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This post is part of Find Your Fit Tech, Lifehacker’s fitness wearables buying guide. I’m asking the tough questions about whether wearables can really improve your health, how to find the right one for you, and how to make the most of the data wearables can offer.
Runners were some of the first people to embrace smartwatches. I remember back when a “running watch” was a brick-like GPS device strapped to your wrist, and it was a game-changer when those bricks started tracking heart rate as well.
These days, every smartwatch can track your heart rate, not to mention your location and potentially a half-dozen other things. For a running watch to be special, it needs tons of extra fitness-centric features—and some critical small details, like physical buttons. Read on for my picks.
What to look for in a running watch
It’s easy to get lost in spec sheets and marketing claims, but at the end of the day, what matters in a watch is whether it can do what you want a watch to do. Think of it like hiring an employee: you don’t want the person who can do the most things, you want the person who can do the job that you need done.
So here are some things to think about when crafting the “job description” for your running watch. Some might be critical to you; some might be irrelevant.
Does it have physical buttons?
For most everyday functions, it may not matter if you’re clicking a physical button or booping an icon on a screen. But when you’re running laps at the track, your shaky, sweaty fingers are going to have a hard time with a touchscreen. For that reason, runners often prefer a watch with real buttons. All of my picks below have physical buttons.
How good is the GPS?
All running smartwatches track your location with GPS—that’s the main reason they exist. (To be pedantic about it, GPS is just one type of global navigation satellite system, or GNSS, which is what we really mean when we talk about location tracking.)
But some location systems are more accurate than others. The least accurate watches are the ones that rely on your phone’s GPS rather than having their own built in. (Whoop and some Fitbits, for example.) The most accurate smartwatches use multiple bands of GPS, plus other location systems like GLONASS and Galileo. Pay attention to which systems a watch uses and whether there are settings to know about. Most watches allow you to switch between higher accuracy modes that use more battery and lower accuracy modes that save battery life.
All of my picks below use multiple satellite systems (with one obvious exception, as you’ll see). It’s worth noting that GNSS keeps getting better over the years, so newer models outperform older ones as a general rule.
What is the battery life?
While phone-based smartwatches like the Apple Watch usually need to be charged every day, running and fitness watches typically have a battery life that will last at least a few days between charges. Many will last a week or more, and some Garmins can make it a whole month.
But if you do very long runs—you’re training for a marathon, perhaps—you’ll also want to know how long you can run. Playing music and tracking your location use more power than just wearing a watch in its regular timekeeping mode, so check how many hours of active use the watch provides. I’ll note battery life for my picks below.
Does it help you navigate, or just track where you’ve been?
Some running watches contain a full navigation system, with pre-loaded maps and turn-by-turn directions. Others can lay a trail of digital breadcrumbs for you, letting you see the path you’ve taken and retrace your steps, but without any extra information or help about where exactly you are in the world. All running watches can track your route in a way that lets you see a map when you get home. I’ll note which watches include maps.
Does it tell you what to do, or just track what you’ve done?
Fancier running watches can track your fatigue and readiness, suggest workouts for you, and even guide you along a customized training plan. Meanwhile, the more basic watches will trust that you’re planning your own training; their job is just to be a tool to track what you’ve done.
Do you want a running watch, or a general purpose smartwatch?
Before we get into the specs of the best running watches, an important question to ask yourself is whether you want a running-specific watch with general features, or a general watch that you can bring on a run.
The models below are for running first, everyday life second. Check out my guide on trackers for general health and fitness if you want something that’s more of a “smartwatch I can run with.”
With those features in mind, I have picks for a variety of budgets and needs.
The sweet spot: Garmin Forerunner 265
The 2xx line of Forerunner has been the most popular for years. Strava’s end-of-year reports have consistently found four- and five-year-old Forerunners among the most popular devices for serious runners. I personally run with a Forerunner 265S, and I’ve written here about why this is my favorite running watch out there. I don’t need maps, so I didn’t opt for the fancier 965; but I do appreciate the training status and upgraded GPS that the 265 series has and the 165 doesn’t. The “S” at the end indicates that it’s the smaller size; I also have a breakdown here of every difference between the 265 and 265S. (Bottom line: pick the one that fits you better.)
The 265 has a bright, sharp AMOLED screen, where previous generations like the 255 had a MIP screen. I have a breakdown of the differences here; I prefer AMOLED, but MIP also has its die-hard fans. You can often catch a good sale on the older Forerunner 255, so it’s worth considering if you want a good watch on a budget.
Why the Forerunner 265S?
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Battery life: 13 to 14 days in smartwatch mode, 16 hours of running with GNSS, and 6 hours with GNSS and music.
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Provides suggested workouts and Garmin Coach training plans.
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Has a variety of training and recovery metrics, including VO2max, Body Battery, training load, recovery time, and intensity minutes.
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Location tracking: includes multi-band GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo.
The best budget pick: Garmin Forerunner 165
I previously called the Forerunner 55 my budget pick, but I’m changing my mind. This past Christmas, I bought a Forerunner 55 for my husband, since he said he wanted a lower-end watch. After spending a week with its low-resolution screen and clunky features, which looked positively archaic next to my 265, I asked him if he might be happier with a 165. We ended up returning the 55 and getting a 165 instead, and he’s so much happier. That said, the 55 is fine. Don’t let me talk you out of it, especially if you’re able to get one on sale. (It’s an aging model, so the price will likely continue to drop). The Forerunner 55 can track your runs just fine and provide some extras like sleep tracking.
But the 165 has a nicer screen, better GPS, an altimeter, compass, Garmin Share (one of the best hidden features, in my opinion), HRV status, more workout modes, more ways to set your heart rate targets—just so much more good stuff, for only $50 more.
Honestly, it may be best to think of the Forerunner 165 as a pared-down version of the 265. For $200 less than my favorite watch, you get most of the same features. It’s only really missing multi-band GPS and a few analytics like training readiness and training status. Do note that it comes in Music and non-Music versions, charging a premium if you want to be able to play music directly from the watch.
The best-kept secret: Coros Pace Pro
Garmin has long been the unquestionable leader in the running watch biz, but I’m seeing more and more runners move to Coros watches. They may not be as common, but their owners love them, citing the lower price for similar features compared to a Garmin. The Pace 3 model is a lightweight MIP screen device that I found couldn’t quite beat out the Garmin on features, but put up a heck of a fight in my head-to-head comparison.
The watch I’d like to spotlight here, though, is the newer Coros Pace Pro. It has an AMOLED screen and features onboard maps, making it pretty comparable to a Forerunner 965 for hundreds of dollars less. When it comes to personal favorites, I still prefer the Garmin ecosystem and the smaller sizes that are available in Garmin watches (the Pace Pro is only available in a 46 millimeter size). But I can’t deny that, when it comes to features and price, the Coros Pace Pro outperforms the Garmin Forerunner 265.
The fancy watch for fancy runners: Garmin Fenix 8 Solar Sapphire
If you’ve got a generous budget for a running watch and you want the best one out there, it’s hard to go wrong with the Fenix line. This one comes in three sizes and several different feature sets, but I’d like to highlight this one. It has a sapphire screen, meaning it’s literally made of sapphire mineral for scratch resistance. It also features solar charging, so you can extend your battery life outdoors without needing to stop to charge on long outings.
Garmin also introduced an AMOLED screen on the Fenix 8, but AMOLED and solar charging don’t go together, so you’ll have to choose one or the other.
Fenix watches, generally, have all of Garmin’s best bells and whistles, with an incredible battery life. In smartwatch mode you’re looking at a couple of weeks, not days (four weeks with solar charging is the official estimate), and the watch will last 13 hours of active use with all-systems GPS and music playing.
The barebones option that elite runners use: Timex Ironman
Yes, this is a “dumb” watch. No, I’m not including it as a joke. A lot of runners—including, and I might say, especially the pros—find the fancy features of smartwatches to be more of a distraction than a help.
The Timex Ironman is a watch with physical buttons, a stopwatch, and a backlight that you can turn on when needed, and it retails for $60. It can remember your split times for a whole workout, and your average and best splits for past workouts.
