I’ve tested dozens of the best Garmin watches available right now. Here are my top 10 picks for every fitness goal, adventure and budget

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Garmin’s watch line-up is vast, with everything from basic activity trackers and smart fitness watches, to run-cycle-swim-ready GPS sportswatches and rugged, big battery adventure tools. You can pay anywhere from around £180 for the simpler Garmin Forerunner 55, to almost £3,000 for the super-luxe Garmin MARQ Adventurer Gen 2.

Garmin’s GPS and heart rate tech, health, fitness, training and recovery tools are among the best available. So whether you’re aiming to boost your general fitness, train for your first marathon or regularly hit the mountains, there’s a watch to help.

As a full time fitness tech tester and 60+ marathon and ultra marathon finisher, I’ve reviewed dozens of Garmin watches. You can find reviews of my top 10 recommendations below, followed by answers to frequently asked questions. If you’re in a hurry, here are my top five at a glance:

The best Garmin watches: At a glance

• Best Buy Garmin watch: Garmin Forerunner 970
• Best Value Garmin watch: Garmin Forerunner 265
• **Best Garmin fitness watch: **Garmin Vivoactive 6
• Best Garmin watch for battery life: Garmin Enduro 3
• **Best Garmin watch for safety: **Garmin Fenix 8 Pro AMOLED

JUMP TO THE REVIEWS

How to choose the best Garmin watch

Garmin’s line-up breaks down into several different series with big differences in size and style, sensor technology and things like battery life and smartwatch smarts. Here’s roughly what you can expect:

The Vivoactive, Venu and Lily offer a combination of subtle styling, general fitness tracking and smartwatch tools.

The Fenix, Epix, Instinct and Enduro models are Garmin’s multisport watches. They are rugged, long lasting and adventure ready, using durable materials. They offer the most comprehensive suite of Garmin’s tools, including things like solar charging to boost their bigger battery lives.

The Forerunners tend to be lighter and more compact, with tracking tailored for runners but covering swimming and cycling and other sports, too.

Generally, the more you pay – and the bigger the watch – the more staying power you get. But preferably you want the battery life to last a week with workout tracking. If you plan to do long, single or multi-day activities, you’ll need longer GPS battery life. You might even want to sacrifice power-thirsty screen tech for endurance.

While there’s a core of health, activity and fitness tools shared across Garmin watches, the features vary a lot. Some key things to consider: Do you need navigation tools? Offline music playback? Contactless payments? Or off-grid safety tools? If you truly care about having the brightest smartwatch-style display, look for watches with AMOLED screens.

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How we test Garmin watches

Over 20 devices were tested over the course of a year, with only 10 deemed worthy enough for this list

I tested more than twenty Garmin watches and Garmin fitness trackers over the course of a year before picking my top 10.

When I test them, I strap them to my wrist night and day, only taking them off to charge. I test their day-to-day performance, from how easy the display is to read and how long the battery lasts, to their fitness, health and recovery features.

I look at how easy they are to set up and use and I put them through intense workouts like cycling and running to test the accuracy of the heart rate and GPS sensors. I also wear them to sleep, as many health and recovery features rely on data from vitals like your heart rate and respiratory rate when you’re asleep.

Finally, I look at what tools they offer to help handle daily life, like notifications from a connected smartphone, music tools and contactless payments.

At the end of all that, I score them against five metrics: ease of use, comfort and wearability, activity and movement metrics, sleep and recovery tracking, lifestyle and wellness features. After I’m done, some go back to Garmin and others I use for follow up tests and comparisons.

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The best Garmin watches of 2025

1. Best Buy Garmin Watch: Garmin Forerunner 970

**Score: **9/10

**We like: **Built-in torch, big and bright touchscreen, comprehensive sports training tools, offline music, built-in speaker for taking calls

**We don’t like: **Shorter battery life, some run metrics require a chest strap

£679.99

Price at

Decathlon

The Garmin Forerunner 970 is more than just a running watch. It’s an impressively capable multisport watch that focuses heavily on running, but it could equally be the best Garmin for cycling or the best Garmin for a triathlon, too.

Great-looking and easy to wear 24/7, it packs a snappy and vibrant smartwatch-style touchscreen, the latest Garmin sensors and an impressive line-up of health, fitness and smartwatch features.

There’s more than enough across training, racing, recovery and health to cater for most runners, riders and swim-bike-runners. In fact, it’s a close match for the much-pricier Fenix 8, just in a more wrist-friendly 47mm package.

The Garmin Forerunner 970 is heavily geared towards running

Welcome additions include new running metrics, a built-in front-facing LED torch and medically-certified ECG. GPS and heat rate accuracy are reliable, though you’ll burn battery fast if you have the screen set to max brightness. I got just four days of general use with a single hour workout. A nine hour ultra marathon in the same settings burned 39 per cent.

If your runs and rides take you into the unknown, navigation is excellent, too, with full-colour, offline maps that look great on the new bright, toughened screen.

In the sportswatch world, Garmin’s smartwatch smarts are the best and the Forerunner 970 now offers even more to handle daily life. There’s a new built-in speaker and mic for taking calls and marshalling voice assistants on a connected iPhone or Android smartphone. Throw in offline music, contactless payments and safety tracking tools, and this is a truly great all-rounder.

Key specifications

• Screen type: 1.4-inch, AMOLED
• GPS: Yes
• Waterproof rating: 50 metres
• **Battery life: **15 days smartwatch mode, 26 hours GPS
• **Dimensions: **W 47mm, L 47mm, D 12.9mm
• **Weight: **56g

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2. Best Value Garmin Watch: Garmin Forerunner 265

**Score: **8/10

We like: Vibrant, responsive touchscreen, reliable GPS and heart rate accuracy, offline music with Spotify, great value

**We don’t like: **No offline mapping, no ECG insights

£329.99

Price at

John Lewis

It may have been superseded by the brighter-screened, more fully featured Forerunner 570 but for your money, the Forerunner 265 still represents the best value option in Garmin’s line-up.

Another watch made for runners but with multisport tracking, there’s a wide range of workout, training, performance and health insights, a bright AMOLED screen, decent battery life (up to 20 hours GPS runtime), more accurate multiband GPS and smartwatch features like music and contactless payments.

The screen isn’t as punchy as the Forerunner 570, but it’s still bright and easy to read in all conditions, even on sunnier days. All the usual Garmin training insights are here too: performance condition estimates, training effect, VO2 Max estimates, training load monitoring and recovery recommendations.

The screen was easy to read, irrespective of light conditions

There’s a handy morning report, stress tracking, breathing rate measurements, blood oxygen measurements and sleep and nap detection. The major omission is maps. If navigation is a big priority, you’ll have to go higher up the food chain. GPS accuracy is excellent though and about as reliable as it gets. The optical heart rate accuracy, meanwhile, is pretty standard: solid but not infallible.

When it comes to battery life, and you start using the GPS to track workouts, the Forerunner 265 lasts longer than the Forerunner 570. An hour run using the highest GPS accuracy settings on the Forerunner 265 burned around five per cent, which is pretty good.

The Forerunner 265 is older but offers all-round capability that’s not far off the Forerunner 570, and you can find it for £80-100 less.

Key specifications

• **Screen type: **1.3-inch, AMOLED
• GPS: Yes
• Waterproof rating: 50 metres
• **Battery life: **13 days smartwatch mode, 20 hours GPS
• Dimensions: W 46.1mm, L 46.1mm, D 12.9mm
• **Weight: **47g

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3. Best Garmin for Hiking, Adventures and Safety: Garmin Fenix 8 Pro AMOLED

**Score: **9/10

**We like: **Screen is big, vibrant and excellent for mapping, phone-free messaging tools, wonderfully customisable, military standard durability

**We don’t like: **Shorter battery life, it’s even more bulky than the Fenix 8, expensive

£1,199.99

Price at

Garmin

One of Garmin’s top-tier watches, the Fenix 8 Pro AMOLED is about as advanced as a Garmin gets. Big, rugged and built to handle the knocks of off-grid adventures, it offers all the training, health, navigation and smartwatch capability of the Fenix 8 but adds a brighter, standout touchscreen, phone and network-free messaging and live tracking tools that ramp up the safety credentials.

Designed for outdoor enthusiasts, it boasts dozens of sport modes including running, cycling, hiking, and open water swimming. There are also a raft of daily health and activity insights and the complete selection of Garmin’s advanced training metrics, mapping and navigation tools, not to mention offline music and contactless payments.

You can change the main screen to display the stats you use most

It burns battery faster than the Fenix 8 with a one-hour run in max accuracy mode burning two per cent compared to the Fenix 8 at one per cent. With identical training and usage, the Fenix 8 Pro died in nine days, which was two days before the Fenix 8.

The headline here is the safety tools, though. Satellite and LTE link up lets you share live tracking, send text and voice messages and make and take calls even when there’s no network or Wi-Fi connectivity.

They’re not faultless – some tools only work for people who have Garmin Messenger and you’ll need to pay a subscription to use them. But if you regularly venture into situations where you need a safety net, there’s no watch to rival the back up the Fenix 8 Pro offers.

Key specifications

• **Screen type: **1.4-inch, AMOLED
• GPS: Yes
• Waterproof rating: 100 metres
• **Battery life: **27 days smartwatch mode, 53 hours GPS
• Dimensions: W 51mm, L 51mm, D 16.5 mm
• **Weight: **90g

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4. Best Garmin Watch for Fitness Tracking: Garmin Vivoactive 6

**Score: **8/10

**We like: **Excellent vibrant and snappy touchscreen, smartwatch-beating battery life, excellent run-tracking, offline music support for Spotify

**We don’t like: **No multi sport mode, limited apps, no dual-frequency GPS

£256.69

Price at

Amazon

The Garmin Vivoactive 6 strikes a winning balance between fitness-tracking firepower, simple style, 24/7 wearability and smartwatch smarts. At just 36g, it’s light, compact and comfortable. The vibrant 1.2-inch AMOLED display is on the smaller side but still does a good job of bringing a huge range of daily insights to life.

Activity tracking is excellent with your core health and activity insights including sleep tracking and coaching, steps, stress, body battery (a kind of energy level metre) and breathing rate.

Beyond that, the Vivoactive 6 is a pretty serious training tool, too. It has more than 80 sport modes, run-tracking tools, fitness benchmarks like VO2 Max estimates, fitness age along with daily suggested workouts and recovery time recommendations.

The battery life impressed for a smaller, AMOLED watch. I got six days of general usage and 8.5 hours GPS training on a single charge, which is significantly better than many smartwatches.

There’s no accuracy-boosting dual frequency GPS tech but in my tests, it tracked well against much pricier watches. Heart performance was solid, too, though I’d expect ECG heart measurements at this price and those are sadly missing.

It’s not as capable as the best smartwatches but it offers tools like smartphone notifications, weather updates and calendar alerts, offline music with Spotify and Deezer support, plus contactless payments.

Overall, the Garmin Vivoactive 6 is a good option if you’re looking for a smart package that’ll help you hit your health and fitness goals.

Read our full Garmin Vivoactive 6 review for more details.

Key specifications

• Screen type: 1.2-inch, AMOLED
• GPS: Yes
• Waterproof rating: 50 metres
• Battery life: 11 days smartwatch mode, 21 hours GPS
• **Dimensions: **W 42.2mm, L 42.2mm, D 10.9 mm
• **Weight: **36g

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5. Best Garmin Watch for Everyday Wear: Garmin Venu 3 / 3S

Score: 8/10

We like: Simple and well-laid design, option of a smaller size for daintier wrists, offline music playback

**We don’t like: **Small screen, No mapping tools, missing some core training metrics

£399

Price at

John Lewis

The Garmin Venu 4 landed while we were penning this guide, bringing a slew of new features that may well supersede the Venu 3. But it’s also carrying a bigger price tag so until I’ve tested it thoroughly, my pick of the best Garmin for everyday wear remains the Venu 3 / 3S.

This attractive fitness smartwatch blends fitness tracking, health insights and smartwatch functionalities, with a more style-conscious design than some of the sportier Garmins. It’s all tidy and minimal.

It comes in two case sizes, 41mm and 45mm. The 41mm I tested packs a smaller 1.2-inch, smartwatch-style AMOLED display. It’s not the sharpest but offers good readability and comfort. If you want more real estate for your daily vitals and mid-workout metrics, go for the larger Venu 3.

You can scroll through various settings using the screen

In my testing, the Venu 3 served up accurate heart rate monitoring (at least for wrist-based heart rate) and the GPS tracking was good for overall distances despite lacking dual frequency smarts.

The Venu 3 offers over 65 sports modes with all the essentials for running, cycling and swimming. When you’re not getting a sweat on, there’s enhanced sleep tracking, including nap detection, and detailed morning reports delivering daily insights into your sleep, recovery and readiness to take on the day.

Battery life stretches to 14 days in smartwatch mode and up to 26 hours when you fire up the GPS for workouts – right up there with the lower-end Forerunners.

Read our full Garmin Venu 3S review for more details.

Key specifications

• **Screen type: **1.2-inch, AMOLED
• GPS: Yes
• Waterproof rating: 50 metres
• **Battery life: **10 days smartwatch mode, 21 hours GPS
• Dimensions: W 41mm, L 41, D 12 mm
• **Weight: **34-40g

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6. Best Garmin for Everyday Adventures: Garmin Instinct 3 AMOLED

**Score: **8/10

**We like: **Rugged styling in a more compact watch, built-in flashlight, long-lasting battery life, strong performing GPS accuracy

**We don’t like: **No offline maps is an odd omission, the screen isn’t a touchscreen

£349

Price at

Blacks

Garmin’s small-but-rugged Instinct 3 offers the choice between battery-boosting solar or bright, smartwatch-style AMOLED displays. I tested the AMOLED edition, which surprisingly isn’t a touchscreen.

I found the Instinct 3 an appealing mix of a lighter, more wearable rugged design with a good sweep of sports tracking and adventure tools, plus long-lasting GPS battery life. A kind of Fenix Lite, but weirdly without maps.

Like the Fenix, it’s built to withstand knocks with military grade durability, a scratch-resistant display and an aluminium-reinforced bezel and it handled everything I threw at it. Behind that rugged exterior, you get everything you need to track most adventures whether you’re running, hiking, riding or swimming. There’s also plenty to monitor your fitness progress and daily health.

The information on the screen lacks the pictures using for settings, such as a red heart for HR, that other Garmins use

There are some important omissions, however. The lack of offline mapping tools is a big flaw for a rugged tracker. You have to make do with turn-by-turn breadcrumb and back-to-start navigation, along with distance to destination and future elevation for routes you load onto the watch.

There’s also no streaming music and Garmin’s older optical heart rate sensor lacks ECG capabilities. On the plus side though, you do get the excellent front-facing flashlight.

In testing, the dual frequency GPS performed well against the pricier Garmin Fenix 8 for total distances. Over a 20-mile run, the Fenix 8 logged 20.10 miles while the Instinct 3 clocked 20.07. On battery life, I got nine days’ general usage, training an hour a day.

Key specifications

• **Screen type: **1.2-inch, AMOLED
• GPS: Yes
• Waterproof rating: 100 metres
• **Battery life: **18 days smartwatch mode, 32 hours GPS
• Dimensions: W 45mm, L 45mm, D 14.9mm
• **Weight: **53g

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7. Best Garmin Watch for Battery Life: Garmin Enduro 3

**Score: **8/10

**We like: **Month-long battery life, excellent navigation tools, full suite of training tools, durable

**We don’t like: **No phone-free messaging, limited smartwatch tools

£769.99

Price at

Garmin

If battery life is your top priority, the solar-harvesting, rugged, adventure-ready Enduro 3 leads the way on staying power. Hit the trails using the All Satellite Systems GPS tracking, without any solar boost, and the Enduro 3 can go for up to 80 hours. The Fenix 8 lasts between 23 and 68 hours depending on the model. My 3.5-hour marathon using the Enduro 3’s highest accuracy mode burned just five per cent, while an eight hour ultra used just 14 per cent.

It might lack some of Fenix’s phone-free, safety messaging smarts and the super bright AMOLED screen but if you take your training and endurance experiences seriously, and to wilder places, the Enduro 3 still packs serious firepower. It offers a great combination of satisfying build, solid durability and impressive tools for training, recovery, health and navigation, all powered by the latest hardware and optical heart rate, GPS and bio-sensors.

When running, key stats like time, distance and pace are easily visible

At 63g, it cuts a lighter, tidier shape than the Fenix 8 and Fenix 8 Pro, though it’s still a chunky watch. It’s a highly competent navigator with offline colour maps, dynamic round trip and route guidance. I found it easy to create routes on the fly and upload hiking, biking and running courses.

When it comes to daily tasks, it’s not as smart as some Garmin watches. You get the essentials like offline music from Spotify and Deezer and Co, contactless payments and the new Garmin Messenger app though.

Key specifications

• **Screen type: **1.4-inch, MIP
• GPS: Yes
• Waterproof rating: 100 metres
• **Battery life: **36 days smartwatch mode, 120 hours GPS
• Dimensions: W 51mm, L 51mm, D 15.7 mm
• **Weight: **63g

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8. Best Garmin Watch for Runners: Garmin Forerunner 165 Music

**Score: **8/10

We like: Compact with wrist-friendly comfort, reliable GPS and heart rate, vibrant colour touchscreen, great running and fitness tools

**We don’t like: **Cheaper, plastic feel design, shorter battery life than some running watches

£249

Price at

Amazon

There are more fully-featured running watches in the Garmin line-up, but when you weigh up capability and cost, the Garmin Forerunner 165 Music is my pick for runners. It’s light, comfortable, compact and a good alternative to bulkier running watches.

I was impressed to find it offers most of the more useful running, health and fitness features you find on Garmin’s premium watches but distilled into a more basic, cheaper model. It has a killer bright display that’s bold, bright, snappy and responsive, as well as easy to read in all conditions.

Behind the Forerunner 165’s impressive display, you get enough run-tracking tools to cater for most runners across training and racing, including everything you need to conquer a marathon. That means all the usual training tools plus race specific extras like time predictions, race pacing and fitness benchmarking.

The Garmin Forerunner 165 Music is suitable for beginners, amateurs, and regular runners

The daily Suggested Workouts are great for beginners and building running fitness. The more ambitious can tap into adaptive Garmin Coach training plans tied to a target race.

Outside of training, sleep tracking and nap detection works well. Garmin’s Morning Report is a handy daily snapshot of how well you slept with recommendations for the day ahead. During the day, activity tracking, stress levels, body battery energy level insights, breathing rate and blood oxygen measurements, provide added insights.

The heart rate tracking relies on Garmin’s older optical sensors and wasn’t always faultless in testing but it handled most workouts with a reliability equal to some of Garmin’s pricier watches.

Key specifications

• **Screen type: **1.2-inch, AMOLED
• GPS: Yes
• Waterproof rating: 50 meters
• Battery life: 11 days smartwatch mode, 17 hours GPS
• **Dimensions: **W 43mm, L 43mm, D 11.6 mm
• **Weight: **39g

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9. Best Garmin Watch on a Budget: Garmin Forerunner 55

**Score: **7/10

We like: Light and compact, Garmin Coach guidance is great for beginners, week-long battery life, easy to use, competitively priced

**We don’t like: **Lower quality screen than premium models, no offline music and limited smartwatch tools, misses out on advanced training insights (e.g. readiness)

£139.99

Price at

Decathlon

If you’re just getting started on your fitness journey, you might baulk at the thought of shelling out hundreds of pounds for a top-end running watch. That’s where the Garmin Forerunner 55 comes in. One of the best cheap Garmin watches you can buy, it distils the bare training essentials into a compact, no-frills package that’s much more wallet friendly.

The design is a bit plastic and lacking the finesse of newer Forerunners higher up the chain, but that helps keep the cost down and the watch light. In fact, at 37g it’s one of the most wearable Garmins around.

It packs a smaller, simpler display; there’s no flashy AMOLED here, so there’s less room for your workout stats but it’s still easy to read in most conditions. It also offers good battery life for a compact watch with up to 14 days general use and 20 hours in GPS mode.

There’s no accuracy-boosting dual frequency GPS but the distance, pace and heart rate performance were reliable enough for the price. There are other compromises, though: no offline music, contactless payment, ECG and blood oxygen sensors. It also lacks maps and navigation features.

Still, with a suite of useful tools including Garmin Coach, daily training suggestions, PacePro pacing assistance, race time prediction, Body Battery energy level estimates, breathing tracking, sleep and stress monitoring, it’s an excellent basic-but-capable beginner GPS running watch.

Key specifications

• **Screen type: **1.04-inch, AMOLED
• GPS: Yes
• Waterproof rating: 50 metres
• **Battery life: **14 days smartwatch mode, 20 hours GPS
• Dimensions: W 42mm, L 42mm, D 11.6 mm
• **Weight: **37g

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10. Best Garmin Watch for Small Wrists: Garmin Lily 2 Active

**Score: **7/10

We like: Fitness tools with fashion accessory styling, compact and comfortable, simple to use, great on the basics

**We don’t like: **A bit light on smartwatch tools and insights for the price, small screen offers limited stats, no buttons

£249

Price at

Argos

Billed by Garmin as a ‘stylish smartwatch for women,’ the Garmin Lily 2 Active is small, lightweight and attractive. The classic watch – or fashionable accessory – styling distinguishes it in Garmin’s ranks. It’ll appeal to those who want simple fitness and health tracking in a more subtle and style-conscious design.

It’s incredibly light and compact, making it easy to wear overnight to unlock the sleep insights. Tracking is quite basic however, with steps, heart rate, sleep, overnight blood oxygen levels and menstrual cycle tracking measured, along with some of Garmin’s popular daily health measures like Body Battery energy levels and stress tracking. If you want more serious fitness readouts such as VO₂ max estimates, recovery tools or advanced training metrics, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

In testing, the built-in heart rate sensor tracked my resting heart rate and steady workouts well but sometimes struggled with intervals or anything with sharp changes of effort.

The battery life runs longer than many smartwatches with nine days of general use on single charge. That largely lived up to billing in testing. It packs average performing GPS but the GPS staying power is less impressive, with just nine hours run, ride or walking time tracking routes and pacing.

Smartwatch smarts are pretty limited too. This is no rival to the Apple Watch. You can leave your phone in your pocket to pay for things via contactless payments. You can control your phone’s music player from the watch but there’s no offline support for streamers like Spotify or Deezer.

Key specifications

• **Screen type: **LCD
• GPS: Yes
• Waterproof rating: 50 metres
• **Battery life: **Five days smartwatch mode, nine hours GPS
• **Dimensions: **W 35.4mm, L 35.4mm, D 10.1mm
• **Weight: **24.4g

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