What to Look for in a Smartwatch A Beginner s Guide

By Isabella Storyclaire

last updated September 17, 2024

Contributions sourced from

Garmin Watch: The Essential Beginners Guide [2023 Edition]

Heres quite literally everything you need to know about getting started with your Garmin watch in 2023 and beyond, including how to use it, its features, and advanced tracking modes

So, youre thinking about diving into the world of Garmin watches, or perhaps youve just bought your first one and youre eager to understand its full potential. Either way, youre in the right place. In this guide, well cover literally everything you need to know about getting started with Garmin watches.

Why Garmin? PROS & Benefits

Garmin watches are far more than just a way to tell time. Known for their rugged durability and rich array of features, Garmin watches provide unparalleled insights into your health, fitness, and personal performance.

But what truly sets Garmin watches apart is their focus on delivering professional-grade technology suitable for athletes of all levels.

Whether youre an amateur runner preparing for your first 5K or a seasoned triathlete, Garmin watches offer a comprehensive suite of tools to track your progress, analyze your performance, and help you reach your fitness goals.

Additional Resources:

If youre looking to buy a Garmin watch but are unsure which is the right option to go for, weve put together a complete guide to the best Garmin watches right now based on where youre at in your running journey check it out below!

Garmin Watches Are Incredible For Fitness Tracking

One of the key features of any Garmin watch is the ability to track various fitness activities. Whether youre running, cycling, swimming, or even participating in more niche activities like paddle boarding or snowboarding, theres a good chance your Garmin watch has a tracking profile that suits your needs.

Beyond the standard metrics like distance, speed, and time, Garmin watches also provide more advanced data, including your VO2 max, heart rate zones, and training status.

This level of detail is a game-changer for those looking to optimize their training and performance. For a more detailed look at how Garmin evaluates your fitness data, check out this detailed guide about Garmins training status feature.

Understanding Garmin Features

Garmin watches come packed with a host of unique features, designed to enhance your fitness journey.

Sleep Score

For instance, the Garmin sleep score provides detailed insights into your sleep quality, which is a vital aspect of recovery and overall health. You can also personalize your heart rate zones to match your fitness level and goals, enabling you to train more efficiently. .

Training Status

Garmins Training Status assesses your past exercise activities and performance indicators to provide feedback on whether youre training effectively, peaking, or overreaching. Understanding this data can help you adapt your workout routine to prevent burnout or under-training.

For instance, if youre brand new to running and you do four or five 30-minute runs back to back, your body will feel it big time. With training status, youll know exactly whether or not your body is recovered enough for a workout which means no more over-training and no more burnouts.

Body Battery

But the features dont stop there you also have a feature called Body Battery. Some Garmin watches also measure your stress levels based on your heart rate variability data. This can help you better manage your overall well-being by identifying when you need to rest or relax.

Heres a guide on how Garmin watches measure stress and how to interpret the results for optimal performance.

Garmin Pay

Garmins answer to the mobile payment trend is Garmin Pay, a feature included in several of its watches. It allows you to make contactless payments right from your watch, simplifying your shopping experience.

And if youre worried about security, rest easy knowing that Garmin Pay uses watch-specific card numbers and transaction codes for each purchase to keep your information safe.

Garmin Pro

Garmin Pro is a subscription-based service offered by Garmin that enhances the feature set of your Garmin watch. This premium service provides more detailed insights, advanced features, and training guidance to help you meet your fitness goals more effectively.

What Garmin Pro Includes

Advanced Analytics: Garmin Pro offers deeper insights and more comprehensive analytics. This includes more advanced sleep tracking, detailed stress tracking, and fitness age calculations.
Training Plans & Workouts: Garmin Pro offers access to personalized training plans and workouts. These plans are created by certified coaches and tailored to your specific fitness level and goals.
Garmin Coach Adaptive Training: This feature provides an adaptive training plan that adjusts based on your progress and performance.
Nutrition & Hydration Tracking: Garmin Pro provides tools to track your nutrition and hydration, helping you to manage your diet more effectively.
Live Event Sharing: With Garmin Pro, you can share your live event data with friends, family, or coaches. They can follow your progress during races or long training sessions in real-time.
Incident Detection and Assistance: This safety feature sends your location to emergency contacts if an incident is detected during an outdoor activity.
Fitness Reports: Garmin Pro provides detailed fitness reports, including trends over time, and detailed insights into your fitness metrics.

Remember, these are additional features on top of what you already get with Garmin Connect. Its designed for those who want to take their training to the next level. You can learn more about Garmin Pro inside the guide and find out whether it is for you.

Garmin Watch Models

With an array of models, choosing a Garmin watch can feel overwhelming. However, it comes down to personal preference and your specific needs. Although these ones are the most popular right now.

If youre a serious athlete or outdoor enthusiast, you might be interested in the Garmin Fenix 7. It offers a rugged design and advanced fitness tracking features. And heres how the Fenix 7 compares to the Fenix 6, its predecessor.

Meanwhile, the slightly less expensive Garmin Forerunner 955 could be an excellent choice for runners that are just getting started or are more intermediate. It provides detailed performance metrics, comprehensive mapping features, and robust battery life.

Whichever model you end up going with, know this: Garmin watches are built to last; some users have gotten over ten years worth of usage from certain models. Me? My first ever Garmin watch, bought in 2015, is still going strong today.

Most Expensive Garmin Watch & The Cheapest Garmin Watch

Below is a guide that breaks down the features of each Garmin watch model, listed from the most expensive to the least expensive, to help you understand why certain models cost more than others. If youre just starting out with your fitness journey, you really dont need to spend $1000+ on a watch.

One of Garmins cheaper watches will do everything you need and then, once youve got a few thousand miles under your belt, maybe you treat yourself to one of its more expensive models?

This is what I did, back in 2015, when I first started my foray into running. I told myself: if I can do this for 12 months, and get significantly better, Ill treat myself with an expensive one at Christmas.