Smartwatches are fast becoming an essential bit of kit for tech enthusiasts. Not only can they be used for tracking our vital statistics such as heart rate and blood pressure, but they also keep tabs on our daily activities and give us a gentle nudge if we've been sitting idle for too long. Many smartwatches are fitted with GPS tracking for running and trekking in the great outdoors too and can be of great benefit for promoting a healthier and more active lifestyle.

Garmin is of course one of the biggest brands in the business, not least because of its easy compatibility with both Android and iOS smartphones. They have a huge range of smartwatches to choose from, including plenty of options to cater to all budgets.

Here are the best Garmin smartwatches available right now.

Our Favorite Garmin Smartwatches in 2023

If you’re after a Garmin smartwatch that can keep pace with your busy lifestyle, then the Garmin Forerunner 965 is it. This latest version of the Forerunner is ideal for fitness tracking and sleep tracking, offering daily suggested workouts and built-in profiles for triathlons, duathlons, swim workouts, and much more.

It has a 1.4-inch AMOLED touchscreen display and a lightweight titanium bezel, making it perfect for training with. Multi-band GPS and built-in full-color maps make it easy to plan and track your training routes, and advanced metrics provide comprehensive data on your workout stats, meaning you can always be actively working towards your goals.

Battery life is pretty decent too, and you can enjoy up to 23 days in smartwatch mode, or up to 31 hours in GPS mode. Using the Garmin Connect app and the fitness widget on your Forerunner 965, you’ll have access to everything you need to set, track, and smash your personal fitness goals.

Engineered for the great outdoors, the Garmin epix Pro (Gen 2) features a slate gray steel bezel and a durable rubber strap. This version has a large 51-millimeter, always-on AMOLED display, making it well-suited for downloading maps and route planning. It can also run for up to 31 days in smartwatch mode.

Download TopoActive maps and navigate the ski slopes of the world with more than 2,000 ski resort maps. Enjoy pinpoint accurate GPS functions, thanks to multi-band and multi-GNSS with SatIQ technology. Advanced training features measure your performance over time and provide real-time feedback on your stamina levels.

The epix Pro also prioritizes your mental and physical wellness with a library of 24/7 health monitoring features, such as advanced sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, and training recovery metrics. With activity profiles for just about every sport and activity under the sun, the epix Pro is a premium smartwatch that can help you to push your limits and get the most out of your training.

The Garmin Vivosmart 5 is a fitness tracker-style smartwatch with a slim, bracelet-style look that feels comfortable on the wrist. It’s ideal for those who don’t like the chunkier style Garmin models, but still want to take advantage of Garmin’s superb fitness tracking and health monitoring features, without breaking the bank.

With a display of just 0.84 inches, the screen size is on the smaller side, but effective enough for displaying key data without overloading you. Using the Garmin Connect app with your Vivosmart 5 grants you access to its many features, including fitness tracking, sleep monitoring, GPS, heart rate monitoring, Pulse Ox, and more.

This lightweight fitness tracker is safe for swimming or showering with and will run for around seven days in smartwatch mode. There are plenty of pre-loaded sports apps to match whatever activity you choose, and you can receive texts, calls, and notifications from your smartphone to allow you to keep in touch with everything while you’re training.

Available in a variety of colors, the Garmin Forerunner 265 is a fantastic running smartwatch that you can match to your style. It has a 1.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen display and a lightweight design that doesn’t restrict movement. In smartwatch mode, you can enjoy up to 13 days of battery life, or get 20 or so hours from GPS mode.

There are more than 30 built-in activity profiles here, covering running, cycling, swimming, and everything in between. Sleep quality scores, recovery times, HRV status, and so on are used together to measure your overall training readiness, for a bespoke training program.

Excellent for any number of training programs and activities, the Forerunner 265 works best as a running watch. This is down to the combination of metrics it uses to determine your fitness levels and the training sessions it forges for you, helping you improve your stamina, and chase that PB.

The Garmin Venu Sq 2, more so perhaps than anything else in Garmin’s roster of products, looks the most like a regular smartwatch. It has a nice, large 1.41-inch AMOLED display that’s easy for checking messages on and is great for downloading your favorite playlists from Spotify or Amazon Music.

But it wouldn’t be a Garmin without all those advanced health and fitness features that we expect. And thankfully, it delivers on all those fronts, too. There are 25 different indoor and GPS sports apps built-in, plus access to preloaded workouts for cardio, yoga, HIIT, and tons more. Health features such as Body Battery monitoring, sleep monitoring, hydration, and more can be found in abundance here.

With a battery life of up to 11 days with the Venu Sq 2, there’s plenty of scope to let those metrics stack up too, as you’ll not need to take off your Garmin to charge each night. The sleek design looks and feels great, and it’s the perfect Garmin for folks who love to vibe to their favorite tunes while they train.

The perfect companion for serious outdoor trekking, the Garmin Fenix 7S Pro Solar is a multisport GPS smartwatch that runs on solar power. This version has a 1.2-inch display and sits in a fiber-reinforced polymer case with a steel or titanium bezel (depending on which model you choose).

As you might expect, with there being a solar-powered charging lens, the battery life of the Fenix 7S is phenomenal. In smartwatch mode, you can glean 14 days of use from a three-hour solar charge in direct sunlight, which is seriously impressive. It has a water resistance rating of 10 ATM and can withstand pretty much anything that mother nature cares to throw at it, too.

Additionally, you’ll find multi-band GPS and SatIQ technology built-in, advanced training metrics, and comprehensive health and wellness features to boot. With support for Outdoor Maps+ for premium mapping content and satellite imagery, the Fenix 7S Pro Solar is the Garmin to choose for off-grid trekking enthusiasts.

Boasting a super bright LED flashlight that’s twice as bright as the Garmin Fenix 7X multisport GPS watch, the Garmin Enduro 2 claims a best-in-class battery life. This is down to its solar-powered charging, which provides up to 150 hours of battery in GPS mode, or a massive 46 days in smartwatch mode.

It achieves this impressive statistic by utilizing SatIQ technology to maximize battery life, without compromising positional accuracy. The equivalent of an eco-mode of sorts, this allows full GPS functionality with a smaller trade-off against battery life. It allows you to go further and for longer than any other Garmin, with enough juice left to navigate your way home (or, there and back again, if you’re a Hobbit).

Apart from solar charging and SatIQ technology, there are TopoActive maps and NextFork map guides to enjoy, plus grade-adjusted metrics for measuring every aspect of your performance, such as Trail Run VO2 Max for measuring cardiovascular fitness. Pushing the envelope for outdoor endurance fitness training, the Enduro 2 is an elite companion that loves a challenge.

Perfect for runners and sportspeople, the Venu 2 Plus has a sleek design that looks the part. Its health monitoring features can be used to track your body battery level, stress level, sleep score, and fitness age. It has more than 25 built-in sports apps for a variety of activities such as running, HIIT, and swimming.

Use preloaded workouts or create your own using the Garmin Connect app on your smartphone and use Garmin Coach to shape adaptive training plans for when you want to step things up a notch or two.

There are safety features such as incident detection and assistance, to give you a helping hand should anything happen while you’re out training. This smart feature can send an alert with your live location to your emergency contact, giving you peace of mind in the event of a fall or injury.

You can download up to 650 songs onto this device from your favorite music streaming platforms so that you can push yourself that little bit harder with the aid of some motivational anthems.

What Type of Garmin Smartwatch Is Right for You?

Garmin smartwatches are a great choice of smart wearable, given that they specialize in advanced fitness tracking, and use advanced health biometrics and sleep tracking to determine your overall fitness level. Using a Garmin wearable, you can train with a purpose, utilizing its many features to tailor your workouts to your needs.

Advanced GPS technology means many Garmin smartwatches are ideal for planning training routes or expeditions in incredible detail. And if you're serious about your outdoor pursuits, and your budget can stretch to it, the Garmin Fenix 7S Solar or Garmin Enduro 2 are excellent for those all-weather adventures.

If you prefer staying closer to home and want something less bulky, and more suited to everyday fitness tracking while running or at the Gym, something like the Garmin Vivosmart 5 fits the bill nicely and will save you a few dollars to boot.

However, our best overall option is the Garmin Forerunner 965 Running Smartwatch. As explained above, this smartwatch is a great showcase of both form and function, with stylish and elegant looks, and a treasure trove of cool features to explore. It has a great battery life and makes a superb choice for performance fitness tracking. It's armed with Garmin's latest health and wellness features too, so you're guaranteed to get a workout that's tailored to your own abilities.

Priced somewhere in the mid-range for Garmin smartwatches, you're getting premium functions for a price point that seems more than reasonable when you consider everything that it can do.