Garmin wearers - assemble!

Thanks. I'll have a play and see what it can do. I have the basic free Garmin, not Premium, so I'm not sure I can get its full functionality!

Do you use Strava? I nick people's routes from there sometimes.
You can save to Strava and they automatically appear in 'courses' in Garmin if your Garmin and Strava are linked. Then you just have to go into the course and click on he little icon in the top right to send to your device.

I had a very basic Garmin for years, and now have a very swish Forerunner

Love it!

But have never worked out how to load routes - anyone got a link for an idiot-proof guide on how to do it? Also, is there a good way to nick other people's routes (could be v useful on holiday)

I think your new watch will have to play catch-up. But for many functions, this will be v quick as it'll monitor pace, gradient adjusted pace, heart rate and spit those out into useful form. By the time you've had it 3 weeks, it'll be absolutely on point (including for the weird sleep-related things like HRV balance)

I switched from Apple to Fenix 6 pro and love it. DH has the fenix 7 pro and loves it.

Highly recommend! 👍🏼

i've got a vivoactive 4s. bought after years of forerunners - 102 then 235.
i bought the one i have now as it's smaller and a little more attractive as i wanted to start wearing it all the time. i love body battery - it's so accurate!!

Thank you!

the 245 definitely records elevation

I have a forerunner 235 and love it. Currently looking to upgrade but not sure what to. I want to keep with forerunner and not bothered about having music. One review I read said though that one of the newer models didn’t record elevation? Do the 245 and 255 record this? ( apologies for the thread hijack 😃)

@ImBrian that's dangerous territory! I went ski touring with a guy who would check his watch before answering to "did you sleep well?" at breakfast everyday

This 😂 mines constantly telling me I just need to try slightly harder to get out of maintaining 😂 but it works.
I have a fenix 7s, I use it for strength training, cycling, climbing & running and it’s great.
I love data and you get lots of it. First thing in the morning me and my partner compare our sleep scores to see who’s won 😂

I'm on my third Forerunner watch. Currently got a 245 and it does everything I need it to for pace tracking, step count, sleep, body battery, you can set up interval workouts. If your main sport is running then I don't think you can go wrong with that range, it just depends which features you want and how much your budget is.

I have a Garmin Solar. Not had time to check out all the functions yet but it’s great in the pool and I love that if I’m camping or on a multi day thing, I can roll up my sleeve and it recharges a bit.

I have a garmin fenix 6. Love it. Despite it being a gaslighting bastard. Nothing is ever good enough....work hard?...too hard!!... Easy effort?....too easy!! Feel that the science and metrics are based on men!

Another very happy 255 owner here! I upgraded from the F45 (I think it was) last year as I also wanted body battery, be able to choose the face etc
I love the watch/Garmin app and spend far too long obsessing over data! I have tried following a few of the Garmin Coach plans which were ok but currently really enjoying the daily suggestions. I've programmed in my upcoming events and it suggests runs based on my goals for these (can be just to finish or time/pace based goals).
There are some great features like Pace Pro where you can download your event/course onto the watch (no mapping though on the 255) and it will set an adaptive pacing plan. You can even tell it if you want to positive or negative split, how much slower on hills etc and it will programme your watch accordingly. The only problem is I need to practice with it more as when I set it for a 10k I realised I didn't fully understand the data screens but couldn't stop mid race to work it out!
Agree, sleep not totally accurate as mine sometimes thinks I'm asleep when I'm just sat watching TV (guess it's measuring based on heart rate, breath rate and lack of movement).
The real shocker for me was how awful my HRV is after a few wines🫣

I've got a really basic Forerunner 35 and it's brilliant. The battery lasts a couple of weeks usually and I love it.
I used to have a Fitbit with all the bells and whistles and it died after a year, I've had my Garmin for four or five years now.

Another shout for the 255, and there's a 265 now so there are some decent prices to be had on the 255 and also the 245. I got mine in the Black Friday sale last year, and since then it's had several software updates so that just when I think I have more than enough training metrics another graph appears on Garmin Connect.

I've got the Garmin Fenix 7s Solar, my husband has the Fenix 6. It's like a part of my arms my Garmin. Best thing I've ever owned - love the watch and the app!

As @MagpiePi mentioned, maps are the one useful feature of the more expensive ones. On the 255 you can program a route and it will say turn left now, but you don't get a street map so it can be hard to follow in a new area or off road. On the more expensive ones you get proper maps

I've got a Garmin 245, bought secondhand off a woman who was into ultra marathons and found the battery didn't last long enough for her. I can report it is fine for me! I run about 3 times a week, do about 3 or 4 cardio classes, swim a couple of times and maybe do a medium length walk and charge it about once every 3 or 4 days.

I don't use the body battery readings, and I don't find the sleep tracker at all accurate. It can't actually tell that I've been awake for a couple of hours in the night and says I've had a solid 8 hours.

I like that you can download routes to the watch and it will beep if you go off the route and warn you of turns coming up. I also like the Garmin app and spend too long downloading different watch faces and extra data screens from the store. I will find the perfect set up eventually!

I just bought myself a Garmin Forerunner 245 as a birthday present to myself. Researched for ages and in the end found a very good deal on Amazon.

I absolutely love it. The stats are detailed and accurate, it looks great and has the most brilliant battery life.

I was only disappointed with one thing when it arrived - that the screen is not very bright. But got used to that very quickly, and it has press-button illumination when you really need it, like in the dark (obvs).

I love it so much I have become a bit of a slave to it. And move when it tells me to!

There are so many functions that I keep finding as I go along. The most recent, of many, was a very useful interval timer. It is all in there, even if you have to delve around to find it.

And the Garmin Connect app is fabulous.

Good luck with your decision making, OP.

The advantages that I see over over apple seem to be: more thorough app, charging one a week, more robust and you look like a really serious runner ;) Apple is shinier, prettier and much better as a smart watch with apps etc

Mine gives me body battery readings. I think they (almost) all do because it's a calculation of heart rate, speed and fitness level. I don't personally find it terribly helpful though

I have the Vivoactive 4S and I love it. It does everything I need (for marathon training) and a lot more. I don't use all the body battery stuff, or the smart features, but it's all there.