Why I Still Use Garmin (Even Though Some Metrics Are Ques...

The Metrics I Actually Ignore

I want to be upfront about something: I have a lot of the Garmin's 'intelligence' features turned off or actively ignored.

Body battery? I glance at it exactly once, in one specific situation: when Garmin suggests a workout that seems too aggressive. I'll look down, see the body battery near zero, and override the suggestion. That's it. That's the only time it's useful to me.

Sleep tracking? WHOOP and 8Sleep are handling that. I don't trust Garmin's sleep breakdown because it's still showing 'calibrating' on the readiness features — and because having two other devices with dedicated sleep tracking already in the stack means I don't need a third opinion from the running watch.

The stress meter? Never looked at it. The general wellness stuff — 'you're at your body battery peak between 10am and noon' — sounds like horoscope content. I'm not here for that.

So Why Is It Still On My Wrist?

Because for the things it actually does well, nothing else comes close.

**GPS run tracking is excellent.** I've logged 113 runs over the past year — 265+ miles — and every one of them is GPS-verified for outdoor runs and cadence-tracked for treadmill sessions. When I review a run from three months ago, I can see the exact pace by kilometer, the heart rate trend through each mile, the time in each HR zone, and the elevation profile. That's real data. That's the kind of data you make decisions from.

**The Daily Suggested Workout is actually useful.** This feature requires you to wear the watch to sleep — which is why I chose the lighter 265S model — but when it works, it works. If I had a hard day and a mediocre night's sleep, it'll suggest an easy 30-minute zone 2 run. If I had great sleep and my body is responding well, it'll push me toward something more structured. It's not as physiologically precise as WHOOP's recovery scoring, but it's directionally right most of the time.

**Hardware longevity is unmatched.** My original Fenix still works. Not 'sort of works' — works. I could run a race with it tomorrow. I replaced it with the 945, and I replaced the 945 with the 265S only because I wanted something lighter for sleeping. The device being replaced was still fully functional. Name another wearable company where that's the case.

The Notification Problem

Every other smart device I've owned has nagware issues. The Apple Watch was the worst — every software update would reset the notifications I'd turned off. Stand reminders back on. Movement alerts back on. The notification badge count reappearing. It felt intentional, because the UX was designed around engagement, not around getting out of your way.

I disabled all smartwatch features on the Garmin when I first set it up, and they've mostly stayed off through updates. If something creeps back on, it's once, not every update. That alone makes it preferable to the Apple Watch experience.

I don't want a device that tells me things. I want a device that records things. Those are fundamentally different products, and Garmin is closer to the recorder than the nagger.

The 265S Decision Specifically

People ask why I have the 'S' version — the smaller Forerunner 265 — instead of the bigger one or one of the Fenix models. The answer is sleep comfort.

If you're going to use Garmin's overnight features, you have to sleep with the watch on your wrist. I have broad wrists but I'm still aware of hardware when it's on my skin at night. The lighter the device, the more consistently I'll wear it overnight, which means better data.

I came from big Fenix devices. Heavy. I loved them for training, but I wouldn't sleep in them. The 265S solved that. Yes, I gave up maps, some advanced metrics, and a larger display. I don't use maps on a watch. The display size doesn't matter when you're running — you're not reading paragraphs on your wrist.

Where I've Changed My Mind

When I first got the Garmin, I tried to use it for everything. I wanted it to replace WHOOP. I wanted one device for all the tracking.

That's the wrong frame. The right frame is: different tools for different questions.

Garmin answers 'what did I do?' — the activity log, the pace, the HR zones, the run data, the cadence breakdown. It's a recording device that excels at capturing athletic activity.

WHOOP answers 'how did I recover?' — the overnight physiology, the HRV baseline, the recovery score that tells me whether to push or hold back today.

8Sleep adds 'how did I actually sleep?' — the temperature adjustments, the sleep stages, an independent validation of what WHOOP is measuring.

Three devices for three questions. That sounds excessive until you realize the alternative is using one device that does all three questions poorly. I've been there. I prefer the three-device stack.

The Honest Assessment

Garmin body battery is probably the most questioned metric in the fitness tracking world right now, and fairly so. The science behind how it's calculated is opaque. The calibration period is long and the accuracy varies wildly by user. I've talked to people who swear by it and people who say it's completely uncorrelated with how they actually feel.

For me, it's noise. I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

But 265 miles of GPS-verified run data, every session logged with HR zones, a hardware ecosystem that lasts literally years — that's not noise. That's the reason the watch is still on my wrist.

Use the parts that work. Ignore the parts that don't. That's true of every piece of fitness technology, and the Garmin is no different.