Garmin - Forerunner 165

All true except advanced metrics. They are also present in Fenix (it has even more features for hiking) and Instinct. Forerunner is not more advanced. The rugedness is mostly about the bezel. In fenix and instinct it has a rim which gives extra protection to the screen. But that means rugged watches are more bulky what can be a problem in the gym. The real question is lightness of forerunner vs battery life of fenix /instinct

FR 165 may be missing some more advanced options, but it should match your needs and budget (barely). Personally I would go for second hand FR255. If you care a lot about HR, especially during intervals, buy arm monitor like Polar OH1+ in addition to a watch. It is quite cheap, easily pairs with all Garmins and tests prove it is more reliable than almost any watch on the market.

Forerunner 165 is great for running.

I had a samsung galaxy watch and my bestie had an apple watch. We both switched to garmin. I have the forerunner 165, and she has the vivoactive. One of best features of the garmin watches is battery life - one charge lasts about a week with daily workout tracking

Forerunner 55 for the absolute basics. Forerunner 165 is the cheapest with a AMOLED screen. Forerunner 255, 265, 955 and 965 are just discontinued. In my opinion 955 is the most value for money as it includes mapping. 965 is the same watch as the 955, but with an AMOLED screen. If you don’t need mapping, then go for the 265. It is the same as the 965, but without maps. So if you can find a 955 that would be your best bet in my opinion. Forerunner 570 and 970 introduce unnecessary features, such as microphone & speaker, sapphire glass, shiny metal bezels all of which add nothing to running but do increase the price.

So if you are mostly doing gym and park workouts a Forerunner 165/265, a Suunto Run or a Coros Pace 3 would likely fit your needs. Suunto automatically calculates your speed vs other times on the same route to see if you are faster or slower much like Strava premium except that it’s free. The Pace 3 and Suunto Run will let you put MP3s on them if you like to listen to music. For Garmins you would have to make sure you have a music model to do that and Garmin has Spotify. The Pace 3 and Suunto Run are really light at about 30g and 36g and the Forerunner 165 is 39g. The watches are about Forerunner is 43mm while the pace 3 is 41.9 while the Suunto Run is technically 46mm but looks the same as the Race S which is 45mm (but weighs a lot more at 60g and 53g depending on model).

Talong talo naman sa battery na daily kailangan mo icharge haha. We can't have nice things talaga. Yun lang naging factor ko kaya I went with FR165

How cheap is cheap? A Garmin 165 can be had for under 200usd on sale, which is the cheapest I'd go for a decent fitness watch. A coros pace 3 is slightly above that. Second hand, you can probably find em for around 100-150, but that's always a crapshoot. Have you thought about just running with a flipbelt? You can find em for 20-30 bucks, and they hold the phone snug against you. 

I've gotten a lot more consistent with my running with my Garmin forerunner. Week long battery life, and basic notifications. I don't think there exists any watch that tracks lifting correctly though.

I got the garmin 165 on sale and love it. I switched from an Apple Watch because of the battery life. Because I have to charge the Apple Watch daily I never wore it. With the garmin I charge it once a week or so and wear it all the time.

No, the 165 Music versus not is just price point budget options thing. Forerunner 265 and 965 have the music functionality of downloading directly to the watch from YT Music. If you just want good basic run and training tracking I would do the 165 music, if you want more training support and data collection and management, I would go for the 264. Either way a focus on running I would only select between these 2 watches.

I was also going to recommend the 165, but there isn’t an S version. In the relative specs its a 43mm 165 versus 41.7mm on the 265.

I would personally always take a Forerunner over the Venu series, as I am pretty serious about my fitness. I don't really care much about smart watch features, just need a bare minimum. And the venu series seems to take tradeoffs with fitness features to accommodate the increase in smart features.

Running is just what the Forerunner targets to be the best choice for. It is a lighter watch, with all the GPS accuracy you can get. It doesn't focus on Golf or diving or being "rugged". So yes, a Forerunner would still be a great option for your situation, and it will just be a plus if you ever decide to run.

I would recommend the Forerunner series, I love it. Great for running, and a recent update even added Strength training to the Garmin Coach feature. It used to just be running plans. But aside from that you can make your own strength training workouts. I personally really enjoy the ability to make my own workouts and fill out the calendar in the app to have a custom training plan that I know works for me. But I believe the custom workouts/planning aspect should be universal to most watches though.

Totally, I think the 165 is a great option. The Forerunners get a reputation for being for runners, when they are just designed more with a runners best experience in mind, the same way the Fenix is designed more for people that like "luxury" looking watches, and Venu is designed more for people that want a Smart watch. Each line has it's own base target audience. Forerunners are a great all around watch for anyone that wants a great fitness watch. I have been using Forerunners for near 8 years now, and though part of the reason is because I am a runner, I also just prefer the look and feel of Forerunners over all the other lines.

I got a forerunner 165 on one of the spring prime day sales on Amazon.

I’ve been really happy with it. It tracks my activity better than my Apple Watch, and the battery lasts several days. I got one for the same reasons, and it’s helped me with my groove for running. I’ve actually done a 5k, which as a 41f who’s always been sedentary until age 37 when I decided fck this.