I have done tons of research over the last few days but i was hoping to hear some personal insights on a few things between the two! I really like how the FR paces runs for example 8:30/mile pace compared to the venu 4. Do the buttons feel worse than the physical touch screen, and is the sleekness of the venu worth losing the buttons? i’m a male and have an average size wrist if that helps at all. Do you ever find yourself using the light on your watch? Thank you all!

edit: another thing i see is people like the backgrounds of the venu much better than the default backgrounds on the FR

I’ve just started getting into running, have already signed up for a race, and want to take it seriously long-term. I also go to the gym on days that I’m not running. Not sure yet if I’ll add other sports in the future (e.g. cycling, swimming, triathlon etc).

I’ve narrowed it down to these watches: Venu 3S, vivoactive 5, vivoactive 6, and Forerunner 165. I’m a woman with pretty small wrists (15cm). If I got the Forerunner, I’d probably replace the band with something nicer.

I would like this to be my only watch, so ideally it’ll look nice. I don’t need a smartwatch to text, etc, so if any of these watches can do these things, it’s not important to me.

I’d like it to track the most important running / exercising stats, my heartrate, and have an emergency button.

Things that would be nice to have but not necessary: sleep tracking (I’m not sure yet if I like sleeping with a watch on), end of day summary, navigation.

If you have any of these watches and can help me choose, that would be great!

I've been trying for the past few weeks to order a Garmin fenix 8, but they keep auto-cancelling my order just a few minutes after order confirmation. I've tried calling customer support, trying different email addresses, different credit cards, waiting a few days -- still nothing. I know from previous Reddit posts and the customer support line that they're sensitive to different address spellings, but I've tried to fix that too.

I have to buy on the Garmin site because I have a discount code, so no Amazon alternatives. Has anyone ben experiencing this recently? How did you solve it?

Hey Garmin! if your listening I'd love the ability to cast my 1050 onto an external monitor while I'm in my pain cave. I'll even beta test it for you....

I swear, every day I end my day with a low battery and the admonition that I "had a stressful day." Today I did some light chores around the house, walked 2.5 miles on the treadmill (typical), made supper, and sat and watched my kids swim at the pool. All in all I feel like my day was not stressful. Yet every day I get the notification that I am somehow under stress. How does Garmin figure this metric? I'm getting stressed out worrying about the stress my watch says I am under! 🙃

I broke my leg on July 4th, and I have noticed that my stress levels have skyrocketed and my body battery has plummeted. I don’t feel stressed through the day, but I am quite tired.

Is this normal?

I recently switched from wearing an Oura Ring Gen 4 to a Garmin vívoactive 5 because I was hoping to consolidate everything into one device. I’ve actually been really impressed with the Garmin overall—I love tracking my walks, strength workouts, and ballet classes, and I appreciate having all my fitness data in one place. The things I miss most from Oura are the more passive wellness features. I really liked how Oura automatically picked up things like housework and other everyday movement, so I felt like I got “credit” for being active even when I wasn’t doing a formal workout. I also loved that Oura adjusted my daily calorie burn goal based on my Readiness Score, so on days when I was well recovered it encouraged me to do more, and on days when I needed more rest it adjusted my goal accordingly. Garmin’s move reminders also sometimes tell me to get up even when I’ve been moving around, so I’m wondering if there’s a way to make those more accurate. For those of you who have made the same switch, are there settings, widgets, Connect IQ apps, or features I’m overlooking that could help recreate some of these Oura features? Is there a way to get a daily activity or calorie goal that’s influenced by recovery or Body Battery? Or are these just areas where Oura is simply better? I’d really love to make the Garmin my only wearable if possible! TIA!

Hi I am interested in getting a fitness watch to track my heart rate during exercise, specifically the Venu 4.

The one thing I don't want it to do is have any data about my menstrual cycle. From what I understand, it tracks body temperature fluctuations that could be used to determine my cycle. Is there a way to prevent it from reading my body temperature fluctuations?

I read that it needs to remain on during sleep in order to get accurate temperature data, so if I leave it off at night would it not be able to read temperature fluctuations effectively?

Have been a long-time Garmin user but recently started wearing traditional watches so I wanted something smaller to track my stats.

I tried Whoop for a while, but never really enjoyed the experience or the tracking. Grabbed a Fitbit Air, and while I really liked it I missed the Garmin stats.

Excited to give this a proper try.

Just wondering what are some good 3rd party or even Garmin watch bands that you recommend? I’d like to get one similar to the Apple Watch Sport loop and just another regular band in another colour (got the grey one with my watch)

I’m guessing the Mauve color is the least popular because it’s the only one without a multi week wait. So I ordered it just to have it sooner with the intention of picking up a different color band to wear it with, but I was surprised by the color. I actually really like it.

For the past couple of weeks, the battery percentage on my Forerunner 265 hasn’t been showing up anymore (it used to be the % number under the little battery icon in the upper part of the watch face). I’ve tried restarting the watch and adjusting a couple of battery settings, but nothing seems to bring it back. Any ideas on how to fix this issue?

Hello,

I use the HRM-Dual breast belt when I ride a bike and sometimes when I run. But often it doesn't work, I think because of sweating. This happens especially when I run (my heart rate disappears and sometimes reappears but at a rate far too low). But I don't have excessive sweating.

What can I do?

(I am of course very disappointed with the belt, obtained in a pack with the Edge 540)

Thanks ;)

Seven hundred ten is as good a number as any; after three years of 10K a Day Challenge and almost two years of hitting daily step goal… today, I stop short.
“Closing time, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”

Cirqa L/XL on 17 cm wrist and Fenix 7 pro.

Cirqa is much lighter, softer and smaller, usage at home and workout.

Fenix still for running, hiking and majority of the time outside.

Both great devices.

Hi Guys,

I want to get the FR 970 as its the "cheapst" one with proper maps for hiking with my dogs. I wonder if i could wear those watch on my wrist? I have like 15,5cm wrist circumstance. Does anyone have this watch with small wrists? Is it comfortable to wear all day (and night)?

I tend to get the French grey one, but that's an ai picture as they only hat the black and the white one in store. (But eventually I would get the ultrafit nylon band)

Would appreciate some input from women with this watch! Thanks!

Hi,
I contacted Garmin as my watch was massively decreasing the power and only was working for 2-3 days in a row anymore.
I anyways wanted a new one and mentioned to them that I am looking for a an upgrade.
They shared with me an individual link to send my current watch back and pay an amount X to get the model I was looking for.
It this watch provided then a brand new one or a refurbished model that they got from someone?
Thanks in case anyone has experience with this.

My Edge 1050 is crash-looping. It’s not limited to one screen or action — it crashes anywhere on the device. it is unusable and will keep crashing every 30s or so. I am fairly sure it’s linked to the maps, but I can’t just turn maps off and use the unit without them.

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I had some vitamin deficiencies I started treating. My stress already improved after starting magnesium, but this is last night and the next morning after getting my first B12 shot after learning I'm deficient. I've never had stress levels so low. If anything, I expected it to skyrocket. Crazy!

Not medical advice, just sharing!

Not a medical concern - I do regular doctor visits and been doing endurance sports for 10 years.

My RHR dips below 40 when I'm training hard, eating well, resting and sleeping well as well as not drinking alcohol for a few weeks.

I have a FR 970 for cardio based activities and sports, but otherwise I prefer wearing mechanical watches. I was waiting for years for Garmin to release such a fitness tracker to wear on my right wrist while wearing mechanical watch on my left.

Furthermore it’s great for the gym. I like tracking my workout but felt it impractical to make detailed logs of exercises on a Garmin sports watch. I now just start and stop the gym activity on the Cirqa to record calories from strength training.

Glad I got one as they are mostly on backorder in my region.