Despite being around for nearly 30 years, Garmin is synonymous with fitness wearables. Garmin is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of digital mapping and navigation. They are also known as a leader in wearable technology like fitness trackers.
Garmin Connect app that can be paired with the most basic Forerunner 30 watch. With its data, it calculates your average pace, moving average pace, best speed and time elapsed during an activity. It also tells you other stats like elevation gain or loss per mile/km and calories burned for each run. This includes the following stats like average heart rate max heart rate average cadence (steps per minute).
If you’re new to this Brand and looking for a smartwatch that suits your needs, this guide is perfect. It explains the key features of each gadget while also providing an idea of how much you need to spend.
Best Smart Watches in New Zealand
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Garmin watch models in NZ
The six main brands under Garmin watches are Fenix, Forerunner, Vivoactive, Vivosport, Vivosmart, and Vivofit Junior. Some of these models include more categories than just one type but for most people’s uses, there is a range that includes all of them.
There are many similarities between Garmin’s adult watches. They all offer basic fitness features, such as step counting and sleep monitoring, and come with smartphone features. However, it has some differences too.
Fitness trackers that are branded with “Vivo” in their name indicate that they have a focus on health and fitness, rather than other sports. Only some of these contain built-in GPS (the Vivosport and Vivoactive), so make sure to check before purchasing one because you might end up having to piggyback location data from your phone if the watch doesn’t include its own tracking capabilities.
The Vivoactive is the main exception to this rule because it’s a smartwatch, rather than a fitness band. As such, while other bands offer insights on their tiny screens for checking your progress intermittently throughout the day, with its bigger screen you can view more of these stats at once and go back through them later without having to scroll or resize windows as much.
The Forerunner range is aimed at runners and can be used for many sports. They all have GPS so you can leave your phone at home to track distance and pace, but they also pack a multitude of other sensors for tracking things like heart rate or cadence. The most expensive watch in this lineup retails at around $1099.
The Fenix range is positioned above the Garmin totem pole. It has all of the features you could want and a more rugged, outdoorsy frame. These watches come with premium prices to match but fall short when compared to Marq’s astronomical price tags which start at $639 for an athlete model and top out at $1279 for a driver model.
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The Best Garmin watch you can buy
1. Fenix 6 Pro – Black 
The Garmin 6 Pro has everything you want in a great GPS watch, including onboard maps and music. Additionally, it now features PacePro to help pace your race by adjusting the target time of each kilometre or mile based upon how fast (or slow) they are going compared with overall goal time and elevation changes within them.
This Body Battery Energy Monitor tracks heart rate variability, stress levels, and sleep patterns to determine when your body’s energy reserves are at their highest. The monitor can last up to two weeks on a single charge in smartwatch mode.
It also has 32MB of memory so you don’t have to always be connected via Bluetooth or wifi for the information it provides about your health habits and wellness level as they change throughout the day/week/month.
2. Garmin Forerunner 945 Watch
The Garmin Forerunner 945 is a GPS running watch with a wrist-based heart rate, and it’s designed to help you run better. It provides advanced features for training, racing and tracking in the gym or on the roads. The high-resolution touchscreen display is easy to read in any light and shows your stats right on your wrist.
It also has great battery life – up to 2 weeks in smartwatch mode or 10 hours in GPS mode – so you can go for long runs without worrying about charging your watch. You can store up to 1000 songs on this watch.
3. Garmin Fenix 5S Plus Sapphire
The Garmin Fenix 5S Plus has a 1.2” sunlight-readable, high-resolution Chroma display with LED backlight and is designed to provide the features you need for your training and everyday adventures. It is a high-sensitivity GPS multisport training watch that features wrist-based heart rate, daily activity tracking and smart notifications.
The Fenix 5S Plus features Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate technology for all-day stress tracking and performance monitoring. It also offers smart notification support for texts and alerts from your smartphone. It has up to 7 days of battery life in smartwatch mode (depending on settings) or up to 4 hours using GPS and you can store up to 500 songs.
4. Garmin Fenix 6X Sapphire
The Garmin Fenix 6X Sapphire is the ultimate multisport GPS watch, offering a host of features for training, navigation and tracking. This Fenix 6X Sapphire is larger than previous Fenix Models. It has a scratch-resistant display and solar charging lens.
This rugged smartwatch has a high-resolution colour display that lets you customize your data fields and widgets to see what’s most important to you. It also offers an array of sports profiles so you can track your performance stats during activities like running, cycling, swimming or skiing.
5. Garmin Approach S62 – Golf Smartwatch
Garmin watch Approach S60 GPS golf watch is packed with features that help you play better. It comes preloaded with more than 41,000 courses anywhere. Its high-resolution display lets you easily see your position on approach shots. And its Garmin golf Shot feature automatically calculates distances for shots played from anywhere on a course. You can also use it to track your scores and stats.
The Garmin Approach S6 also has a Pulse Ox feature 4 that measures blood oxygen saturation level and learns more about your overall health and fitness. It comes with advanced tracking capabilities such as shot distance, layup distances, and dogleg distances. The battery provides up to 14 days in smartwatch mode and 20 hours in GPS mode.
6. Garmin Tactix Delta – Solar Edition
The Garmin watch Tactix Delta Solar Edition is a ruggedly designed GPS smartwatch that meets military standards. This tactical smartwatch offers specialized tactical features as well as mapping, music, advanced training features, and more.
It is the ultimate outdoor GPS navigator that features a sunlight-readable, high-resolution touchscreen display and full-featured navigation. With a preloaded worldwide base map, routable cycling maps, and routable topo maps with contour lines2 and 3D terrain view, you’re ready to navigate anywhere in the world.
The Garmin tactix Delta has a battery life of up to 21 days when used indoors or 24 days in smartwatch mode. This solar-powered watch can access multiple global navigation satellite systems and is great for tracking movements outdoors where GPS alone would not be reliable.
7. Garmin watch Venu 2S
Garmin’s new Venu 2S is a stylish smartwatch that offers advanced health monitoring and fitness features to help you better understand what’s going on inside your body. The Venu 2S includes 25 built-in indoor and outdoor sports apps, including running, cycling, swimming (pool and open water), triathlon, and more.
It also monitors your heart rate with wrist-based Elevate heart rate technology that lets you see how hard your heart is working whether you are at rest or pushing yourself during an intense workout.
The battery lasts up to 11 days in watch mode, 10 hours with GPS on or up to 5 hours with GPS and music playing. This device syncs wirelessly to your smartphone using the Garmin Connect Mobile app for easy tracking of your progress towards your fitness goals.
8. Garmin watch Vivoactive 4
The Garmin watch Vivoactive 4 is an attractive sports and activity tracker that will definitely attract more customers outside of its usual target audience. It has a bright touchscreen which makes it easier to use, as well as smart features like music storage and Garmin Pay for added convenience.
This also offers features both for beginner runners and those who are not familiar with the gym helpful training plans along with pre-made guided workouts complete with animations on-screen so users can see what they should be doing during each session in order to avoid injury or poor form while working out.