Forerunner 230

How did you connect your HR to your watch? I can’t get it to work- I have Garmin 230. Maybe it’s too old?!?!

Fenix 7pro solar. Love it, its functions and battery life! I hope it lives as long as the one it replaced (FR230, which is still working after 8 years of use!)

I had a 610 years ago and a 700-series a different time. Might be getting it backwards. I think there's always been a 900-series? The intermediate models tend to wander, though I think they've usually had a 200-series as well. I had a 230 for a while and I know there was a 245, 255 and 265, so it was a reasonable assumption that there'd be a 270. DC Rainmaker kind of hated the 165 and 265. Like his reviews really read like he thought we should get Instincts instead. He's also been talking about how Garmin is maybe trying to rationalize their line. So maybe now it's Lifestyle watches -> Instinct -> FR 570 -> FR 970 -> Fenix -> higher-end Fenix variants. I dunno... I was really waiting for this because I wanted to at least wait a generation before replacing my 165. But the price hike in the 970 is kind of a shock. Maybe I'll do a 965 in a bit, now that there's something to make it last year's model. Now that I have AMOLED I don't really want to go back, especially if part of my deal is wanting maps.

I have a 165. It's just ok. It's definitely Better At Everything than the 230 I had before. But it's also heavily nerfed vs. the 265, or even the 245. If you do a 200-series watch, the 'S' versions are smaller and available with more fem-coded colors. I'm not that familiar with Runna. Garmin has a fairly strong point of view about who they think their user is. I'm not that user. You may or may not be. I run once a week and ride my bike twice. I settled on that probably a few years ago now. I sometimes do more but that's what I find sustainable. Most of my rides and runs, I don't care about that much. I just want to keep maintaining my fitness. ("Build" is a bit optimistic for this frequency and given my previous fitness peaks.) So the memes surround a few things. Sleep tracking on watches, including Apple, is kind of a shitshow. Garmin ties sleep tracking to some other metrics. If you don't wear your watch to sleep, no problem! Also it'll give your wrist a break. Training Status actually works kind of well, I think. Don't get too spun up about the specific number it comes up with for VO2max, but it probably does correlate well. Daily Suggested Workouts work well for someone with a stable running practice, which I think is both of us, and with a correct max heart rate entered in the watch. If you want to use Daily Suggested Workouts, keep running normally or following your Runna workouts for the first two weeks or so when you get the watch. If you don't know your max. heart rate, you're probably fit enough to do a field test. I found auto detection over reported mine, and made the workouts too hard. If you run 3X/week or less now, don't uncritically start doing all the Daily Suggested Workouts. Keep it to 3X/week until you think you're ready to add more, if you even want to. They actually work fine on lower frequencies. Garmin Coach wasn't super usable for me. The resistance training module was a total bust for me. I usually don't wear my watch outside of running, so I'm not sure about the smartwatch stuff. Also I think for those of us who actually run and do more ambitious activities, step tracking and stair counting are a bit silly, though we can probably all benefit from getting off our asses on non-run days.

You need to set your expectations appropriately. Wrote too much, deleted it. My first Garmin was a 610 something like fifteen years ago. I think the mid-range Forerunners are pretty good. I'm skeptical of the 970 and Fenix and inclined to laugh at people who buy the MARQ. I suspect that part of my attitude here is that my current 165 (don't buy, get the 255 if this is your pricepoint) is way better than my 610 was and a bit better than my 230 and mostly good at what I want to be its core competency. People are pissed off when they're comparing to a fantasy watch that's as good as an actual sleep study, lab VO2max test, educated, attentive human coach, and Google Maps on their phone or at least the Edge or one of the handhelds. And yes, as good at being a smart watch as the Apple Watch. Especially at higher pricepoints, some modules are a shitshow. You need to come in with some idea of what features are important to you and research if they actually work. Or come in with open expectations and just move on when some features don't work.

You're probably going to get each brand's fans telling you theirs is the best. The Garmin Forerunner 200- or 500-series will give you great coverage of running and cycling. I'm less sure about swimming. I know people do it but I'm not much of a swimmer. I think there are some tricks to setting it up well. It should give you ok coverage of basketball. You'll see how it impacts your overall fitness picture. I found the weightlifting module unusable but people do use it. Must-have accessory - an external heart rate sensor. I think there's a right thing for swimming in particular. It should work fine for the other stuff. The handlebars adapter. If maps are important to you, within Garmin you really need two devices.

Lots of options. Check out the Venu series, Vivofit, and Vivoactive. IMO the value-added aspects of the Forerunner are around running and other aerobic endurance sports. Are those relevant to you?

Forerunner can be a great alternative to Fenix if you're price conscious. Or just last generation Fenix. Do you care about maps?

Forerunner does that stuff too. In general, higher-end Garmins add, they don't take away. Are you serious about any of your sports? Like planning seasons, building for events, that kind of thing?

Changed my mind... I think without an explicit indoor rowing activity profile and VO2max, the extra analysis stuff on the Forerunner won't really work. Not sure if any of the watches have that. I know there are some accepted equations to estimate that stuff, though I think you'd also need a reasonably accurate power meter on your rowing machine. So yeah, Venu or whatever is fine.

My opinion, go with the Forerunner. Check out all the chatter from people moving on from their Apple Watches - I get that some of the newer ones have much better support for running but you say you have an older one. And you're not going to want to carry your phone either. How much running have you done up to now?

My first Garmin was the Forerunner 10 back when I first started running and before “smartwatches” were a thing! From there, I had the Forerunner 230, Fenix 5s (was way overkill for what I needed and it was confusing to use), Vivoactive 4s, Venu 2SQ and I currently have the Venu 3s. I upgrade every couple of years and buy them directly from Garmin’s website. They have a side by side comparison tool which is very helpful when you are trying to decide between watches.

If you are very big into running metrics, then you would want a Forerunner. If not, then the Vivoactive series is a great all around fitness watch. It does work well with an iphone. You will not need to connect to Apple Health as Garmin has its own app that will track your health stats and it syncs with the watch. The important thing to know coming from an Apple Watch is that Garmin watches are fitness watches first so you won’t be able to text through it or make calls (unless you get a watch that has a speaker and mic and has this specific feature, like the Venu 3 or 4). You will be very happy with the battery life though!

When I got my first Forerunner, maybe 10 or so years ago, it was because Garmin was better for what I needed (HR, GPS, marathon training plan), and I wasn’t interested in a smartwatch. It was also way more expensive, for something I saw as just “cool”, but not as solidly functional. My SIL and her family are all gaga over Apple, which was a turnoff (“why didn’t you get an Apple Watch?”, as if it 100% has to be the best thing ever, also making me feel like I was some sort of dufus). Garmin was a sports watch with a few smartwatch-type capabilities, and Apple was a smartwatch that could do a few sports/health related things. And (at least back then), you couldn’t connect an HR strap to the Apple Watch for increased accuracy. Now, I just look over at my husband every day when he says “ARGH! I forgot to charge my watch!” either before he heads out to do something he wants to record, or before bed when he remembers he needs the alarm in the morning. His Apple watch is a few years old now, but it has been like that since Day 1. Every workout is an exercise in just hoping his watch doesn’t die before he’s done. Also, he uses Strava for his workouts, which is great, but after a hike or bike ride if I ask him any details from it, he has to wait until he can look on his phone or iPad. He can’t just look through the results immediately. While I’m now on my 4th Garmin (switched to a Fenix 5s by choice, then after a while the battery started dying in cold weather (I’m a XC skier), and most recently my fenix 6s developed an inability to reliably connect to GPS), I’m not regretting it. Except the ability to take phone calls on my watch - that would be nice, but it’s literally the only feature I’m jealous about. I will say the each Garmin I’ve had has been better than the last: FR 230 < Fenix 5s < Fenix 6s < Fenix 7s Pro SS. They are getting soooo expensive, so I bought the 7s recently when they were on sale, and refuse to go to the 8s. Never thought I’d spend $650 on a watch! It’s insanity. When I was shopping around and comparing features and reviews, I looked at Polar and Suunto also. But never for a moment looked at Apple. Oh, and I most definitely do not want a touchscreen. My new Fenix 7s Pro does have one, but it also has physical buttons, and the touchscreen can be locked out as needed. All I need is to have to deal with a touchscreen while wearing ski gloves. I’m pretty well immersed in the Garmin ecosystem at this point, between the progression of watches, Edge bike computer and Varia radar. I do have an iPhone and an iPad, and used to have an iPod, but that’s more because it’s easier to use the same interface for those. Overall, it’s just personal choice. One doesn’t really have to be dominant over the other. Each person needs to look at what each watch does, compare that to their priorities and preferences and needs, and go from there. There likely isn’t a wrong answer. For me, the battery life is king, especially in cold weather. And HR accuracy, but if the thing dies mid-activity, HR recording won’t help much. To ME, Garmin is more of a training tool, and Apple is more cool eye candy.

I’ve had my apple watch series 5 since Sept 2019 and it did not make it through my marathon but I will say I was slower than I expected to be. My garmin forerunner 230 from Christmas 2015 still has excellent battery life and all it’s lacking for me is heart rate. I don’t think it’s necessary to upgrade every 4-5 years but maybe it depends on the watch.

I can remember running before GPS running watches came about, but I wore my candybar garmin for years! Wish I wouldn't have given it away, because it was still working great when I decided to downgrade to a smaller/newer model. I usually keep mine until they break or die. I spend enough on shoes every year, I'd hate to have to buy $500 watches more often than I have to. My current Garmin is going on 7 years. Still works great, still wear it as my daily and running watch. Replaced the band a couple of times, but still holds a great charge.

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.