Vivoactive

I've been using Garmin watches since 2004. I've never had one fail, I've replaced them out of wanting a new feature or eventually losing battery life. Models: FR 201, 305, 225, vivoactive 1 & 3, FR 735XT, Edge 520+ 6 watches over 21 years. Plus pulling the 305 apart and replacing the battery (it still works - so did the 201 last I heard that the guy I'd given it to had passed it on)

I have the Venu 2, took it for its amazing oled screen. After 3 years having it still looking like new, still don’t want to change. 10 days of battery life. I hate getting notifications too. Well I turned them off. Never get any. I synchronise the watch only to register my trainings inside the Garmin Connect app and that’s it. Basically you can turn any Garmin smart watch into a sport watch. Before that I had the Vivoactive 1. Hope this helps.

Just out of curiosity...since Venus 4 is considerably more, I've checked to see the price of the Vivoactive 5 and it's about $200. Sure thing, it doesn't have the Sapphire glass but as a long time Garmin user, I can vow for how durable these screens are. At this point, all things considered ( particularly software support, metric accuracy and all added functionality... including Garmin pay that works almost everywhere unlike Zepp pay) I'd go for the Vivoactive 10 out of 10 times. The number one differentiator for me was the classic look of the watch... https://preview.redd.it/t0qhfy5sculg1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=0747b216c44b04f4bb430e4dc6b3da6e46357997

Garmin Venu 1, 2, or even one of the newer Vivoactives would be great. You can get a Venu 2 for probably about $100-$130 on Facebook Marketplace right now. You can also get one of the older Garmin Forerunners for about the same price as well, if not a little cheaper

Garmin vivioactive was my first move from Fitbit it does the heartrate exercise tracking stuff, I did move to a more expensive Garmin because I like the GPS for golf, hiking, and cycling. Look for discount codes offered by healthcare providers, I used to get a 30-40% off from Manulife every year or two.