Whatever your preferred sport is, the right watch can enrich the experience. The best sports watches not only track your training in great detail, they can also help you analyse it to make sure you are working in an effective manner to get fitter and faster.
We’ve reviewed a wide range of sports watches from Garmin, Polar, Coros, Suunto and Amazfit, along with the best fitness trackers and smartwatches from Fitbit, Apple, Samsung, Huawei and others. And we’ve put that experience to good use by selecting our top sports watch picks in a number of categories, as well as detailing buying advice so you can get a better understanding of what the core features of a sports watch are.
The Best Sports Watches
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We think the Garmin Forerunner 255 deserves the title of the best overall sports watch because it boasts an impressive number of useful features without being as expensive as Garmin’s top watches like the Fenix 7 and Epix 2. It is a full multisport watch and has multi-band GPS tracking. The two sizes available mean that people with smaller wrists who find traditionally chunky sports watches don’t suit them are well served by the 255S.
If you’re purely a runner then the older Forerunner 245 offers more value since it’s considerably cheaper, but along with losing the multisport mode the 245 also doesn’t have multi-band GPS and the heart rate variability analysis you get on the 255.
Read more in our Garmin Forerunner 255 review
The Coros Pace 2 is a full multisport watch that offers accurate tracking, detailed training analysis and excellent battery life, all at a fantastic price. The only important features it really lacks are breadcrumb navigation and music storage, and those will not be essential to many users.
While it’s not as good-looking or rugged as more expensive watches like the Coros Apex 2 or Garmin Fenix 7, which use more attractive and hardier materials, the Pace 2’s plastic design makes it very light and comfortable to wear at all times.
Read more in our Coros Pace 2 review
Although the Forerunner 245 is an older model (and so won’t get much in the way of software updates from Garmin) it’s still the best-value running watch out there, especially since it’s often in sales (keep a keen on Black Friday Garmin deals). The newer 255 has some welcome updates for triathletes and cyclists, but the 245 still ticks all the boxes for runners as an accurate tracker with some handy training analysis, and useful extras like breadcrumb navigation and music storage.
Read more in our Garmin Forerunner 245 review
Apple’s sportiest smartwatch ever is a lot more expensive than the standard Apple Watch Series 8 but boasts longer battery life, an extra lap button, a more rugged build and dual-band GPS tracking.
The Series 8 is also a top-notch sporty smartwatch, with Apple’s recent watchOS 9 software update adding a triathlon mode and substantially improving the native sports tracking, but the Ultra is the best you can get if you want a proper smartwatch with an attractive design that can rival the tracking of a sports watch. Just be prepared to charge it every two days, rather than every two weeks like some sports watches.
Read more in our Apple Watch Ultra review
The Forerunner 55 is Garmin’s entry-level running watch and it’s a great pick for beginner runners thanks to the suggested workouts and user-friendly training analysis it offers to help you get fitter. There is no multisport mode on the watch, but it tracks pretty much every common activity individually aside from open-water swimming. If you are starting out on your sporting journey and have triathlons in mind, the Coros Pace 2 would be a better pick.
Read more in our Garmin Forerunner 55 review
There are four watches at the top of Garmin’s range that all offer similarly excellent features: the Forerunner 955, Fenix 7, Enduro 2 and Epix 2. The Fenix 7 and Enduro 2 stand out for their extraordinary battery lives, while the Epix 2 has an AMOLED screen that significantly improves the experience of using it compared with other Garmins.
Within this illustrious company the Garmin Forerunner 955 gets our vote for offering the same excellent features at a much lower price in a lighter plastic case. It has music storage, and Garmin’s terrific maps and navigation features, plus top-notch tracking and training analysis that includes the handy Training Readiness score, which tells you how ready you are to train each day.
Read more in our Garmin Forerunner 955 review
The top pick in our round-up of the best swimming watches, the Garmin Swim 2 doesn’t do anything different with its swim tracking compared with the likes of the Forerunner 255 and 955, but is much cheaper as a dedicated device for swimmers.
As you would expect, the Swim 2 tracks both pool and open-water swimming, recording a wide array of stats including SWOLF, stroke type and stroke count. You can also set up workouts to follow in the water, and it’s very light and comfortable to wear.
Sports Watch Buying Advice
All the best sport watches featured above have a few features we consider essential, including built-in GPS for accurate outdoor tracking, an optical heart rate monitor to record your heart rate during activities, and a display that’s easy to read in all conditions.
Looking beyond these core features, there are many others found on sports watches that can make them stand out from the crowd. Here are the features to look out for, in brief.
Battery life: Some sports watches last several weeks on a charge even when tracking activities every day, and some higher-end models from Garmin even have solar panels to extend their life further. At the other end of the scale, sporty smartwatches will tend to last just a day or two.
Bluetooth/ANT+ sensor support: While the best sports watches have lots of sensors on board to track your training, many will want to connect external sensors like footpods, cycling power meters and chest strap heart rate monitors to get the most accurate and useful data. It’s worth checking what type of external sensors are supported on your watch.
Maps and navigation tools: Many sports watches offer breadcrumb navigation to help you find your way along a preset route, but the best high-end watches offer colour maps to make exploring new areas easier.
Multi-band GPS: Also known as dual-band GPS, this mode is more accurate than traditional GPS tracking, especially in tricky conditions such as when under tree cover or between tall buildings. Multi-band GPS is available on many mid-range and high-end sports watches now – but it’ll use more battery than standard GPS.
Multisport mode: Triathletes and other multisport athletes need this dedicated sports mode that tracks activities with multiple disciplines including transitions. It’s not always included on cheaper sports watches and smartwatches, and it’s also worth looking out for an open-water swimming mode.
Music storage: Very useful for those who want to leave their phone behind. Music storage is an increasingly common feature on sports watches, with many linking to paid-for streaming services so you can download your music to the watch to listen to offline. You will, of course, need a pair of wireless Bluetooth headphones to stream the music too. Our selection of the best running headphones has plenty of great options for all budgets.
Structured workouts: If you like to create your own workouts, or are following a training plan and want to add the workouts to your watch to follow, this feature allows you to program them into the watch either on the device itself or using the partner app, and then follow the steps from your wrist. This is a feature you should now see on even the cheapest sports watches and sporty smartwatches.
Smart features: Beyond music, many sports watches now offer notifications, weather forecasts and NFC payments. Smartwatches go further by having full app stores that can upgrade the sports tracking experience they offer.
Training analysis: Most dedicated sports watches now give you feedback on your training to tell you whether you have the balance between hard and easy workouts right, and some will use stats like heart rate variability to advise on how ready you are to train on a given day. To get the most out of this feature we strongly recommend buying a separate chest strap heart rate monitor, which will give far more accurate readings than an optical monitor on your wrist. Our guide to the best heart rate monitors explains why and has plenty of tried-and-tested products to choose between.
Training plans and suggested workouts: Many sports watches will now suggest workouts for you based on your fitness and recent training load. You can also sync full running training plans for 5K, 10K, half marathon and (sometimes) marathon distances to many watches too, then follow the guided workouts from your wrist.
