Garmin Activity Trackers Comparison 2020 – The Best Of The Best

Garmin have been a quite well-known for their GPS devices in cars, however, when the iPhone came out with that pesky Google maps app, the company got hit pretty hard and needed to change direction.

It entered the race in the wearables market in the early 2000’s and has really focused on bringing quality products in order to stay competitive in a growing market, which is why we have compiled a Garmin activity trackers comparison, showcasing some of the best devices in the Garmin range.

Many of the Garmin wearable devices have some great features that are lacking in some other leading activity tracker and smartwatch brands. Some of these features include built-in GPS, long battery life, waterproof design, and many more useful sensors than most devices out there.

running mountain

Using the Garmin Connect app on your smart phone you can get sync all data and analyze and study your health and progress til your heart is content. (You can even check if your heart is content on the app!)

DISCLAIMER: THERE IS NO FEATURE THAT CAN CHECK IF YOUR HEART IS “CONTENT” IN THE GARMIN RANGE.

All jokes aside, if you are serious about tracking your health and fitness the Garmin range of wearable devices are definitely a reliable and quality product and you will not be disappointed.

When purchasing an activity tracker you really need to think about what you really need it for. Are you big on hiking? Long distance running? Swimming?

Swimming

Whilst a lot of the devices below should accommodate your needs, you don’t want to invest $100’s of your hard-earned cash in something that will not do what you it to, so below is a run down of some of the best Garmin trackers on the market today.

Keep in mind that some of the below devices on this list have slightly different models and some features may not be included, so be sure to check in the specs directly if you are looking to purchase a particular model.

The different models on some of the devices can also make for a much different price, but you will be paying for more features and better quality than it’s brother or sister models.

Garmin Fenix 6

Heart rate, blood oxygen, respiration monitoring
Fitness, sleep and energy tracking
Garmin Pay and smartphone notifications
Waterproof (10 ATM rating)
14 days battery life on smartwatch mode, up to 72 hrs max battery GPS mode
Built-in GPS
Up to 2000 songs local storage or streaming from selected apps
Golf course maps, ski maps and climb planning

The Garmin Fenix 6 is quite frankly one of the best smartwatch/activity trackers on the market today. It has almost every feature you could want and is extremely reliable with however you decide to use it.

The battery life and battery saving features allow you to get so much out of this device before needing to charge and if you choose to invest in the Fenix 6X Pro Solar, you’ll rarely need to charge again.

The Fenix 6 range may not be amazingly beautiful in design and a little bit bulky for some, but the quality and features make this an awesome piece of wrist hardware.

Of course, for this you will be paying a fair price and there are many models to choose from but the Garmin Fenix 6 is a must for anyone serious about their fitness and training or for tracking your adventures across the globe.

Price: $900-$1500 (depending on model)

Click here for a closer look at the Garmin Fenix 6

Garmin Forerunner 945

Heart rate, blood oxygen, respiration monitoring
Fitness, sleep and energy tracking
Garmin Pay and smartphone notifications
Swim tracking (5 ATM rating)
Up to 14 days battery life on smartwatch mode, 10 hrs with GPS and music
Built-In GPS
Up to 1000 songs music storage with streaming from selected apps
Climb planning and trip routing

The Garmin Forerunner 945 is another great GPS sports watch that does not mess about when it comes to fitness tracking and is quite a nice upgrade from its predecessor the Forerunner 935.

Some of the upgrades include music storage and streaming, Garmin Pay, updated training features and great navigational features.

It’s great to be able to have the GPS and music built in to the device so you can leave your smartphone at home and not have to worry about strapping it to yourself or it banging around in your pocket.

There is not a lot of difference in design from the 935 but its updated features and lighter design make it worth considering for your next upgrade.

Price: $1050

Click here for a closer look at the Garmin Forerunner 945

Garmin Vivoactive 4/4S

Heart rate, stress, respiration monitoring
Fitness, sleep, hydration tracking
Garmin Pay and smartphone notifications
Swim tracking (5 ATM rating)
GPS tracking
7 days battery (normal use) 13 hrs straight with GPS on the whole time
Music storage (up to 500 songs)
Breathwork exercises

The Garmin Vivoactive 4 would be considered the best mid-range price Garmin fitness trackers on the market today. It has so many great features to keep most fitness fanatics happy without spending $1000 and would suit almost any outdoor enthusiast for all their fitness tracking needs.

The new Vivoactive watch comes in 2 different sizes, 1.3 inch (Vivoactive 4) and 1.1 inch (Vivoactive 4S) and one of the nice upgrades from the Vivoactive 3 is the support for on board music storage of up to 3.5GB, including offline playlist storage from apps such as Spotify, iHeartRadio, Deezer & Amazon Music.

The 2 different sizes does mean that battery life differs slightly, with the 4S getting slightly more, but you should get around a week of battery life in smartwatch mode before needing to charge up again. Less depending on your music and GPS usage.

The Garmin Vivoactive 4/4S is slightly a bit pricier than some other multi sport fitness watches on the market but is certainly well worth the money with the advanced features that it offers. A great all-round device.

Price: $550

Click here for a closer look at the Garmin Vivoactive 4/4S

Garmin Venu

AMOLED Display
Heart rate and stress monitoring
Fitness, sleep, hydration tracking
Smartphone notifications
Swim tracking (5 ATM rating)
GPS tracking
5 days battery (normal use) 6 hrs straight with GPS on the whole time
Music storage (up to 500 songs)
Breathwork Exercises

If you take the Garmin Vivoactive 4 and give it a sweet AMOLED display and a slightly different design, you get the worthy Garmin Venu.

It has very much the same features as the Vivoactive 4, but the higher price gives you a much better display quality which is where the dilemma can occur. Whilst a higher quality display can be a great feature, the battery life for this is a bit lower. (5 days as opposed to 7 days in smartwatch mode)

For many this may not even be an issue, so it really comes down to personal choice. Better display, less battery? Or less battery, better display?

Whichever you choose out of the two, you will not be disappointed with the quality and features of both of these great devices.

Price: $600

Click here for a closer look at the Garmin Venu

Garmin Vivomove HR

Heart rate, stress, respiration monitoring
Fitness, sleep and hydration tracking
Garmin Pay and smartphone notifications
Swim tracking (5 ATM rating)
Connected GPS
5 days battery using smartwatch features, or up to 2 weeks using as an analogue watch

A smartwatch, an activity tracker and an analogue watch bumped into each other in a bar…. the Vivomove range is created…

With a few different variations, the Vivomove range has created somewhat of a hybrid smartwatch that looks very much like a traditional analogue watch with some built-in activity tracking features.

The touch screen allows for checking notifications and controlling your music and is quite responsive with a hidden display that only activates when you interact with it.

The Vivomove HR is one of the more reasonably priced watches of the Vivomove range and is a smart looking, but minimalist device that still has plenty of great features and well worth the investment.

Price: $300

Click here for a closer look at the Garmin Vivomove HR

Garmin Vivosmart 4

Heart rate, stress, blood oxygen monitoring
Fitness, sleep and energy tracking
Smartphone notifications
Swim Tracking (5 ATM rating)
5-7 days battery life
Slim design

The Vivosmart 4 is one the more affordable trackers in the Garmin range but still has enough great features help you keep track of your health and monitor your activity.

It has a super slim, stylish design and great battery life, however, due to the slimmer design, this obviously makes the screen size much smaller, possibly a little too small for some.

If this is not a problem for you, then the Vivosmart 4 might be a good option for you. It’s a device that can be comfortably worn 24/7, including in the shower or swimming and allows you to receive smartphone notifications.

Yes, it is considered a budget device compared to what is on offer at this time, but it will certainly fulfill the average person’s fitness and health tracking needs.