The Garmin Vivoactive 6 is my favourite alternative to the Venu 4, with many similarities between the two when it comes to health and fitness tracking. It’s just noticeably missing the same top-level GPS and the Training Readiness feature, but it’s hard to look badly on this, especially with over £25 off now. The Fitbit connection screen shown in the app includes a note that imported activities count for goals and challenges but will not count toward Peloton streaks. That language appears to conflict with the streak splash screen, which explicitly says connected fitness apps will protect your streak. Both Forerunner 170 and Forerunner 170 Music get up to 10 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and are offered in black with a black/amp yellow band and whitestone with a whitestone/cloud blue band. Forerunner 170 Music also comes in vibrant colors like teal green with a teal green/citron band and red pink with a red pink/mango band.

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For women who want a free starting point, Caliber’s structured programs include lower-body compound movements that support bone density — though without WeGLOW’s hormonal phase context. With running, you can work through a performance-adaptive plan with help from one of three experienced running coaches, or choose a plan catered to your health, recovery and performance metrics from Garmin Run Coach. To use Garmin Run Coach, all you need is a compatible smartwatch that estimates your VO2 max and, when available, lactate threshold from runs recorded — with heart rate and GPS pace tracking as a foundation for your plan. As you progress, Garmin Run Coach adjusts the difficulty of your workouts so you can continue improving. It connects to various music platforms for phone-free listening and syncs with basic services like Garmin Pay and the Connect IQ Store as well. Recommended for runners perhaps, but this smartwatch goes well beyond the call of duty.

The best Garmin watch in 2026

This update fits directly into Peloton’s broader push to become a platform that works with the rest of your fitness life, not in spite of it. As The Clip Out covered in its breakdown of Peloton IQ biometric integration, Garmin Connect, Fitbit, and Apple Health were already pulling data into the platform to inform coaching and recommendations. 1 Activity tracking accuracy2 This is not a medical device and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or monitoring of any medical condition; see Garmin.com/ataccuracy. Breathing variations and Pulse Ox are not available in all countries.3 When paired with a compatible smartphone; see Garmin.com/ble. For safety and tracking features requirements and limitations, see Garmin.com/safety. Not only do you get the data, but you get digestible insights and analysis of your data that help you better understand why you are where you are.

Run further with Forerunner 70 and Forerunner 170 from Garmin

This comfort is absolutely crucial because you must wear it 24/7 to nail those vital sleep and deep recovery metrics—the essential inputs that calculate the next morning’s all-important Training Readiness guilt trip. While the hardware is sleek, what truly upgraded my training was the sheer density of actionable, personalized metrics. Features like Training Readiness, deep-dive HRV Status (the gospel truth on your systemic stress), dedicated Race Widgets, and nuanced Performance Insights lay out what your training and habits are doing to your body. We’d opt for the Apple Watch Series 11 for the smoothest daily experience. But if you don’t care to have every app on your phone on your wrist, the Garmin Venu 4 is a great choice too.

• When it comes to smartwatch features, you can connect to your preferred music service, make payments via Garmin Pay, and receive calls and text notifications.
• Still, the ability to manually adjust both the reps and weight after each set is the fail-safe; just don’t rely on the Garmin to count for you.
• During testing, I found it easy to navigate through the workout modes and start a session, with plenty of data insights into my pace, distance, and timing when I went running, cycling, or took a dip in the pool.
• It’s clunky, tricky to navigate, and the store is an entirely separate app, which is needlessly frustrating when you just want to purchase your $2 Fourth Wing watchface and install it in the same app.
• The Forerunner 265 claims to last an estimated 13 days in normal smart watch mode, and we found this to be accurate, even with daily activity tracking and constant heart rate monitoring.
• Below, we’ll outline the fine details of each respective silhouette to give you the full scoop on these training tech titans.

thoughts on “Garmin’s New Features for 2026 – Every Q1 Feature Detailed.”

I leveraged my experience testing fitness trackers, smartwatches and smart rings to pick the best ones on the market today. For fitness, the watch has built-in Fitbit tracking with more than 50 workout types to choose from, with more in-depth data compared to other Fitbits like the Fitbit Charge 6. You can build custom workouts, including custom runs with stages, intervals and more.

Apple Watch SE 3

By leveraging this technology to its fullest, you can stay motivated and optimize your strength training routine. Setting up the Forerunner is easy, and pairing it with your phone and the Garmin Connect app is a relatively painless process. Though trend data will take a week or more to start generating, you’ll be able to capture heart rate and sleep scores from day and night one. We like the Garmin Connect app, which contains graphs for every tracked metric. We have read of some users who dislike it, but it works well in our opinion, and we feel that it is easy to access our data and gain insight into our fitness level. In my opinion, though, the Forerunner 965 is more of an advanced best beginners workout app tool designed for training given its heightened emphasis on activity tracking without other conveniences like receiving phone calls, supporting style needs, and more.

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Garmin is already well-known for cutting-edge innovation, and they equipped the Instinct 2X Solar with plenty of killer upgrades. As a result of software improvements, for example, the watch now supports a wider range of activities, such as golf and surfing. The battery life is also better than ever and good for up to 40 days on a single charge, which isn’t to mention the (virtually) unlimited energy provided by solar power, a blatant benefit for cyclists and campers. With its slim bezel, large AMOLED display, and built-in LED flashlight, the Garmin Fenix 8 offers the best in wearability and legibility alike. This one is built to last in all kinds of ways, complete with a battery life of up to 29 days and the ability to plunge underwater to up to 100 metres.

Best Garmin Watches for Running, Cycling and Lifestyle

I like that its comprehensive enough to appeal to a variety of needs while still being easy to use. Aesthetically, it’s also one of the more attractive watches Garmin offers, thanks to its silicone band and stainless steel bezel. If too much data sounds overkill, there are some other trackers that will be a little easier to pick up and understand from day one. The Garmin Vivoactive 5 still tracks many of the same activities as the Forerunner but in a slightly less intimidating package. It’s much smaller and a fraction of the cost of the Forerunner as well. Yet another Garmin that might meet your needs better is the Garmin Venu 3.

FORERUNNER® 70 170

On the Vivoactive 6, you’ll find the same 80+ workout modes and suggested workouts, workout libraries via the app, and advanced, sport-specific data insights into your fitness. I also found it handles sleep logging perfectly, counting the hours and quality of my rest, with a Morning Report detailing my recovery. When it comes to smartwatch features, you can connect to your preferred music service, make payments via Garmin Pay, and receive calls and text notifications. Activities you complete on your watch outside of running and cycling indirectly affect daily suggested workouts.

Safety and Outdoor Features

The Forerunner is not only one of the largest watches in the lineup that we tested, but it’s also the most distinctly sporty; it’s going to stand out as a watch that is tailor-made to track fitness activities with precision. One of our testers noted, “I have slim wrists, and frequently avoid anything close to large watches, but this still felt comfortable on my wrist and didn’t look out of place”. The band is highly adjustable with latch points along the entire length. We compared distance and pace fields to measured values, and real-time heart rate data to a chest strap monitor. One of our testers noted that “I was really impressed with the accuracy of the real-time heart rate data, especially the max heart rate. As a slowly aging athlete, I love seeing the real-time feedback that I can still hit my target thresholds during a workout”.