The best Garmin watches you can buy: Expert tested

Based on my hands-on testing, I chose the Epix Pro as the best Garmin watch overall because it includes nearly every feature from Garmin, and supports tracking of all activities in the Garmin ecosystem. Few, if any, other Garmin watches are designed to handle as many sports, circumstances, and environments as this one. While its steep price may be a deterrent, this watch delivers more in function than most Garmin alternatives.

To compare all of our top choices to see what best fits your budget and battery life needs, here is a chart for a quick comparison.

*Lowest price at the time of writing. Please note that prices may vary based on retailer and available promotions, sales, or discounts.

Before you choose a Garmin watch, you should consider the following:

• Primary activity: As you start your search for a Garmin watch, it is important to start with identifying the main activities that you want to track with your watch. Garmin watch series are primarily organized by the type of your intended activity with watch designs optimized for those activities.
• Size: Do you want a large watch or a small watch? Garmin offers several different varieties, ranging from slim and sleek to larger and more utilitarian.
• Screen type: Do you want a brilliant AMOLED display that rivals a smartwatch or would you like longer battery life with a memory-in-pixel always-on display that looks great in direct sun?
• Price: One fantastic aspect about Garmin’s lineup of watches is that they vary in price in $50 increments from about $150 all of the way up and over $1,000. Buyers can also save money by picking up models from previous years, and with Garmin providing improved software support for these models, you should consider saving some money for functional older watches.

These Garmin watches were tested and evaluated by display functions, interface, long battery life, durability, supported activities, and price. Not all attributes were given equal weight, however. Supported activities, functions, and battery life were given more priority than interface, display, and price. High durability in design was a common theme throughout the considered Garmin watches and did not always vary significantly between many of the products.

When we test Garmin watches, we consider the following:

• Display functions and interface: Each Garmin interface on this list has slight variations. Depending on whether you’re using the watch to train for a triathlon or run outdoors, you may want different functions, such as trail trackback capability.
• Long battery life: Your watch is only as powerful as it’s alive and working. We considered solar and wireless charging options that provide ultimate battery life as you train and track, along with other options with a battery life that is well over 20 hours on a single charge.
• Durability: You’ll need a watch that withstands your environment, especially if you’re training outdoors and in the water.
• Supported activities: We considered the array of activities — outdoor and indoor — you’ll be wanting to track with your Garmin.
• Price: Smartwatches can cost a pretty penny — especially quality models — so we were sure to include mid-range models as well as the units with a more luxury price tag.

Once our top pick from each series was determined, they were then compared to each other and reviewed within this guide using the same criteria as above. Each of the five was selected as superlative in some role or for some audiences. For instance, the Epix Pro is the “best overall,” and the Forerunner 965 is the “best for triathletes.” These rankings are the opinion of the reviewer in the context of the review, based upon the above-stated criteria.

Yes. Most Garmin GPS watches are water resistant from up to 50 or 100 meters. Less expensive and older models tend to be water-resistant up to 50 meters, although this can vary by model and series. The more expensive and newer models like the Epix Pro are water-resistant to 100 meters. All of them can be used in the rain, while sweating as you work out, and even while swimming.

If the watch breaks within the first year and your limited consumer warranty covers it, then you may be able to have Garmin fix it for free or for a small fee. However, if it breaks outside of that warranty, you’ll likely need to have it repaired.

You can request a repair through the Garmin website and mail them your GPS watch for repair. There are also third-party repair businesses that may work on Garmin GPS watches.

Through most mainstream distributors, Garmin watches will include a limited warranty. However, this is a blanket warranty for Garmin watches, and specific models can have different warranties. The base warranty is a one-year manufacturer’s warranty, and Garmin does not offer extended warranties in most situations.

The Garmin Connect app is your digital hub for compiling all your fitness stats in one place. After downloading it on your phone, you can use a compatible device (like a Garmin sports watch) to see daily step totals, max heart rate during workouts, and much more. Further, the “Last 7 Days” gives you a weekly average of your physical activities, sleep, and average heart rate.

At CES 2024 Garmin announced a redesign of the Garmin Connect experience and we’ve been running it in beta form for a month. It offers a fresh look at your data and helps provide information in tiles via the At a Glance screen. Stay tuned for the public release of this refreshed application and website.

If you want a larger view of your data with access to many reports, you can also log in to the Garmin Connect website and take a deep dive into all of the data captured by your Garmin watch.

Thanks to Garmin watches’ extensive tracking features and athlete oriented metrics, Garmin watches are a highly popular choice among marathon runners and triathletes, especially its Forerunner series.

“I really like the data the Garmin connect provides from all my past activities, I can see the progress I’ve made over time and look back to previous training schedules, similar runs, Routes, etc,” says two-time Iron Man competitor and avid marathon runner, Jeramie Pinter.

Pinter, who completes one to two marathons a year, has been using his Garmin to train since 2011. He specifically utilizes Garmin’s training mode for certain workouts like track and tempo runs, measuring his pace zones for the given workout.

While we tried to include a wide array of Garmin watches in our review, there are many more to consider than what we can represent here. Consider one of these three alternatives for those who didn’t find the Garmin watch they want above.

Here are some alternatives, from the most affordable Garmin GPS watch to one of the most stylish to the most expensive: