UPDATE: Alright, so when I initially wrote this review the music component of this watch was meh for me. I had a love/hate relationship with it but now I can honestly say I love it and have upped my review to 5 stars (from 4 before). I do think Garmin listened and made changes with the updates or maybe it was just user error all along???? I honestly don't know lol. I've had this watch for 8 months now and I freaking love it. I now know how to update the music via wifi and I do think the connectivity on my runs has improved. How well it connects to Garmin connect has also improved. Do I think it's worth the $345 price its being sold at right now? Maybe. It's amazing not being able to take my phone on my run and still having music, GPS, and some sort of security to reach my loved ones should I need it. I do wish the battery life was a little longer but for the size of this thing, I'm not complaining and it also charges pretty quickly. I have not yet run long enough (w/music) to test it with an external battery but will update as I do that. For those looking for instructions on how to update music via wifi (this was one of the things I wanted the watch to do and either I didn't know how to or it didn't work that well at first), I will include instructions below: Hold down second/middle button on left side of watch. Click music Click music providers Click Spotify (should walk you thru how to set if up if you don't) For me it takes me to the last song played. From here, I hit the three dots on the left. Click library Then scroll down to where you can hit update downloads. This will not work if you do not have your watch connected to wifi. To do that do this: Click and hold the middle button on the left side. Scroll down to WiFi and select. Should walk you thru it. I think you have to make sure your phone is connected to the same wifi. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I received this as a surprise gift from my husband about a month and a half ago. Both my husband and I are avid Garmin users and have been for several years. For context, these are the Garmin watches I have owned in the past: Forerunner 15, Vivosmart 3, and Vivomove HR. I do like this watch. In fact, you can say I love it. Based on our purchase history, I can see my husband purchased this for ~$50 less than what it is being listed as now ($345). Personally, if I was buying this for myself I would get a refurbished one or do without the music. I run about 3-4x a week and do HIIT workouts 3x a week. For what I do, this watch may be overkill but that’s what you want right? You want a watch that will do what you want AND more. At least I do! So, what are my gripes with this watch? 1- Bluetooth. Boy, oh boy, oh boy! My watch LOVES to disconnect from my headphones. If my hands aren’t at the right angle while I am running, it is game over and I have to reconnect or deal with a patchy connection. At this point, I just don’t bother to use the music on my watch. I am hopeful an update will fix this but I’m not holding my breath. I find mine struggles with auto-sync on the Garmin app occasionally as well. 2-Music-In relation to the bluetooth is the music concept of this watch. I really wanted to love this aspect of the watch. I really really did. I was so pumped about it! But alas, you can’t always get what you want. Syncing Music the first time took an eternity and half. You also have to manually update it if you update your playlist on Spotify, I think (at least that’s what I have to do). I wish Garmin would do something where it would automatically have your watch update the playlist if it is connected to Wi-Fi with my laptop open to Spotify but maybe my standards are too high (my iPad does this with playlists I’ve downloaded). Overall, I do like the music component of this watch-I just wish the bluetooth worked better. Many of the reviews I read on here are people complaining about how difficult it is to sync music and I agree. I consider myself pretty tech savvy but they could have made this simpler. I also would like to be able to change the songs that I am listening to on my phone from my watch. I used to be able to do this on my Vivomove HR and that was lovely while I was running. Also, please note I *think* you have to have a premium subscription to whatever music streaming service you choose to use in order to connect to the watch. I already had Spotify premium so this was no big deal to me but wanted to note that on here. I think you can also upload your own mp3 files if you have them but don’t take my word for it as I haven’t tried it. 3-Sleep tracking- I don’t find the sleep tracking to be very accurate as a whole but I think that is an issue with Garmin in general so I’m not really holding it against this watch. 4-Garmin Connect IQ- Changing my watch face is a lot harder than it should be and takes forever. What do I LOVE about this watch? 1- GPS- my last watch did not have GPS (but it was pretty!) and that’s also a big factor in why I wanted this watch. I have not found any issues with the GPS and I have found this to be fairly accurate. Connects seamlessly with Strava which I appreciate. 2-The size- for the size of this watch and all it can do-WOW. Just wow! I was afraid it would be too bulky but it is not! I am a woman with very small wrists and the size is pretty good for me. I do wish they sold smaller bands but its not a big deal. 3- Livetracking & security features- LOVE this! You can set live tracking to start automatically or start it manually from the app ( I do wish this was an option on my phone). This sends an email to whoever you’ve listed, or all of your connections, with a link to a tracker. I love this as a woman who often goes on runs alone early in the morning or at night. There is also a feature on this watch where if you press a button 3x it sends a text to your emergency contacts and it will also do this if it notices anything unusual (you stop suddenly, etc). Probably my favorite features. 4- Training status, body battery, pulse ox, & respiration-I find all of this very cool & helpful. I don’t find the training status to be totally accurate for me though. None of this makes or breaks the watch for me though, it’s just nice to have. The Garmin Coach seems really cool but I haven’t had an opportunity to use it. I plan to use it to train for a half marathon. 5-Heart rate- I like this and find it to be accurate. 6-Buttons-my last watch was touchscreen and I do love that this has buttons instead. 7- Battery-battery life is OK but I wish it lasted a little longer. How quickly it charges makes up for that though! Overall, this is a really great watch. I was lusting after the Fenix 6s but that would have been overkill for me. This does what I need it to do and some more. If you’re a runner, I do think you will love this. I would personally save some money and skip the music but when it does work it is nice to have. Thanks Garmin!
