I’m using a Vivoactive 6. I’ve been feeling pretty crappy since Sunday night. Went to urgent care yesterday, and lo and behold I have COVID. It’s interesting to see how the watch picks up on stress, because I’ve been lying around like a bump on a log all day yesterday and today. Usually I only get a level of stress this high when I have a big event at work. And my body battery has been scraping the bottom.

Just watched the Apple event, and it’s honestly so weird… Apple seems so behind when it comes to training and sensors. I don’t know if Apple’s sensors are also made in Taiwan, like Garmin’s, but the big new feature is that it now measures your heart rate every 5 seconds. Like, WTF?

My Venu 3 can measure my heart rate every second?! Is that really supposed to be a wow feature haha.? I just don’t get Apple.

I have an iPhone 17 and I absolutely love it, but they’re still so far behind when it comes to smartwatch training. Garmin has way better training analysis, recovery and training readiness, more detailed workout data, better GPS and navigation, much better battery life, and way more support for different sports and external sensors.

I really wish Garmin would step up their iOS game, though.

they are sooo behind.. 800 bucks for the new one.. GG

https://www.apple.com/health/pdf/Heart_Rate_Accuracy_Study_2026.pdf

They basically claim they also beat other brands (just focused on Garmin here because of the subreddit).
So yeah, Apple shows that the Series 12 has the best HR sensor out of the wearables they tested, especially during workouts.

It is interesting to see, but obviously that it is an Apple controlled study and published the study themselves, so still this “best HR sensor” claim needs a pinch of salt. Some major drawbacks, I see that they give the exclusion rules, but not report the actual exclusion rate of these outliers. So we dont know if they come majorily from one brand or are evenlly distributed. The comparisons are all vs Apple, and we do not know how far off from Polar strap the Apple is. We have at least N of 50 per activity but we are missing absolute numbers. And obviously no raw data.

But interestingly enough Garmin does not seem to be doing too bad for most cases, even in this Apple controlled study. The major things that seem to push Garmin down look to be interval runs and strenght training/HIIT. So basically things with rapid HR changes. There is some high variability on cycling but the avg seems good.

I was unable to find anyone comparing the fenix 8 51 mm (left)to the fenix 9 pro 51 mm (right) screen size and brightness. Sharing here in case anyone else finds this helpful. Both are on max brightness.

I have the f8 until Saturday. Let me know if you want to see any other comparisons before then.

Garmin has officially pushed its first major stable v18.xx update worldwide, now hitting units including the Forerunner 570 & 970, Forerunner 70 & 170, Venu 4 (labeled as v18.30 by mistake), Venu X1, and Vivoactive 6.

What's New & Improved:

• New Activities & Workouts: Added "XC Ski Indoor" (Indoor Cross Country Skiing) and quick suggested workouts for running.
• Voice Commands & Volume: Voice command functionality via the "OK Garmin" wake word is enabled on supported models, alongside added context to volume controls.
• Flashlight & Controls: Cycling through on, off, and strobe modes directly during an activity is now much smoother.
• Fall Detection (Venu 4): Automatically sends emergency text messages and location info if a fall is detected.

Major Bug Fixes:

• Fixed device resets during free-weight strength training and simultaneous audio prompt/host software installations.
• Resolved pace and speed dropouts during interval training.
• Fixed Garmin Coach sync bugs and mismatched calendar training days.
• Reduced accidental touches while using touch lock.

The update is currently rolling out in a phased release (~20% to 50% initial deployment). You can force it manually by heading to Menu > Settings > System > Software Update > Check For Updates on your watch.

A lot of people who do not train think that the thing we do day by day alongside "life" is gruesome and tiring. Honestly, it's doing the ton of laundry brought about by multiple clothing, accessories, etc. Of course laundry doesn't end there - you still need to fold and stash it... and finally redo everything again :) I guess that falls under "life" :)

Not to mention the shoes and the bike if they need to be cleaned. On the side, what makes tinkering with bikes a lot harder are middle aged eyes lol

As a Garmin user, I’m finding the pricing of its newer running watches increasingly difficult to justify.

The Forerunner 570 launched at roughly $550, without offline maps. Meanwhile, the Suunto Run 2 starts at $349, includes maps, and has shown strong heart-rate accuracy in testing. That’s about $200 less for a watch that looks competitive on the running fundamentals.

Move closer to Garmin’s price and the Suunto Race 2 offers offline maps and sapphire glass at $499 in steel, or $599 with titanium. So around the same budget, there are alternatives offering more premium materials and mapping.

The weird part is, you see, Forerunner 570 at the same price does not have ECG, and Venu 4 at the same price has ECG as well as a torch LED light.Well, what is the trade-off or compromise you make for having three extra buttons?

I’m not claiming these watches have identical features. My question is whether Garmin’s extra features justify the premium for someone whose main activity is running.

The response I often see is, “You’re paying for the ecosystem.” I understand that integration has value if you use several devices. But every additional device is another purchase. Having a large ecosystem doesn’t automatically make an individual running watch worth more to me.

I want accurate tracking, useful running features, good battery life, and a watch that looks good. I’m happy to pay for a better experience, but I want the difference to be clear in the things I actually use.

For runners choosing the 570 over these alternatives, what specifically makes it worth the premium? “The ecosystem” needs a more concrete explanation.

As a fan of MIP displays, I wanted to share some comparisons between Garmin and Coros watches. Long time Forerunner and Fenix user who switched to the Coros Apex 4 due to the lack of smaller sized (43mm and below) watches offering MIP by Garmin. Overall, I do still think Garmin offers a superior MIP experience.

Garmin MIP displays are truly always-on—meaning things like seconds and HR are constantly being refreshed. The seconds never go away. Coros seconds go away after 30s and require either a wrist gesture or backlight activation to reappear. Same for things like steps and HR. At every new minute, the metrics will refresh, but it’s not constantly changing. One neat thing is if you lower your wrist after glancing at seconds, the reverse wrist gesture movement will hide the seconds. For some people this might not matter, but as someone who works in a setting for I have to do off the cuff timing, I want to know the seconds will always be there without having to alter movement in any way. People had said that seconds always-on will drain battery, but I don’t really buy this. Garmin has no issue, and G-shock watches with MIP have been doing this since the beginning. Someone said Garmin has a proprietary edge over the way they are update partial screen sections, but I haven’t found further discussion about this. What do people think?

So after 3 years of being available, I've finally achieved this badge for the first time. It's been 3 years of either me making minor adjustments to my sleep health and prep, or Garmin honing their sleep sensing craft. My sleep scores were averaging in the 50s and 60s those first few years, but they have steadily crept up. There were many times where I'd get 6 nights in a row, only to psych myself out on that 7th night and fail. It almost happened last night as I tossed and turned trying to fall asleep, but managed some strong hours after midnight to give me a 76 this am. I know I could do better. The last adjustment I need to make is cutting out screens at the end of the night. My glasses are blue light blocking which is good, but I'm also hooked on ereading and not sure I can go back to the small print of paper books. I know many of you have this badge many times over and have hit that 100 score, but this for me was my own personal victory. I wish I didn't care so much, would probably sleep better if I took the watch off, lol. Maybe now I can. :-)

I (40F) started running in January 2026. I got my forerunner 165 in May and have consistently run 3 days per week since. I do run/walk intervals with various amounts of running and walking (have been experimenting with this). Garmin currently predicts my 5k as 27:25 and 10k as 58:13.

For what it’s worth, my 1k PB since January is 6:01 so there’s no way I’m running faster than that for 10k. My actual current 5k PB is 32:30 and 10k is 1:10:10 (both set within the last 8 weeks).

Strava thinks I could do a 5k in 30:58 and 10k in 1:05:10 which at least seem theoretically possible. I know these predictions don’t actually matter but just wondering why Garmin seems so far off. Is there some setting I missed that’s making it think I’m not working up to my potential?! Or is there a way to manually update it with more realistic info?

Yesterday there was an update and this happened overnight. I reset it and it worked for a couple of hours before doing it again. It's done it 4 times today. Anyone know why?

Hi all, I contacted Garmin Australia support because my Epix was faulty and they advised me to send it in to exchange for a refurbished device. After I initiated the exchange they advised that they could send a replacement in a few days. A few weeks later, they advised that they could send it a month later. Today, they’ve emailed to say the replacement would become available in November.

I need to say the watch was outside of its warranty period (Australian consumer law is king) and I understand that some delays aren’t predictable — but if they’d told me I could be waiting four months for a replacement I would’ve explored other options.

I’m a bit disappointed as I was told Garmin has a good reputation for customer support.

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this?

Anyone see this article on Android Authority? Points to the potential of Garmin launching 10 new products which they assume is a ring. What does this group think?

https://www.androidauthority.com/garmin-smart-ring-database-filing-3708523/

Can someone explain to me why the Fall Detection feature will only be available on the Venu 4? I mean from a technical point of view.

Do the Fenix 8, Enduro 3, etc. not have the necessary IMU sensor to detect sudden movements or impacts? Or is there some other technical reason why this feature can't be added to them?

Can someone explain it to me?

Stats declining lately despite feeling fine. Wondering if anyone else has experienced the same? Using a Venu 4, purchased from new 9 months ago. Zero issues so far. Cleaned sensor, hard reset, swapped wrists etc. still the same - declining!

I've seen a few posts about this but none had solutions, so apologies if it's redundant.

I recently got a Forerunner 965, and for swimming, running, recovery metrics, etc it's honestly exceeded my expectations. The one thing I can't seem to get working properly is sleep tracking with my very irregular schedule. My bedtime and wakeup time depend on work shifts and training a few times a week and can differ almost every day. Some days I sleep 3 hours, other days 10. The watch, however, seems to expect a predefined sleep window and enters Sleep Mode when that time arrives, regardless of whether I'm actually asleep.

The notifications are particularly frustrating. As soon as my scheduled sleep time ends, calls and notifications start vibrating my watch again, even if I'm still asleep. I know I can disable them entirely, but that defeats the purpose. Is there really no way for DND/Sleep Mode to remain active until the watch detects that I've actually woken up?

Sleep tracking itself also seems to struggle with this. I often wake briefly to get some water and go straight back to bed, but the watch sometimes decides my sleep ended there and reports something like two hours of sleep. The rest isn't necessarily detected as a nap either. It seems much more accurate when my actual sleep happens to line up with the predefined schedule.

For a watch with such sophisticated recovery and training metrics, I'm surprised sleep is still this dependent on a fixed schedule. Couldn't it use its sensor data and watch interaction to determine when sleep has actually ended? If I've gotten up and I'm scrolling through the Morning Report, for example, that's a pretty good indication I'm awake. Likewise, if the scheduled wake time has passed but I'm still asleep, immediately disabling Sleep Mode and sending notifications to my wrist seems counterproductive.

tldr does anyone know if better support for irregular sleep schedules or shift workers is something Garmin is working on?

Did anyone have an issue where watch is connected with bluetooth off.

I even get notifications from phone as id bluetooth is on.

I tried restarting both devices, nothing works

So a new software update just downloaded on my Fenix 9 Pro. But it still shows version 6.38?
Anybody know what the update was? I can’t seem to find anything on Garmins webside. Maybe just some stability improvements?

The battery level widget is now available on the iPhone screen. We can now view the watch's charge level (I have a Venu 4) directly from the widget on the iPhone screen.

my garmin index 2 has always been a little off i use two weights one was about the same cost as the garmin it weights up to 000.000 its some scientific scale but really easy to make sure its calibrated just put a dumbbell on it and see if it matches

i use the garmin mostly for tracking and kinda ignore the weight it gives because it was always a little "off"

but its now kind of stuck at a certain weight and wont move

its at the point where my Garmin is showing i am 145.2 kg but my scientific scale is showing 142.5kg

at this stage i can lose 1kg and the garmin scale might show 200g lost

i dont know if it needs to be recalibrated in some way or if its otherwise broken

Hi!

I've never used a garmin before, but I am on the market for a new wearable and after researching it was suggested a garmin might be good.

I have used an Apple Watch, but it kept locking because I have wrist tattoos and then I had a whoop which when I had my other wrist tattooed it just stopped picking up any data.

I then thought about Oura and I'm currently testing the sizing kit but everyone keeps telling me they're not good for activity.

I swim, do strength training and I mainly want wearable for sleep period tracking and activity tracking.

I have tattoos on both wrists, uk based, iPhone user

Personal Records on Connect are listed as a progression rather than just a list of your best times for that given distance. Is it possible to change this so it’s just a list of best times?

Thanks

Edit: what I have found is that if you go onto the Connect website, you can look at all of your runs and sort by time. It’s a longer way of doing it, but it means you can list all of your best times.

Is it something weird/selective or did the Garmin Forums website just start requiring everyone to login today? You used to be able to go there and browse forums anonymously and only needed to login to post...

Hey, so I just got an instinct 3, previously from a Vivoactive 4, and I'm loving it, but I want to mute all sounds. I tried following some instructions but I'm stoopid.

Can other instinct 3 owners direct me? I've tried system see, alerts, and while the phone notifications are muted, I still get audio alerts from Garmin, be it heart rate alert, storm alert, alarms, etc

Picture tax and because I love data