Which Garmin should I buy? We weigh up the most popular options

If you're looking for a new fitness tracker and have decided on Garmin, you may be asking which one you should buy. Given that there are over 70 options live on the website right now, we don't blame you for wondering where to begin.

Garmin devices sit among the best fitness trackers and are specifically designed for those who regularly exercise and want to record their workouts, monitor recovery, and improve their overall health. What makes them different from other devices are the features that help along the way though - from superior GPS navigation for runners and hikers to on-screen, follow-along workouts for the gym.

It's rare to find fitness trackers that wrap so many brilliant features into one wrist-sized device. However, there are a few ranges and different watches to choose from. As woman&home's digital health editor, I've been testing and wearing this brand for years - my favourite being the Garmin Forerunner 945, which I bought in the Garmin sale a couple of years ago and still wear every day. Here, I reveal which Garmin is likely to fit you best based on lifestyle and exercise habits.

Top 3 picks

Which Garmin should I buy?

The best Garmin for most people

Excellent fitness tracking sensors, advanced health monitoring and must-have smartwatch features wrapped up in a smooth design for less than an Apple Watch? It must be the Garmin Vivoactive 5, with over 40 workout modes from running to pickleball, advanced sleep and stress tracking, and on-wrist call and text notifications. If I had to choose just one device that could work for most people, it would be this one.

Start a workout in just a few taps and get all your 'must-have' information displayed on a full-colour AMOLED screen. Take walking, for instance - start a walking workout and you'll see your distance, pace, duration, and your heart rate zone on your wrist. When your workout is finished, you'll see the session logged in the Garmin app (which is the same across all devices) and be able to view more detailed insights, including the route you took.

This watch offers the same sleep insights as most other devices from Garmin, with sleep quality and duration recorded and an overall Sleep Score (a rating out of 100) provided, so long as you wear the watch to bed. It can even detect any naps you take - one of few devices with this feature - and add them to your sleep profile for a complete overview of your recovery efforts.

The Garmin Vivoactive 5 is more than a fitness tracker though. With this watch, you can pay with one tap of Garmin Pay, control your music with phone-free access, and view photos, bridging the gap between tracker and smartwatch just as seamlessly as the newest Apple Watch. Plus, the Vivoactive 5 is smaller than many others from the brand (screen size: 30.4 mm), comes in four colour options off the shelf (you can customise all Garmin devices to some degree), and lacks the classic 'rugged' design seen on models of the Forerunner and Fenix, so it's more suitable for daily wear. It also offers 11 days of battery life in smartwatch mode between charges, so provided you're only doing a couple of workouts a week, you could go for almost a fortnight between charges.

However, the device is missing a barometric altimeter. This is a floor counter essentially, so this device won't be able to count how many 'flights' of stairs you climb every day and may lack some accuracy when it comes to tracking undulating terrains on a run or bike ride. Unlike the Vivoactive 4 - the previous model - it also doesn't offer workout animations for the gym, yoga, Pilates, HIIT, and so on (go the Garmin Venu 3 for that feature) and the hardware is made from aluminium rather than stainless steel, so it may lack the same durability as other devices.

Yet, while it's not the top choice for hikers or cycling obsessives (though you can connect this watch to a power sensor and other indoor cycling kit), this is the watch that'll work for most people. It has all the essentials for tracking workouts and recovery, helping to improve your health without any faff. Our tester Ciara McGinley, who reviewed the watch, said: "I can't fault this device for accurate stats and useful insights into my workouts, daily life, and sleep. It's also so easy to use, which is a big plus."

The best Garmin for runners

If you're a keen runner, you may already be familiar with the Forerunner range - of the lot, it's the one that's best suited for regular runners - whether that's indoor track running, running on the treadmill, or city jogs. The Garmin Forerunner 265 is widely considered to be the 'catch-all' of the range, offering advanced insights into running and cycling workouts, with on-wrist programmes to follow, advanced health sensors, and sleep and stress tracking.

There are over 30 workout modes to choose from - with seven just for running and eight if you include Triathlon. Complementing these, there are individual HIIT, strength, yoga, and Pilates modes to choose from with workouts available to download to your watch and follow in real-time. The watch also uses your VO2 max and your previous running data to predict your time in a 5km, giving you a simple idea of how your fitness is progressing - the faster the time, the fitter you are.

Unlike the Vivoactive 5, the Forerunner 265 has a barometric altimeter - which means it can record how many 'flights' you're doing. When you're running, this means the watch can detect when you're going up a hill and recognise you'll be putting in a harder effort while doing so.

As standard across all Garmin types, you'll be able to record your sleep duration and quality, as well as stress scores, to give you an overview of your recovery. Together, your efforts and recovery come together to create a Body Battery score. This is a score that can offer a good indication of what your body needs on any given day - more sleep, more rest, gentle workouts, or full-on efforts - and is included in the Morning Report, which sits on the screen of your watch at the start of every day.

The AMOLED display is excellent, offering a complete view of the watch face even in bright sunshine, and dual touchscreen and manual navigation offer easy access no matter how you're moving.

The Forerunner 265 also comes with plenty of useful smartwatch features that complement your workouts, enough to rival the Venu 3. All versions of the 265 offer music storage and playback directly via your headphones - no need to buy a special model for this or take your phone with you. Training Readiness is also included on the 265 - a feature which takes into account your stats to advise on the best type of exercise to do that day.

My only gripe with the 265 is that there is no feature for on-board maps. For the £399 price tag, that's to be expected but it's still an investment, so if the 265 isn't quite in your budget, you'll find similar features on the Garmin Forerunner 165 for just over £230. For on-screen maps, you'll have to go up the levels to the Forerunner 965, which is currently on sale for £539 at Amazon. This means you can't get turn-by-turn navigation on-wrist for your runs, so you'll need to do this on your phone or know where you're going.

The best Garmin for gym workouts

The Garmin Venu 3 could have easily made our top pick. The Vivoactive 5's excellent features for a lower price tag won us over in the end but this excellent device comes in a very close second and is the closest you'll get to an advanced smartwatch with lifestyle tools and superb fitness tracking.

For gym-goers, this is the best Garmin in my view. It has over 40 workout modes, with different options for types of strength training and options for indoor, machine-based workouts like treadmill running and cycling on a stationary bike. What impresses me (and our tester for this watch, Ciara McGinley) the most about the Garmin Venu 3, however, is the on-screen workouts. Covering key fitness areas such as strength, HIIT, yoga and stretching, choose one from the Garmin app and send it to your device to follow along with at the gym. It replaces the need for popular workout apps at no extra cost and offers fitness newcomers a little more confidence and structure to their sessions.

You can also create your workout within the app, choosing from over 1,600 exercises. Send it to your device to follow along with, recording sets and reps as you go on your wrist.

Going hand-in-hand with these excellent fitness features are the Garmin Venu 3's smartwatch capabilities, which can be useful for distraction-free workouts at the gym. "The Garmin Venu 3 comes with all the bells and whistles. On your wrist, you can see notifications, reply to texts, and even take phone calls [with a connection to Android devices]. It also has Spotify connectivity so you can control your music without touching your phone. If you're considering another advanced smartwatch with fitness-tracking features, like the Apple Watch Series 9, then it's certainly worth weighing this one up too."

However, some smartwatch features are only available on Android phones - such as sending texts from the watch - so if you have an iPhone, this is worth bearing in mind in the toss-up between Garmin vs Apple Watch.

The best Garmin for hiking

If you regularly go off the beaten track when walking as a workout, the Instinct 2 could be the Garmin for you with the two stand-out features being the superior GPS - needed if you find yourself in dense forests or built-up cities and accurate within just a few meters, which is more than what many devices can promise - and battery life - up to 28 days in smartwatch mode and up to 70 hours in constant Max Battery GPS mode. That's way more battery than any other fitness tracker I've seen.

Much like any other Garmin device, the Instinct 2 has multiple workout modes, allowing for specific statistics to be measured during your workout (like pace for running or speed for cycling). You can track your sleep with light, deep, and REM sleep stages available to view on your wrist, monitor your menstrual cycle and see predictions for your next period on your wrist, and even view your fitness age at a glance. It's safe to say, this watch covers the basics and more.

Where it differs from others on this list is the maps feature. The Instinct 2 Solar watch allows you to upload maps from the Garmin Connect app so you can track your location, find your way back to the start of the route, and get a turn-by-turn navigation. It's relatively simple and lacks detail compared to other Garmin devices but given the price difference between the Instinct 2 Solar and watches that offer full-colour maps, like the Garmin Fenix 7 (£519.99), I'd say that's not too bad.

While the rugged design may not be for everyone, you do have a choice of sizes with the Garmin Instinct 2 so you can size down or size up your device based on your preferences for appearance and readability. Equally, if you're looking to avoid constantly checking in on your device, this could be a good choice since the display is about as neutral as they come with grey and black pixels - and though the watch does receive smartphone notifications, that's about it where smartwatch features are concerned.

The best budget-friendly Garmin

For those new to fitness trackers, the Garmin Forerunner 55 is a great choice - and under £180 at full RRP. Designed to be easy to use (though lacking a touchscreen) with five buttons to navigate the watch on the move, all clearly labelled to avoid confusion in the early days of use.

It's an excellent Garmin for those looking to do more exercise and take their fitness more seriously. For example, one feature new to this watch on release is training suggestions - these appear before you start a workout and are based on your activity history. They advise interval training, an easy run, or a speed session for your workout, for example. You can choose to take the advice or dismiss the notification and exercise as you like, of course.

For a watch with a lower price tag than many other Forerunner devices, I was impressed to see many advanced features - including built-in GPS (so you can leave your phone at home to track your route), daily workout suggestions, cadence alerts, race predictor widget (that tells you your predicted time for a 5km run), and post-exercise recovery advice, alongside other regular workout modes.

In the sale, I saw the Garmin Forerunner 55 for the same price as the Fitbit Charge 6 (another excellent tracker with fewer features). However, it is missing several features that are worth bearing in mind. The one that I immediately noticed was the lack of sleep widget on the device - you'll have to look at all your sleep data in the app. Music playback also isn't possible without a phone connection. This means you'll be able to control the music through your watch but you'll need to take your phone with you on the move.

The best Garmin smartwatch

With its stylish design, choice of several colourways, and a discreet but brightly-lit face, the Garmin Lily 2 is the device for you if you want a fitness tracker with smartwatch features that looks and acts like a regular timepiece.

With the Lily 2, you can record up to 15 workouts and track your sleep at various light, deep, and REM stages with additional insights into your heart rate, stress levels, Pulse Ox2, and breathing throughout the night. Advance sleep insights I'd expect to see as much on the advanced Oura Ring as this fitness tracker, so if sleep insights are important to you, it's worth weighing up Oura Ring vs Garmin Before making a decision.

You can see your Body Battery on your wrist and get a Morning Report at the start of every day, highlighting your key need-to-knows - such as sleep score, upcoming appointments, and weather. Also, it's possible to receive text and call notifications on your wrist when the device is paired with your phone.

This Garmin watch wouldn't look out of place with a regular daily outfit - you'd have to look pretty hard to see that it was a smartwatch at all. However, as a compromise, it is missing a couple of key features which may call the device's almost-£300 price tag into question. For me, the main ones are a lack of in-built GPS (so you'll need to bring your phone with you on outdoor workouts and the data is unlikely to be as accurate) and limited workout modes, with half the amount of the Garmin Forerunner 55, instance, but with the essential running, cycling, and gym workouts all still there. Given the smaller screen size, reading notifications and navigating through the menus on the Lily 2 is a little harder than it would be on other devices too.

The lack of advanced data and features makes it a good option for those just starting out with fitness and tracking their workouts too as it cuts it back to the necessities. Also, if features like built-in GPS aren't important to you (because you don't run outdoors, for example), they shouldn't put you off. The answer to the question of 'which Garmin should I buy?' ultimately comes down to personal preference - you won't miss these features if you don't plan on using them anyway.

The best Garmin for tracking your step count

Still wondering 'which Garmin should I buy'? If getting steps in is your priority, the Garmin Vivofit 4 could be the best option. It's a stripped-back tracker that truly goes back to basics, prioritising step count and walking above all else, with some basic sleep tracking and smartwatch features.

For those new to exercise, this is no bad thing. Walking has been shown to improve cardiovascular fitness, help maintain muscle mass, and enhance emotional wellbeing by boosting your mood. It's an excellent way to get on the path to improving overall health and wellbeing. Even though I work out multiple times a week, I still consider my step count to be one of the most important indicators of how much movement I'm getting in and whether I need to do more exercise on any given day.

With the Garmin Vivofit 4, you'll see your step count, distance, and predicted calorie burn on your wrist for walking, running, cycling, and swimming activities. The goal is to hit 10,00 steps and then the watch offers a personalised daily step goal to help you make progress over time. There are no workout profiles to enable - the watch automatically recognises which one you're doing, sending the session to your Garmin app when you're done. Simple.

You can also track how many hours you spend asleep - but there aren't any insights into your sleep stages or a sleep score. So naturally, if you're looking to gain detailed insight into your fitness across a range of activities and want to prioritise more than just your step count, I'd recommend any of the other devices on this list instead - with the Vivoactive 5 coming up top.

What are the different types of Garmin watches?

Forerunner

• Best for: Runners and cyclists, discreet design, bright displays

The Forerunner range from Garmin is designed for runners of all levels as well as cyclists and triathletes. While anyone can use one of these watches and find some benefit, the superior GPS, on-wrist workouts, and multiple sub-genre modes across running, cycling, and swimming workouts make them especially suitable for those looking to improve their fitness through these sports.

On some, the watch face will prioritise running insights so you can see how many kilometres or miles you've run that week at a glance. Widgets such as Body Battery (which takes into account your strain vs recovery to give you a score for the day, which aims to advise you on what your body needs), Training Status (the impact your workouts are having on your fitness from Detraining to Peaking), and Intensity Minutes (the amount of time spent in moderate or vigorous activity measured in 60-second periods) are also available to view at the touch of a button.

The Forerunner design tends to be sleek and lightweight with multiple colourways in each model to suit your style and preference. There's no getting away from the fact that these watches are fitness trackers but they aren't as bump-proof and rugged in design as the Instinct or Fenix.

Vivoactive

• Best for: Daily workouts, sleep tracking

The Vivoactive range - of which the Garmin Vivoactive 5 is the latest - will keep you moving, prioritising daily exercise, step count, and sleep metrics over specific sports activity stats as the Forerunner range does. There are over 30 workout modes, including indoor track running, open water swimming, and stand-up paddleboarding, among more common activities like HIIT, running, cycling, yoga, and more.

Where recovery is concerned, users can log their rate of perceived exertion post-exercise to monitor their fitness efforts, work out their fitness age, and create personalised workouts on the app to follow along with on the watch. It's a great choice for all-rounders and those who like to exercise in various ways over the week.

Nap detection - alongside sleep score, sleep stages and duration puts it a step above the other ranges for sleep tracking and it's one of the only Garmin devices to offer Wheelchair Mode, which tracks pushes, offers weight shift alerts, and recommends individual workouts for wheelchair users.

Venu

• Best for: Gym workouts, advanced features, strength training

The Venu and the Vivoactive range are very similar in many ways - but the Venu is more advanced, offering users a more premium experience and design with more smartwatch features in exchange for a higher price tag.

Fitness tracking is all about prioritising regular exercise and good recovery instead of focusing on sport-specific insights with the Venu range offering a great range of workout modes - everything from Padel to yoga. The full-colour animations accompanying the on-screen workout programmes set this range apart from others by the brand, offering users a complete demonstration of each exercise and giving a helping hand to those working out. However, not all have this feature - it's missing on the Venu Sq 2, for example.

Design-wise, you'll notice an elevated look with a stainless bezel on the most recent Venu 3 and a bright AMOLED screen, visible in any kind of light and at any time of day. These devices are also all touchscreen and manual navigation-enabled, so you have a choice when you're on the move, and there are multiple sizes to choose from.

Instinct

• Best for: Hiking, distraction-free workouts, battery life

The Instinct range from Garmin has the double benefit of being the best watch to buy for accurate, super-detailed GPS and long battery life and the one to buy for distraction-free workouts as the display on these watches is not AMOLED and uses minimal colour.

Designed for hikers, trail runners, cyclists, and exercise enthusiasts with a penchant for getting out in the wilderness, the Instinct is an advanced watch with a rugged design built to withstand the bumps that come with these sports. Reflecting its purpose for outdoor use, you can buy the watch in multiple versions: Camouflage, Surf, Tactical, Dezl, and standard, each other built for a different outdoor pursuit.

This certainly isn't the best Garmin for those who prefer city running, walking, and gym workouts. That'll be the Forerunner or Vivoactive range. But if you've started surfing recently or love hiking, this will be the top choice.

Fenix

• Best for: Surfers, skiers, mountain bikers, hikers, long-distance running.

If you don't regularly go surfing, mountain biking, skiing, or long-distance running, then the Fenix range isn't for you. But if you do - and you've got a budget to play with - then it could be the best option.

Along with all the standard fitness tracking stats (from step count to distance and calories burned) and plenty of workout modes, this range has specialist features to enhance your understanding and performance in sports like mountain biking, ultra-distance running, surfing, and skiing, with tools designed to improve your endurance and stamina specifically.

Many keen runners also prefer the Fenix range to the Forerunner range as the design is a little more premium with the watches built in a fibre-reinforced plastic casing with a stainless steel bezel casing rather than aluminium and more advanced insights for hill training and pace monitoring.

Get to know Garmin: FAQs

Are Garmin watches waterproof?

Yes, all Garmin watches have a waterproof rating of 5ATM or more. This means they can withstand water pressure equivalent to 50 meters and are suitable for basic water activities like showering, swimming, and recreational snorkelling.

Unless otherwise stated, these watches aren't suitable for continued submersion over multiple hours or swimming deeper underwater in activities like diving.

Does Garmin work with iPhone?

Yes, all Garmin devices are compatible with iPhone and Android models. This means they can connect to Bluetooth without an issue and it's free to download the Garmin Connect app, which you need to use the device most successfully.

However, some smartwatch features are only available with Android devices. For example, on the Vivoactive 5, you can only send text messages via your watch if connected to an Android phone. That's where the Apple Watch has the advantage over Garmin.

Does Garmin track sleep?

All Garmin devices can track sleep duration and most will record the sleep stages (light, deep, and REM sleep) and offer a Sleep Score at the end of the night from a rating of 100 - perfect if you want to learn how to sleep better.

As well as recording when you fell asleep and woke up in the morning, Garmin watches will record how long you were awake during the night and how long you spent in each of the three sleep stages.

Many advanced Garmin watches, such as the Lily 2, also record other data relating to sleep - such as respiration rate and blood oxygen saturation (Pulse Ox) levels through the night - which can tell you even more about your sleep quality.

However, no data on any Garmin device is designed to be a diagnostic tool. If you notice issues with your sleep data and have concerns, speak to your doctor.

Do Garmin watches go on sale?

Yes, Garmin watches are on sale throughout the year direct from the retailer and via third-party sites like Amazon, Argos, and John Lewis. I've noticed deals around Amazon Prime Day and Big Deal Day, happening on October 8 and 9 2024.

Before buying a Garmin in the sale, consider what you need to know before buying a fitness tracker, compare products from the brand (for example, a heart rate monitor like the Garmin HRM-Fit could be the better choice for you), and weigh up competitors. For example, compare Fitbit vs Garmin as these two brands have similarities across some devices.