no_ur_cool t1_j5oj1dh wrote on January 24, 2023 at 1:54 PM

Would this make a Garmin more attractive than an Apple Watch with EKG? I've heard good things about the Garmins but always wanted the heart monitoring features.

TheRealTravisClous t1_j5olbml wrote on January 24, 2023 at 2:11 PM

I am a biased garmin fan boy, so take my word with a grain of salt.

Garmin is great in terms of providing fitness watches. The ekg feature is new to the Venu 2, but they have always had devices that have supported basic heart rate monitoring.

My Forerunner 10 that I got back in 2012 had a heart rate function. My current garmin Forerunner 35 also does heart rate monitoring, which came out before the first apple watch.

My parents both have Garmin Forerunners, a 255 and a 745. They both have wearable heart rate monitors that are separate and strap to the chest, which is more accurate than the radial reads you get from a watch.

My wife has the Garmin Venu 2. We just got it but haven't messed around with the functionality too much yet.

The Garmin app is also my favorite app for tracking my running and overall fitness.

uiucengineer t1_j5oufyj wrote on January 24, 2023 at 3:16 PM

Apple watch’s EKG is also FDA cleared

MrDefenseSecretary t1_j5phhyq wrote on January 24, 2023 at 5:41 PM

With the new Apple Watch Ultra it’s kind of up to your preference. I was a Garmin guy for a while because they did what I needed for hiking and running but the ultra can now do that stuff so I switched for the social features.

Garmin will still get better battery life if you ever need to be off grid more than a couple of days but I don’t do thru hiking anymore and the ultra is literally a phone on your wrist.