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We’ve been testing and reviewing the best running watches for more than a decade and during that time it’s fair to say that Garmin has been the dominant force.
The Garmin range is extensive and contains options to suit every kind of runner, whether you’re looking for a beginner watch to help you get started in the sport or a full-featured adventure watch to help you navigate through epic off-road ultramarathons.
We’ve tested them all, and have also tested older versions of the entire Garmin range, so we can tell you when it’s worth saving money by looking for a deal on an older watch, and when it’s worth stumping up for the latest model.
Best Garmin running watches 2026
Above you’ll find our full round-up of the best Garmin watches for runners, broken up into five categories:
- Best Garmin for beginners
- Best Garmin overall
- Best Garmin smartwatch
- Best Garmin for battery life
- Best value Garmin
In the value section we run through several older Garmin watches that we still rate as worth considering ahead of newer models, because you’ll save a packet and often only miss out on a few new features.
Since we made this video Garmin has launched several new watches, including the new flagship Garmin Fenix 8 Pro and the Garmin Venu 4. You’ll find more info on those watches below, along with our in-depth multi-tester video reviews of every Garmin watch that runners need to know about.
Best Garmin For Beginners
If you’re a new runner looking for a Garmin watch we recommend starting with the entry-level options in the Forerunner range. These are excellent running watches that will suit people of all levels, but especially good for beginners in that they provide reliable tracking and some useful advice without overloading you with stats.
Garmin Forerunner 165
Price: £249.99/$249.99 (standard); £289.99/$299.99 (music) | Size: 43mm | Battery Life: 11 days (watch), 17 hours (all-systems GPS)
The Garmin Forerunner 165 is the entry-level AMOLED watch in Garmin’s range, and a great option for new runners in particular. It offers reliable tracking and some useful training insights, plus suggested workouts and access to Garmin Coach training plans to help you prepare for events like 5Ks and 10Ks.
Compared to more expensive models the Forerunner 165 lacks dual-band GPS tracking (the most accurate mode), and it also doesn’t offer maps or as much training analysis as watches like the Forerunner 265 or Forerunner 570.
It does still do everything most runners need, however, and the more expensive model has music storage as a handy extra for those who want to leave their phone behind when they run.
Best Garmin For Runners
Here you’ll find what we consider the absolute best Garmin watches for runners, no matter the cost. They have the latest and greatest features in attractive and sturdy designs, and are the best running watches you can get from any brand.
Garmin Forerunner 970
Price: From £629.99/$749.99 | Size: 47mm | Battery Life: 15 days (watch), 21 hours (dual-band GPS)
The Garmin Forerunner 970 is probably our favourite running watch available from any brand, offering all the same key sports tracking and navigation features as the Fenix 8 in a lighter, sleeker design with a brighter display and a more affordable price-tag.
Key upgrades on the older Forerunner 965 are a sapphire crystal screen, which is more scratch-resistant, a built-in flashlight, and new running stats like running economy and tolerance, the latter of which is proving useful to us in judging training load.
It’s a brilliant all-round watch and despite the dazzling display still offers pretty good battery life at around four or five days with the screen set to always-on when running every day. The Fenix 8 does offer longer battery life though, and a more durable design thanks to its thicker metal bezel.
Despite being cheaper than the Fenix 8 the Forerunner 970 is still expensive, especially as you’d also have to buy the £150 Garmin HRM600 chest strap to unlock the running economy stats. If the price is too high the Forerunner 965 is still an excellent alternative.
Garmin Fenix 8 Pro
Price: £1,029-£1199 / $1,199-$1299 | Size: 47mm or 51mm | Battery Life (47mm AMOLED): watch: 8 days (47mm), 15 days (51mm), dual-band GPS: 23 hours (47m), 41 hours (51mm)
The Garmin Fenix 8 Pro is the flagship running and adventure watch in the range, and comes in a range of different designs. As well as picking one of two sizes, you can also choose between AMOLED and MicroLED watches, though the latter is so expensive we’d certainly opt for the AMOLED ourselves.
We tested the AMOLED Fenix 8 Pro in both 47mm and 51mm sizes and it is undoubtedly an extremely impressive watch. It has a rugged and attractive design with a built-in flashlight, long battery life and the best tracking, analysis and navigation features you’ll find on a sports watch.
On top of all that, it introduce cellular and satellite connectivity to the Fenix, making it the best option for those regularly spending time in the great outdoors outside of phone coverage.
Read our full Garmin Fenix 8 Pro review
All of this does come at a high price, however, and the standard Garmin Fenix 8 is certainly a better pick if you don’t need the cellular connectivity on the Pro watch, while the older Garmin Epix Pro is likely to offer better value in sales.
Best Garmin Smartwatch
Most Garmin watches now have the same smart features, which include music storage, NFC payments and access to the Connect IQ app store. None are as smart as a device like the Apple Watch, lacking cellular connectivity and a more extensive range of apps, but our top pick does offer a smartwatch-style design as well as Garmin’s reliably excellent sports features.
Garmin Venu X1
Price: From £679.99/$799.99 | Size: 51mm | Battery Life: 36 days (watch), 60 hours (dual-band GPS)
The Garmin Venu X1 has a very different design to Garmin’s other top sports watches, with a huge 2-inch AMOLED screen and very thin, square case. It’s a joy to wear, sitting comfortably on the wrist thanks to its slim build, and the screen is incredibly bright and engaging during and outside of workouts.
It has the look of a smartwatch, but packs in almost all of Garmin’s top sports features. Everything you get on the Forerunner 970 is here, with the notable and unfortunate exception of multi-band GPS. While the all-systems GPS on the Venu X1 is perfectly accurate most of the time, we did notice a drop-off in accuracy compared to the Forerunner 970 when running in city centres or other tricky GPS spots.
The other drawback to the Venu X1 is its short battery life compared with most Garmins. It only last two days with the screen always-on, and drains rapidly during GPS activities.
For some the trade-off will be worth it, however, to get the fantastic design of the Venu X1, which is more comfortable to wear than bulkier Garmins like the Fenix 8 and even the Forerunner 970, which is pretty lightweight itself.
Garmin Venu 4
Price: £469 / $549 | Size: 41mm or 45mm | Battery Life: 12 days/4 days always-on (watch, 45mm), 17 hours (dual-band GPS, 45mm)
The Garmin Venu 4 sits below the Venu X1 in Garmin’s line-up, but actually offers a couple of key advantages in having dual-band GPS as well as longer battery life. It’s very similar to the Forerunner 570 all round, but has a built-in flashlight as a key advantage on the sportier 570.
We loved the sleek design of the Venu 4, and although it only has two buttons instead of Garmin’s usually five, it wasn’t a problem to use the touchscreen instead even with sweaty fingers – it might well be more annoying in winter when wearing thick gloves, though.
The Venu 4 packs in a lot of great sports features including Garmin’s extensive training load analysis, and it has a fantastic AMOLED display. While it’s not as smart as true smartwatches, the Venu 4 is a great watch to wear day-to-day and a highly accomplished running watch as well.
Best Garmin For Battery Life
If you want a long-lasting Garmin for adventures in the great outdoors, it still pays to go for a memory-in-pixel device over an AMOLED watch. Our top pick here is the Garmin Enduro 3 for that reason, though if you do want a long-lasting AMOLED watch then check out the Garmin Fenix 8 51mm.
Garmin Enduro 3
Price: £679.99/$799.99 | Size: 46mm | Battery Life: 2 days (watch), 14 hours (all-systems GPS)
If you’re tackling epic adventures in the great outdoors then the Enduro 3 is the pick of Garmin’s range. It offers incredible battery life, especially in sunny conditions when the solar panels extend it further, in a rugged but lightweight design.
It’s considerably cheaper than the Fenix 8 and while you miss out on some features like the option of an AMOLED screen and the mic and speaker, the Enduro 3 is up to date with all of Garmin’s top sports and navigation features.
While the sports watch market is moving towards AMOLED screens in general, there will always be a place for long-lasting memory-in-pixel devices, and the Enduro 3 is the pick of them when it comes to battery life.
Garmin Instinct 3
Price: From £389 / $399 | Size: 45mm or 50mm | Battery Life: 18-24 days (watch, AMOLED), 23-30 hours (dual-band GPS, AMOLED)
The Garmin Instinct range brings a different style of watch to Garmin’s line-up, which the rugged adventure watches coming in a bright array of colours. You can also pick between an AMOLED and MIP watch with the Instinct 3, and there are two sizes – 45mm and 50mm
Whichever watch you go for, you get excellent battery life and reliable tracking. The AMOLED Instinct 3 is impressively long-lasting, but the Solar model is the one that really shines for battery life, and if you’re constantly outside in sunny conditions it will last weeks on a charge.
A big drawback to the Instinct 3 is that it doesn’t come with offline maps – Garmin continues to reserve these for its most expensive watches, but it’s a strange feature to miss out on the adventure-focused Instinct.
Best Value Garmin
In this category we’ve picked out our favourite older Garmin watches for runners that are available in sales, because it’s not easy to find value on the latest devices from the brand. You can still get an excellent, feature-packed sports watch by going for an older Garmin and you’ll pay a lot less, even if you miss out on new software features going forward.
Garmin Forerunner 965
Price: From £599.99/$599.99 | Size: 47mm | Battery Life (47mm AMOLED): 23 days (watch), 19 hours (dual-band GPS)
The Garmin Forerunner 965 is an older watch but not that has a good claim to be the best value option in Garmin’s range now it’s often in sales. It has most of Garmin’s key sports and navigation features in a lightweight watch that offers impressive battery life given the large AMOLED screen.
There are some important updates on the newer Forerunner 970, which has a more durable design with a sapphire crystal screen (we scratched the glass one on the 965 during our testing), a built-in flashlight, and a more accurate heart rate sensor.
However, the Forerunner 965 remains an excellent option for runners and would be one to check out if you want a top Garmin for half the price of models like the Fenix 8.
Garmin Forerunner 265
Price: £429.99/$449.99 | Size: 42mm and 46mm | Battery Life (46mm): 13 days (watch), 14 hours (dual-band GPS)
Another Garmin we’d describe as an oldie, but a goodie. The Forerunner 265 has been replaced by the Forerunner 570 but aside from the impressive new design and mic and speaker on the 570, there aren’t a huge amount of upgrades on the 265, so it’s definitely worth looking for the older model in sales.
Garmin Epix Pro
Price: From £829.99/$899.99 | Size: 43mm, 47mm or 51mm | Battery Life (47mm): 16 days (watch), 15 hours (dual-band GPS)
The Epix Pro is the predecessor of the Fenix 8 AMOLED and lacks the dive-proof design and mic and speaker on the new watch, along with a variety of software features including running tolerance and economy estimates.
However, it still has all of Garmin’s best navigation features, plus top notch tracking and detailed training analysis, all in a hardy and good-looking watch that comes in three sizes. It’s another good alternative to the Fenix 8 to hunt for in sales.
Also Tested
We test and review pretty much every Garmin watch that gets released, and you’ll find those that don’t stand out in any of the categories above right here.
Garmin Forerunner 570
Price: £459.99/$549.99 | Size: 42mm or 47mm | Battery Life: 15 days (watch), 13 hours (dual-band GPS)
Sitting in the middle of the Forerunner range, the Forerunner 570 offers most of Garmin’s best features for runners, though does lack the maps you get on to models like the Forerunner 970.
It comes in a range of attractive design, including some more colourful options than we’ve come to expect from Garmin, and has one of the brightest AMOLED screens we’ve seen from the brand.
Those good looks are backed up by impeccably accurate tracking and extensive training analysis, plus smart features including NFC payments and music storage.
While a great watch, we’re not convinced the Forerunner 570 offers great value at full price, so looking at models like the Forerunner 965 in the sales might be a better option until the 570 itself starts getting reduced.