Everything is ruled by ‘smart’ devices these days – your phones, your home, even your car. It makes perfect sense that your health can be tracked with smart devices too. Cue; the smartwatch.
Of course, you’ve heard of the common ones like the Apple watch, but Garmin is practically an institution when it comes to GPS-related devices, with the world’s first wrist-based trainer in 2001.
Garmin’s smartwatches come in a few ranges – Vivoactive for the health-conscious, Venu to do sports with style, Forerunner for our runners, the Instinct for those who love outdoor adventures, and the Fenix range for the multi-sport player.
Here’s a list of our favourite smartwatches from Garmin for you to incorporate into your fitness journey.
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Table of Contents
Top 7 Garmin Smartwatches in Malaysia
- Garmin Venu 2
- Garmin Forerunner 945
- Garmin Instinct Solar
- Garmin Forerunner 245
- Garmin Fenix 7
- Garmin Vivoactive 4S
- Garmin Lily
Why It’s Our Top Pick:
“This is a smartwatch that rivals all the new-fangled devices out there, except it also comes with intriguing features like an energy meter, oximeter, period tracking (for our girls!), and different modes for all types of sports.
You can pair the watch to the Garmin Connect™ app to track your progress and sleep cycle, and even customize the straps of your watch to suit your outfit, giving this watch its hybrid styling for not only sports but everyday use.
With its mindful versatility and waterproof ability, there is no need to remove this watch, ever! Did we also mention that it has an always-on display?”
Overview:
Not only does this watch have an AMOLED display and cool features for almost every sport imaginable, but it’s also water-rated at 5 ATM, meaning you can bring it for a swim or into the shower.
By connecting to the Connect IQ store, you can choose your watch faces and widgets when you get bored, and the watch also does basic things like tracking your heart rate, hydration, and notifying you when you get a message on your phone.
Testimonies:
This is the perfect fitness watch for anyone who wants an upgrade from the basic features. It has a long battery life which is handy because you don’t have to charge it every day. It can also track your workouts, reminding you of rest days – and it is compatible with both iOS and Android users.
What do you need when you go for a run? A good GPS, a calorie tracker, and perhaps a heart rate monitor to make sure you are not keeling over in exhaustion. The most important attribute of a good fitness tracker is, of course, its accuracy; and the Forerunner 945 is one at the top of its class for that.
A blood oxygen sensor also complements the heart rate sensor, both essential tools for the avid runner. With all that data that you can generate off the watch, you’ll be able to identify what you need to do to improve your running performance.
Overview:
This watch tracks not just your running, but also sprinting, swimming, cycling and triathlons. It can be connected to Garmin Connect™ and Connect IQ like the Venu 2, together with the Running Power app which shows you your running power in real-time. The watch allows you to store up to 1000 songs on your watch and sync music from streaming platforms like Spotify, too!
Testimonies:
This is a great purchase for running junkies because it has been tested by many reviewers. It is found to have a very accurate GPS for journey and distance tracking. The immense battery life is also a plus as it allows for it to be used for up to 2 weeks without any charging.
Besides, it analyses your running form so you can get data of every aspect of your run including the stride length and vertical ratio to perfect your technique.
Like its name, this watch powers up with the help of solar energy, which is a big advantage for the environment. According to Garmin, it can function indefinitely after the initial charge as long as it has around three hours of daily exposure to sunlight.
This is also why the watch is well-suited for people who love the outdoors and go walking or hiking frequently. The display is pixelated, a sort of old-school approach that aids in the conservation of battery life – not a favourite amongst those who prefer the ‘smartwatch’ look, but is fantastic for those who buy the watch specifically to meet their hardcore fitness demands.
Overview:
The tracking on this baby works on GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo technology. TLDR: you are unlikely to get lost trekking in the jungle. It boasts the military standard of 810 for thermal, shock, and water resistance up to 100m, and can track your heart rate, pulse, stress, and body battery.
Testimonies:
Garmin’s Instinct Solar is designed to last and is made for high-intensity sportspeople. Some are not a fan of the plastic outer shell and the pixelated display but it is intended to be a simple-to-use, battery-conserving watch with no frills attached.
After all, an AMOLED screen doesn’t really matter when you are hiking through the Himalayan mountains, right?
As we age, more ailments befall us, but medical technology made it such that it is easier to detect the illness before it affects us to the point of no return. This is why you need a watch that you can wear all the time to keep yourself in the know about your health.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many patients are being ‘brought in dead’ due to the lowering of oxygen levels in the blood without the patient realizing it – something which may be prevented through rigorous checking of our body conditions.
Overview:
This device can keep your health in check by recording your performance and training status. It also monitors your different sleep stages and how much oxygen you are breathing in during that period.
Besides, it even has a wrist-based pulse oximeter that ensures that you can track the oxygen levels in your body at all times. This means you won’t need to purchase an oximeter separately. It’s handy for monitoring your oxygen levels especially with many testing positive for COVID or being close contacts.
Testimonies:
Users buy this watch for its versatility in health tracking and also the fact that it can store music or connect to Spotify through your phone. Also, it is designed specifically for running, with the ability to analyse your gait and form as you go reducing the risk of you getting injured.
Sports can be so addicting – the adrenaline rush when you reach the top of an arduous journey, the runners’ high, and the increase in dopamine levels. What better way to embellish your love of sports with a watch created especially for not one, not two, but multiple kinds of activity – cycling, running, or even CrossFit.
Overview:
The device is touchscreen-oriented, tested to US military standards for its thermal, water, and shock resistance. It can handle swimming up to 100m and has other built-in apps for every sport imaginable, ranging from running and swimming, skiing, golfing, and indoor hiking.
Besides, it can also track your stamina to avoid overexertion and has various health tracking technologies like your typical pulse oximeter, heart rate sensor, body energy monitor, and sleep tracking. It also has a fantastic GPS tracking and mapping system.
Like the Instinct, this watch also garners power from the sun, though the designers combined it with a tough crystal that can handle shock with no problem. This device still has the classic pixelated watch face, done so to save on battery life.
Testimonies:
This is a watch that caters to every sport you can imagine. You need not rely on any other sports device except for this watch which you can monitor through the Garmin Connect app.
Users have reported that the watch can last 3 weeks without charge on regular use, and edge sportspeople need as you cannot very well be searching for a charging port in the middle of a race!
However, people who only do your generic running and cycling may find the watch a tad too much as you would be spending a lot of money on features you do not need.
Picture yourself striding through the hallowed halls of the gym with Ludovico Einaudi’s ‘Experience’ playing, and with a tap, you are filled with melancholy as Lana Del Rey croons through your earphones.
Everyone needs their Spotify playlist to get through the day feeling like they’re the main character of their lives, and you can do so with the Vivoactive 4S. It allows you to sync your Spotify account to it and control your songs through the watch. That way, you don’t have to stop in between workouts to change the tracks – keeping your head in the game.
Don’t subscribe to Spotify or any music apps? Go ahead and download songs (ahem, presumably legally) and transfer them to your watch instead!
Overview:
This smartwatch not only has music storage and the play function but also works like all Garmin smartwatches, with their Body Battery function that assesses your sleep, stress level, and activity to gauge your energy levels. There is a Pulse Ox sensor to track your blood oxygen levels.
Sports-wise, the watch is suitable for running, swimming and even golf, skiing, and yoga. Guided and illustrated workout routines are offered as well so that you can ensure your form is correct.
Testimonies:
It’s a popular model as it has all the practical functions packed into a lighter version of the Vivoactive 4. The reduction in size does affect battery life though this may not be a problem for those who charge their devices regularly.
Its ability to store music aside from its compatibility with music apps is an added benefit, especially for Android users.
It doesn't matter what you do in life so long as you're happy and you do it with style. Say goodbye to typical sporty-looking smartwatches made for sports only and get yourself the Lily. It's designed with fashion in mind.
The watch boasts an elegant watch face, with a slender strap. The combined result? A classy, polished watch that could also be used for health tracking and workouts.
Overview:
The Garmin Lily does not have an always-on display, though the watch face exhibits a patterned lens when it is in ‘off mode’, nor does it have buttons. All the controls are touchscreen-based – relatively easy to use as the icons are self-explanatory.
Despite it being way smaller than its predecessors, the Garmin Lily does not lose out in terms of features, with Garmin's standard Pulse Ox and sleep tracking system. The watch even offers a breathing exercise to calm your nerves
when stress is detected.
The main focus of the device is exercises like running, cycling, and yoga, though you can swim with it as well.
Testimonies:
This is the smartwatch for those who cannot be bothered with switching out their regular, formal-looking watches for a sportier one for workouts. Its stylish and sophisticated design means that you can wear the watch with a nice outfit while still retaining all the benefits of a standard smartwatch.
Android users can even reply to messages through the watch, though you’ll have to choose from a list of already-curated short messages.
Garmin smartwatch vs Apple watch
Are you a hardcore sporty person? If you are, you'd benefit from the additional features offered by Garmin. They have specific technologies for different sports – your traditional running and cycling, plus more niche activities like golf and diving, skiing, and CrossFit. Garmin smartwatches are touted for their capability to analyse data across the board on your physical status – able to calculate your stress levels, lactate threshold, and map your journeys.
Apart from that, you can gauge your health condition even when you are sedentary or sleeping, and the GPS and navigation system is a must-have especially for those who go the extra mile (literally).
On the other hand, the Apple smartwatch is well-suited for your everyday casual needs. It works well as a fitness-tracker-slash-watch, with an oximeter and standard calorie counter. Apple users will find it perfectly compatible with their phones. Plus, it'll look great on your wrist. For activities like cycling and running, it does the job as well as any fitness tracker does.
In a nutshell, Apple’s smartwatch is more of a hybrid-lifestyle watch and is an all-rounded device for light workouts and health checking.
That does not mean that Garmin's smartwatches are not lifestyle-friendly, but it may be overkill if you do not make full use of their tracking and data-analysis features. However, an avid sportsperson will undoubtedly find their experiences enhanced with the specialist science behind the smartwatches.
You should put these watches on your ‘must-have’ list!
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