Top 3 Fitness Watches for Runners
- Sep 13, 2021
- 4 min read
My son took up a new sport this summer, cross-country. His favorite sport is basketball but we decided to try a new sport. I signed him up for cross-country summer camp and it turned out, he liked it a lot. Though, many will say cross-country is a difficult sport especially for beginners; many positive things came out of it. My son got in better shape, made a few friends and even made the high-school cross-country team. A week ago, my son asked me to buy him a fitness watch, to track his time and miles. I thought it was a reasonable request; so I of course had to do my research. Here are the top 3 fitness watches I found and at the end I tell you which one I purchased and why.
Highlights:
-GPS up 6 hours
-Long Battery Life
-Sync with music streaming services, such as Spotify, to easily store and play.
-Built in music storage
-Tracks training status, making sure you are not undertraining or over-training; additional performance monitoring.
I found Garmin Forerunner 245 to the best overall watch for serious runners on a budget. Price is pretty reasonable at around $298. Music storage is incredible; stores up to 500 songs directly to your watch. It offers free training plans from Garmin Coach and you can even create your own workouts through the Garmin Connect online fitness community. It also offers a safety feature, which detects incidents sending your current location to emergency contacts when you paired with your smartphone.
Specs:
Material: Corning Gorilla Glass 3, Bezel Material: fiber-reinforced polymer, Strap material:silicone
Physical size: 42.3 x 42.3 x 12.2 (millimeter).
Fits wrists with a circumference of 127-204 millimeter. Display/ Type size: 1.2 inch (30.4 millimeter) diameter, LCD
Human Interface Input: Buttons
Map Type: Worldwide
Battery Life: 168 Hours
Hightlights:
-Premium GPS running/triathlon
smartwatch with music
-Garmin Pay Ready
-Sony GPS chip
-GPS mode with music (up to 10 hours) GPS mode without music (up to 36 hours)/smartwatch mode (up to 2 weeks)
-Gorilla Glass
-New Elevate HR sensor
-Full color onboard maps guide
If you don't mind spending twice as much the Garmin Forerunner 945 is a great fitness watch that has everything Garmin Forerunner 245 and more. I would recommend Garmin Forerunner 945 for experience athletes who train multiple sports like a triathlons. Long training days are no problem due to the battery life being twice as long at 336 hours. Music storage is twice a large as well, giving you a 1000 songs of storage space on your watch. The data tracking is another major upgrade: heart rate sensor is more accurate, monitoring your performance includes Vo2 Max and training status which will adjustment to altitude and climate, focuses on training load and also recovery time. There is also an onboard map guide so you never get lost and choose the trails you want to stay on.
Specs:
Screen Size: 1.2 Inches
Item Weight: 1.8 ounces
Human Interface Input: Dial
Display Type: LCD
Item Dimensions LxWxH: 1.9 x 1.9 x 0.54 inches
Connectivity Technology: Bluetooth, GPS
Hightlights:
-Under $200
-GPS tracks pace/distance
- Battery Life: Smartphone mode (up to 2 weeks), GPS mode (up to 20 hours)
-Free training plans
-No music storage
Garmin Forerunner 55 is the best watch for beginners with a $200 budget. Though, it is not as sophisticated as the last 2 watches I've mentioned; it still does a great job at an entry level fitness watch. Features include tracking stats, distance and pace. Estimates heart rate with an alert if heart rate is constantly too high. Entry level training guide offering varies workouts. Garmin coach offers free training which can be connected to your smartphone.
Specs:
Screen Size: 1.04 Inches
Human Interface Input: Buttons
Display Type: MIP
Item Dimensions LxWxH: 1.65 x 1.65 x 0.46 inches
Connectivity Technology: Bluetooth
Map Type: North America
Battery Life: 336.0, 20.0 Hours with GPS
THE DECISION:
I took about 3 days to research and read through customer reviews. I did most of my research on my lunch break. I narrowed it down to 3 fitness watches which all offered very similar features and specs. The main features that I was looking for was GPS tracking of distance, pace and decent battery life. As a father, you never know how your teen will take care of their pricey possessions. So I figured I would go inexpensive which I was leaning towards Garmin Forerunner 55 but then I read that the Garmin Forerunner 245 has a safety and tracking feature that detects danger which can send an alert of your real-time location to the emergency contacts. As a parent, you always want to keep you kids safe so this was a game changer for me. It's a no brainer, I will pay the additional $100 dollars to keep my kids safe. I do like the add-on of the full-color map guide on the Garmin Forerunner 945 but I didn't want pay $600. Price will always be a factor but safety is my number one priority, so I choose to purchase the Garmin Forerunner 245.
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