My wife has just bought a Garmin forerunner 35. She gets a decent amount of data out of it, and I’m not sure what more I might want, that it doesn’t do. It records rides, heartbeat, steps all for £75.

My mate also has a 235, and I could get a second hand one for a similar amount.

What am I missing here? Cheap budget activity tracker is all I really want. What do I get by spending more or can you just do the 35?

Any advices welcome

35 v 235

I went through this a while ago and really struggled to understand what each model did and what it would do for me. Ended up with a fenix3. It’s an older model but seems to have most of the features of the newer ones. Very cheap on eBay, £75 will get you one. Having used it for a little while I’m still not sure but the tracking is very good.

I feel the same. I have the 35 and it’s great. I get two weeks between charges which is a bonus. It’s also really comfortable as the strap has a small amount of stretch so you don’t notice you’re wearing it. The only thing I would spend more more for is music playback.

35 works really well for the price. My technophobe wife gets on fine with hers and my daughter now has my 35 after I upgraded to a Vivoactive 4.

I had a 35 and thought it was great. Then got a Vivoactive 4 in the Garmin sale last year and think it’s even greaterer! It’s just a bit better at everything and you get more functions in Garmin Connect which I like.

Saying all that, sounds like the 35 will do the job you want. They are decent bits of kit.

Excellent advices thanks

The basic Garmins do the vast majority of what I want, pace, distance etc, but I use the workout and navigation features quite a bit which are only available on the slightly more advanced models. I had a Fenix3, then Fenix5S now Fenix5+ which has full colour mapping. I’ve bought most of them 2nd hand, and they hold their value reasonably well.

Just to close the loop. I took @nickjb advice and bought a used Fenix3 from eBay for £80. Arrived today, looks ace, syncs straight away, loads of fun and motivating features. My point is that I’d never have considered the option had I not asked here. Thanks all much appreciated.