Check Out This Data on 18 Popular Garmin Running Watches

Looking for a user-friendly way to track your runs, mile pace, distance, heart rate and everything else? Check out the data on these top Garmin running watches.
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🏃‍♂️‍➡️Garmin running watches are some of the best and most popular watches for runners and other endurance athletes. But...

• If you’re new to the Garmin world, though, you might find the options to be overwhelming.
• Garmin offers no less than 18 distinct product lines, and in many cases these watches have overlapping feature sets.

🏃‍♀️‍➡️How’s a new runner supposed to make sense of this landscape?
.⌚One place to start is to look at the most popular watches. 

• When you understand how they compare to each other, it’s easier to start piecing together the web of niche products at the bottom that appeal to very small audiences.

🏃‍♂️‍➡️In December, I wrote up an analysis that used Google Search data to identify the top five product lines for Garmin running watches: 

• ⌚The Forerunner
• ⌚The fenix
• ⌚The Instinct
• ⌚The epix, and...
• ⌚The Venu

But the Google Search data may not tell the whole story about Garmin running watches, so I went looking for another way to examine this question.
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Today, we’re going to take a deep dive into another dataset to better understand which Garmin running watches are the most popular and whether that’s changed over time. Along the way, we’ll also consider what makes each watch special.
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⌚Ready to geek out over Garmin running watches? Here's the data...

We analyzed 700,000 Reddit comments about Garmin running watches

Although Garmin is a publicly traded company, they don’t release any detailed sales data in their financial filings. This makes it tough to know for sure how many watches then sell.
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📈But there’s another dataset that gives another way to look at this question: Reddit.

• 📳Reddit is a social media network with communities built around many different topics. 
• ⌚One of the larger communities—with around 250,000 members, is r/Garmin.

Academic Torrents maintains a dataset with all of the posts and comments made on Reddit. 

• ⚙️I collected the data for r/Garmin and narrowed it down to the last four years. 
• ⚙️Then, I eliminated posts and comments that had more downvotes than upvotes. 
• ⚙️This left me with 70,000 posts and 700,000 comments.
• ⚙️I was able to analyze this data to determine how many times each type of watch was mentioned in a) the title of a post, b) the body of a post, or c) the text of a comment. Then, I graphed this data by month.

⌚The resulting data visualization makes it immediately obvious which Garmin running watches are discussed more than others, as well as how that changes over time.

Although I started investigating the data by looking at a visual containing all 18 product lines, that quickly becomes messy.
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📈So I created the graph above that narrows it down to the six most popular watches.
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Click here for an interactive version of the graph:

• You can click on the name of a watch in the legend to temporarily hide its line. 
• Also, the dropdown menu lets you toggle between mentions in the post title, the post body, and the comment.

Here's a brief analysis of the most popular Garmin running watches based on this data:

• Since 2021, the Garmin Forerunner has been its most popular watch, and over the last four years it’s been mentioned more and more often. 
• The fenix has long been number two, and it too has grown a little more popular as time went on.
• Below them are the Venu, epix, Instinct, and vivoactive. 
• Although these four Garmin running watches look small in comparison to the two more popular watches, they each are mentioned quite a bit more than the remaining twelve products.

The original Garmin running watch, called the Forerunner, was released 20-plus years ago

Garmin released the original Forerunner 101 in 2003. 
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Back then, most people still associated Garmin with GPS devices for their cars, and the new watch looked more like a wrist computer.

• Over the next twenty years, the Forerunner has changed quite a bit. 
• It’s now a sporty looking smartwatch, capable of tracking your runs and tracking notifications from your phone.

⌚Garmin Forerunner 55

• This is Garmin's entry level running watch. 
• It’s the cheapest, and it has the most limited feature set. It was introduced back in June 2021.

⌚Garmin Forerunner 255

• At the middle tier, you’ve got the Garmin Forerunner 255, which was released in June 2022. 
• 📈Notice the spike in the number of mentions at that point in the graph. 
• This version of the watch includes multisport mode for triathletes, can optionally play music, and tracks additional data about your performance.
• Note: There are quite a few happy WeeViewers with this watch, and some of the things they love about it include the battery life, the sleep tracking, and the GPS accuracy. Two people specifically mentioned making the jump from Apple thanks to this watch.

⌚Garmin Forerunner 265

• There is a slightly newer version, as well—the Garmin Forerunner 265. 
• The feature set is very similar, but this watch includes Garmin’s new AMOLED screen. 
• 📈This was released in March 2023—another spike on the graph.

⌚Garmin Forerunner 955 & 965

• There’s also a higher end version—the Forerunner 955 and 965. 
• They’re similar to the 255 and 265, but they come with a few additional premium features. 
• And in February 2024, Garmin released the Forerunner 165—a small step up from the Forerunner 55 with an AMOLED screen.

The fenix is Garmin's premium outdoor watch

The next most popular watch is the Garmin fenix. 

• This product has historically been a part of Garmin’s outdoors product line. 
• It has the running features of the Forerunner, plus a more rugged build and premium components.

📆In January 2022, Garmin released the fenix 7.

• This coincides with the first spike in the purple line, and for a brief moment the fenix rivaled the Forerunner in popularity. 
• Among other things, WeeViewers love the optional sapphire glass for its durability.

📈There’s a smaller surge on the graph in 2023, which coincides with the launch of the fenix 7 Pro Solar. 

• In many ways, this was a minor upgrade from the fenix 7. 
• But the Pro version of the watch introduced one amazing new feature—the LED flashlight—which I highlighted in my own review of this watch.

📆In August 2024, there’s a final surge on the graph.

• This is when Garmin released the latest version of the fenix—the fenix 8 Solar and the fenix 8 AMOLED. 
• With this version, Garmin offered both an AMOLED screen and a microphone to enable voice calls, bridging the gap between outdoors watch and smart watch.

This is Garmin's sporty smartwatch

Although the next three watches are similar, we’ll take the Garmin Venu next.
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📆The original Garmin Venu was released in 2019.

• It was positioned more as a smartwatch that also did fitness related things. 
• With its shiny AMOLED screen, it appeals to the type of user who might be used to an Apple watch—but want better battery life and better running features.

📆Garmin released the Venu 2 in April 2021 and the Venu 2 Plus in January 2022. 

• There are small bumps in its popularity at that time, but the big jump comes in late 2023—when Garmin announced the Venu 3.
• This watch includes a microphone to take voice calls, and you can also use that microphone to access the voice assistant on your Bluetooth connected phone. 
• Although these features were later ported to the fenix 8, the Venu makes these traditional smartwatch features available at a more affordable price.

Looking for another outdoor running watch? Check out the Instinct.

Like the fenix, the Instinct is a watch geared towards outdoor adventurers. 

• It’s also cheaper, and it forgoes some of the flashier features—like music—in order to maximize battery life. 
• It also includes some unique navigational features, like the ability to see map coordinates for orienteering.

📆The Garmin Instinct 2 was announced in early 2022, and there’s a small surge in mentions in Reddit comments around that time. 

• The larger, Garmin Instinct 2X Solar came out the next summer, bumping its popularity a bit more.

📆In January 2025, Garmin released the latest Instinct 3, which also coincides with a final jump on the graph. 

• This version includes a more advanced multiband GPS, improved solar capabilities, and the LED flashlight. As with the fenix, Garmin also introduced an AMOLED option.

This is Garmin's other outdoor running watch

Although the epix appears next on the graph in the later months, you may notice that it’s virtually unmentioned in 2021. 

• That’s because the original Garmin epix was released in 2015 and later discontinued.

📆In January 2022, it popped back into the public mind when the Garmin epix (gen 2) was released. 

• In terms of features, it was very similar to the fenix 7. 
• But instead of a MIP screen, it sported an AMOLED screen. It was the fancier of the two cousins.

📆In May 2023, the epix (gen 2) Pro was released at the same time as the fenix 7 Pro. 

• Since then, however, it seems that Garmin has decided to end the epix line once again—merging the AMOLED screen back into the fenix line with the fenix 8.

Note: Although the epix is still currently being mentioned a decent amount, and you can still find them for sale, they’ll soon fade out of the conversation again as they did when the original epix was discontinued.

The Garmin vivoactive is a smartwatch with health & wellness features

The final entry on this list of the six most popular Garmin running watches is the Garmin vivoactive. 

• It’s a smartwatch focused on health and wellness that can also track your runs. 
• Think of it like a pared down, cheaper version of a Venu.

📆The original vivoactive was released in 2015. 

• It went through a couple quick updates, with the vivoactive 2 coming out the next year.
• The vivoactive 3 Music was released in 2017. 
• After a final update in 2021, the product line stagnated for a couple years.

📆Then, in September 2023, Garmin released the vivoactive 5.

• It got an upgraded heart rate sensor and display, and it rejoined the ranks of the modern watches. 
• 📈On the graph, you can see the number of mentions trailing off from 2021 to 2023. 
• However, that trend reverses after the release of the vivoactive 5.

Check out 12 more Garmin running watches

While those six Garmin watches sit atop the charts, there are 12 other products currently available on Garmin’s website. 
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Most of these appeal to small, niche audiences. Over the years, none of them get mentioned very often, although there are two watches that have broken out a little bit in recent months.

• Garmin Enduro
• Garmin D2

Let's take a closer look at the rest of the Garmin running watch lineup...

⌚7. Garmin Enduro

• This is an outdoors adventure watch, similar to the Instinct. 
• Its main focus is on extreme battery life, and its style is a little different. 
• The original version was released in 2021, and its successor came out in 2022. 
• Neither of these generated much interest, but that may be changing.

The Enduro 3 was released in August 2024, along with the fenix 8. 

• There was a surge in mentions at the time, and a few months later it still sits above the rest of this group. Its claim to fame is that it has essentially unlimited battery life.

⌚8. Garmin D2

• The other breakout is the D2. 
• These are premium watches geared towards pilot and aviation specialists. 
• The latest version, the D2 Mach 1 Pro, was released in late 2023, and it’s been increasingly mentioned in posts and comments since then. 
• Although it’s still less commonly mentioned than the vivoactive.

⌚9. Garmin Approach

• The Garmin Approach has seen a slight uptick in the last few months. 
• This line of golf-focused watches got a fresh update in late 2023 with the S70—a higher end version—and in early 2025—with the entry level S44 and S50. 
• The more expensive versions include some of the running and fitness features from other Garmins, but the focus on all of these is on golf.

⌚10. Garmin tactix

• The tactix has seen a few blips recently, with the release of the tactix 7 and the rumored release of the tactix 8 coming early this year.
• This watch is essentially a fancier version of the Instinct—built for outdoors enthusiasts and some niche situations.

⌚11. Garmin Lily

• Next up is the Garmin Lily, which saw a slight uptick in late 2024 when the Lily 2 was released. 
• This watch is kind of like a pared down version of the vivoactive, but with more emphasis on style. 
• It has a liquid crystal display, and it looks a bit more like a classic, pretty watch than a smartwatch. 
• Like some of the other cheaper Garmins, it doesn’t have its own dedicated GPS. It can only track GPS activities when connected with your phone.

⌚12. Garmin Descent

• Then there’s the Descent. This watch is built for scuba divers. 
• Although the fenix 8 incorporates some of these dive features, it doesn’t do them all. 
• Serious divers may still find a need for this watch, but it appeals to a small audience.

⌚13. Garmin vivosmart

• The Garmin vivosmart is less of a smartwatch and more of a fitness tracker. 
• It’s rectangular shape is reminiscent of the fitbit, and it’s one of the cheapest options Garmin offers. 
• But like the Lily, it doesn’t have its own dedicated GPS.

⌚14. Garmin MARQ

• The Garmin MARQ is an interesting option. 
• It is expensive—almost ridiculously so. 
• It comes in a few slight variations for different types of customers. 
• But it’s essentially the luxury option for someone who wants a Garmin. 
• The underlying hardware is old, and it’s due for a refresh. If and when the next version is released, it might see a small uptick in popularity.

⌚15. Garmin vivomove

• The vivomove is similar to the Lily in style. 
• Although one thing that sets it apart is that it actually has analog watch hands. 
• When you’re not interacting with it, it looks like a traditional watch. But the screen engages when you need it.

⌚16. Garmin Bounce

• The Garmin Bounce is designed specifically for kids. 
• One thing that sets it apart is you can get an LTE subscription and communicate with your kids without a connected smartphone.
•  Other than the Garmin Forerunner 945, which briefly experimented with the feature, this is the only Garmin with direct LTE connectivity.

⌚17. Garmin vivofit

• The vivofit is a pared down version of the vivosmart. It has the fewest features, but it’s also the cheapest option Garmin has.

⌚18. Garmin Quatix

• And finally, you have the quatix. This is a marine smartwatch, with special features for people into boating. 
• Otherwise, it’s similar to the fenix 7 and the epix (gen 2).

While there are many different options, at the end of the day many of them are similar.
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For most runners, any of the most popular watches would be just fine. 

• Whether you get a Forerunner, a fenix, or a Venu, you’ll be able to track your runs in style. 
• Each one has a unique flavor, but they share more similarities than they have differences.

So although many runners obviously seem to prefer the Garmin Forerunner, there are fans of each of these watches. 

• The quatix may not be very popular, but someone must be buying it. 
• Or else I’m sure Garmin wouldn’t waste the resources continuing to support and improve it.

My first watch was a Forerunner 245, and it was a great entry point into the Garmin ecosystem. 

• After a couple of years, I upgraded to the fenix 7S Pro. 
• I like the size, and I also like the improved battery life and navigation features. 
• I love the LED flashlight.

The next time I’m ready for an upgrade, though, ...

• I might shift gears and get an Enduro or an Instinct. 
• I have no interest in music.
• And I’m not a fan of the shift towards AMOLED screens. But I would appreciate even better battery life.

What's your favorite Garmin running watch?
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Share yours in the comments, or create a WeeView and tell us more about it.
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If you're thinking about getting a Garmin running watch, tell us which one.