Should I get a Garmin Forerunner as a Cyclist for the purpose of running and daily usage? Or am I better off with an Apple Watch?

You can put HRVForTraining, Trainnow or Athlytic (or all 3 which is what I do) which just look at you HR stress and HRV to get your a daily training score, happy with my AW, use it daily for my sub sports (Yoga / Running) and have no issues, main reason for getting was the Dexcom app and as a T1 diabetic being able to see my blood sugars when cycling is a major bonus, I have no intention of using the AW over my 1040 for cycling though

Just think about your use case, and sure you will be happy with either watch (That was for OP)

PS . I was a Fenix owner before swapping (my secondary device) to AW

1 Like

+1 for the Fenix 6 pro. It’s an awesome watch with so many useful features. I leave mine on 24/7

The most sensible answer in the whole thread.

What I dislike a lot about Garmin in general is their whole “so much data”, yet 95% of it is just rubbish numbers that make some people go “oh my new V02 Max is XX, wow, this must really work, your Apple Watch can’t do this”.

If you want a great smartwatch experience, in and outside of training, Apple Watch is the way to go.

If you just want a watch to keep in the drawer to put on when you’re training, get a Garmin.

Short answer, no. Its as valuable as you looking into the mirror and asking it for advice.

Get whatever watch has the features that you value to most overall :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Why would you say this? The Garmin’s make a great “everyday wristwatch”. They have very long battery life, look like a traditional and rugged sports watch, keep accurate time, alarms, music, and do all the basic things most people want for health (like step counting and sleep monitoring). I see zero reason you would keep it in a drawer and only pull it out to exercise.

Sure, if you want the latest cool device or want dozens of widgets and prefer to do things in your watch instead of your phone, are willing to pay for a cellular connection, and don’t mind daily charging, the Apple is a great watch.

They both have their uses and are both fantastic at what they do. There is zero reason to “keep it in a drawer” when it comes to either of these. It’s just a matter of “horses for courses”.

7 Likes

I had an Apple Watch, but having to charge it daily was a drag. Switched to a forerunner 255s and love it. Battery lasts almost 2 weeks, pairs with power meters, and has my music on board. The only thing it doesn’t do is have a map. If I’m riding in an unknown area, I’ll also use my head unit, so not a big deal. Most of my rides are on courses I know very well, so most days I don’t even bring the computer.

I think some folks enjoy the novelty of a really integrated smart watch to answer calls or see notifications. I’m looking for less notifications and interruptions with my watch and phone these days.

I only allow a really small set of notifications to the watch because I just don’t want them. I don’t need to know a package has been delivered, a friend has texted mid-workout or when I’ve walked away.

HRV, pulse ox, and body battery have been incredibly useful training indicators for me while cycling but only if gathered while off the bike.

2 Likes

there is garmin pay Garmin International | Garmin Pay<sup>&trade;</sup> Participating Banks see if your bank is supported

garmin also has lte version if you want celular and can control music, have spotify.

so it gets all you want from an AW plus all the training features

Novelty? LOL, I could just as easily say the novelty of integrated body battery, however I think these comments sum it up:

FWIW in my humble opinion the iPhone app Athlytic is a very good alternative to Garmin’s Body Battery.

Having tracked RHR and HRV over several different seasons, I find them to simply be additional data points that sometimes (when trended) can inform decisions about modifying load and/or the need for taking a week off. However for myself, on a day to day basis they usually offer excuses to not do work that I can actually absorb. Same thing with on the bike HRV, which I find useful for trends but rarely (once or twice a year) find useful on the bike.

3 Likes

Though the Spotify app is a steaming heap of junk - on my 945, anyway.

i personally do not use spotify i use qobuz so i don’t know. for OP music seems important… not that you should be listening to music while cycling unless indoors

Op specifically said they wanted a watch for running

I have the forerunner 965, and had 945 and 645 previously. I enjoy the lighter weight of the forerunner series at least compared to other main watches from Garmin like Fenix series. The music and podcasts work fine through Spotify (I haven’t used other apps). The screen is a nice upgrade from the previous models. I just now have had long enough for the HRV to give a reading so I can’t really comment on that. The training readiness is one of those things that’s nice to have but I’m the end I’m going to just listen to my body. The VO2 max estimate and training load is nice. VO2 is close between Zwift and intervals.icu. Also if you expand to doing triathlon, this has you covered for swimming and long battery life.

In short, I’m a Garmin fanboy and love my 965 lol

4 Likes

I think so.

Much better than TSS.

The 265 has power meter support. But, it will not record cycling dynamics. Just power.

Not touching that blatant attempt to divert the thread into 1000 posts of opinion disguised as ‘debate’ - more than enough of that in other threads. Back to the Garmin discussion.

2 Likes

Ex Garmin watch owner here who is very happy with the AW and the running stats etc I get from it. Just replied on another thread, but add in an app like this for routing and maps (worked great for long hikes in unknown areas and runs in new areas). workoutdoors.net

The stats you get from an AW have come on leaps and bounds, this is from a run last week with my Apple Watch Ultra. I tend to need to charge it every two days, most days I’ll do a 30 min dog walk with GPS on and 2 runs a week of around an hour or less.

I use rungapp to sync any bike rides recorded on an external head unit back into Apple Health.


2 Likes

I can relate to @Elma, as I am sure many others here do too: The Garmin Edge (or Wahoo Elmnt) is the main platform, and sometimes we run/ski/hike/etc and need another unit.

I have a long record of using various Garmins (many versions of Fenix and Forerunner) and recently also the Apple Watch Ultra. I really tried to love the Apple Watch, and as a smart watch it really shines - I ended up using my iPhone less and thus reducing screen time, basically having the phone on my arm is brilliant, some of the smart watch features really impressed, and the battery capacity was satisfactory (charging every two days, and it worked well for an ultra marathon that lasted 7 hours) - but at the same time it fell through as a sports watch. The main reasons were that there was no easily accessible lap button (neither on Strava, Stryd nor on the native running app) which is extremely annoying when doing intervals, but also that RHR under 40 is simply reported as “under 40”, and I also missed some of the other Garmin metrics (HRV, sleep, etc.). I ended up selling the AW Ultra and bought a Forerunner 965, and I do not miss the AW at all.

The best observation in this thread comes from @timb34; Garmins are great sports watches that also work as smart watches, while Apple Watches are the opposite.

3 Likes

Thank you, this is really helpful.

It is indeed the problem. I use my edge 830 multiple times a week and it is great.

A watch would do exactly what you mentioned: occasionally a run or a hike.
Plus: Music, Podcasts, Payment would probably be my main use cases.

I ordered a refurbished Apple Watch SE1 to figure out if I could live with it. But I already have the same thoughts on missing out on a “sports watch” like the forerunner 965. But still, the Apple Watch is one third of the price, since 965 is pretty new.
(on the other hand, I could also imaging a “how could I live without it”-feeling when using the Apple Watch for a couple of days.)

You will no doubt find the Apple Watch to be great for every day use. The great frustrations will appear once you start doing serious training sessions (intervals/laps) and/or you recognize a need to track body metrics in one place. But these are certainly first world country issues! :slight_smile:

Just in case anyone else has the same issues/questions & totally agree if you want the absolute best training watch then Garmins are the answer.

lap button you can get with the workoutdoors app workoutdoors.net/index.html

The app supports both manual and automatic laps. By default laps are automatic and use the same interval as distance notifications (which default to 1 mile or 1 kilometre). There is a “Laps” option in the Workout menu of the Settings that allows you to choose between Manual or Auto laps. If you select manual laps then you should configure a shortcut (for example pressing both side buttons) to start a new lap. Although if necessary then you could include a “new lap” button on the screen.

HRV & sleep can be got from various apps as well. I personally have used AutoSleep Track Sleep on Watch on the App Store (apple.com) which has sleep and HRV and. Training Today which does HRV. Training Today (trainingtodayapp.com)

Interesting re under 40, I’ve only seen 41, what did it show you on the RHR graph?