From solar power to music storage to multisport tracking — these watches have it all! 

How to Choose a Garmin Watch
There are a few key aspects to consider when purchasing a new Garmin watch. First of all, what activities do you plan to use it for? If you’re simply interested in keeping track of your fitness level, heart rate and sleep, a more basic model will be more than enough for you.

However, if you’re a more serious athlete or want to track a more niche sport, you’ll want a watch that offers more dedicated functionality. Most Garmin watches will collect all your distance, pace, calories and heart rate data, and provide basic workouts and coaching. At the top end of the range, watches like the Forerunner 945 and Fenix 7 include features like altimeters, barometers and map navigation to better track and generate custom workouts on- and off-road. Once you determine the level of features and type of activities you want, that should guide you toward the best watch model and price level.

Smartwatch features
In addition to tracking your runs, hikes, and other adventures, you’ll likely want a few smart features. Even a basic fitness tracker from Garmin will let you see notifications for texts and calls, but some models provide even more than that – like Spotify streaming and music storage, so you can leave your phone at home.

Style
Look at the aesthetics and build since you’ll spend a lot of time wearing your Garmin if you’re looking to collect more health data. A sleeker and more lightweight design will transfer well from everyday wear at the office to a post-work workout, while the bulkier, more rugged builds are necessary for traipsing around the wilderness. Note that a longer battery life, longer list of features and sturdier build will drive up the cost of the watch.

Fenix 7 Best for Hikers, Trail Runners and Explorers

The Fenix line is among the most rugged and hardy of Garmin’s watches. There are lots of added metrics and mapping features that make it ideal for adventures to the backcountry or the back nine, such as an electronic compass, altimeter for elevation data, a weather barometer, and other navigation sensors, as well as more than 17 000 preloaded golf courses. Even better, it has an exhaustive battery life—up to 18 days of battery life in smartwatch mode, 57 hours using GPS, and up to 57 days in battery-saver mode. In fact, we’ve found that we only have to charge it about once a week after regular use. To display its many metrics, the Fenix 7 has a large 1.3-inch display that can show you up to seven data fields at once—and even a flashlight, should you get lost on a dark trail. And if those adventure-ready features aren’t enough, this watch also comes packed with all the most thorough health tracking metrics and the usual social, music and payment apps.

Key Specs

Battery Life	Up to 18 days
GPS-Enabled	Yes
Music Storage	1000 Songs
Water Rating	10 ATM
Smartphone Compatibility	iPhone, Android
Screen Size	33mm

 

Instinct 2 Solar Best for Ultra Distance Endurance

If you’ve ever wished that you could charge up your watch in the middle of the woods—whether on an ultra-long run, hike, bike tour or camping trip — this is the watch for you. The Instinct was designed with the avid outdoors person in mind, and it can run in GPS mode for days, charging by solar power through the Power Glass screen. The design is a bit bulky, but that also means it can take a serious beating — plus it’s waterproof and nigh-indestructible. For long-distance adventurers and other endurance athletes this is a great choice.

Key Specs

Battery Life	Up to 24 days
GPS-Enabled	Yes
Music Storage	N/A
Water Rating	10 ATM
Smartphone Compatibility	iPhone, Android
Screen Size	45mm

 

Forerunner 945 Bundle Best For Triathletes

For serious triathletes, data is important in all three sports — running, cycling, and swimming. While you can get some good data from a watch while running, it isn’t always the most accurate in the pool. To ensure that you are getting the most from your workouts, this bundle comes with the 945 watch as well as heart rate monitors for on land and in water. The watch itself has full-colour maps, over 30 activities, and a battery life of up to two weeks.

Key Specs

Battery Life	Up to 14 days
GPS-Enabled	Yes
Music Storage	1000 Songs
Water Rating	5 ATM
Smartphone Compatibility	iPhone, Android
Screen Size	47mm

 

Vivosmart 5 Best for Walkers

Looking for a Garmin watch that’s smaller, cheaper and a bit more low-key? The company may be known for their bulkier watches, but this sleek fitness tracker is a great choice for someone who simply wants to track their overall health rather than gather in-depth training data or display apps. The Vivosmart 5 includes REM and blood-oxygen saturation-level sleep tracking, as well as stress tracking during the day. It has activity timers for walking, swimming, yoga, cardio, and more. You can get notifications for texts and calls, and even respond to texts if you’re an Android user. While the tracker itself doesn’t have GPS capabilities, you can connect to your phone’s GPS and track your runs or walks from there. For this update to the brand’s popular Vivosmart tracker, Garmin sized up the OLED display screen and gave the band an overall sportier, sturdier vibe.

Key Specs

Battery Life	Up to  7 days
GPS-Enabled	Connected GPS
Music Storage	N/A
Water Rating	Swim
Smartphone Compatibility	iPhone, Android
Screen Size	10.5mm x 18.5mm

 

Forerunner 255 Best For Cross-Training

 

The Forerunner 255 offers great value for its laundry list of functions which include long battery life and all the standard health and fitness tracking features you can imagine, plus smart notifications, contactless pay, and so much more. In addition to the usual run training metrics, the watch comes preloaded with multisport workouts, like HIIT, strength, cardio, yoga and Pilates workouts, plus more available to download on Garmin’s app. The watch has a triathlon mode that automatically adjusts to the metrics relevant to your current activity and displays information about your transition times. Its GPS system is highly accurate in our test experience, with a multi-band reception feature that receives two satellite signals at once to produce the most accurate data. There are two different screen size options and a watch version that plays music and one that doesn’t.

Key Specs

Battery Life	Up to 14 days
GPS-Enabled	Yes
Music Storage	500 Songs
Water Rating	5 ATM
Smartphone Compatibility	iPhone, Android
Screen Size	41mm  and 46mm

 

Forerunner 55 Best For Beginner Runners

 

You don’t have to be a beginner runner to want a Forerunner 55 — just a less metrics-obsessed one who can survive without advanced analytics like virtual partner, live segments, and stride length, and sensors like a pulse oximeter and barometer. It also doesn’t have multisport tracking capabilities, and it can’t hold music. That said, this watch has everything most of us are looking for in a GPS tracker, including heart rate monitoring, smartwatch functionality, and advanced pacing and workout metrics. Sacrificing some of the more advanced features will also save you some serious money—the 55 costs less than half of the price of a more sophisticated Forerunner. It’s also a little smaller than other models, so it’s great for younger runners, as well—but it still has a stellar battery life of up to two weeks in smartwatch mode or 20 hours in GPS mode.

Key Specs

Battery Life	Up to 2 weeks
GPS-Enabled	Yes
Music Storage	N/A
Water Rating	5 ATM
Smartphone Compatibility	iPhone, Android
Screen Size	26.3mm

To buy any of these options, and for a whole lot more from the Garmin range, visit GARMIN

 

READ MORE ON: watches wearables