is a senior reporter focusing on wearables, health tech, and more with 13 years of experience. Before coming to The Verge, she worked for Gizmodo and PC Magazine.
Few brands are as synonymous with outdoor sports as Garmin. You’ll find these fitness trackers and smartwatches on dozens of wrists at any 5K, marathon, or Ironman. You’ll also find Garmin devotees among divers, thru-hikers, golfers, kiteboarders — you name it. But these devices aren’t just for athletes. The company’s made significant strides in its lifestyle offerings, so regardless of your fitness level, there’s a Garmin for everyone.
If you’re coming from a more traditional smartwatch, Garmin’s core strengths lie in fitness, GPS, adventuring, and durability. These are hardy devices that are meant to withstand the elements and last weeks on a single charge. Several models come with offline maps, advanced navigational features, and more training metrics than any other platform. Garmin devices tend to be on the pricier side, however, and the company recently announced it would begin putting its newest features behind a paywall. That’s a bummer given Garmin spent years publicly stating it had no intention of charging its users extra.
What we’re looking for How we test Garmin watches Collapse There are fitness trackers and smartwatches, and then there are Garmins. Depending on the type of Garmin — there are many — we will tailor our benchmarks and experiential, real-life testing. If it’s a rugged Fenix model, we’ll go on extensive GPS activities, see how well it works as a navigation tool, and dive deep into training metrics. If it’s more lifestyle focused, like the Venu 3, we’ll put an added focus on how well smart features like voice assistant access, notifications, and style. Because people buy Garmins to last a long time, we also put special consideration on battery life testing. Some other factors we consider are durability, performance, ability to connect to gym equipment, and GPS accuracy. Battery life Collapse Garmins are known for extra long battery life. The question is, does it last days, weeks, or even a month? Training metrics Collapse Garmin has so many training features that even the pros probably don’t use all of them. Do you get coaching programs and stamina graphs? Or are you sticking to the basics like steps, pace, and mileage? Navigational features Collapse Same goes for navigational features. While Garmin is known for its GPS tech, there are multiple kinds of GPS tracking and satellite systems. We also look at whether these navigational features fit the use case. For example, do running watches have back-to-start? Do offline maps come preloaded for thru-hikers? Style and durability Collapse Do these watches hold up to intense activity? Are they discreet enough to wear to formal occasions without screaming “I love exercise!!!!!” Value Collapse Garmins are expensive. Does the price make sense for the intended user, feature set, and build quality?
Garmins aren’t too shabby on smarts, either. While more fitness-focused than anything from Apple, Google, or Samsung, there’s enough to get you the basics like notifications and then some. For example, most Garmins have fall detection and safety features, and several of the latest Garmins recently got an FDA-cleared EKG feature. (You’ll need a phone on hand, however, as only one Garmin model has cellular connectivity.) Many Garmin devices also support offline music playback and come with a small third-party app ecosystem.
There are a lot of Garmin watches to choose from. No, seriously, there are six major lineups, and each has a multitude of models. But no worries — I test several Garmins every year and can help point you in the right direction.
The best Garmin for runners
Sizes: 42mm w/ 18mm straps; 46mm w/ 22mm straps / Weight: 39g (42mm); 47g (46mm) / Battery life: Up to 15 days (42mm); 13 days (46mm) in smartwatch mode / Display type: OLED touchscreen / GPS: All-systems GNSS and dual-frequency GPS / Connectivity: Bluetooth, Ant Plus, Wi-Fi / Water resistance: 5ATM / Music storage: 8GB
Garmin has many running watches, and a lot of them are great. But the Forerunner 265 or 265S (if you have petite wrists) strikes an excellent balance between price, feature set, battery life, and a vibrant OLED display.
That said, the Forerunner 265 / 265S is a bit of an odd duck. It comes a mere nine months after its predecessor, the Forerunner 255, and is, in many ways, pretty much the same watch. The main difference is the 265 has an OLED display compared to the 255’s memory-in-pixel screen. Usually, that means worse battery life, but in this case, we got about a week on a single charge with the always-on display enabled. Without it, you can get up to 15 days. Given that OLED is easier to read and just, well, looks nicer, that gives the 265 lineup an edge over the 255.
... continue reading