Hello!

I used to be in decent shape back in the day but have fallen WAY off. I got old, obese, inflexible and generally in horrible condition. I recently decided it's time to get serious about my health and fitness again and because I can be super nerdy, I needed a watch to help me do that. I picked up the F9Pro because I have a problem with overkill and a general lack of self-control, but now am trying to figure out how I should be using this.

In short, does anyone know of any good tutorials or how to maximize the garmin ecosystem? My training will cover weights, cycling, swimming, and wherever that lack of self-control leads me. Basically I just want to learn how to best use this tool to help me improve my health and fitness. Any guidance, tips, or resources you are willing to share are greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Can you tell me why you are deleting my post of a picture of my new watch that happened to have a free watch face that I developed on it? I talked about the watch and compared it to my old watch and did not talk about the face but provided a link to it when asked. This sub is FULL of people posting pictures of new watches. Then when I asked why you deleted my post I get permanently muted with no explanation.

It's not like I am advertising for personal gain it was a free watch face. I posted a link to my watch face months ago shortly after the Wednesday pinned post started and got banned from posting for a week with no warning, in my reddit app the about page still just says "Uncensored Garmin Device Forum" so I didn't realize I was breaking any rules

I know I am going to be banned for this post but I hope you can learn to not take your sub so seriously and let people be happy about things.

I’m debating whether to upgrade to the Enduro 4 or hold onto my Tactix 7 Standard for another year or two. I run about 30 miles per week and strength train 3–4 times a week, so I get plenty of use out of my watch.

The battery life on my Tactix is still excellent, and the watch is in great condition. What initially drew me to the Tactix over the Fenix line was its overall look and flat bezel. I also really like the styling of the Enduro 4.
Honestly, part of me just wants something new since I’ve had my Tactix for almost four years. For those who have upgraded recently or are familiar with both watches, do you think the Enduro 4 would be a worthwhile upgrade, or would you hold onto the Tactix 7 for another year or two?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions. Thanks!

Hi everybody, just looking to get an honest review from anybody that uses the bounce 2 for their children.

I’ve just canceled our subscription we had with Bark watch and I’m looking for a replacement for my eight-year-old daughter. The GPS was always hours behind, calls and texts would fail to go through and finally it just wouldn’t boot up and I’d had enough. It was only about nine months old.

My husband and I are both Garmin users and while my loyalty is with the brand, I want to make sure that the watch isn’t another dud. I don’t love that you have to use the Garmin Jr. app to communicate, but I’m willing to overlook that if all the other features function really well.

TYIA

That’s all. I am low key fuming 😭😂

Hi all. I'm a solo hobby developer building EM Snow, a free ski and snowboard project: a Garmin widget and watch app, an iPhone app, and a website that replays your day on a map with every run and lift named, or in 3D in the Snow Globe.

Before the northern season starts I'd love to test it against as many real days as possible, from as many watches and cameras as possible. Fenix, Forerunner, Epix, Instinct, Venu, Apple Watch, Coros, Suunto, Polar, phones, GoPro and Insta360: all welcome, old seasons too.

Two ways to help:

1. Easiest: drop your file on the replay page and see your day: snow.extreme-media.co.uk/flyby. It reads FIT, GPX, TCX, KML, GoPro and Insta360 files, all in your browser, and "Replay it as a game" takes the same day into the 3D Snow Globe. Nothing is kept unless you choose to publish your day.
2. A day it gets wrong, or a camera file that won't load: email it to help@extreme-media.co.uk. Files are used only for testing, never published, and deleted when testing is done. If your track starts at your home or hotel, trim that bit first, or tell me and I'll cut it before anything else.

What it is, if you want to try it (all free, no account):

• EM Snow widget for Garmin: today's snow, new snow, the forecast, lift status and avalanche level in a glance, on older watches too. Connect IQ
• EM Snow watch app for Garmin (alpha): the snow report, live lifts, the next lift with queue times, sun on the slopes, avalanche danger, a "get me down" guide, and your day recorded with runs, vertical and lift queues. Waiting for Garmin's store approval, coming very soon.
• EM Snow for iPhone and Apple Watch (public beta): records your day, names every run and lift, replays it in 3D, and syncs your Garmin days. TestFlight
• The website: snow reports and forecasts for over 5,000 resorts in 79 countries, plus the replay. snow.extreme-media.co.uk

Everything in one place: snow.extreme-media.co.uk/beta. Your location is only used once you choose, and nothing is shared without a yes: privacy.

Happy to answer anything in the comments. Thanks! (mods please remove if not allowed - its not commercial )

​

Bought a vívoactive 5 during Amazon India's Great Indian Festival, but was disappointed with its heart-rate monitoring.

Showed around 72 bpm when placed against a pillow, off my wrist.

Consistently showed only 80–90 bpm during treadmill exercise at 15 incline and 6 km/h.

Sleep tracking also seemed inaccurate compared with my much cheaper Samsung Galaxy Fit3.

I recorded video evidence and contacted Amazon. Initially, they directed me to Garmin for service-centre assessment, but Amazon has now accepted my return and refund.

For a premium smartwatch, this was a disappointing experience.

Has anyone else experienced similar sensor issues with the vívoactive 5?

Hey, I want to get my First Garmin for my Birthday. Im a 2-3 times per week runner and want to spend 300-400€. For the moment im mostly into the 265 the watch would be more than enough probably too much my only concern about it is the missing Future Upgrades. Is it big difference and it’s better to get a 170/570 or another Watch or is it more like fomo and it wont be a big difference? Would appreciate ur help very much as I’m overwhelmed.
Greetings

Hi everyone,

I would like to get suggestions on what i should buy as my first garmin watch. A little bit about me, i train 5-6 days a week with indoor cardio one a week. Lots of walks during the day, and cycling once a month.
I come from apple watches and now whoop (still have 3 months of subscription).
Which watch would you recommend? Do you suggest i also buy HRM 200 or 600? If so, which one?

Thanks and apologies if i missed out any info.

Hi! I'm considering an instinct 3 solar 50mm vs Enduro 3 from Facebook marketplace. The price difference between the two is $150 (the Enduro being more expensive). I like how legible the screen is on the instinct 3 but the maps and gen 5 sensor on Enduro appeals. But I don't backpack or thru hike and don't know if it's a waste of money.

I would like to hear some thoughts that I might be not considering or just what choice you'd make. Thank you.

Hello everyone,

I currently own the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro but not enough for sport and really weak autonomy.

I'm going to use it mainly for running, walking and hiking! (I will also be able to wear every day) so ideally light.

I use Spotify and Strava

Ideally for less than 400 euros!

I'm open to any watch.

Thank you very much and beautiful evening!

What exact gps settings does auto select bounce between during activities.

Getting ready to do my first event this weekend with my watch (Forerunner 170). Just checking if anything i need to do before hand in order to get the best accurate data for the race. Is getting GPS normally a problem? I have the event registered on my garmin app so would i just start my run like normally would when im working out?

I'm new to wearing sports watches, and I like the nylon band on my Venu X1, but it takes a long time to dry after washing it after a workout. Silicone obviously wouldn't have that problem, but I would rather not have a traditional buckle and would prefer elastic or a quick latch of some sort. Does such a thing exist that can stay on during a tennis workout?

Went to Garmin for an exchange program and they offered me fēnix® 7 Pro – Sapphire Solar Edition, Carbon Grey DLC Titanium with Black Band for £495 and my 735 XT.

Not sure 7 pro still with £495, I haven't had a new watch in nearly a decade.

could anyone please give some advice.

Hi, recently lost my Garmin Forerunner 265 in a field when out at work and have accepted it’s gone lol. Looking to get another Garmin as I’m really missing it. Quite fancy getting an upgrade so I feel as if I’m not taking a step backwards. Only really use the sleep score, training readiness, steps and calorie features and use it for running, weights, rugby and the odd hike Budget of around £400 tops for one but don’t mind getting a decent second hand one on eBay. Just wondering what yous would all recommend because there’s so many options. Also thought I’d note that I have a fairly physical job so needs to be somewhat rugged. Cheers

Usage was similar on both watches: no SpO2, continuous steps / HR / Bluetooth / notifications / weather, alarms rarely. No backlight on the F6X or AOD on the F9 at night. Roughly 5k steps a day, occasional mail and other notifications, health stats checked and calls received (vibration only) now and then. A couple of indoor workouts per week in the last weeks of F6X use (see the short-term chart) and throughout the F9 period. The first week on the F9 used almost the same face as the F6X (colors adjusted for AMOLED).

Differences: F6X gesture backlight at 20 %. F9 had AOD on, full face on gesture at 30 % brightness. The second F9 cycle ran with brighter faces. There was also a lot of watchface development and testing on the F9 (no GPS) plus one ECG test per cycle.

The F6X battery has barely lost capacity after 5–6 years (see the long-term chart). Maybe a couple of days, hard to quantify exactly because usage varied, but the drop is small. Impressive.

F9 data is still limited (two full cycles so far, ongoing).
Battery life looks comparable, especially taking into account the heavier testing load for F9.

P.S. Previous post

Lately I've been thinking that it'll soon be time to upgrade from my old but trustworthy FR945 (last picture) and then a few weeks ago I received a sign. My Forerunner's screen started delaminating... So I decided to upgrade.

I think Enduro 4 is a very beautiful watch and I love how it looks. I've only had it for a day, done one trail run this morning and I'd like to share my first impression.

First of all, the 26mm wide band is really nice. The watch sits on my wrist much more securely. My old FR kept moving around. Especially during runs. The band is made out of a thin material and is slightly elastic. Very comfortable. It also dried quickly after I took a shower with it.

I was most afraid of moving to a bigger sized watch. So far, I think the 51mm looks great on my wrist and the additional weight hasn't been uncomfortable. Of course I notice it a bit transitioning from the smaller FR, but I think I should get used to it in a week or two. The thickness is noticeable yes. It's 2mm thicker than my FR. It's a compromise I was willing to take and with the low weight I think I should be fine.

The screen is super nice looking. My main wish was to have the mip display, so if I wanted a new gen watch I had to basically choose between Fenix or Enduro. I went with the Enduro cuz it's cheaper and I don't need the extra features from the Fenix. I also think it looks better.

One small issue I noticed is the light button. You know how Garmin watches are famous with having weird, mushy, problematic buttons? Well, it seems this is still the case in 2026. When I press the light button it does two clicks. First click is at around 50% pushed in and the last, expected one, at 100%. It's a minor inconvenience and I'm used to it. My Forerunner had mushy buttons since the day it arrived. As long as the button doesn't get worse I won't bother myself with it.

That's about it. Let me know if you have any questions. Of course, I basically skipped three watch generations with this upgrade so everything is a big change for me haha. That's maybe also why I'm so impressed with everything. One very big change is the added touch screen. Still thinking about how much I want to use that. I guess I'll see.

I fly quite a lot, and when there’s no seatback screen with a flight map, I often look out the window and wonder which country or city we’re flying over.
Obviously, this required a watch app.
I built an app for my Garmin Instinct 2S that uses the watch’s GPS to show:

- An approximate country and the nearest city, with distance.
- A world map and a regional map, with a cross marking your position.
- Coordinates, for when knowing the country isn’t quite nerdy enough.
Everything runs offline, without a phone or internet connection. It does need a GPS fix, so reception inside the plane matters. A window seat helps.
I made it for myself, mostly to satisfy my curiosity and compensate for the airline’s failure to provide my favourite entertainment: watching a tiny plane move across a map.
Would anyone else actually use this, or have I built something for a market of exactly one?
Now available in the the IQ store https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/c02cc72c-7614-4a11-a0c6-ec3713b0de1b

Supported models:

Forerunner®️ 165
Forerunner®️ 165 Music
Forerunner®️ 255
Forerunner®️ 255 Music
Forerunner®️ 255S
Forerunner®️ 255S Music
Forerunner®️ 265
Forerunner®️ 265S
Forerunner®️ 570 - 42mm
Forerunner®️ 570 - 47mm
Instinct®️ 3 – 45mm, AMOLED
Instinct®️ 3 – 45mm, Solar
Instinct®️ 3 – 50mm, AMOLED
Instinct®️ 3 – 50mm, AMOLED, Tactical
Instinct®️ 3 – 50mm, Solar
Instinct®️ 3 – 50mm, Solar, Tactical

Hey Garmin fam! I’m a dedicated distance runner using (and loving!) an instinct 2 solar. I’m primarily a year round outdoor runner, but live in rural northern New England and do rely on a treadmill when needed. I recently upgraded, and my watch is off by about 1/4 - 1/2 mile, and respectively the pace. Garmin support said I need to do a hard reset on my watch to start fresh for a new treadmill sync. Has anyone done this? Will I lose the learned metrics such as Vo2 max data etc? Thanks for any insights!

I like wearable devices and especially devices born with soul.. Days ago I found Tactix 7 Pro on the local market with reasonable price and bought it in the same day. Just to try how it is in 2026. And know what? It still the beast!

Design still looks great with flat bezel. In comparison with Fenix 8 51mm it looks way smaller exactly because of flat bezel. I really like Tactix series for that.

Hardware sensors (elevate v4) give me all metrics I need (I don't use ECG) and i'm not care about SpO2, skin temperature etc. Sleep tracking is not the strong side of all Garmin watches. That's why I always wear Helio Strap on the my right wrist. It broadcasts data while sport activities.

Screen is OK, not so crisp like in the last Fenix / Enduro series but that's MIP and more than enough to see data in the any light conditions. I personally think that best MIP screen was in Fenix 6 line.

No lags in UI, seems like the previous firmware was better that newest on Fenix 8 and higher models.

Workouts, sport modes and tracking - work well as on all Garmin watches.

Original Tactix nylon band is a great thing ever! Point.

Solar battery is a gimmick. Point.

PS: Garmin, please update your mobile app with modern UI!

I have been using garmin vivoactive 5 and i found that swim related tracking is poor on the garmins. Lengths always tend to be not detected right, atleset 25,50 to 75mtrs of difference always exists when done with the pool swim activity.

So there are bunch of apps available on the connect iq store.

Saw thw swimtag app to be relatively better, it has edit options etc. Need to check in the pool if it tracks better.

But there isnt any tiny bit of information on how do we sync account on watch as it ends up with 404, and other issues exist where app too has vgood and lots of options but we dont get to know what is what etc..so app based tutorials etc but a well maintained doc is needed.

And there are other apps too. So now can you who have been using garmin suggest some better apps which performs better than poolswim app.

Hey all, I have a Garmin D2 Air X10, and an instinct tactical. For whatever reason, the silicone band on the D2 Irritates me so I use my instinct tactical when I run/lift. I have been running into an issue though, where my activities from the instinct do not show up in Garmin connect despite the watch being connected, and even being the primary wearable. Any help is appreciated

Update: powering off the other watch and setting the desired device as the primary wearable prior to activity seems to have fixed the issue.

Hello. I’m considering purchasing a Garmin Fenix ​​8 or 9 (47mm). Could owners share what the real battery life is like with the display set to "always-on" and with daily workouts lasting about an hour?

The Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar was released in June 2022, almost four and a half years ago.

What amazes me is that, even today, I can't find a single newer watch that offers the same combination of features without making compromises somewhere.

The entire 9xx lineup that followed (965, 970) hasn't brought anything that would make me seriously consider upgrading. Sure, there are new sensors, some minor additional features, and AMOLED displays. But for me, AMOLED is actually a downgrade in a sports watch. I much prefer the always-on MIP display, its visibility and its battery efficiency.

The Coros Apex 4 is probably the closest alternative I've found. But even there, I'd have to give up some things I value. The COROS ecosystem still feels less mature than Garmin's, particularly when it comes to features like Garmin Pay and advanced mapping and navigation. There's no solar charging either. And from what I've seen, COROS still hasn't fully solved its annoying lag in displaying instant pace.

Meanwhile, my 955 Solar is still receiving firmware updates. The latest one was released at the end of August 2026.

So I've been thinking: was the Forerunner 955 simply that far ahead of its time, or did Garmin somehow manage to build a watch that perfectly matches my needs?

Almost four and a half years later, nothing on the market has convinced me that the overall combination of hardware and software has meaningfully improved for my use case.

I really hope my 955 Solar lasts another two or three years. I'd love my next upgrade to be driven by something genuinely exciting — new sensors, new capabilities, or features that fundamentally change how I train and use my watch.

Not simply because my current watch is getting old.