Forerunner 955

It is a great watch. Make sure to get the non-solar version, much more visible screen. Probably the last good screen from Garmin, all new screens have touch, solar, sapphire, each making it less visible. It has maps. The display is 1.3", MIPS. A bit smaller than Fenix, which is 1.4", but totally useable. In Europe it sells for €360.

If you do regular sports, get the watch with 5 buttons, it is so much better in daily use for sports. As for features, the FR255 does Everything you need, its only incremental updates since then. If you want maps for running, to follow a course, there is the FR955. All other aspects are more about wants, taste, looks, preference, in terms of needs, FR255 fills all the needs for doing sports. Which is also ok. A watch is also a fashion statememt, something that you look at all day, so choosing something that you like is also a factor. ECG, PulseOx, etc. are not that useful in real life, in my experience.

Any Garmin watch can do this what you need. The improvements have been very incremental in the past 3-4 years. ECG, microphone, LTE are not very useful, ignore them. Here are a few watches that stand out and I would buy for myself. I use Garmin watches since 2017, and had like 10 different models. I trail run, bike, and swim. Approx prices. For exercise outside, the 5 button setup with MIP screen is the best IMHO. Forerunner 255 is great price/performance, light, slim, does everything. $250 Enduro 3 is top of the line, latest tech, a few weeks battery life easily. But it is a big watch. Has maps and navigation. $800 Instinct 3 Solar Tactical has great battery life and looks cool (all black), is rugged. $450 Less optimal, I wouldnt buy: If you want more a smartwatch style, with bright amoled and touch screen first, check out the Vivoactive 6. But with sweat, sun etc. the buttons and MIP is much better in practice. Cheapest Maps would be Forerunner 955. You can expect 2-4 years from your watch.

That price range works well for older models. Watches that came out after Fenix 8 (Sep 2024) cost significantly more than before, Garmin just increased prices. Best is to get an older model on discount, as in the past years not much significant new was added. They track the same way, and bugs are still corrected. For sports, any of these fitness watch type of devices excel for running, cycling, swimming. Other sports kinda work, but for example to detect repetitions can have mistakes, treadmil relies on distance data entered, etc. For payment, you need NFC among the watch features. I prefer full button control, especially during sports. Almost all Garmin watches can control music on your phone. The "Music" models can download music onto your phone, and play offline from the watch to your earbuds. My 5 year old Fenix 6X Pro can do this, and I never used it. For good heart rate, get a Polar H10 strap. The best wrist heart rate will never be as good as a poor strap. For more sport oriented: Garmin Foreunner 255 can do all you want, except touchscreen. It has also an 255S version, smaller. Forerunner 955 has maps. Maps are useful for creating courses, running circuits on your phone, and the watch navigates you along. This is most useful for running in nature. If you want a more smartwatch style: Venu 3S or Vivoactive 5 can work. They are more touch screen operated. They are less practical to start stop exercise, as they need using the touchscreen. But they have a nice amoled screen. You can also have a look at Garmin Instinct 2 non-solar version. It is a Casio G-style look, has no NFC. You can get probably 2-3 years out of your watch before it fails, or battery gets poor. 4 years is not uncommon, and several people on reddit are using 5-6 without issues. Garmin usually offers a discount on a new watch, if the warranty expired, and you want repair (they dont really repair watches). Our Venu 2S died after 3 years, 6X Pro after 3.5 years, my colleague's FR945 after 2.5 years. For cycling, most people get a dedicated head unit for cycling, to complement the watch.

I have the forerunner 955 and it supports training status, running dynamics, etc. You can change the charhing mode to support recording activities while charging. I dont think thid is specific to the forerunner. It looks like you can open settings->system->USB Mode then change it to "garmin" so it will support charging during an activity. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/777655/

Oh yeah i guess people want amoled but i prefer mips because it doesnt blind me when the screen turns on at night or while im sleeping LOL. I honestly love the 955 specifically more than any other garmin because it felt like the best compromise between features and battery life. 

Yes. That's true. But with the intended use of the OP a Oled screen doesn't have to be always on. Besides that there are very little non-solar mip watches that have an equal or similar batterytime as the Fenix 8/epix2pro 51mm. Only the instinct 2 is close with 28 days but short GPS time. The non-solar FR955 only has 15 days for example. Watches known for their longer battertime The enduro 3, instinct 2X, instinct 3 all have solar as standard.

This bad boy is a game changer for me. I got the regular (not solar) edition. I got it for general smart watch usage as well as for running which I got into in April. I can't stress how happy I am with it. Apps for it work great. The touchscreen is excellent and having 5 buttons on top of that is very welcome. It has 32 gb internal storage for apps and music so I don't need a phone when I'm on a run. The battery lasts about 10 days with my normal usage and would easily last more than 14 days if you don't use the gps, which is the biggest drainer (I track my runs with gps so when doing a 5-7km run it would sap about 7-10% 🪫). It's smaller than other more premium watches so it's easier to sleep with and the connect app makes tracking sleep and training progress easy. Unless you're looking for an AMOLED watch I would def recommend this one. 😊

I think for older people the AMOLED may be better, especially if eyesight is beginning to deteriorate. I found the MIP to be difficult to read in low lighting conditions, and also, for maps, the 965 AMOLED has better resolution than the 955 MIPS. The vibrant colors of the AMOLED help with legibility. I have been v satisfied with the 965 AMOLED and get about 20 days battery life (5 GPS activities weekly) with Gesture On.

This is exactly the type of suggestion I’m looking for. Forerunner 955 has MIP display and 42 hrs of battery life vs. 30 in GPS mode compared to the Forerunner 965 with the AMOLED display. Thank you! Also it looks like the 955 is going for ~$450 right now from most retailers which is very reasonable IMO

I ran both a 955 and a AWU2 for a year. Used my Garmin for racing, used my AWU2 for swimming and running (using native app for swimming and WorkOutdoors for running) and a Garmin Edge 1050 for biking (indoors and out). I ended up ditching my AWU2 when the cell signal became so jenky and limiting that I was forced to download music before running, making half the use case for the watch useless. I only intermittently had cell service with it, so for biking I had to carry my phone anyway. I ran a sub 4 hour marathon with the AWU2 (charged to 100% morning of, turned off nothing) and I was at less than 40% battery at the end, so I question if it could really last a full IM even in battery saver mode. The battery was excellent when it was new, 18 months later I wasn’t getting two days including workouts. I now have a 970 and it’s wonderful. The AW is excellent, but I just got tired of having two devices and the cell service on the AW was so spotty I gave up on it. Lastly, the “metrics” that Garmin gives you are pretty stupid. Listen to your body, not some silly watch that says you should or shouldn’t train. Having 2 watches isn’t a big deal from that standpoint. If you are letting an algorithm determine your ability to do things, you’re doing it wrong. It can be a guide. It is not the answer.