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Ive used many running watches, but my favorite is the Garmin Forerunner 265.
Its a little pricier than others, but it offers extensive running features and ways to monitor your recovery.
Photo:Lifewire / Jennifer Allen
Its easy to use, robust, and has some great monitoring tools.
It works with both my iPhone and Android phone with a simple-to-figure-out app.
The Garmin Forerunner 265 keeps you on track outside of your training sessions.
PHOTO: Lifewire / Jennifer Allen
The Garmin Forerunner 265 is effectively like having a personal trainer on your wrist.
Thats where the Garmin Body Battery feature is hugely useful.
Its not the most stylish of watches, but the Garmin Forerunner 265 is fantastic for pure running.
PHOTO: Lifewire / Jennifer Allen
The Sunnto Race is a bit big on my slender wrist but it still looks good.
It has an incredibly crisp display that I found instantly likeable as I ran.
I might not run fast but its still useful to quickly glance at how youre doing.
PHOTO: Amazon
The Sunnto Race has fantastic battery life–up to 26 days.
Even with GPS running the whole time, youll get about 40 hours.
Theres extensive offline map support, too, which is great at this price.
The Amazfit Balance looks fantastic.
A lot of these are filler material but I appreciated the meditation app.
Its nice insight though.
Theres no convoluted data here so at a glance, I could see exactly how fast I was moving.
Ultimately, the Amazfit Balance wont compete with the big guns but its considerably cheaper than those options.
If youre looking for compromise, the Amazfit Balance gets the balance right.
I used all the devices for a number of weeks with some being used for many months.
The ideal running watch will also benefit you elsewhere in your life.
Read oursmartwatch buying guide.
