The 11 Best Garmin Watch Alternatives for Top-Tier Stat Tracking
Grabbing a Garmin watch to track your sets, runs, rides and everything in between isn’t your only option for a wrist-based training companion. There’s plenty of other strong fitness watches from brands that can serve up plenty of useful data during and after your workouts.
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There are a lot of capable alternatives that match up with Garmin’s extensive range, with like-for-like alternatives for everything from the cheapest models to premium options. The best Garmin alternatives can do many of the same things and, in some instances, can better what Garmin has to offer. Think bigger battery lives, more useful features when you’re not working out, and, as is often the case, far better value for money compared to the similarly priced options in the Garmin family.
So, if you’re not keen on bagging a Garmin and are seeking an alternative that's more to your liking or budget, we’ve picked 10 other sports watches to consider instead and listed everything you should be mindful of before parting with your cash.
What to Consider When Buying an Alternative to Garmin
First, we’ll take you through the key things to look out for, before sharing our pick of the best fitness watches from the likes of Coros, Suunto, Polar and more.
Think about What You Want to Track
The watches mentioned in this guide will all promise to track hundreds of different sports and exercises. In reality, only a few of these will actually offer data beyond tracking the duration of the workout and your heart rate. For example, the watch might promise to track a weights session, but only some will actually count reps or sets or even recognise the exercises that you’re performing.
Most will offer core tracking for running, swimming and cycling and we’ve highlighted any other noteworthy activities that receive special tracking treatment too. So make sure to have a good look through the tracking support before you settle on a watch.
Consider Compatibility
Along with making sure it works with your phone (which most brands do generally do a good job of highlighting) there will be instances when not all features are accessible when paired to different smartphone platforms. This is mostly in relation to smartwatch features, so if you like the idea of that watch being more useful outside of tracking your fitness, then double check if all smartwatch features are available. You’ll likely find a lack of support is listed at the bottom of the product website pages.
Pay Attention to Battery Life
Like Garmin, other sports watch and smartwatch makers will throw a lot of different battery numbers at you, so you need to pay attention to the right ones. Some will quote battery life for daily or smartwatch usage, which will typically mean using features like receiving notifications, checking calendar appointments or continuously monitoring metrics like your heart rate. When you add tracking into the mix, that number is going to drop, so that daily or smartwatch number won’t be massively representative if you’re also going to track exercise on a regular basis.
If the watch has a colour screen and offers the option to keep that screen on at all times, that will see the battery drop quicker too compared to manually waking up the screen. Again, if you’re keen to know how long it will last in-between tracking, the battery life quoted with the screen always-on is worth paying attention to.
Then there's the GPS battery. Depending on the watch, that number can be presented depending on how accurate you want that outdoor GPS tracking to be. If you go for top accuracy, it will typically be less than using the watch with its normal default GPS setting. If there’s a low-power GPS mode, that generally means you’re sacrificing the best GPS accuracy, and possibly turning off monitoring things like heart rate, to get you the best battery life when you’re planning to go long haul in between charges.
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Pace 3
The Pace 3 is the cheapest and most affordable watch in the Coros range, but because of what it offers in design, performance and the level of features you get for the price, it's undeniably the brand's best watch.
If you like your watches small and light, then the Pace 3 ticks that box. You won’t get a colour screen, but you do get a touchscreen that makes it feel more like a smartwatch when tapping around menu screens.
In those menu screens you’ll find modes to track core activities like running, cycling, swimming (pool and open water) and it does offer both triathlon and strength-training modes, with the latter including automatic rep counting and muscle heat maps to make sure you’re not neglecting those lower-body sessions.
Vantage V3
If you want the best that Polar has to offer and want something to rival top Garmin watches like the Forerunner 965, the Vantage V3 is the one that fits the bill.
This is a watch you can grab in three colours and features nice big physical buttons to make it easy to grip with sweaty hands. Front and centre is a high-quality colour touchscreen and as a package it can go swimming as long as you don’t go deeper than 50 metres.
Where the Polar stands out is its detailed approach to crunch your stats, whether that’s logged workouts or sleep, to build better insights and recommendations to help you get the most out of your training time.
Unlike previous Vantage watches, Polar has upgraded the V3 with a dual-frequency GPS mode to give outdoor tracking a welcome accuracy boost and now also includes free offline maps. There’s a new Polar Elixir sensor to track blood oxygen, temperature and heart rate, though it’s a bit hit and miss on the accuracy front with the latter.
The Polar is feature-packed with a nice mix of smartwatch features to make it useful inside and outside of that tracking time.
Galaxy Watch Ultra
If you're an android user, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is your best bet for a fitness-focussed smartwatch that's packed with advanced health features, plenty of activity tracking modes and day-to-day functionalities.
The 47mm watch face boasts a nice and bright sapphire glass display, which is housed inside a military-grade titanium exterior – making it easy to keep track of your progress during workouts and accessing day-to-day features when you're on the go.
For activity tracking, it features dual-band GPS for outdoor workouts, automatic activity tracking (for when you forget to hit 'start') and AI-powered training intelligence to help you to interpret your data.
On the health side of things, a new 3-in-1 BioActive Sensor boosts the accuracy of your resting, daily and workout heart rate data, and it also offers ECG monitoring (Samsung only) and body composition analysis.
Pace Pro
If you're in the market for a fitness watch with an AMOLED screen, the Coros Pace Pro is an excellent alternative to the Garmin Forerunner 265 at this price point.
It packs heaps of features for runners and its activity tracking modes are top tier. Maps look excellent on the bright 3-inch screen, while the dual frequency GPS delivers impressive accuracy.
Coros watches are known for their battery life and the Pace Pro doesn't disappoint. A single charge lasts 38 hours for outdoor activities, 31 hours with dual-frequency GPS, and you can get up to 20 days using it as a smartwatch.
Race
Suunto is better known for its adventure watches, but with Race the Finnish outfit has produced a really comprehensive sports watch that puts tracking before everything else.
Along with wrapping either a stainless steel or titanium-heavy timepiece on your wrist, you’re also getting a high-quality colour screen to show off your stats, free offline maps and a battery life that can go from anywhere between 12-26 days in daily usage.
You’ve also got your pick of over 95 sports modes – although outdoor activities are better served than indoor ones. The dual-band GPS makes sure that outdoor tracking is nice and accurate and drains less battery than most of its rivals including Garmin when in the more accurate GPS mode.
Training and analysis features, like recommending ideal recovery time between workouts and the Suunto Coach, do lag a little behind Garmin but there’s more good than bad to help make Suunto’s Race one you don’t just have to race with.
Watch Ultra 2
The Ultra 2 is Apple’s best sports tracking smartwatch and is a nice alternative to Garmin’s colour display-packing Epix series, which like the Ultra is built primarily for outdoor use and endurance athletes.
Unlike any of Garmin’s range, Apple’s outdoor watch has a big, square display and it’s a case that’s both swimming and recreational dive-friendly.
For outdoor time, there’s Apple’s dual-band GPS mode to offer some of the best outdoor tracking accuracy you’ll find on a watch. There’s a built-in heart rate monitor and scope to add an external one. It’s well integrated with Apple’s own Fitness+ platform and plays nice with a host of smart home fitness equipment like Peloton and connected Technogym machines.
The big plus Apple has is the rich array of apps you can add in to boost its tracking prowess. That includes the latest TrainingPeaks integration to help make it a much better training tool for serious athletes. It’s this kind of support that makes it easier to overlook that you’ll be charging more than a similarly priced Garmin.
T-Rex 3
Amazfit is a smartwatch brand that has fitness and sports tracking at the core on all of its watches and the T-Rex 3 is certainly the one that stands out on the performance front.
It’s best viewed as an affordable alternative to Garmin’s more outdoor-centric Fenix and Instinct ranges, putting a hulking case on your wrist that’s passed 15 military-grade tests to make sure it can perform in extreme environments.
You’ve got your pick of over 150 sports modes and that includes closely monitoring treadmill runs, indoor rowing sessions and will automatically track and recognise a nice range of strength-based exercises.
When you head outside there’s a dual-band positioning mode to match what many of the latest Garmin’s can offer in accurately tracking your movements outside. The ability to upload routes and get some navigation assistance adds to its overall appeal to grab this outdoor watch that has plenty in its rugged locker.
It also boasts a whopping 27 days of battery life with typical use and 42 hours of activity tracking in GPS accurate mode.
Watch D2
Huawei has quickly amassed a big collection of smartwatches that are also pretty well equipped when you need to get a sweat on, and the Watch D2 is the brand's most health-forward offering.
It boasts Huawei's most accurate blood pressure monitoring capabilities to date, generates in-depth health reports, and can be used to track your sleep, weight and stress.
The iPhone and Android phone friendly D2 has over 80 workout modes, including swimming, running, indoor rowing, and offers an animated workout feature that can help you get warmed up before you work out. There’s on-board GPS for more accurate outdoor tracking and a heart-rate sensor best suited to steady paced training sessions as opposed to more intense ones.
Battery life is anywhere from 7-10 days depending how many of the numerous features included here are regularly in use.
Pacer
Polar’s Pacer is a running-focused watch that has multi-sports tracking credentials too. It will do a fine job covering your swimming and cycling time with 130 sports modes included overall.
Those tracking smarts are packed into a dinky plastic case that comes in some colourful options and is paired up with a comfy removable watch strap. You don’t get a colour screen, but you do get the kind of screen that makes sure it’s visible even in brighter outdoor light.
If you’re terrible at fuelling for longer workouts, there’s Polar’s FuelWise fuelling reminders to set up to nudge you. Polar lets you pair external heart-rate monitors if you don’t trust its own built-in sensor and you get access to the useful FitSpark suggested workouts, which will dish out strength, mobility and cardio workouts based on your workout history.
While it lacks some of the richer training insights and bigger mapping and navigation smarts of pricier Polar watches, the core tracking experience is solid at an attractive price.
ScanWatch 2
Garmin has a few watches in its collection that aim to offer a mix of smarts and traditional watch looks and that’s what the ScanWatch 2 delivers in bucketloads. Especially on the looks front.
Once you’ve picked from one of the two case sizes you’ll get a mix of stainless steel, sapphire glass with a strap that comes in a series of styling looks with two dials baked into the watch face to display your stats.
Beneath that sleek exterior lies sensors to track your heart rate, temperature and break down your sleep quality, while keeping an eye on your blood oxygen levels. When it’s time to work out it’ll chuck out insights on your current state of fitness and use your phone to better track outdoor runs and rides.
It’s fit to join you when you take a dip and can keep tracking you for a month before you need to think about charging it.
Cheetah Pro
Another watch from the Amazfit clan, the Cheetah Pro is the company’s first attempt at making a very running-focused smartwatch, and it can also track a host of other activities too.
It does that from a nicely weighted case design and a super bright colour touchscreen display, with a waterproof rating that makes it safe to submerge and swim with up to 50 metres depth.
There’s 150 sports profiles and that does include the ability to automatically detect eight of those sports including swimming and rowing. A dedicated strength-training mode can also automatically detect 25 different exercises and count sets and reps.
As a smartwatch it will give you a report every morning covering your sleep stats and the day’s weather forecast, will let you chat with Amazon Alexa and has a built-in music player where you can pile on your own audio.
Add in up to two-weeks battery life and the Cheetah Pro makes a nice running-centric alternative to Garmin’s watch range.
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