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The Best Running Watches Will Revolutionise Your Workout Game
From Garmin to Apple, we've drilled into the ultimate GPS fitness devices
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Still zipping your phone inside a pocket and trying to pretend that feeling it bouncing off your hip with every step isn’t the most irritating thing in the world? Dear, oh dear, oh dear. Time to sort that out.
The selection of the best running watches is broad: at one end of the spectrum you’ve got pared back bands to clock how far you’ve run and how fast and little else besides; at the other end there are fully fledged smartwatches with extra fitness functionality like GPS tracking, route maps and nutritional trackers which nudge you to carb up before a big session.
Exactly how much nudging and tracking you actually need is, obviously, up to you. There are loads out there, but we’ve whittled it down to six of the best.
Garmin Forerunner 55 GPS Running Watch
Garmin’s whole thing is watches for active wear, from running to diving and golf. This one’s a good introduction to running watches, being competitively priced and stacked with features. As well as tracking your times, the Forerunner 55 can sort you out with training plans via Garmin Coach, daily suggested workouts and recovery advice and cadence alerts to keep your form in shape. The utilitarian looks are a nice bonus too.
Garmin.com, £179.99
Garmin Forerunner 245 Music, GPS Running Smartwatch
Garmin Forerunner 245 Music, GPS Running Smartwatch
The slightly more gussied-up 245 Music packs most of those features and adds a few on top: a VO2 Max indicator to clock your cardiorespiratory fitness, a pulse ox sensor to track your blood oxygen saturation, training effect and loads of smartwatch features to keep you connected while you’re out and about. Plus you can download up to 500 songs to the watch itself, or connect to Spotify, Deezer or Amazon Music.
Garmin.com, £299.99
POLAR Polar Vantage V2 Multisport Watch
POLAR Polar Vantage V2 Multisport Watch
This one’s absolutely stuffed with features. Alongside the usual maps, tracking and timers, it can track your recovery, break down your caloric intake, track your sleep and lead you through guided meditation sessions. It’s waterproof to 100 metres and, best of all, it promises 100 hours of battery life, or up to 40 hours with the GPS mode enabled. Upgrade for an extra £45 to get a model that hooks up to a chest-worn H10 heart rate sensor strap.
Polar.com, £429
Suunto Running Watch
Suunto Running Watch
This one’s particularly handy for off road runners, with free offline maps giving you trails and contour lines to guide you and heat maps showing popular routes nearby. As it’s powered by WearOS, it packs Google Assistant, Google Pay and Google Play too. Mind you charge it up though – the GPS-enabled battery life is around 12 hours, and less with the screen set to always-on. We’d hate to see you get stuck halfway up Scafell Pike.
Suunto.com, £329
Apple Watch Series 6 GPS, 44mm
Apple Watch Series 6 GPS, 44mm
The latest edition of the Apple Watch added an SpO2 sensor to track your blood oxygen levels as well as a tweaked GPS tracking system to make sure your runs are logged accurately. That aside, it’s business as usual for the Apple Watch series: satisfying and lovely looking interface, tons of apps from the App Store, the very sturdy ECG app and a handsome design.
Amazon.co.uk, £330
Fitbit Sense
If you’re looking to get some stats and pointers on your running while also looking after the rest of your fitness and health goals in a broader sense, the Fitbit Sense is pretty handy. It’ll do you an ECG reading, as well as monitoring stress via electrodermal activity, and the GPS and Run Detect feature – which automatically starts tracking once you’re running – mean you can just get out there at the drop of a hat and know it’ll kick in without too much fiddling about.
Currys.co.uk, £279
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