The rise in popularity of fitness watches in recent years comes as no surprise. Gone are the days of playing the guessing games of how far you’ve run and what your heart rate may have been during a workout. Through incredible technological innovation we can now track our activities in immense detail whilst also monitoring our sleep patterns, seeing our recovery scores, and even utilise GPS while out exploring, all from the watch on our wrists.
With this incredible technological innovation has come with an array of options to choose from, but which one is the best watch for you? In this blog, we’re going to breakdown our top picks suited to every need.
The Most Affordable Option
Garmin Forerunner 55 GPS Running Smartwatch
RRP: £180
Member’s Price: £138
Key Features:
- GPS: Featuring in-built GPS to track your running, cycling and walking activities along with heart rate monitoring through its wrist-based sensors, a great feature which will enable you to monitor your exercise intensity both during and after your activities.
- Battery Life: The watch features up to 2 weeks of battery life when used for day-to-day, but when using GPS for activities, it has a battery life of up to 20 hours, meaning it can track those longer endurance-style activities.
- User-Friendly Design: Lightweight and comfortable (weighing just 37 grams!), you can customise the watch to fit your aesthetic. The watch features an incredibly simple interface, meaning you won’t be spending half a day trying to figure out what every feature does.
- Activity Tracking: Along with the GPS capabilities, the Forerunner 55 features PacePro technology, offering GPS-based pace guidance for your selected distance, along with cadence alerts to ensure you’re running with correct form, even offering recovery advise once you’ve finished your workout.
The perfect watch for runners and walkers just starting to track their activities, it’s a great option for beginners to enter into the world of smartwatches.
The Best Multi-Sport Watch
Garmin Instinct 3 Solar 45mm Multi-Sport Smartwatch
RRP: £350
Key Features:
- Solar Charging: An amazing feature for those who spend hours outdoors, the built-in solar charging feature enables you to extend battery life, lasting up to 30 days in smartwatch mode and 70 hours in GPS mode, which can be extended using the solar charging features.
- Military-Grade Build: Designed with military standards in mind (MIL-STD-810G), it’s shock, scratch, water and extreme temperature resistant, making it ideal for spending time in the outdoors, especially those who spend time in those harsher conditions.
- Multi-Sport Tracking: Whether it be running, cycling, swimming, hiking, snowboarding or golf, this watch has activity tracking for most outdoor activities.
- Navigation Features: Equipped with full-colour TOPO maps, GLONASS, and Galileo GPS support, to help track your precise location in those more challenging environments.
For those who want to push the limits across multiple sports, the Instinct 3 Solar is a standout performer. The watch offers a wide variety of features to suit every need.
The Best All-Rounder
Garmin Fenix 8 Sapphire AMOLED 47mm GPS Smartwatch
RRP: £950
Member’s Price: £879
Key Features:
- Sapphire Glass Display: The Sapphire watch features a scratch-resistant sapphire lens, adding an extra layer of durability which is built to last in the outdoors.
- GPS & Multi-Sport Tracking Capabilities: Offering GPS, GLONASS & Galileo GPS tracking with advanced navigation features such as TOP maps and ski maps, with a stand out feature for those who are into their deep-sea diving, the watch is built to act as a diving watch down to 40m, making it the ideal hybrid watch for those who love to be active and dive deep into the world below.
- Health & Performance Monitoring: Through in-depth performance monitoring features such as VO2 max, body battery scores, sleep tracking and other recovery insights, this watch is a great option for athletes looking to optimise both performance and recovery.
- Smartwatch Features: Built to perform in the outdoors and everyday life, the Fenix 8 has features such as Garmin Pay, music storage and customisable widgets to make your day-to-day life more streamlined.
The most capable, feature-filled watch on offer, the Fenix 8 is everything you’d need and more. Featuring things such as GPS capabilities for tracking your runs or hikes, to being able to track your Scuba Diving activities (seriously, this thing has it all).
Each of these three watches brings something unique to the table, ranging from the beginner, user friendly option to the Fenix 8 which is built for those feature fanatics. No matter which watch you choose, you’ll be getting a durable and feature-filled Smartwatch designed to help you achieve your goals.
