5 Outdoor Adventure-Ready Smartwatches I Recommend to Keep Up with Summer Fun

When the weather warms up, nothing beats getting out into the great outdoors. From hiking to biking, swimming to boating, I’m a big fan of the mix of fitness, fresh air and adventure. I also like to track my outdoor excursions with one of the best fitness trackers.

After testing countless wearables designed for such occasions, I have a solid sense of which ones are best for the lake, mountains, or city streets. Of course, this list is by no means definitive, these are simply the five smartwatches I most recommend for keeping tabs on your next adventure with Mother Nature.

1. My favorite smartwatch for hiking

Hiking is one of the most affordable and accessible warm weather outdoor activities and one of my all-time favorites. What features should I look for in a hiking watch? On the one hand, precise GPS location tracking is a must, as is a built-in altimeter/barometer to calculate altitude changes.

I also prefer smartwatches with maps to check the route and my progress mid-trek. Beyond that, solid battery life, a sturdy design, and emergency tools like crash detection are nice to have.

Many models meet the criteria above, but my favorite is the Garmin Forerunner 165. This mid-range GPS watch is aimed at runners but also has all the features a hiker could want. In fact, it’s become my de facto smartwatch for such adventures, thanks in part to its lightweight design and relatively small footprint.

Similar to crash detection on the best Apple Watches and Google’s fall detection on the Pixel Watch 2, the Garmin Forerunner 165 features incident detection, which can be configured to alert an emergency contact by accident case. The feature also sends a live tracking link, along with GPS coordinates for rescue.

2. My favorite smartwatch for bike rides

I’m a big fan of cycling, whether it’s around my hometown of Seattle or in the mountains, taking turns and spitting dirt. In either case, the device I use to track my movements needs to be large and bright enough for me to see at a glance, rugged enough to survive shocks and bangs, and accurate enough to distinguish between going up a hill and using a chair. elevator.

Excellent battery life is also high on the list. So, which model should I choose? Since January, the Polar Vantage V3 has been my favorite bike. I was impressed by its capabilities during a multi-day snowboarding trip and quickly decided to try it for cycling as well.

That said, I just got my hands on the even beefier, albeit similarly spec’d, Polar Grit X2 Pro and can’t wait to see if it usurps the V3; I plan to take it for a ride this weekend.

3. My favorite smartwatch for swimming

Not all smartwatches are created equal, especially when it comes to tracking time spent in water. While some devices automatically detect your swim, laps, distance traveled, calories burned and more, many devices lack the proper water resistance to survive frequent dives for long periods of time.

One hundred meters of water resistance is the bare minimum a smartwatch should have for me to use it with confidence when swimming. This disqualifies popular devices like the Apple Watch SE, Fitbit Charge 6, and Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, all of which only have 50 meters of WR.

Luckily, the Apple Watch Ultra and Ultra 2 both offer 100 meters of protection, making them a great choice for everything from open water swimming to jet skiing. In addition to keeping tabs on all the crucial swimming data I care about, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is also easily visible underwater, allowing me to check my stats without having to take a break.

4. My favorite smartwatch for paddling

Whether you’re piloting a kayak, paddleboard, rowboat, or any other form of human-powered watercraft, nothing compares to the feeling of gliding across the surface of a lake, pond, river or sea. However, as enjoyable as the experience may be, these activities constitute serious training and following them can be tricky.

I haven’t gone out kayaking yet this season, but when I do, I plan to strap the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar to my wrist. For what? In addition to dedicated kayak, stand-up paddleboard, and outdoor rowing modes, it also offers precise GPS tracking, incredibly good battery life, and 100 meters of water resistance in an easy-to-use package. wear and discreet.

5. My favorite smartwatch for climbing

Whether you’re into old-fashioned mountaineering, bouldering, sport climbing, or – my personal favorite – scrambling, it’s imperative that your smartwatch is built to take a beating, as it will at some point come into contact with solid rock. Of course, if your climbing adventure takes place outdoors, accurate GPS data is a must. The same goes for altitude tracking.

Of all the rugged smartwatches, the Garmin Fenix 7 is my favorite for these types of extreme adventures. Not only could it probably survive a fall from Mount Rainier, but it’s also packed with useful health and location tracking technology. And it has Garmin’s impressive ClimbPro feature to keep tabs on performance in real time.

Battery life is 122 hours in GPS mode, which means more time spent climbing rock and less time hanging around.