Garmin and Fitbit are known for their quality watches and their features! Both these brands are pretty competitive! In terms of features, these two brands are very close to each other! And choosing between the two can be very tough! While comparing these two brands may seem alike, there is a fine line that marks their differences!
If you are one who loves and lives through sports, any day, Garmin is a better choice! While Fitbit has taken a step further, surpassing ‘step tracking features.’If you are eager to enhance your lifestyle and overall health, Fitbit is the right choice!
Here in this article, we have compared the two brands in terms of some of their most important features as a fitness trackers.
Table of Contents
- Fitness App: Garmin Vs. Fitbit
- Cycling App: Garmin Vs. Fitbit
- Fitness Coaching Apps: Garmin Vs. Fitbit
Best Apps for Garmin vs. Fitbit: Review
Fitness Apps
- Garmin Fitness Apps
Strava
If you wish to improve your running skills, this application is the best you can use! All you have to do is set your goals, and the tracking business will be taken care of by the application!
It can efficiently track your heart rate, amount of calories burned, routes, speed, distance covered, and much more! You can see other people’s records and share them with them. What if I told you you could compete with other people as well? It is true!
Also, it shows you deep insights into your activities!
Hiking App Professional
If you love some intense sports such as hiking or rock climbing, this application can help you!
It comes with a compass, heart-rate tracker, altitudes, cadence, battery status, and more! Strava and the watch itself have got you covered when it comes to improving your skills! But, if you want to test your hiking skills and improve them, there is no better app available!
Strava
As you read in the Garmin section, Strava is primarily an application that tracks your running skills. It is designed for the sporty people who want to monitor their improvement as they progress. It is capable of recording your runs, rides, and other forms of training!
Also, you can share your progress with others in your group and get fit together!
MyFitnessPal
This is an interesting application as this will clearly show your total calorie consumption in a day! If you are looking forward to cutting some weight off, this application can help you reach your goal.
You can plan your meals accordingly with the application. Most people fail to meet calorie restrictions. And some of them cheat on their diet without realizing it!
My Fitness Pal has over a database containing 5 million foods, so you are most likely to find what you have consumed. Maintaining a proper weight positively affects your lifestyle!
Cycling Apps
- Cycling App Professional Garmin
The Cycling App Profession comes in the Garmin Connect App! This application makes a huge contribution in advancing your cycling abilities in parameters such as speed, time, and distance with its ever-accurate GPS.
It comes with ANT+ compatible sensors that track your heart rate, power, cadence/speed, and temperature monitoring is also available in this app! These elements help develop your skills and give you a perfect analysis of your ride.
Compatible devices – D2 Series, MARQ Series, Venu Series, Fenix 6 and 7 Series, Vivoactive 3 and 4 series, and Approach Series!
However, this application offers you a basic free version to test how it works, or it will be worth upgrading to premium! The premium features have many more advanced features that can take your cycling performance to the next level.
- SmartTrack Fitbit
No wonder Fitbit is one of the most popular brands that produce fitness tracking gears to help people take a step towards a much healthier life!
If you are looking for a cycling app from Fitbit that can help you maximize your cycling abilities, you need SmartTrack! This feature comes in handy when tracking your activities, be it steps or cycling.
Fitbit’s GPS is an essential feature that helps you get a detailed analysis of your activities!
The SmartTrack feature offers its users customizable exercise modes and features that help you record your cycling data in parameters such as speed, distance, and time! You can also track the number of calories you have burnt and your heart rate during this activity.
Furthermore, the Smart Track allows you to compare outdoor activities such as cycling with your indoor activities! And it also helps you maintain your activity routine as perfectly as possible!
Compatible devices – Fitbit Charge 3, Ionic, Blaze, and more!
Fitness Coaching Apps
- Garmin Coach
If you wish to train yourself for running events such as 5k, 10k, PB, or half marathon, the Garmin Coach can help you out here! You can get the Garmin Coach through Garmin Connect. The Garmin Connect works on numerous Garmin watches.
The Garmin Coach is offered to all Garmin users for free! This app provides you with a sufficient amount and forms of training that you need for a race!
To do so, you have set your race format, whether a 5k, 10k, or Half marathon. After selecting, you will get all the necessary workout formats based on your running style so that you finish off the race or run!
The workouts that the Garmin coach suggests are based on the progress you have made and run that your watch has tracked! You get the app through these devices –
Garmin Forerunner 45 series, Vivoactive Series, Forerunner 645 series, Instinct, Fenix 5 series, Marg, and Fenix 6 series!
Garmin Coach Plans
5k [Beginner / Intermediate]
Yes, if you want to train yourself for 5k, this app will help you. For 5k, it gives you 3 to 5 different workouts every week over a matter of 6 to 20 weeks! Each plan gives you a certain time frame, ensuring that you reach your goal by the end of it. Here, you will have to do a mix of some long and easy runs. As you progress, you have to some goal pace repeats and hill repeats.
10k [Intermediate]
Next level to the 5k, here you will find some training that will help you develop a runner’s key elements, i.e., speed and endurance! You may have to start with cadence drills that will help you improve your speed. And the watch will track if you can hit the required cadence in due time.
If you think the cadence is no biggie, wait! Your coach has a lot left for you to do! If you cannot figure out what exercise you must do, you will also get videos accompanying workouts!
Half-Marathon
Advancing to a half-marathon will give you a taste of the true game! For this, your coach will provide you with a time frame of 12 to 16 weeks for you to train yourself.
Do not worry; you will get similar running formats and exercises that you did in the 5k and 10k levels, but you have to complete the benchmark runs first!
You can expect easy runs speed repeats. However, these are to be comparatively longer than 5k or 10k.
Marathon
Unfortunately, Garmin Coach does not have a specific set of exercises to train you for a marathon! If you wish to train yourself for a marathon, you get it as a standard in the Garmin Connect App!
- Fitbit Coach
Fitbit offers you there solely designed coaching application over a subscription model. Yes, you need to upgrade to premium to use this feature! It costs $9.99 a month, whereas $80 a year.
If you wish to train yourself under a personal trainer’s supervision, you should get this application in your Fitbit watch today! The Fitbit coach follows a motto that says ‘Inspiring people to live healthier lives.’
Workout Programs
It offers you four primarily workout programs.
- Daily Dose – this consists of short and easy workouts that can help you refresh yourself and is a great choice who have a tight schedule
- Get Moving – this program is solely designed for beginners.
- Get Lean – as you can understand from the name of this program, it consists of high-fat burning exercises that can help you cut some weight off.
- Get Strong – this is the toughest fitness program of all, as this includes intense bodyweight and cardio workouts that can help in strength building.
This application auto-saves your progress, so if you had to leave while working out, do not worry. You can pick it right from where you left off.
It has many exercises that can help take a step ahead towards a healthy life by staying fit. You can customize your working-out plan, as well as plan your daily meals! It also gives you a video demonstration of workouts if you do not understand specific advice! However, these videos are to be downloaded; they will not work if you do not have sufficient space on your device!
Conclusion
So, what do you who did better in this Garmin Vs.? Fitbit battle? Well, I would say Garmin as I am pretty inclined towards sports! If you are not that interested in sports but overall health, you would certainly choose Fitbit over Garmin!
It depends on the user’s needs! Garmin watches are more sport-oriented, while Fitbit focuses on improving one’s overall health!
Now, the call is yours. Which gear do you want to buy!
