The very best GPS working watches for 2024

Out of all of the watches I examined, the Garmin Forerunner 165 was the one I wished to put on probably the most after I went out for a run. The experience of the Forerunner line is within the identify, and Garmin really excels at making complete but pleasant GPS working watches in flavors that may go well with all types of athletes, from newbie to knowledgeable. The Forerunner 165 stands out with its light-weight design, vivid AMOLED touchscreen, simple button controls, correct built-in GPS and its capacity to trace exercise stats simply in addition to all-day exercise information.

Beginning a run with the Forerunner 165 is as straightforward as urgent a single button — the top-right button on the case actually has “run” embossed onto it, and it takes you to the exercise profile menu the place you possibly can select the train you need to observe. Run is the primary choice, however you’ve gotten greater than 25 profiles to select from together with observe run, treadmill, stroll, energy, swim and extra. When working outdoors, the GPS took a mean of 15-20 seconds to lock onto my location, however you don’t have to attend for it to take action — press the run button once more to start and the GPS will catch up by itself.

Throughout a run, it’s straightforward to look down on the vivid, 1.2-inch AMOLED show to test stats like distance, tempo and coronary heart charge. Audio prompts are enabled by default and so they’ll let you know the time it took you to finish every lap (mile). You possibly can customise these prompts additional within the Garmin Join app if you wish to know issues like your present tempo, coronary heart charge or coronary heart charge zone and different information. That is one thing I recognize about Garmin Forerunner wearables typically — you possibly can go as deep as you need with them. I desire protecting audio prompts to a minimal, however somebody with a distinct choice can get all the data they need learn out to them with just some faucets within the app.

That extends to different components of the Forerunner expertise as effectively by way of the Garmin Join app, which has come a great distance in recent times. The beforehand clunky, complicated app has been effectively refined to be able to customise its homepage the exercise and exercise stats you care about probably the most, together with issues like Physique Battery, Sleep Rating, menstrual cycle data and extra. It’s straightforward to dive into your most lately tracked exercise and get within the weeds with tempo, cadence, coaching impact (cardio or anaerobic), energy and stamina stats. On prime of that, Garmin’s adaptive coaching plans will help you put together for 5K, 10K and half-marathon races with steered each day exercises and customized suggestions primarily based in your most up-to-date exercise information. What pissed off me most prior to now with Garmin Join was the truth that it wasn’t very user-friendly, and that made it troublesome to essentially use a tool just like the Forerunner 165 to the fullest. That’s not an issue anymore.

I discovered the 30.4mm case on the Forerunner 165 to be simply the suitable measurement for my wrist, and at 39 grams, the watch is tremendous light-weight and cozy to put on even throughout the sweatiest of coaching classes. The bands are interchangeable, too, since they’re an ordinary 20mm measurement. However I loved those included with the Forerunner 165 as a result of they’ve a wholesome variety of notches on them, making it straightforward to get a just-right match to permit for correct coronary heart charge monitoring.

Garmin places the battery lifetime of the Forerunner 165 at 11 days in smartwatch mode, and I discovered that to be largely correct even with a handful of GPS-tracked runs thrown in. The corporate claims you’ll rise up to 19 hours of battery life with steady GPS use, which ought to be sufficient for many runners and athletes competing in long-haul races. It’s also possible to get the 165 with music storage inbuilt or not, with the previous permitting you to retailer music regionally on the watch so you possibly can pay attention with a pair of Bluetooth headphones.

The Garmin Forerunner 165 will set you again $250 with out music storage, or $300 for the mannequin with music storage inbuilt. That’s on the decrease finish of the worth spectrum for GPS working watches; you could possibly simply spend $500 or extra should you’re uncertain about what you want and what’s simply further fluff. Whereas Garmin does have just a few cheaper gadgets, the Forerunner 165 strikes the suitable stability of characteristic set and worth that may attraction to seasoned runners and people who are simply diving right into a extra regimented working routine. It does all the fundamentals effectively and helps numerous further options like coaching impact that may appease runners searching for one thing barely above common from the bounce, however will even be helpful for novice runners who need one wearable that may develop with them because the advance their coaching.

Learn our full Apple Watch Sequence 10 evaluate

Do not consider the Apple Watch as a working watch. Consider it as a smartwatch that occurs to have a working mode. Years after the unique Watch made its debut, Apple has efficiently reworked its wearable from an overpriced curiosity to an really helpful companion gadget for the plenty. However being a gadget for the plenty signifies that in terms of working, the Apple Watch has by no means been as characteristic wealthy as competing gadgets constructed particularly for that function.

That is still true now, even with the Apple Watch Extremely 2 within the combine. However we’re speaking about the usual Apple Watch right here, and we prefer it partially as a result of it’s the mannequin on this record that we predict most individuals will need to put on on daily basis, all day lengthy. The latest mannequin is fashionable, or a minimum of as fashionable as a wrist-based laptop will be, and positively extra so than another working watch. The aluminum, waterproof physique and impartial Sport band go together with most outfits and can proceed to look recent after all of your sweaty exercises and jaunts by way of the rain. And the always-on show is straightforward to learn in direct daylight.

As for working particularly, you are getting the fundamentals plus just a few extras. You possibly can see your distance, calorie burn, coronary heart charge readings, common tempo and likewise rolling tempo, which is your tempo over the previous mile at any given second. It’s also possible to set tempo alerts — a warning that you are going quicker than you meant to, for instance. When reviewing a exercise within the Health app, you possibly can see extra stats like common energy, vertical oscillation, floor contact time and stride size.

For extra detailed monitoring, your greatest wager is to look outdoors of the Apple ecosystem and experiment with third-party working apps for the iPhone, like Strava, RunKeeper, MapMyRun, Nike Run Membership and others. These allow you to observe actions with the Apple Watch and sync information between the devoted app and Apple Well being — arguably the perfect of each worlds.

Apple guarantees an all-day battery life and, certainly, I by no means have an issue making it by way of the day even with a GPS-tracked run thrown in. That mentioned, most devoted working watches declare longer utilization time — between 30 and 40 hours of general battery life in some instances. On the subject of exercises particularly, Apple charges the battery life with GPS at as much as seven hours. Provided that, I’d belief the Watch to final by way of a brief run or perhaps a half marathon, however it may battle in direction of the tip of a slower, 5-hour or extra marathon.

If battery life is your largest concern, you might need to think about the Apple Watch Extremely 2, which Apple claims can last as long as 35 hours with GPS turned on. That’s on the excessive finish of Apple’s spectrum, with the low finish being 12 hours with GPS turned on and no different compromises (like Low Energy Mode enabled). Nonetheless, 12 hours is almost double the GPS-enabled battery lifetime of the Sequence 10, so the Extremely might be a great choice for runners who need a watch they’ll comfortably (and stylishly) put on all day and nonetheless use for coaching. Nonetheless, extra informal runners will discover all they want in the usual Apple Watch.

And for anybody trying to avoid wasting money, the Apple Watch SE isn’t a nasty choice if you already know this method will work greatest for you. The SE has all the identical core working options as the usual Apple Watch, however you’ll have to sacrifice in just a few methods. In comparison with the Apple Watch Sequence 10, the Apple Watch SE’s show is about half as vivid at peak energy, which can make it tougher to learn outdoor. The SE additionally runs on the S8 SiP, which received’t be as environment friendly as the brand new S10 within the Sequence 10. Elsewhere, there’s no fast-charging or ECG capabilities on the SE, and it’s not IPX6 mud resistant. Discover how none of these options are particularly associated to understanding or working, however they might have an effect on your general expertise and the longevity of your smartwatch.

When you’ve used one Garmin Forerunner watch, you’ve just about used all of them. The largest variations between our prime choose and the extra superior Garmin Forerunner 965 are available further options, plus a bigger case measurement that sports activities a modern titanium bezel.

For starters, there are a variety of extra particular exercise modes obtainable on the Forerunner 965 that aren’t on the 165, together with indoor climbing, archery and bouldering. The premium watch additionally helps trackable metrics like non-obligatory all-day acclimation for pulse ox, and extra superior information factors like coaching readiness and standing.

To get a great understanding of the minute variations between numerous Garmin gadgets, the corporate’s web site has a helpful comparability instrument that will provide you with the rundown of all probably the most nerdy stats. When you’ve got a focused coaching plan or a selected objective you’re attempting to achieve, it’ value consulting the comparability instrument to ensure the GPS working watch you’re pondering of shopping for can deal with all the things you throw at it, and experiences all the things again to you that you just want most.

The 2 {hardware} variations between the Forerunner 965 and the 165 which may make or break your determination are available GPS and battery life. The 965 has multiband GPS, which Garmin claims is extra correct when utilizing the watch in “challenging” environments like amongst tall buildings in cities and in areas with a number of tree cowl. I didn’t get the possibility to check this since I dwell in suburbia the place houses could also be semi-close to one another, however skyscrapers are nonexistent. Nonetheless, the Forerunner 965 was noticeably quicker at buying a GPS sign earlier than beginning a run — it sometimes solely took 5-10 seconds for it to lock onto my location.

Battery life is rated increased on the Forerunner 965 as effectively: you possibly can rise up to 23 days in smartwatch mode, which is double that of the Forerunner 165’s 11-day battery life in the identical mode. The 965 also can run for a most of 31 hours in GPS mode (it might be much less relying on the opposite sensors you’ve gotten employed concurrently), whereas the 165 will final about 19 hours. Very similar to with multiband GPS, deciding how a lot battery life you want will largely rely in your coaching routine and private preferences. In the event you’re a long-range runner who spends hours on the path throughout each coaching session, it’s honest to say both Forerunner gadget will serve you effectively — however you’ll have a major battery buffer should you go together with the extra premium choice.

We’d be remiss to not point out the Fitbit Cost 6 on this information, which sits on the prime of our record of greatest health trackers. In the event you’re not bought on the standard timepiece design, the Cost 6 affords a compelling various. It has a decrease profile general, to not point out its band design is extra svelte than a lot of the prime picks on this record. It nonetheless has a full-color AMOLED contact show, a facet button for simpler navigation, 20 train modes and a days-long battery life. The built-in GPS gives correct distance and tempo monitoring for outside runs and bike rides, and you may even pair the Cost 6 with some train machines by way of Bluetooth once you’re exercising indoors.

The place you sacrifice with the Cost 6 is in superior options and customization. It could’t compete with Garmin gadgets in terms of train information tracked, and it doesn’t assist that some exercise information lies behind the Fitbit Premium paywall both. Watchfaces are customizable solely to a degree and the bands are proprietary. Nonetheless, it’s one of many cheaper objects on this record, so should you’re trying to solely spend what’s essential to get built-in GPS in a wearable, this might be a great choice should you’re prepared to cope with some limitations.