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!)

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.

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!

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.