This year marks my search for the best smartwatch for the trail. Over the years I have tried a multitude of smartwatch and fitness watch combinations. My first was a Garmin forerunner that resembled a child’s toy rather than a watch. From that I moved on to a variety of Fitbits and ultimately the Apple Watch.
I have been rolling with an Apple Watch Series 7 since 2021 after my series 3 met an early demise on a trailer hitch while camping in 2020. Overall, I have been impressed with the ease of use and durability compared to the series 3, but the battery life out of the box was a sub par single day. After 3 years of daily use I am charging it on the way to and from work (40 minute commute) to get through the day. Tracking a 10 mile bike ride on the Katy Trail is a stretch to say the least.
Why back to Garmin?
For the 2025 season I started looking beyond the Apple Watch. I had originally started looking at the Oura Ring to track my fitness and get back to a traditional watch but alas, in September of last year I had a run in with AFib which solidified the need for a device that has a built in ECG. Had I not had these episodes I would have seriously considered a ring.
The desire for a more traditional looking watch packed with fitness tracking led me back to Garmin as they have a multitude of options that include a built in ECG and round design. When I say multitude of options, I am not exaggerating. As of this writing, Garmin has 18 models to choose from on their website. Many of these models come in a variety of sizes, colors, and screen types.
Garmin offers watches that are more fitness focused with limited phone connectivity as well as models that are full fledged smart devices that can call, text, and activate voice assistants. An important note, because of Apples walled garden, you can read texts from your iPhone on their capable watches, but only android users have the ability to respond.
Garmin’s best options for Heart Monitoring
While all Garmin watches will offer superb heart rate monitoring, only a handful have a built in ECG app to test for AFib should you suspect to be at risk for an abnormal heart rhythm.
Narrowing it down to models with a built in ECG, 6 options exist in the United States.
- D2 Mach 1 Pro – Geared for aviation enthusiasts. This includes several aviation specific apps and traditional smartwatch features.
- Enduro 3 – An absolute beast in terms of battery drain. This one is all business offering a fitness first approach
- fēnix 8 – Garmin’s top of the line watch for fitness and smarts. Essentially an Enduro with slightly less battery life in exchange for more
- quatix 7 Pro – Designed for boating. The watch includes nautical specific apps as well as smart features
- tactix 8 – Tactical smartwatch loaded with tech and ballistics features
- Venu 3 – Garmin’s answer to the Apple Watch as it includes a smartwatch first design while still offering Garmin’s fitness features
AMOLED vs MIP Displays
Screen technology will be either Memory in Pixel (MIP) or Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED). MIP is a less vibrant screen indoors but excels in direct sunlight and is far more efficient in regards to battery life. AMOLED will look like an Apple Watch and provide gorgeous colors, but can sometimes struggle indoors and in direct sunlight.
This is purely personal preference and many seem to prefer the more vibrant AMOLED displays, especially considering Garmin still offers excellent battery life (up to 13 days) in these models. MIP offers a less vibrant screen indoors but is a top performer outside and in battery life. The Enduro 3 or example touts an astounding 90 plus days of battery life.
For me, I like to be a bit more under the radar and dislike a flashy screen on my wrist. I also prefer to not have battery anxiety so the MIP is my top choice.
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Battery Life
Spoiler alert, all Garmin watch options will destroy the Apple watch and dance on its grave. The Apple watch 10 will last about a day before needing a recharge with the Ultra lasting just under two days. The least efficient Garmin on the list above will not require a wall charger for about two weeks. The most, 92 days. Yes, you read that right. When you read through battery stats on the Garmin offerings it’s almost infuriating someone at Apple has not thought to design a watch that a user can even go on a weekend trip without packing a charger.
User Interface
This is a very subjective topic as some prefer the more touch focused Apple Watch with minimal buttons and others the button oriented Garmin. The Garmin does provide touch sensitive interfaces, however, falls short on ease of use compared to the Apple. Personally, I prefer more physical buttons to control workout functions as starting and stopping an exercise on a touch screen is less than ideal. Like anything, if you are jumping from one operating system to another a learning period will exist.
App Ecosystem
Apple will always win this battle. They offer a deep selection of apps for their watch while Garmin and others fall short. One item to consider is that in regards to fitness, Garmin packages most everything you need on the watch from the get go so the most used apps on Apple are not needed. I surveyed the list of apps I most often use on my series 7 and will only miss a single one, Apple Music. This is a poor business decision by Apple as I would have gladly kept paying for the premium service but will now jump to Spotify or Amazon Music which has a Garmin integration.
Consider size options
Garmin has a size for every body. The most common sizes seem to be 43mm, 47mm, and 51mm. The 51mm is going to be large and in charge while also offering the best battery life. The three month lasting Enduro 3 only comes in this size. For my 6 foot 4 large frame I found the 47mm options seemed to look the most natural on my wrist. For folks with smaller wrists, the 43mm option will undoubtedly be the most popular,
What Garmin is for me?
While several options could meet all my needs it really came down to the Enduro 3 and the fēnix 8. My favorite looking watch is the Enduro 3 as far as design. It offers a more rugged appearance that appeals to me. The fēnix 8 is also rugged but lacks that edge I am looking for. After mulling over it for weeks the decision point came to available case sizes. The Enduro only comes in a 51mm option which goes against my goal of have a watch that looks more traditional on my wrist. The fēnix offers a very attractive 47mm MIP option that looks at home in the office and the trail, thus, is the winner for this round.
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