I’d be interested in what people think is the best Garmin to buy in terms of value for money. I was looking at the Vivoactive 4 and the Forerunner. There are so many of them I don’t know where to start.
What’s the best Garmin?: I’d be interested in... - Bridge to 10K
What’s the best Garmin?
This may help (or even confuse you further) but I've got the forerunner 235 and it's pretty much all I need, it doesn't do music though 👍
More than happy with my forerunner 45 .Does everything I want or need for a running watch and reasonably be priced 👍
Oh runners' watches! It's a minefield of choice out there - I did the same as you and asked the forum. In the end I bought a Forerunner 45s and I love it. I would buy the same again 👍🏼😊
It certainly is a minefield of info! Does it have music capability?
No it doesn't play music directly. As I always run with my phone I have always played my music or podcasts on that, but I can control the music through specific buttons on my watch, which is great. You'll need to go to the Forerunner 245 and the higher spec watches for music capability.
Hi, can you swim with the Forerunner 45s?
I don’t know.... best check out the Garmin website as I do know some of them do, but I don’t think the 45 is one of them. My friend is a triathlete and has an all singing all dancing Garmin that does record his swims.
I think for running the best options are the Forerunners. I had a 235 first, until it went crazy on me (it got stuck in some kind of tech mode - as if system data were running all the time) and then I moved up to a 635 Forerunner Music which does a bit more. It doesn’t seem to exist any more and the things it does extra are fun, but not really necessary. When my 235 died on me I considered the vivoactive, but the forerunners came off better for running purposes, which is what I mostly do! Depends what you want and how much you’re willing to pay!
I want one that has the usual stuff like heart rate, sleep and water monitor among other things and can also play music.
My 635 does all that, although I don’t use the water monitor. As I said though, it doesn’t seem to exist any more! The higher forerunners will also do all this, I’m not so sure about the current 235 (it didn’t play music in my day).
I've got a vivoactive 3 music and I love it. Spent ages researching, (knew I wanted a music one). Then I noticed this one in the clearance section in John Lewis - decision made! £99 and you can use Garminpay on it, which is really handy too!
I love my FR 245, I like all the stats, and also got the Running Dynamics Pod, a little gizmo that clips on the back of your shorts, it gives you loads of pretty coloured graphs, like cadence, stride length, left foot/right foot balance and more. I'm not bothered about music on my watch personally, I always run with a phone, but I think there is a model that does music. I paid around £230 I think
That sounds like a good one for sure. For me I need the music along with all the other amazing stuff that you've just mentioned as I'd like to run without the phone.
I think we should always take a phone, what if you have an accident or twist your ankle or something?
Oh, and this works with a chest strap too, gives you all the same data I believe. I didn't fancy that but people say they're fine.
I have a VivoActive 4S and am very happy with it. The first months I used the smart watch functions like getting text message on it and such, but I turned it off as it ate battery like crazy. I have turned everything off except for the 24/7 check of heart rate, breathing, stress, sleep, etc. And I use it to track my runs and get all the stats of course. I do roughly a week with 1 battery load now. I chose the VA 4S because it is smaller than most other watches and I use it as a regular watch. I wear it 24/7 (sleep tracking), except when I shower. You can shower with it (you can swim with it), but I use that time 1 time a week to load the battery (I do shower more than 1 time a week though, hahaha).
I have the vivoactive 4s (the smaller version) and I love it. It does masses of things that I will never use though and records a vast number of different kinds of sports from golf to swimming to pilates.. If I was buying again though I wouldn't bother with the music. On longer runs I feel safer taking my phone. So now I have leggings with a phone pocket and sometimes i use an old waist strap money belt to carry phone, glasses, jelly babies etc.
In terms of value for money, the Vivoactive 3 Music is way cheaper than the Vivoactive 4 and has all the same stuff except pulseOx. (The Vivoactive 3 without music is cheaper still.)
The 4 has slightly better battery than the 3. There is also a 4s which is smaller and has prettier colours but the battery isn't as good as the 4.
I’d get the 245 or 45 👍🏽