Swim, Bike, Tri: Your routine is anything but routine. Forerunner¬†735XT lets you change things up with ease thanks to built-in activity profiles for running (indoor/outdoor), cycling (indoor/outdoor), swimming (pool/open water), cross-country skiing, paddle sports, trail running, hiking and strength training.¬†For brick workouts and du/triathlon races, the auto multisport feature lets you switch sports with just 1 button press. The 735XT is compatible with advanced workouts for running, cycling ‚Äî and even pool swimming. Create your own custom workouts and download for free from Garmin Connect. Wrist Based Heart Rate Monitors Your Ticker: Forerunner 735XT is Garmin’s first multisport watch with Elevate heart rate technology to measure heart rate at the wrist. Now you can compete with freedom when it’s time to get on your bike or toe the line. There’s no need to wear a chest strap to see your vital stats – see your heart rate zone and beats per minute, all in real-time and displayed on a colourful gauge. Train Your Heart Out: Wrist-based heart rate may suit your needs to a “t” on race day, but when it comes to training and recovery, you need more in-depth data. With Forerunner 735XT, you have plenty. Here are some of the advanced metrics you’ll gain with the addition of a heart rate strap: Running dynamics¬π such as ground contact time balance, stride length, vertical ratio and more VO2 max estimate, lactate threshold2, race predictor and recovery advisor Underwater heart rate for swimming4 Prove It: With the integration of the Strava Live Suffer Score, you can get street cred for your sweat. Strava Suffer Score analyses your heart rate during a workout and ranks your total activity effort. With the purchase of a 735XT you get a 60-day free trial to Strava Premium, so you can see your suffer score and use it to push yourself harder than ever. Your suffering has value, so use it. Connect and Customise: Smart notifications3, automatic uploads to Garmin Connect3¬†and live tracking make the 735XT the ultimate smart watch for athletes. Keep your phone tucked away when you’re on a long ride or run and get all your notifications at the wrist so you can decide to respond or keep moving. You can even customise your device with free watch faces, apps and data fields from Connect IQ. Save Your Efforts: Get more from your miles at Garmin Connect, Garmin’s free online community where you can save, plan and share activities. Beat yesterday by nailing a new personal record ‚Äî Garmin will keep track so you can view your victories all in one spot. Get digital insights5¬†tailored to your stats and habits, like cues to move and healthy tips. Connect with other users to challenge and compete. Available on your desktop or compatible mobile device. A Few More Extras: Just like you, Forerunner 735XT keeps going all day long. This watch becomes your partner in recovery with all-day activity tracking6¬†that monitors steps, calories and sleep. It’s also compatible with Garmin’s line of Varia cycling awareness devices, including¬†rear-view radar, smart bike lights and Varia Vision in-sight display.¬πWhen used with HRM-Run or HRM-Tri monitor; included with some models, sold separately on others. ¬≤When used with a chest strap heart rate monitor. ¬≥When paired with compatible phone. 4When used with HRM-Swim or HRM-Tri monitor; included with some models, sold separately on others. 5Available to Garmin Connect customers who are using activity-tracking features.6Activity-tracking accuracy.Specifications:Physical & Performance Physical dimensions: 45 x 45 x 11.7 mm Display size, WxH:¬†31.1mm diameter Display resolution, WxH:¬†215 x 180 pixels Weight:¬†44g Battery:¬†Rechargeable lithium-ion Battery life:¬†Up to 24 hours in UltraTrac mode without optical HR; up to 14 hours in activity mode with GPS and optical HR; up to 11 days in watch mode, including activity tracking, smart notifications and optical HR tracking Water rating:¬†5 ATM Watch functions:¬†Time of day (12/24h), calendar (day/date), daily alarm GPS-enabled Colour display GLONASS High-sensitivity receiver Smart notifications (displays email, text and other alerts when paired with your compatible phone) Vibration alert¬†(choose between alert tones and/or vibration alert) Music Control Find My Phone VIRB control Includes date and alarmMaps & Memory History:¬†80 hours of activity dataRunning Features V02 max estimate Recovery advisor Race predictor Running dynamics Accelerometer (calculates distance for indoor workouts, without need for a foot pod) Personal recordsCycling Features Compatible with Vector Compatible with Bike speed/cadence sensor (optional)Performance Features Wrist based heart rate monitor Footpod (optional) Virtual Partner (train against a digital person) Virtual Racer (compete against other activities) Courses (compete against previous activities) Auto Pause (pauses and resumes timer based on speed) Auto Lap (automatically starts a new lap) Auto Scroll (cycles through data pages during workout) Multi-sport (changes sport mode with a press of a button) Auto multisport (switch sport modes with 1 button press) Advanced workouts (create custom, goal-oriented workouts) Pace alert (triggers alarm if you vary from pre-set pace) Time/distance alert (triggers alarm when you reach goal) Interval training (set up exercise and rest intervals) Heart rate-based calorie computation Calculates calories burned Training Effect (measures impact of an activity on your aerobic fitness) Customizable screen(s) Power meter compatible (displays power data from compatible 3rd party ANT+-enabled power meters) Shock ResistantSwimming Features Pool swim metrics (lengths, distance, pace, stroke count/rate, calories) Stroke type identification (e.g. freestyle) Open water swim metrics (distance, pace, stroke count/rate, calories) Swim WorkoutsActivity Tracker Step counter Auto goal (learns your activity level and assigns a daily step goal) Move bar (displays on device after a period of inactivity; walk for a couple of minutes to reset it) Sleep monitoring (monitors total sleep and periods of movement or restful sleep)Garmin Connect Garmin Connect compatible (online community where you analyse, categorise and share data) Automatic sync (automatically transfers data to your computer)Additional Connect IQ app support: Yes (watch faces, data fields, widgets and apps) Physiological measurements: Yes ANT+: Yes Interface: USB Run/walk feature: Yes Projected finish time: Yes Race an activity: Yes Custom alerts: Yes Customisable lap screen GPS/GLONASS: Yes Wireless Connectivity: Yes UltraTrac: YesIn the Box: Forerunner 735XT GPS watch Charging/data clip DocumentationBuy¬†Garmin Training¬†from Chain Reaction Cycles, the World’s Largest Online Bike Store.
  • Full Category: Nutrition & Training > GPS
  • Savings percentage from RRP: 23%
  • Unisex
  • 70
  • Adult

Other options for GPS

As you’d imagine there are so many options out there when buying GPS. 137 in fact.

A few of our other favourites that we spotted when researching Garmin Forerunner 735XT included,
Garmin Forerunner 935 Multisport GPS Watch reviews, Garmin Forerunner 935 Tri Bundle reviews, or we really liked the look of Garmin Forerunner 35 GPS Running Watch reviews as another alternative.

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