Every New Year’s Day, many resolutions are made that are seldom kept, and one of the most popular goals for the new year is to get fit and healthy. Although life inevitably gets in the way, an unfortunate truth about fitness is that boredom can easily set in.
But, with the right GPS device in tow, this is unlikely to be much of a problem. Whether you enjoy fitness through running, cycling, multisports, or even golf, there is a perfectly compatible device out there to boost your interest when it comes time to break a sweat.
In this round up review, we are going to take a look at the very best GPS devices to make your 2022 fitness goals a reality. Read on to find your perfect product.
| IMAGE | PRODUCT | |
|---|---|---|
Best Fitness Tracker  | Garmin Vivosmart 4
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Best Health & Wellness Watch  | Garmin Vivoactive 4
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Best Running Watch  | Garmin Forerunner 945
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Best MultiSports SmartWatch  | Garmin Fenix 6 Pro
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Best Cycling Watch  | Garmin Edge 830
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Best Golf Device  | Garmin Approach G80
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Below you will find our top picks across the following categories: overall fitness, health and wellness trackers, running watches, multisport watches, cycling watches, and golf devices.
Our guide to the best Garmin devices for 2022
Top Pick – Best Fitness Tracker
Vivosmart 4
Fitness tracking is an optimal performance roundup that allows you to see an exact breakdown of your stats compared to your fitness output. For the new year, our pick for the most economically attractive and overall effective tracker is the Vivosmart 4 by Garmin.
With the Vivosmart 4 activity tracker, you can accent your style while enhancing your fitness. This slim, swim-friendly wearable comes loaded with fitness and wellness features to help you make the most of a healthier, more active lifestyle.
It monitors heart rate estimates at the wrist and includes helpful tools such as all-day stress tracking, a relaxation breathing timer, VO2 max and activity timers for walks, runs, strength training, pool swims and more. These features are a great way to start 2022 since such a wide range of performance tracking profiles are available.
A wrist-based Pulse Ox estimate sensor lets you check blood oxygen saturation anytime during the day — or turn it on while you sleep. Plus, Body Battery energy monitoring helps you know when you’re primed to be active or when you may need to rest.
This tracker is safe for the pool or shower, and keeps you going strong with up to 7 days of battery life (this does exclude the Pulse Ox sleep tracking), while smart notifications with vibration alerts help you stay connected whilst on the go.
Top Pick – Health and Wellness Watch
Vivoactive 4
When it comes to health and wellness alerts, the 45mm Vivoactive 4 GPS smartwatch allows you to tune in to your body, and tone up. It has the broadest available range of all-day health monitoring features, music storage and on screen, animated workouts to help you reach your 2022 goals.
Music is an important component of fitness, and the Vivoactive 4 allows you to boost every activity by downloading your favorite Spotify or Deezer playlists straight to your watch.
While your watch and phone are paired, your location can be sent to your contacts either manually or during outdoor activities automatically, with built-in incident detection, if needed. This translates to no more hunting down videos or trainers for workout demonstrations.
This watch features easy-to-follow, animated cardio, strength, yoga and pilates workouts you can view on the watch screen. You can also choose from preloaded animated workouts, or download more from Garmin Connect online community.
Top Pick – Best Running Watch
Garmin Forerunner 945
The Garmin Forerunner 945 is one of the standout classics of the Forerunner line, and this still holds true as we enter 2022. The Forerunner 945 lets you sync with premium music services to put your songs on your wrist when paired with a compatible smartphone.
It also offers some of Garmin’s most advanced physiological features, including training load balance and more. You can also enjoy the convenience of quick, contactless payments solutions from the wrist with Garmin Pay, which is a widespread feature now, but the Forerunner 945 was one of the pioneers of this detail.
With full color, onboard maps to guide you on your run, you’ll never get lost during a workout. Wherever you go, there are built-in safety and tracking features — such as incident detection (during select activities), which sends your real time location to emergency contacts through your paired compatible smartphone.
Read more about the Forerunner 945 here.
Top Pick – Best MultiSports SmartWatch
Garmin Fenix 6 Pro
Another perennial Garmin standout is the Fenix 6 Pro. This watch is totally fit for performance with a rugged, sophisticated design that features an always-on 1.3-inch sunlight-readable display with bezels in stainless steel, titanium or diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating.
There is also enhanced estimated wrist heart rate and Pulse Ox to support advanced sleep monitoring and altitude acclimation at high elevations, which opens up the multisport opportunities that come with using this watch.
Advanced training features include PacePro for grade-adjusted pace guidance throughout your activity, plus environmentally adjusted VO2 max and training status estimates.
Further multisport options include the ability to thoroughly navigate the outdoors with preloaded TOPO maps, ski maps for over 2,000 worldwide ski resorts, multiple global navigation satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS and Galileo) support, and built-in sensors for 3-axis compass, gyroscope and barometric altimeter readings.
This is absolutely the best over-the-top smartwatch to consider for 2022.
Top Pick – Best Cycling Watch
Edge 830
Cycling, perhaps more than any other fitness activity, requires a high quality level of fitness tracking based on the dynamics of the activity. The Edge 830 goes beyond mere data collection by providing dynamic performance insights that can help you beat your best.
You can see how your body is holding up in different environments with heat and altitude acclimation, and get in-ride notifications when it’s time to hydrate or eat. You can see if your most recent training was balanced in terms of endurance, threshold and high-intensity efforts.
And when paired with compatible Garmin sensors, the Edge 830 even calculates power curve, a power tracking metric that compares your ride effort to your previous weeks and months.
This device also allows for group messaging and tracking, so you can stay in touch when you get separated from your cycling pack. It also has incident detection, which automatically sends your location to emergency contacts if it detects an incident.
The Edge 830 is also preloaded with the Garmin Cycle Map, including turn-by-turn directions and navigation alerts that notify you of upcoming turns.
You can use the bright, responsive touchscreen to create new rides and courses right on the Edge device. And Edge 830 is smart enough to guide you back to the route — or back to start — if you deviate from it or decide to head home early. And with route calculation speeds 2 times faster than previous models, you’ll spend more time riding, not waiting around.
A must for cyclists.
Top Pick – Best Golf Device
Garmin Approach G80
For golfers, the Approach G80 by Garmin is the first all-in-one premium GPS golf handheld with an integrated launch monitor. Garmin radar technology makes it easy to track club head speed, ball speed, smash factor, swing tempo and estimated distance with this device.
Although something like the Approach R10 is also a stellar choice, the Approach G80 is a bit more compatible in terms of easy durability. The warmup mode provides simple feedback such as ball speed, club head speed, tempo, smash factor and estimated distance. Tempo training helps you evaluate which backswing and downswing timings are best for you, and it provides instant feedback.
One of the more fun features is a virtual round, which allows you to compete and play in a tournament and target practice allows you to work on different parts of your game for short and long drives.
On the course, the launch monitor measures shot distance, which comes in handy if you are seeking to compare your shot distance throughout the year. For easy access during play, simply press the quick access radar button to open launch monitor functionality. Touch any point on the sunlight-readable display, and it shows the precise distance to that spot — fairway, hazard, landing area or the front, middle and back of the green.
The Approach G80 also doubles as a digital scorecard with scoring options for Stroke Play, Stableford, Skins and Match Play with adjustable handicaps. Periodic course map updates are also automatically sent to your device.
The PlaysLike Distance feature gives you distances to the target, adjusted for uphill or downhill shots, and can be easily turned off for tournament play. The PinPointer shows you the green’s location on blind shots, while the Green View allows you to zoom in on the green to get more accurate yardage to today’s pin location.
Finally, a Big Numbers Mode increases the type, making it easier to read yardage numbers to the front, back and middle of the green – which will come in handy during bright days in the spring and summer.
Read more about the Approach G80 here.
So if you are ready for your fittest year yet, and with your motivation levels at maximum, get inspired with our choice of the best Garmin wearables for 2022!
