The best Garmin watches are tailor-made for the outdoors, whether you're a dedicated triathlete, a regular golfer, a weekend surfer or an all-round fitness enthusiast. They provide information about your heart rate, calories burned, how well you slept, GPS maps of the routes you took during your workout, and much more. They're well-suited to supporting an active lifestyle, especially if you love to run, cycle or swim.
Unlike other smartwatches from phone brands like Apple, Samsung or Google, Garmin watches are system-agnostic, meaning they'll work with any smartphone as long as you have the Garmin Connect app. This makes them popular choices, as you're not tied to any particular ecosystem.
Matt is TechRadar's Senior Fitness and Wearables Editor, which means he's an expert on workouts, smartwatches, and all things fitness tech. Matt's spent years covering the health and fitness beat, is a regular Garmin user, and has personally tested the watches below.
The quick list
Want to get straight to the best Garmin watch for your needs? Use our quick round-up below to immediately find a GPS watch that suits you – and you can read more about it by jumping to our full write-ups and explanations using the links.
The best Garmin Watch for most people
The Garmin Venu 4 tops our list because it does everything so well for both lifestyle and fitness considerations. It's not the most expensive, but still packs lots of features, and is ideal for fitness enthusiasts looking for an Apple Watch replacement.
The best for new runners
If you're new to exercise and don't want to splash on Garmin's top watches, you can get many of the great features and save a bit of cash by going for the Forerunner 165, which still comes with GPS and great training metrics.
The best Premium Garmin on the market
The Garmin Fenix 8 is a phenomenal bit of premium kit. It's got a hefty price tag, but that'll net you an advanced GPS, a new heart rate sensor, 16 days of battery life, dive computer features and more.
Load the next three products
The best Garmin watch for outdoor sports
The Garmin Instinct 3 is our top outdoor pick. It's reasonably priced, offers an updated design, cool colors, a flashlight, and new fitness tools.
The best Garmin Watch for runners
The Garmin Forerunner 570 is an amazing watch for people serious about their running. With new Hill and Endurance scores, advanced metrics, and a gorgeous AMOLED screen, it's perfect regardless of whether you love the tarmac or the trail.
The best for golf
A great golf watch, full of features including shot detection and full-color maps of thousands of golf courses worldwide, and offers superb fitness tools too.
The best Garmin watch overall
✅ You want a versatile fitness watch: The Venu 4 is great for those who dabble in different kinds of workouts, from cycling to gym work.
✅ You want something that looks good: The Garmin Venu 4 looks classic with its round design, metal body and multiple sizes, ensuring it won't look out of place at work.
✅ You want communication features: The Venu 4's speaker and microphone allow you to take, make and respond to calls on-wrist, and you can connect Bluetooth headphones directly to the watch to listen to music.
❌ You want directional maps: Built-in full-color maps are useful for golfers, adventurers and long-distance athletes, but the Venu 4 doesn't have this feature.
❌ You want longer battery life: At a maximum of 12 days for the 45mm model, the Venu 4 outshines Apple and Samsung, but can't compete with solar charging or super-premium Garmin watches.
The Garmin Venu 4 is the ideal watch for someone who wants a fitness watch that doesn't look out of place at work. It's perfect for people who wouldn't describe themselves as hardcore adventurers or triathletes, but still lead an active lifestyle, and might take on a big challenge once a year such as a marathon.
It's not the most expensive watch in Garmin's stable, but still packed to the brim with features. A speaker and microphone allow you to take calls on-wrist for convenience, take voice notes and activate the phone's voice assistant to perform simple tasks like open workouts and set timers. Its metal body and classic design keeps it looking nice for the office, and protects it on the trail.
Weather updates, Morning and Evening Reports, Training Readiness Scores, Lifestyle Logging and more make it a great all-round wellness tool. It can store 32GB of music, so you don't need your phone on a run. Its metrics are accurate too: during testing, I measured its heart rate sensor against a chest strap and its GPS against an Apple Watch Ultra 3.
Read our full Garmin Venu 4 review
The best cheap Garmin watch
✅ You want a cheap fitness watch: The Forerunner 165 is on the cheaper end for Garmin, around the price of the Apple Watch SE 3. It's also frequently discounted.
✅ You want great running metrics: If you do a lot of running, the clue's in the name: the Garmin Forerunner 165 offers lots of dedicated running features.
✅ You want a light watch: The Garmin Forerunner 165 weighs just 39g, making it light on your wrist and comfortable for exercise and sleeping.
❌ You want premium features: The Garmin Forerunner 165 does not have up-to-date features like the Training Readiness score, although it does have the older Body Battery feature.
❌ You want premium materials: The 165 is mostly comprised of cheaper plastic and chemically-strengthened glass rather than metal or Gorilla Glass like more expensive watches.
The Garmin Forerunner 165 is Garmin's beginner-friendly running watch, and it's frequently discounted during deals season. It's got an AMOLED touchscreen and five tactile buttons, ensuring plenty of ways to interact and control the watch.
Once it's on your wrist, newcomers will discover an array of excellent training tools inside that'll help you monitor your fitness and optimize your training. These include new suggested workouts based on your past activities, which help give your training some structure even if you're not following a dedicated plan, and Garmin's Body Battery functionality. After a workout, you'll also see advice on how long to rest and recover before your next effort.
Garmin's signature GPS accuracy makes it a great entry point for anyone upgrading from a fitness tracker like a Fitbit to a dedicated sports watch. It's a bit more expensive than a Fitbit Charge 6, and you have to pay extra for the version with onboard music storage, but you can control music on your phone just fine with either version.
Read our full Garmin Forerunner 165 review
The best premium Garmin Watch
✅ You want to go diving: The Fenix 8 is dive-rated, offering dive computer statistics to scuba enthusiasts.
✅ You want the best battery life: The Solar models offer lower-power MIP screens with battery-extending Power Glass solar charging tech.
✅ You want something tough: The Fenix 8's raised titanium bezels will protect the already-toughened Sapphire Glass screen.
❌ You're not an adventurer: Chances are, most people who actually buy the Fenix 8 won't need to use all or even most of its features.
❌ You're on a budget: The Garmin Fenix 8 is a terrific watch, but it's by no means a cheap one.
The Garmin Fenix 8 was one of the most hotly-anticipated launches from the company in years, and it certainly lives up to the billing. Iterating on the Fenix 7, historically one of Garmin's best offerings, the Fenix 8 features brilliant hardware including an AMOLED display, speaker and microphone for calls, an LED torch.
There's new waterproofing and you can even use the Fenix 8 as a dive watch a-la Apple Watch Ultra 2. In fact, it's rated for diving up to 40 meters, although Garmin reckons it'll manage way deeper than that.
There's improved GPS onboard powering a new "dynamic routing" feature that automatically generates directions to take you home when you're out cycling or running, as well as route alterations if you take a wrong turn. Our stellar review is based on the smashing 47mm version, but there are three total size options 43mm, 47mm, and 51mm. There's also a Solar version with a MIP display and commensurately huge 48-day battery life.
While it doesn't deviate too much from historic Fenix designs, it still looks absolutely fantastic and ranks as one of the very best Garmin's we've ever used.
Read our full Garmin Fenix 8 review
The best outdoor Garmin watch
✅ You're a hiker or trail runner: The Garmin Instinct 3 is full of cool outdoor features and its GPS is more accurate than ever.
✅ You want great battery life: Like the Fenix 8, the Solar models offer Power Glass solar charging technology in some of its screens.
✅ You're looking for a cheaper watch: Can't stomach the price of a Fenix 8, but want a great outdoor companion? The Instinct 3 is worth a look.
❌ You want an understated watch: To contrast with the attractive Garmin Venu 4, the Instinct 3 is big, bulky and rugged.
❌ You're a gym bunny: If you like to exercise indoors or in the city, you'd be better off with a Venu or Forerunner watch.
The Instinct 3 is the best Garmin for the great outdoors in 2025, as it's built to last long in the wilderness and comes with all sorts of navigational and fitness features. You have the choice of a bright AMOLED or lower-power MIP display, with Power Glass solar charging options for the latter to extend its battery life. If you're out in the sun for three hours a day, you might get indefinite charge if it's bright enought.
It's sporting some excellent new vibrant colors, a flashlight to help you see in the dark or signal in the wilderness, and Garmin's usual excellent fitness suite, including guided training from Garmin Coach. It's also packing Garmin's SatIQ technology for improved GPS positioning.
Battery life is down to 18 days in smartwatch mode for the AMOLED model, but crucially you'll get more (32 hours) in GPS mode. Otherwise, the Instinct 3's beloved button controls are back, although no touchscreen here. Neither does it have the upgraded Elevate V5 heart rate sensor, sticking with the older, less accurate V4.
Read our full Garmin Instinct 3 review
The best Garmin watch for runners
✅ You're a serious runner: The Garmin Forerunner 570 is the 165's bigger sibling, packing almost all the features it's missing.
✅ You want to wear gloves: The Forerunner 570's five-button configuration is ideal for training in winter, so you can control it without a touchscreen.
✅ You're interested in triathlon: The Forerunner 570 is ideal for those runners into cycling and swimming features too.
❌ You want big battery life: 10 days isn't huge, and with the always-on display on, our tests found that dropped to around four.
❌ You're not a runner: It sounds silly, but why pay for a host of features you're not going to use?
The Garmin Forerunner 570 is a fairly iterative update with a bold new look, changing too little about its predecessor, and it loses some battery (no doubt rerouted into power for that new brighter-than-ever AMOLED screen). However, it's still an excellent fitness watch, and suitable for everyone from beginner runners to seasoned triathletes.
It's an excellent running watch by any metric, and packs a lot of features into a compact package, with an impressive range of workout modes, dedicated feedback on your training load, and a new Triathlon Coach feature. Daily suggested workouts, Race Calendar features and running plans via Garmin Connect allow you to train for events more strategically.
If you're primarily a runner and are looking to upgrade your entry-level watch to something more advanced, the 570 is well worth your consideration. Even if you're a regular marathon runner, this will see you right. It's lightweight enough for everyday wear and comes in black (unobtrusive) and various other two-tone, translucent G-Shock style colorways (garish). It's also got a speaker and microphone to take calls on-wrist.
Read our full Garmin Forerunner 570 review
The best Garmin Watch for golf
✅ You want maps of your course: The Garmin Approach S70 comes with over 43,000 preloaded golf course maps for better shot mapping.
✅ You want to take weather into account: The PlaysLike Distance feature offers you the actual distance, while taking into account mitigating factors. Handy for long shots.
✅ You're looking for fitness features: As well as an outstanding golf watch, the Approach also packs Garmin's usual suite of training metrics.
❌ You want pinpoint-accurate wellness: The Approach S70 sports the older Elevate V4 heart rate monitor, which isn't quite as accurate as the newer V5.
❌ You want to take calls on the course: No speaker and microphone means no hands-free phone calls, so you'll need to keep your phone in your pocket instead of leaving it in your golf bag.
The Garmin Approach S70 was rated our best golf watch overall because it's really, really good. That's all there is too it.
During our tests, our reviewer loved the extensive new features, including PlaysLike Distance, which looks at contextual information to help the wearer understand both the actual distance and how conditions affect this. It's got great battery life, an AutoShot mode that makes life easier on the course, and Green View. Green View allows you to position the pin manually using the large color touchscreen, and shows you the green's contours: essential if you're planning a birdie and want a, well, a bird's eye view of the green to better determine your angle of attack.
All Garmin's usual Garmin Connect smarts are here, so it doubles as a sports watch too. This is the perfect tool for golfers getting active both on and off the course.
Read our full Garmin Approach S70 review
The best Garmin watches compared
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Garmin Venu 4 | Garmin Forerunner 165 | Garmin Fenix 8 | Garmin Instinct 3 | Garmin Forerunner 570 | Garmin Approach S70 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Price | $549.99 / £469.99 / AU$949 | $299.99 / £249.99 / AU$489.95 | From $999 / £849 / AU$1,699 | From $449 / £349 / AU$829 | $549.99 / £459.99 / AUD$999 | From $649.99 / £499.99 / AU1,099 |
Size options | 41mm, 45mm | 43mm | 43mm, 47mm, 51mm | 45mm, 50mm | 42mm, 47mm | 42mm, 47mm |
Touchscreen | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Battery life | Up to 12 days | Up to 11 days | Up to 48 days | Up to 40 days | Up to 10 days | Up to 15 days |
Onboard storage | 32GB | 4GB | 32GB | 4GB | 8GB | 16GB |
Speaker/mic | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Heart rate sensor | Elevate V5 | Elevate V4 | Elevate V5 | Elevate V4 | Elevate V5 | Elevate V4 |
How to choose the best Garmin watch for you
- The best Garmin watch for you will depend on your fitness goals and your budget
- A cheap Garmin watch will still provide you with good training plans, recovery help and running features
- But a cheap Garmin might not cut it if you're doing marathons, triathlons and Iron Man races, and you may need a more expensive watch
When choosing a Garmin watch, there are three key points to consider: what sport are you interested in, what level are you at, and what is your budget?
If you're starting your fitness journey and want a watch that will help improve your habits, that's fantastic – a watch in the Venu line will suit you perfectly. They're pretty small and discrete, making them great for all-day wear, and offer a good range of general fitness tracking tools. If your budget runs to it, the Venu 4 is our top pick: otherwise, you'll want an older Venu or a cheaper training watch like the Garmin Forerunner 165.
The Forerunner 165 will work very nicely for beginner runners, all the way up to half-marathon distances and beyond, as it's certainly got the battery life for it. If you also enjoy cycling, swimming or both, the Forerunner 570 and 970 are superb triathlon watches that will serve you well. Worried about scuffs and scratches? Take a look at the Instinct 3; it's built like a tank and has incredible battery life.
If you're seriously into your training and want the most profound insights into your health and fitness, the Fenix 8, Epix Gen 2 and their newer Pro variations are excellent choices. The latter is perfect if you want to explore new routes, as its high-res OLED display is brilliant for mapping.
Frequently asked questions about Garmin watches
Are Garmin watches waterproof?
- Yes, most Garmin watches are waterproof to at least 5ATM
- Some are diveproof (10ATM) like the Garmin Descent series or Fenix 8
- You should always rinse your watch after saltwater exposure
Pretty much all Garmin watches are waterproof to at least 5ATM, which means they're able to track swimming and other watersports without issue in open water and pools alike.
If you've been in the sea with your watch, it's worth giving it a rinse with fresh water afterwards to prevent saltwater damage, but they're more than capable in the sea. I've been open-water swimming and surfing with various Garmin watches, and never had any issues.
Some Garmin watches are designed for diving, and are rated to 10ATM to withstand the pressures of deep water. These include the Fenix 8 and the five-star Garmin Descent Mk 3, which we asked a diver to review. This watch wasn't included in our list above as it's a niche piece of kit, but it's an awesome watch that regular divers will love.
Best Garmin watches for women vs men: Is there a difference?
- There are no specific Garmins for men vs women, although some watches have a cycle-tracking functionality
- Many Garmin watches come in multiple sizes, which should be a consideration for those with smaller wrists
- Some smaller Garmin watches don't have all the features or power of larger watches, like the 40mm Instinct E vs the larger Instinct 3 models
Functionally, there's no difference between Garmin watches for women and men – they're generally unisex, similar to Apple Watches. Size, weight and style are considerations for everyone, and where Garmin watches have multiple size options, we've outlined those in our full reviews. Generally speaking, most Garmin watches are pretty chunky, and smaller sizes and lighter watches tend to be preferred by individuals with slimmer wrists, especially if they're running watches.
Another aspect to consider are the features available, including women's health tracking. Most Garmin watches have the ability to track menstrual cycles using heart rate, skin temperature and other metrics, but even if the watch features those options you can choose to opt out or turn off the feature in Settings.
Some smaller Garmin watches don't pack all the features of their larger siblings. The Instinct E, for example, is the 40mm version of the 45mm and 51mm Instinct 3, but offers an older MIP display instead of the new AMOLED screen, and packs a shorter battery life. It is, however, cheaper than its larger sibling.
Do Garmin watches work with iPhones and Android?
- Yes, they're system-agnostic
- They just require the Garmin Connect app
The best Garmin watches listed above are system-agnostic, so they work with all different kinds of phones, Android and iPhone alike, as long as you can download the Garmin Connect companion app.
Do Garmin watches require a subscription?
- Not for the base features
- Subscriptions are available for extra AI features, golf features, or inReach
No. Garmin Connect is a free app, and most of its features are completely free to access. A few AI-powered features are locked behind a paywall called Garmin Connect+, but this hasn't been received well by the community.
Several other optional subscriptions such as Garmin Golf, which offers additional golf features, or Garmin's satellite messaging service inReach, cater to niche functionalities. However, the base app remains free to use, and it's packed with tons of great stuff.
Garmin Elevate V5 vs Elevate V4 sensors: is there a difference?
- The older Garmin Elevate V4 sensor isn't as accurate as the newer V5
- I've tested both against a leading chest strap
You might have noticed in the reviews above that we've highlighted two different heart rate sensors used in Garmin watches, the Elevate V4 and the Elevate V5. The V5 is the newest and redesigned heart rate sensor, complete with electrocardiogram functionality, and is claimed by Garmin to be more accurate than the older V4.
I put both to the test against a leading chest strap-mounted heart rate monitor, the Polar H10, which is used by amateur and professional athletes alike, and is my benchmark for accuracy.
When I tested the Garmin Venu 4, with the Elevate V5 heart rate sensor, against the H10 chest strap, there was a difference of 5bpm on average between the strap and the watch. When I tested the Garmin Instinct 3, which uses the V4, there was a sizable 18bpm difference on average. The V5 is clearly more accurate, then, so those using watches with the V4 sensor should bear this in mind.
Your readings will be in the right ballpark if you have a watch with a V4 sensor, but those wanting pinpoint-accurate wellness tracking should look at V5-equipped watches.
How we test the best Garmin watches
When testing a Garmin watch, we wear it night and day for at least two weeks so it can build up a full picture of our health and fitness, and ensure battery scores live up to specifications. We slept, exercised, and recovered with all the Garmin watches on this list to determine which is best for which purposes. We weighed up the accuracy of their GPS tracking, the responsiveness of their heart rate monitors, and the quality of their training tools. We've also evaluated their battery life, display quality, and overall design.
We track at least five workouts across those two weeks to give us an idea of how long the watch's battery will last in typical use.
To test the accuracy of the watch's heart rate monitor, we'll compare it to a rival watch, usually an Apple Watch Ultra, and a chest-mounted heart rate monitor. If it has mapping capability, we create a new route using Garmin Connect, sync it to the watch, and use it to navigate the route.
We'll test the watch in a variety of situations, from running to indoor cycling, looking at the details of metrics such as heart rate variability and sleep scores. Does the wealth of information available match up to similar watches in its price range? Is the presentation dense or helpful? Check out our how we test section for more details.
