Garmin's high-end Forerunner 735XT targets multisport athletes (hands-on)

Garmin on Wednesday announced its newest training watch, the Forerunner 735XT. The GPS-equipped sport watch is designed for multisport athletes, specifically those who compete in triathlons.

The watch is similar to the Forerunner 235, which is a good thing given that it's my favorite running watch. It features a built-in optical heart-rate sensor and includes GPS, all-day activity tracking for things like steps and calories burned, and can show notifications from an iPhone or Android smartphone. It also includes access to Connect IQ, Garmin's third-party app store that lets you download watch faces, widgets and apps.

In addition to running, the 735XT can track cycling, swimming, hiking, cross country skiing, strength training, paddle boarding and cardio. There's also a special multisport mode for triathlons that will automatically change sport profiles and continue to track overall time. Another noteworthy feature is that the 735XT will be the first watch to come with Strava's Live Suffer Score app preinstalled. The Suffer Score is calculated based on your heart rate and can determine how hard your workout was.

The watch is compatible with Garmin's Vector pedal-based power meter system and its various Varia cycling accessories, including the Varia Vision heads-up display that was announced at this year's CES trade show. It can also be paired with the company's HRM heart rate strap to provide advanced running dynamics and measure things like stride length, ground contact time balance, vertical ratio and more.

As with all of Garmin's watches, the 735XT can be worn both in the shower and while swimming, thanks to the 5 ATM water-resistant rating. In the water, the watch can measure distance, pace, stroke count, stroke rate and more. Battery life is said to be up to 11 days in watch mode and up 14 hours with an active GPS signal, which is 10 hours less than the Forerunner 920XT. Another notable feature that is missing is a barometric altimeter to measure altitude when hiking or cycling (there's also no ski/snowboard mode like on the Fenix 3). The 735XT will instead estimate altitude using the GPS.

The Forerunner 735XT is available now for $450/AU$699. You can also pick up a running bundle that includes the advanced HRM-Run strap for $500 or a special tri-bundle that include both a waterproof HRM-Tri (for open water) and HRM-Swim (for the pool) strap for $600. No Australian pricing on those bundles, but a new strap will cost AU$49.