Today’s Trend: Garmin Watches

What is a Garmin Watch?

Garmin Ltd. was established in 1989 by Gary Burrell with Min Kao as makers of GPS devices for aviation and automobiles. But they later expanded to GPS for sports and wearable technology, to the point where they are best known for their activity trackers and smartwatches. Their reputation has grown to where they compete with the more established companies, such as Fitbit and Apple.

Fitness watches have a number of fitness sensors and features for recording steps taken, sleep, heart rate, and more. Some Garmin smartwatches are the Forerunner series (the 945, 245 and 245 Music, 45 and the 45S), the Vivoactive series, the Vivomove HR, the Vivofit, the Fenix, and much more.

Q: How to choose the right smart watch?

• Compatibility: Check if the smartwatch works with your smartphone. The OS (operating system) of your smartwatch determines what apps you'll be able to use on the device itself or through your smartphone. Therefore it is recommended that if you plan on syncing both devices, make sure your chosen watch works with your phone's operating system too.
• Display: Display is a crucial factor in smartwatch buying decisions. LCD screens and AMOLED displays are used on most smartwatches, allowing you to view photos, apps, and other content in richer colors and with more brightness. Despite smartwatch makers improving the device's efficiency, this often results in short battery life. Therefor, the type of display you desire should depend on your preference and the battery life you require.  
• Battery Life: The majority of smartwatches with color screens last between one and two days between charges while other devices with fewer features and lower-quality screens can last between five and seven days. Before choosing a watch, consider what will be your primary use, how much battery it will consume, and how often you're willing to keep plugging it in. It would be a good idea to also look for models that provide fast charging as well as wireless charging. 
• Features: Smartwatches are handy devices for tracking your fitness, health, and outdoor adventures. The more features it has, the easier it is to monitor your daily activity. Consider choosing a model that has at least one of the following features:
  • Fitness Tracker: With this feature, you can monitor your steps, calories, workouts, and heart rate as well. GPS has also been integrated into many smartwatches, which is useful for tracking runs and biking routes. Garmin, however, offers more fitness-oriented features such as tracking of heart rate variations, recovery time estimations, auto-exercise detections, and more. 
  • Music: Most smartwatches let you play music from your phone or save music locally on the device. However with an LTE-enabled watch, you won't need to save music locally; you'll be able to stream music directly from the watch to your paired earbuds. With this feature, you never have to miss a moment of musical entertainment. 
  • Communication: Consider selecting smartwatches that are equipped with app alerts, notifications and call-answering capabilities. Some smartwatches also let you reply to text messages and answer calls directly from your wrist. While those with LTE capability allow users to make calls even when the phone is switched off. 
  • NFC: You can pay for things without your wallet if you have a smartwatch with NFC (=Near-Field Communication). Once your credit or debit card information is saved, you can hold your smartwatch up to an NFC reader to make a payment. Garmin have their own version of NFC called Garmin Pay.

What are the Main Features of Garmin Watches?

Many Garmin models include a Global Positioning System, which are especially useful for runners as well as triathletes. Garmin smart watches are made to properly check the distance, heart rate, time, speed, altitude as well as pace, each of the things which are necessary for an athlete’s training. Fitness trackers are enabled with a number of functions, like a pedometer, step counter or sleep analysis sensor.

Why You Should Prefer a Garmin Watch

Garmin GPS watches have a simple interface which lets you navigate simply between screens: activity tracking, heart rate, health stats and a total of the week is just one click away.

Switching on GPS mode when running is just as simple to access as all of the other functions: push the top right button only once to choose your activity, and then press it again for finding a satellite signal. When you are connected, and then press it a third time when starting your workout.

How to take care of your Garmin watch?

Listed below are few tips on how to take care of your smartwatch so that it lasts longer.

• Protect the screen of your smartwatch by using tempered glass to prevent scratches or even cracks. 
• When cleaning your smartwatch, use a microfiber cloth instead of a tissue or paper towel to prevent small particles from being left on the watch or scratching the display. Also, turn off your watch before cleaning it, and never use household chemicals or cleaners that can damage its electrical system. 
• You should not place it near dangerous corners of furniture or doors, as this can cause a blow or scratch. Smartwatch cover accessories are recommended so that your watch does not succumb to further damage. 
• Follow the manufacturer's charging instructions to ensure the battery of your smartwatch is well maintained. It is imperative to avoid overcharging your smartwatch. 
• Many smartwatches are waterproof if submerged in water. Some smartwatches, however, are not resistant to saltwater, and most of them have internal mechanisms that are vulnerable to corrosion from saltwater. Thus, it is unwise to remain underwater for an extended time with the watch on.

Choosing the Best Garmin Watch

Selecting the best Garmin watch for your needs depends greatly upon your own unique fitness goals, and getting the watch that meets those requirements. Base your decision on the watch’s functionality, design, colors, as well as your choice.

Main Pros and Cons of Garmin Watches

Pros

• Garmin fitness watches can be used by amateur as well as professional athletes to check their training progress. They are commonly called a fitness bracelet, fitness tracker, pedometer bracelet, or activity tracker.

• Garmin Pay is the latest additional feature of Garmin devices. It permits the user to make a payment at any time. Now you don't have to think about taking your smartphone or wallet with you any time you want to shop.

Cons

• Despite all the fitness monitoring functions, they shouldn’t replace medical devices for measuring heart rate, calories consumed, and the like.

Top 5 Garmin Watches

Garmin Forerunner 35 Watch

• Checks your heart rate from your wrist, during the day and night, by making use of Garmin Elevate wrist heart measure technology

• It has a GPS which tracks your speed, distance, and the place where you run

• Has features such as smart alerts, live tracking, music controls, and direct and automatic uploads to Garmin Connect, Garmin’s tool for tracking your fitness activities

• It tracks your movement throughout the day, such as the number of steps taken, calories consumed, and gives you a reminder to move if you’re idle for too long

• Automatically uploads your information to the Garmin website, to display your progress and let you set your fitness goals

Garmin Vivoactive HR GPS Smart Watch

• This GPS smartwatch has a high-resolution touch screen that can be read even in sunlight. The screen resolution is 205 x 148 pixels

• Can be used for tracking biking, running, and swimming—even without a smartphone

• Allows you to select the watch face from a wide range of styles. You can also download apps from the Garmin Connect IQ store

• Sends you alerts to your smartphone

Garmin Vivoactive 3 GPS Smart Watch

• The physical dimensions of this device is 43.4 x 43.4 x 11.7 mm. It will fit on wrist sizes from 127-204 mm. The screen resolution is 240 x 240 pixels

• It has more than 15 pre-loaded GPS and sports apps

• It can measure oxygen consumption and has a stress monitor

Garmin Instinct, Rugged Outdoor Watch with GPS

• The Garmin Instinct is built to military-grade specifications, and has thermal, shock, and water resistance to withstand the elements

• It provides smart notifications and has global satellite navigation capability

• It features a 3-axis compass and a barometric altimeter, and a number of global navigation satellite systems

• It can track your heart rate, activity, and stress, reminding you to keep up your pace

Garmin Vivomove HR Sport Hybrid Smartwatch

• It features a traditional watch face, but gives you fitness information and alerts by means of the touchscreen

• It checks your heart rate, monitors sleep, counts steps, and measures calories burned

• It gives stress alerts over the course of the day, reminding you to take a break from the action

• It allows you to share data and compete with other people via the Garmin Connect app

Final Verdict

Garmin fitness watches are a popular and convenient innovation to make physical training easier. But before making a decision, it is very important to determine what you really require, and the options that exist.