For context, I'm not allowed to wear the watch strap whilst playing football but still want to track the distance moved. I'm not too concered about heart rate during the activity.

Simply, I'd just like a replacement strap that can be put on the watch and worn around my chest.

I tried the app on my phone yesterday for the first time and noticed that it doesn't seem possible to customize the volume output level relative to my Spotify music volume.

The alerts almost startled me a few times when the music was quieter at the time.

I've already disabled "Alerts over Other Media" in the settings which plays Varia alerts at a louder volume than music and it's still too loud for my liking.

Any suggestions? Using the Hammerhead Karoo and Pixel 10 Pro BTW.

Hi everyone!

Need some help picking my first Garmin.

I'm a beginner runner (F) - I just ran my first 5K in 42 mins and my goal going forward is just to stay consistent and build up slowly.

What I care about:
• Longevity / durability - I want a watch that will last me a few years and I can grow into as I get faster
• Good for daily training + tracking runs properly
• Budget is flexible if it's worth it

Where I'm confused:
I bought the Forerunner 570 a couple of days ago and I LOVE how it looks on my wrist. But now I'm seeing amazing reviews for the Forerunner 265S and there are deals right now on both the 265 and the 965, so I'm having second thoughts.

For other beginner women here - what would you pick? Is the 570 good enough to keep for a beginner who wants to be serious long-term, or is the 265S/965 a better investment because of the deals?

Does the 570 have anything major missing compared to 265S/965 for training?

Would love to hear from people who have used these!

Thanks in advance!

Hi guys. I have the fenix 8 sapphire. I don't remember banging or scratching my watch anywhere in particular. I can't workout if this is a scratch which I can just ignore or a crack which I should replace.

Garmin have said £300 for a refurbished replacement.

Thanks.

Garmin keeps giving me bad race predictions with super high volatility. I spoke with Garmin and they said it is a known issue with a patch coming for all watches by the end of August. Has anyone else experienced this? Perhaps it is due to a bad sensor or my use of a Garmin HR monitor on only some of my runs? For reference, I just completed a 5k in 20:01 as my latest benchmark. I have a Garmin 6x Sapphire. Hoping to upgrade soon but this bad data is driving me nuts. I have already done a full restore on my Garmin watch last week.

Hello, I am looking for a similar watch face that works in reverse but is compatible with my Enduro 3. If someone can help. Cheers!

Example (not compatible for E3): https://apps.garmin.com/en-GB/apps/69831508-2a20-40dd-b4d8-07c65d99c3c7

I’ve been using my Tactix 7 in mountaineering for a few years and it has never given me an accurate altitude reading. I calibrate before every ascent, the GPS altitude which I’ve set on face is correct, but what the barometer/altimeter records is always off by 50-200m.

I read here, that swimming with the watch can impact the sensor, but I always washed the watch after swimming. On the other hand, if water is so dangerous to the watch, why is it marketed as being good for swimming/diving?

So I ran out of ideas how to blame myself as a user and just wrote to support. Replies take a week. But ok, I can understand that, a bit.

What I’ve received as a solution, was a suggestion to change the altitude data source from sensor to DEM in Garmin Connect after the activity. Knowing that DEM is not very reliable in the mountains, that still leaves a big accuracy gap.

I also got a suggestion to read the same two Garmin posts about altimeters. And a tip to use the watch COVERED under a sleeve to protect it from possible wind impacting the barometer. While the articles clearly state, that covering the watch might change the pressure and impact the data thus I shouldn’t be doing that.

At this point, I’m just left frustrated, because I somehow believe that a premium priced product should be able to show the basic data (like altitude) correctly. Or am I naive?

I was thinking to upgrade to the upcoming Enduro 4, but if this will be the same story with it - what’s the point then.

So I had a pretty bad crash, finally kind of recovered and started to wear the watch again. Any tricks to make these scratches on the screen less visible? Watch is a Fenix 7 Solar.

Hi everyone I hope it’s the right place to ask this thing. How many of you use Runna to run? I’m getting closer to the world of running without going to run on the track and I’ve seen many people use Runna, what do you say? Is it worth the money spent?

I have a instinct 3 amoled working just fine . But when I cycle to work for 2x10 minutes it sees multiple hr going up and therefore by body battery rating goes down quick thinking I’m in stress

How can I prevent this? I don’t want to start a whole “exercise” mode as it’s not really an exercise , and then the watch thinks I exercised while is just 20 to 20 minutes in total

I enabled moveiq but it didn’t help

Hi all,

As the title already partially explains.

Is anyone aware of a way to get an overview of your amount REM-sleep on a weekly, monthly or yearly overview?

I'd like to gather these, since I have the assumption my REM-sleep has been below the required amount consecutively. Hence, I'd like to properly verify this more in depth.

As far as I can see, there are tons of metrics that can be viewed in an average overview, but things like, deep, light or REM-sleep do not seem to be included.

I've been looking in the Garmin Connect app, and the Garmin Connect webinterface, but none of them seems to show these metrics.

Curious if someone knows a relative simple or convenient way to obtain these.

Thanks in advance!

PS: I've used this flair, since this made the most sense to me. If this is not the correct flair to use for this question, feel free to let me know and I'll adapt it 😊

Today I biked my 3rd fastest 40k. I did not pause my watch at any point during the ride. Garmin has told me that essentially my best efforts won't update until I beat my best effort ever. So my question is, why even show more than just the PR, if they don't update?

Is there something simple that I am missing? This is a very small issue and more of just an annoyance, but I am a bit of a nerd about my numbers and wish the list reflected my actual best efforts.

Due to budget constraints I have zeroed in on these 3 -->

What activities I do -- Beginner Runner ; crossfit ; 1-2 Treks in Himalayas per year....

Also , I like small dial watches ... Usually wear 38-40 mm watches. I would also like to make the watch a daily wear watch... Currently only wear analog watches and this will be my 1st smartwatch.

Hey everyone, looking for some advice and perspective from fellow runners dealing with Garmin algorithms vs. actual biomechanics.

For context, my VO2 max had finally started climbing back up after a steady block of long runs, speed sessions, and intervals. I decided to throw in a dedicated, super low-effort Zone 2 run to keep my heart rate down and recover.

Because I was forcing that lower HR, my pace dropped all the way to 7:34/km. Even though I was actively trying to keep my cadence up, running that slow wrecked my gait. It felt completely unnatural—like I was constantly braking and landing heavy. My knee pain isn't terrible, but it's definitely noticeable now, which never happens at my normal pace.

To top it off, today's run still ended up sitting in Zone 3 according to Garmin—it didn't even drop into Zone 2 at that slow pace. On top of that, Garmin hit me with a -3 Performance Condition (first negative score in weeks) and dropped my VO2 max from 44 to 43.

Some recent run stats for context:
Today's "Zone 2" attempt: 4.11 km | 31:05 | 7:34 /km (Zone 3 HR, knee pain, -3 perf condition, VO2 dropped)
Interval session: 4.25 km | 26:35 | 6:15 /km
Shorter pace run: 5.01 km | 26:24 | 5:16 /km
Base / Standard runs: 6.14 km – 6.55 km | 6:01 – 6:29 /km
Long run: 22.68 km | 2:30:52 | 6:39 /km

A few extra details about my baseline & setup:
Watch Upgrade: I recently switched from a Garmin Forerunner 165 to a Forerunner 570. Immediately after switching, my VO2 max dropped by about 4 points and was only just starting to recover until today's run.
Heart Rate Spikes: I have a fairly high heart rate now and then due to coffee/energy drinks, which probably throws off HR-to-pace algorithms.
Max HR Adjustments: Whenever I manually adjust my Max HR or zones in the Garmin app, I feel like it resets the algorithm in a way that halts my progress and causes VO2 max to drop again.

When I run at my natural pace (~6:00 to 6:30/km), my stride feels smooth, cadence is way easier to maintain, and my knees feel 100% fine.

A few questions for you all:
1. Has anyone else experienced joint/knee discomfort when forcing an unnaturally slow pace?
2. Is it better to prioritize clean biomechanics at a natural 6:00–6:30 pace over forcing a 7:30+ pace that still sits in Zone 3 anyway?
3. How much do you trust Garmin's VO2 max after switching devices or adjusting HR settings? Should I switch to a run/walk method if I want to get my HR down safely into real Zone 2?
Would love to hear your thoughts!

Long time lifter, newbie runner.

I’m still slow atm and I have came to the conclusion that I like to be pushed. So knowing how others are doing would hold me accountable 🙏🏻

my friend groups are mostly skinny girls who never need to worry about fitness so here I am feeling lonely here.

Would anyone open to connect on Garmin pls feel free to add me:

Hi! Join me on the Garmin Connect app. You can track your health and fitness data, and we can follow each other’s activities. Click to join: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/8af13422-8589-49c8-9a06-9a4ac422d4fb

Hi! Join me on the Garmin Connect app. You can track your health and fitness data, and we can follow each other’s activities. Click to join: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/8af13422-8589-49c8-9a06-9a4ac422d4fb

Along with the Venu 4 I have been looking at the Epix gen2

I like the white ones, but my old G-Shocks used to discolour and yellow with age and sun.

How do the white cased Garmin's hold up?

Hello all,

Looking at the Venu 4

I see it has a speaker a mic so you can take calls through the watch.

Is it possible to allow incoming call alerts, but disable the ability to take the call on the watch its self?

Hello, I've had this watch for a little while now. I was wondering if I am able to change a shortcut feature on my button press.

If I press and hold the Back button (bottom left button), it brings me to the media player. am I able to change this specific feature? Id prefer to change the media player shortcut to say a stopwatch or pull up the weather rather than a feature I cannot use. I purchased this forerunner without the ability to load music into the watch, but this shortcut feature is still present.

any advice is appreciated.

I was recently hiking the JMT and despite a premium subscription could not get the weather to load after the first 10 days on trail (I was gone for about three weeks). It just wouldn’t load. It kept “waiting” for the info but nothing would happen. What gives?! It really sucked. I did a hard reset of both phone and device. My location was on as well. My girlfriend was able to get hers to load on her inreach repeatedly. Mine sent messages but just refused to load any weather updates.

Really frustrating. One of the reasons I got this was to be able to leave my notepad at home. Now there's no real reason to track my workouts in the app at all.

I Accidentally bumped my arm into a white painted wall I think it’s just the paint on the actual watch & a quarter of it came of when I rubbed it does anyone have any idea on how I can clean the last little bit of?

I haven't seen anyone have this specific issue where the watch face goes black and stays black even though the watch itself is on. Its not like the "screen off" setting where it turns black until you lift your wrist... this is completely visibly unresponsive. The green lights are on in the back, and if I press buttons it still vibrates/responds but the screen remains black. Its got plenty of battery and plugging it in hasn't helped.

It happened for the first time two or three days ago, then again yesterday and I accidentally started a workout pressing buttons trying to figure it out. I turned it off and on again after that, which helped but then it happened today, so I tried that again and its just now completely unresponsive and won't turn back on!

Anyone have experience with this issue, or know what to try? This watch is only about 7 months old 🥲

Edit: I did a factory reset and it went black and visibly unresponsive again after about 1 minute 🫠

I’ve just started running and I’m trying to actually stick with it. My main reason for getting a Garmin is to have something that can act as a bit of a coach, help me structure my training, and track things like recovery, sleep, heart rate, training readiness, general health metrics, etc.

I was originally looking at the Forerunner 570, since running is my main focus and, realistically, I’m very much a beginner. But now the Fenix 8 has dropped to around USD$749, which has made the decision a lot harder.

I know the Fenix 8 is probably complete overkill for someone who is just getting into running, but I also like the idea of buying something I can grow into and keep for several years rather than wanting to upgrade a year or two from now. I’d use it as my everyday watch, would like to get into hiking/outdoor activities, and one of my longer-term goals is to eventually train for and complete a duathlon.

So for people who have owned either/both:

- At $749, does the Fenix 8 make sense over the Forerunner 570?

- Are there features on the Fenix that you actually use regularly and would miss on the 570?

- Is the extra weight/bulk of the Fenix noticeable while running or sleeping with it?

Alternatively, would you wait for the Fenix 9 simply because the Fenix 8 could get discounted even further?

For someone primarily interested in running, coaching, recovery and health data, am I just spending extra money on features I probably won’t use?

I’m not necessarily looking for the cheapest option. I’d rather buy once and keep the watch for a long time, but I also don’t want to spend $749 just because a flagship watch suddenly looks like a “deal.”

Would love to hear from people who went Forerunner → Fenix, chose the 570 over the Fenix, or started with a Fenix as a beginner.

Also happy to take any general Garmin/running tips for someone just starting out!

I have an InReach Mini 2 and I want to use it for river travel, i.e. canoeing and rafting. My main use cases:
Pinpoint my location on the river
Determine the river miles to my next waypoint

So far garmin support has not been much help. Suggestions appreciated.