Health & Injuries 2024: Big Savings for Bigger PRs

The 8 may be the current version of the Fēnix, but don’t sleep on the outgoing model, which has plenty of bells and whistles—including a solar-augmented battery, multi-sport modes, a heart rate sensor, and a handy little flashlight, which we guarantee you’ll use more than you think.

Add to the smartwatch capabilities, including text notifications and music storage, and the Fēnix is basically a watch from a spy movie. It’s rugged and capable and offers a lot of bang for the buck. Getting it for this price is a steal—jump on it before it goes out of stock.

Our editors said our review of Garmins that this watch "features a bright AMOLED display that will assuredly end your days of squinting to look at your stats." It's a shockingly easy-to-read run watch, it's also easy to adjust if it's a little too bright for you.

It's a durable Garmin with a lot of power, though the battery life is shorter than other models (which isn't saying much, as you can expect 13 days or 20 active hours). Compared to some more-extreme watches, this one "ultimately promises a much more approachable experience."

This watch watches your recovery as well. It checks your stats during your run and at rest, and suggests workouts based on what your body needs. It has 30 activity options to choose from, so whether you're speedwork training, distance training, or swimming, it can monitor you.

If you're looking for pinpoint accuracy of your distance and your location without a lag, the 965 is your watch. It uses a multi-satellite system to stay on top of where you're at at all times. Plus, our editor for the Garmin lineup says that "This watch’s color maps, also available on the Forerunner 955 and Fēnix models, are another handy feature, now amplified to be clearer and more detailed than ever."

Another editor, Cat Bowen, has run with this watch and notes that the body of the watch can get a bit slippery with sweat, but it never lost connection with her, no was it hard to tap with slippery hands.

Ultrarunning is having a long deserved cultural moment, with event participation skyrocketing in the U.S. and runners lacing up shoes for everything from their first 50K to their first 100-miler. The thing about that extra run time? You need the battery life to support it.

Garmin’s Enduro 2 is a watch tailor-made for ultras. With up to 150 hours of battery life in GPS mode (augmented by solar power), active maps, and a lightweight design, this supercharged ultra watch can take a beating and keep on ticking. As we wrote in our review of the watch: “Runner’s World video producer Pat Heine wore the original Enduro on his FKT of Pennsylvania’s Mid State Trail, charging it just once (for three hours) during the 327-mile run. That’s mighty impressive, especially since the watch was recording Pat’s GPS position every second—extended settings reduce the frequency of those samplings to save battery life.”

Garmin bills the Forerunner 55 as an entry-level watch, but it’s got the tech to go the distance. What makes it a beginner-friendly watch is its simple interface and design. With run-coaching and suggested workout integration, the 55 takes the guesswork out of training and just might lead to a surprise performance at your next neighborhood 5K.

With multi-sport capability, stress tracking, and Pace Pro coaching under the hood, the Forerunner 55 packs a deceptive amount of tech into a sleek package. It also has two weeks of battery power in smartwatch mode and 20 hours in GPS mode, excellent for a watch at this price level.

bright for you Jeff Dengate mentioned after his testing: “When I first started running more than 30 years ago, I’d log every run in a paper journal, measuring distance with a car and keeping track of duration by looking at my parents’ microwave clock before and after each run. I graduated to a fancy Timex Ironman that could remember 50 splits. The Forerunner 55 is lightyears ahead of that, even though it’s touted as a basic or beginner watch.”

If your jogging buddy stops for playground breaks (or bikes alongside you) then the Vivofit Jr. 3 might be on the list this year. It is a kid-focused smartwatch that has parent-friendly features like emergency contact storage and chore reminders, and kid friendly features via the Marvel character integration.

It’s not data heavy—which is good for little brains—but it uses timed activities and step counting to estimate distances for things like playground time and soccer practices, giving them a learning tool for active lifestyles. Just beware, you might start losing the weekly step count to their little legs.

If your daily training laps involve more vertical feet than laps around the block, then the Epix Pro is the watch for you. The AMOLED display offers unmatched visibility, and the watch’s endurance score, hill score, and grade-adjusted pace let you track your performance across multiple metrics, rather than simply pace.

For the navigationally challenged or runners in new spaces, the Epix also has altimeter, barometer, and three-axis electronic compass, contributing to its route-building capacity. Combined with an altitude and heat-acclimation tracker, this makes the Epix an ideal watch for destination races in far-flung locales with thin air and fresh trails.