Garmin - Forerunner 205

It’s kinda fun to be in both an Apple Watch ultra subreddit and this Garmin subreddit. In the AWU group it’s all about features, watch faces and how to go about”phone less”. In this group it’s all about comparing the battery life of a garmin watch to an Apple Watch. That amount of coping is insane. Tell yourself what ever you need to justify why you went with Gamin. I had garmin since the very first FR205 and have always loved my Garmin watches. Now I made the switch to AWU2 for various reasons and I can not see myself going back again anytime soon. And ye. I do charge my watch every other day - but I also do that with my phone. They just go in the charger when they need 🤷🏼‍♂️ it’s Really not a big deal.

I’ve had both and definitely have had more issues with Garmin. I have yet to experience a mid activity crash on my AWU in over a year, something that I’ve had happened multiple times on every Garmin device I have ever owned (a lot, I started with a FR 205 or 305). I still own a Garmin edge and it happened again last week. Riding along and you look down and the screen is just shut off. I do miss the battery life of my old Fenix but I got used to putting the AWU on the charger every time I shower and that seems to work 99% of the time. I don’t see a bright future for Garmin. There’s companies like Coros that make arguably better watches now for a fraction of the price (don’t take my word, look at all the pros using Coros now). When my Edge dies I’ll probably switch brands.

The other thing that is noteworthy for me about Garmin is that I find the customer service incredible. If there is any issue with your watch/power meter, etc, support is great. Once you get through the "reset the device" nonsense, if it still doesn't solve the problem, they just send you a new refurb. Even if it's out of warranty. I had the FR 205 brick on a wrist. The sealing on that was shit and sweat seeped into the watch. Boom, new replacement. 310XT, the plastic on the buttons would wear through and water leaked in when swimming. Yep, new repalcement. Heck, I had a pair of Vector pedals go bad and not only did they send me new ones, they sent me the Vector 2s. They have my lifetime loyalty and goodwill for that, across 20+ device purchases for myself and my family.

So i have been ride or die with Garmin for close to 20 years now (started with the forerunner 205). I will be tempted to switch when Apple puts satellite capability in the ultra watch. For trail running this is the dream. They need to figure out battery life though and Garmin needs some sort of LTE solution as well. For now i am really enjoying my new 965.

I've used garmin watches since the original 205/305 in 2006. All through those years charging has always been my main grip with various garmin watches. Be it the propietary charging ports or the fact that (at least for me) charging cables for garmin watches (garmin or third party) don't seem to last for more than a few months. On my current epix 2 I need to be very carefull after attaching a cable or it loses connection right away and on my fenix 6 pro before that the charging port on the watch itself broke.

Ultra and Cadence.app (you have to pay subscription, of course). But in my opinion, Garmin is better option for cycling and I’ve tried both - Garmin needs no subscription, has offline maps and more and better metrics. And somewhat can export to Apple Health too :)

I switched. 1) no need to subscription (I'd have to pay for at least three apps to just remotely mimic what garmin does out of the box - cadence, bevel or athlytic and fitify) 2) ability to connect and use all my gear (I tend to use Engo Eyewear AND Stryd Duo pod together, which is hardly achievable on AW (I never managed to do it). 3) Garmin just works. No fiddling with apps like AW, just select the activity and go. 4) Five buttons! AW tended to behave erratically when sweated with long sleeve. Not Garmin. Or swimming workouts are accurate thanks to those buttons and drill log mode. 5) Battery good enough to withstand long run in winter (AW tended to have problems in 30+ km runs in cold, not Garmin) Forerunner asks me if to go to power saving mode, when there are "just two days left" :) 6) it is iphone independent. I can freely choose whatever phone I like 7) Garmin connect has bad UI, but the data trove is great. 8) ANT+ - lots of gear uses it 9) maps are in the watch offline, no need for data connection, like AW

Seems like I am replacing my watch every 2-3 years. Battery is always the reason. Have gone with the base models of the garmin forerunner (35,45,55) then finally upgraded to the 200 series most recently.

If they won't want to charge it daily, a Garmin is a great option. The next question is whether they will go through and select specific activities when they do them (hike, golf, cycling, etc). If so, then go to the Garmin website and confirm which model has what you want. If not, then it really doesn't matter as they'll be using the basic background activity tracking features. The Forerunners in the 200 series are good values with most activities, but maybe not golf.

With gps actively going(most battery intense thing you can do), a forerunner with MIP will last you like 3 to 5 days straight. OLED probably a solid 2 to 3 days straight. If you just want to wear it when not using it for activities, you get like 2 weeks before charges.

Use forerunner for swimming and it works great. So happy I no longer have to count my laps and I can just swim.