Garmin 265

forerunner 265 - I've used it for running triathlons and marathons and have had no issues. Garmin has great automated training plans where you can upload various races you're preparing for and Garmin will schedule your runs so that you can meet your time goals. Also highly recommend the vibrating metronome feature to improve your cadence. This feature has dramatically reduced the number of injuries I get. I don't use it to track gym workouts (e.g. lifting). There is a feature for that but I haven't tried it. If you want to really nerd out on your running the HRM Pro Plus provides amazing running dynamics information which again is very helpful for improving running form and reducing injuries. For women you may want to look at the forerunner 265S which is identical to the forerunner 265 but is slightly smaller. The HRM-fit I believe gives the same data as the HRM Pro Plus but is designed to fit under a sports bra

My Garmin Forerunner 265 has pretty decent battery life, maybe 8 days. I think what was the value for many was how their Connect app processed and displayed stats, though a recent change to "be pretty" has undone much of the usefulness. Combined with the chest monitor I could get balance, impact, stride etc stats live on my watch, which was great for helping correct a leftward lean I didn't know I was doing. So there are definitely some great features for runners. I hate carrying a phone, my watch does have GarminPay and music.

I have an Apple Watch 7 and a Garmin Forerunner 265. The Garmin gives me a much higher VO2Max. I have no idea which is right but one factor seems to be the max heart rate, which the Garmin calculates but in Apple Watch seems to be fixed based on age unless you set it manually. Reluctant to set it manually as it will change over time and would neeed re-calculating so the Garmin approach seems better to me.

I bought a Garmin watch (FR265) last month and it's been great in keeping me on track with my exercise routine. I don't care for its advanced features like 'training readiness' and 'sleep score' – I prefer not to rely on my watch to gauge how I feel for obvious reasons. However, I have customised my watch face to display a daily step counter and a weekly 'exercise minutes' counter [1], which tracks exercise performed at a medium to high heart rate. My target is 10,000 steps a day and 180 minutes of exercise per week. Having those stats available at a glance on my wrist has significantly helped me stay on top of them. I can recommend it! Otherwise, I've disabled all smartwatch features. 8-) [1]( https://i.imgur.com/LhJ86u2.jpeg )

Not OP but I’ve used Garmin’s for about 15 years and over 10k running miles. I don’t like or use non-fitness related smart watch features, so I can’t speak to those or recommend a good "smart watch that also does fitness". If you want top of the line with more data than you’ll know what to do with and a ton of fitness activity tracking beyond running, the Epix2, Fenix 7, or Forerunner 965 (I have the Epix2). A step down but still great is the Forerunner 265. The feature they all have and I think has been the most useful is the Training Readiness. It looks at a bunch of different metrics, both current (your HRV, last workout performance, sleep, stress) and chronic (your weekly and monthly total exercise amount, types of running, etc) and advises you on how hard you should train and suggests a running activity for the day. It is basically a digital running coach/personal trainer that makes sure you are getting a good mix between tempo runs, long runs, easy runs, etc. and makes sure you aren’t overtraining or if a bad day means to switch to a light workout. I normally use it loosely to inform my choices but I’ve tried using its daily training plans exclusively and it was very good at keeping me progressing. Hopefully this helps.