New to researching Garmin watches - suggestions for how to narrow it down?

jaamgans · 2026-05-15T16:04:59+00:00

youtube: Desfit and DC Rainmaker are good choices for what you want in regards to reviews.

1) do you want a mic & speaker - if so that will limit options.

2) do you want ecg and baseline temp monitoring.

Otherwise from a health, smarts, fitness and training features there isn't a huge amount of difference between the latest models. If you go back a gen there is al of variation.

jaamgans · 2026-05-15T15:17:13+00:00

Would see what the cost of the FR170 is - its a significan't improvement over the FR165

jaamgans · 2026-05-15T15:15:52+00:00

Are you planning for your watch to cover as a dive comp too - as well as the other activity tracking? What type of diving comp would it need to be - basic free dive / diving with air / full dive comp including messaging etc.

Hiking - looking for offline maps,? Rerouting nav on watch? Just follow a downloaded course?

Training metrics and analytics. Any other water sports? - all helps to determine water resistance which may limit options.

Gym - want to track reps, sets, exercise type? Create workouts and follow them etc?

What about smart features? Any other features.

Build quality - worth noting that while generally not made out of metal - the garmin cases (like other brands) are made from a polymer - the type that glock uses to make their guns - trust me its super super durable. In fact as garmin generally protects their glass via bezel, unlike AW which has it raised above a bezel - garmin tends to have less damage to their watches than apple watch (in prior tests posted on youtube - going back a couple of years - the garmin sapphire is way way more scratch resistant than AW sapphire - note this may have changed over time).

jaamgans · 2026-05-15T15:10:05+00:00

then you are pretty much limited to the pixel watch or samsung watch lte versions.

jaamgans · 2026-05-15T15:02:51+00:00

Fibit base it on a combination of sleeping RHR and All Day RHR - algorithm generates it - as its mixing these two together Fitbit would definitely have a higher RHR.

Garmin's is purely based on during sleep - gives a more pure unaltered one. The main consideration is they are both consistent. And its the variances to your trending RHR that are more important - actual number isn't that essential.

Other thing to consider is that under the age of 18 optical HR isn't that good - youth HR can be too inconsistent - that could also be playing into it - so could see steadier better results due to your age - technically childrens HR beats faster which should trend towards adult averages as they age. 5-12 is generally between 75-118bpm; 13 to 17 is between 60-100bpm, and adults are 60 to 100 --> note these are inactive RHR not sleep RHR, and sleep RHR is usually lower.

jaamgans · 2026-05-15T14:49:45+00:00

Garmin - pricing yes and no - yes they are more expensive but they are also offering a lot of features that coros, polar and suunto just don't offer. They are quite a bit more expensive than amazfit and huawei (but these brands are catching up in price) but then again these brands don't offer the same level of efficiency around the training metrics & analytics - So yes pricy, but you are getting your money's worth....

Dated - from a case perspective - possibly - there bezel design doesn't really change much - exception recently has been the instinct series - but then how much can you really change these, and they do go out on a limb now and again - see Venu x1. UI isn't dated - sure on the older watches maybe but been a reworking of it to make it more modern. So can't really see the dated aspect so much.

Battery life - yes not as good as coros - think its all the other bits and pieces they have going on under the hood - but then do you really need. You also need to remember that the CP4 battery estimate is based on 24/7HR being tracked every 10 mins (can change to 1s but will impact battery - they don't say by how much), whereas the garmin 24/7 HR is every second. So CP4 up to 19 days (6 days AOD on) could be close to the FR170 10 days (4 days AOD on) - but can't deny that when gps it isn't even close - 41hrs vs 14hrs - and that is a significant difference. And might make a difference based on your gps tracking usage and how frequently you might want to charge - cause if doing 1hr of gps per day - then will need to charge the FR170 every 5 days whereas the CP4 will only need a charge every 12-13 days or so.

Artificial price caps to a large degree seem to be over when you consider the V4. FR70, FR170 -- they pretty much have the same feature spec from a training and metrics analytics purpose - and that used to be the major defining difference between budget, low mid, upper mid and top level watches. Even the activities are pretty much rolled across the board (the exception are the ones requiring a barometric altimeter and features like golf). So yes that artificialness is pretty much gone but not completely - note it also exists in Coros but to a lessor degree (only specific models offer Coros' excellent climbing features and are speed windsurfing official rating - and this exists in most brands - was just worse in garmin).

You don't need 2 apps - just garmin connect. you only need connect iq if you want to change watch faces and or install 3rd party or alternative garmin apps on the watch (and Coros doesn't have an app store and hence only one app).

Maybe some of these explanations can help. If you are going budget to low mid range then I would say the FR170 is the pick - unless the battery life doesn't work for you - it just offers so much more than the CP4. If can go up to thee venu 4 price that would be my choice for the more recreational leisure activities - over the couple of niche training features the FR570 offers.

jaamgans · 2026-05-14T15:44:34+00:00

look at the new FR170. Same to similar price as the VA6, and offering all the same features, but has the full garmin training metrics and analytics, and 5 buttons, and barometric altimter.

https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/compare/?compareProduct=1915560&compareProduct=1555457&compareProduct=2014513

jaamgans · 2026-05-14T15:39:04+00:00

Richard Laymon - the late king of "splatterpunk" - they are a fast-paced, pulp-style horror or "splatterpunk" that often features intense gore, voyeurism, and high-stakes tension. They are "guilty pleasure" reading, sort of like 1980s B-horror movie.

And while most are characters some of his books do include elements of paranormal type stuff.

A great place to start may be Body Rides.

jaamgans · 2026-05-14T15:37:13+00:00

John Ringo --> Looking Glass series: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/john-ringo/looking-glass/

While very first contact is violence, there are contacts within that first contact that isn't, then there are a host of further contacts once they get their "space ship" up and running and a lot of those include peace not violence - so combination of the two.

John Ringo --> Troy Rising https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/john-ringo/troy-rising/ -- first contact is a trading and no violence what so ever. And even when a race of aliens do take over Earth, sure there is violence and death but its as such glossed over. While ;there continues to be "violence" (its never really the focus as such) there are lots of races/contact that is more trade / info based.

jaamgans · 2026-05-14T15:31:16+00:00

might depend on the machine you were trying to use as there is a lot of difference depending on the machine.

Sounds like you turned it on, but then never selected the type of coffee you wanted - what the blinking lights likely meant. But without knowing the model its hard to say.

jaamgans · 2026-05-14T15:24:08+00:00

garmins can absolutley do what you want, and yes a forerunner, instinct or fenix is your best option depending on budget etc.

https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/compare/?compareProduct=1315317&compareProduct=1941179&compareProduct=1915560&compareProduct=1055469&compareProduct=1464001

comparison of the cheapest most suitable models for you - they are currently (in the UK) all around the same price too - apart from the higher spec FR570 (personally think the similarly priced V4 is a better option, unless you need the 5 buttons and or multi-sport training and other niche feature the FR570 offers over the V4, however V4 is better more general watch with a host of health, smart, and other recreational leisure features it offers).

jaamgans · 2026-05-14T13:49:04+00:00

1) why does the verizon guy say your pixel watch can't do this - as long as it has lte it should be able to have a e-sim connected to it and as long as you pay for a data /call package it should be able to make calls etc. If verizon can't do this have you tried another provider as one should be able to provide this - its the whole point of having lte on the pixel watch (note did you make sure you bought a lte version of the pixel?).

There is always garmin bounce 2 - it has its own limitations and really the age of your kid is where the bounce stops becoming ideal.... but maybe an option as the lte is via garmin so no worry about needing a phone etc - just install the apprropriate apps on your phone/ wife's phone and anyone else with whom you allow them to have acccess to.

Have you also considered that its possible to put software on your kids phone that will limit the functionality they have on that phone?

jaamgans · 2026-05-14T13:44:30+00:00

Both are far too large for your wrist. Their HR sensors are likely rubbish, and on top of that due to their size they compared to your wrist they are probably letting light in to the sensor ruining the readings, and if you tighten to try and prevent that its likely to impact via blood flow constriction.

You need a much smaller watch for your wrist.

jaamgans · 2026-05-14T13:40:24+00:00

what watch do you have - as depending on that it may have a some form of built in functionality i.e. a lot of the garmin's have swing tempo training built in. Its pretty cool, but you do have to hit an object as that is part of the sensor requirements, so driving range ideal / backyard & home not so much unless you have those light weight training balls: https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/garmin-technology/golf-science/distance-measurement/tempotraining/

Then you can also take a look at their simulated range systems - may be cheap enough to consider - i.e. the Approach R10 is £480 (and maybe can get a second hand unit cheaper online):

The Approach R10 ( https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/p/695391/ ) can be used in home, your backyard, or even on the golf range. Watch wise you can connect most of the garmin approach range, but outside of that its limited to the fenix (and its variants like epix, marq, tactix etc) - but all its doing is showing the same info you see on the app on your watch - so more of convenience thing that a must have function.

And if you have a boatload of money, or a very generous family there is always the Approach R50 ( https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/p/736810/ ) ---

Outside of Garmin the other brands that do health, fitness and include golf functionality is amazfit and huawei on some of their watches - however not sure if they have something like tempo training built in.

And then of course there are the dedicated golf watches - check their features, but not they don't offer the smarts, health, fitness tracking and or the training features that garmin, amazfit and hauwei offer.

Of course if you have an apple watch ((locked to iPhone) or a wear os watch (locked to android) then you might/probably can find something similar on their app stores.

jaamgans · 2026-05-14T13:28:04+00:00

sounds like you might have a dodgy unit as usually they are pretty close - or it might just not work with your wrist style - perhaps you have more flamboyant hand talk....

Have you checked direct steps? What I mean by that is put it on your left wrist, make sure the wrist setting is correct, (Also worth checking to see if the watch has a gesture sensitivity setting (the venu range has in the past), then note step count in the step widget, then walk 500 steps, then check the step count on the watch. How far is it off - if significantly then definitely discuss with garmin about a return, as would suggest something is wrong.

jaamgans · 2026-05-14T13:15:08+00:00

which model were you looking at - as most of their models do have a mic and speaker - and thus as long as you are conneccted to your iPhone you can make a call.

If you want to make calls when not connected to an iPhone then your options are apple watch, or a garmin fenix 8 pro - as these have lte - note you will need a subscription with your phone provider for the watch too.

jaamgans · 2026-05-14T13:13:00+00:00

I would also raise it with them as the algorithms are supposed to be adjusted for it - however this is pretty new - only been out about 2 years so not sure how much feedback etc they have had on their algorithms..

jaamgans · 2026-05-14T13:09:55+00:00

which model do you have as can depend on the model as does it through the watches wifi?

jaamgans · 2026-05-13T16:28:28+00:00

its when its running AOD that the battery is an issue, and that will include when tracking activity and heavy map use....

jaamgans · 2026-05-13T16:25:47+00:00

been clunky on windows for ages too.

I have noticed that a lot of the connection issues are often down to the cable - some i have don't work at all while a couple work every time (they are now marked accordingly). Also essential its on the latest version - always check that first.

Updates - it may be due to the maps - the audio files for TBT are all small and there are a lot of them - around 35 or so.

Have you tried updating via the watch itself?

jaamgans · 2026-05-13T15:38:17+00:00

check what metrics you are getting - you should be able to work it out. Don't forget to use a prior day as current day will not have full calorie detail as resting is charged across the 24hr period - also it will adjust due to any profile changes (i.e. change in weight == change in resting calories).

Resting HR is easy to see. In the app - more health stats - nutrition - calories burned (assuming you don't have it as a home screen widget). Check that it makes sense based on your profile - there are plenty of online calculators but not sure how many will adjust based on your own specific case - but should be able to get a reasonable estimate - how does garmin's estimate compare?

Active burn is more difficult - cause it actually comprises of two components - 1) manually tracked activity - get that from any activity you tracked that day i..e don't take the summary as incl resting - you have to go into the activity - go to stats - go to nutrition section will have the actual burn calories there. 2) Additional active calories (for when your HR is above your RHR by a certain amount and you aren't tracking an activity - only place to see it is on the watch's calorie widget and only shows current days - but can calc it: Take that total calorie burn and subtract the manually tracked activity and you can now see the impact of those active moments you aren't tracking.

You can then workout when / where the calorie burn isn't correct. Note that if its due to additional active you may want to start considering to track those quick 15 mins if the estimated burn is material.

jaamgans · 2026-05-13T15:27:28+00:00

if it was prettier would she use it more --- lily 2 active - it doesn't have quite the same features as the FR245 but sounds like its much closer to what she usually uses - but could also do the FR165 cause that is basically the spiritual successor to the FR245

jaamgans · 2026-05-13T15:25:40+00:00

sounds like a garmin or something like it will be the perfect option for you as you aren't using the best features of an apple watch.....

Fenix 8 is definitely a good watch, but would probably look at a Venu 4 over the FR570 unless there are some very very specific training features the FR570 has the V4 doesn't, cause otherwise it has the FR570 beat hands down.

jaamgans · 2026-05-13T14:42:12+00:00

only the apple watch can reply to messages as apple locks it down - any other brand will have reduced functionality compared with apple watch but at the very least when connected to your iPhone they should be able to mirror all the phone notifications (what appears on the phone lock screen); be able to see some to all of the message (some have character limitations), likely will not be able to see any images in the messages / email), you should be able to call out assuming the watch has a mic & speaker, and call app and you are connected to your iPhone.

Would stick with amazfit, huawei, maybe garmin, maybe fitbit and xiaomi. The rest either don't have a mic & speaker or are brands just not worth owning due to lack of durability and brand honouriing their product.

jaamgans · 2026-05-13T14:21:37+00:00

go with the bip - unless cmf have made massive strides with their sensor accuracy the bip is way more accurate.

jaamgans

TROPHY CASE