I'm a smartwatch expert: if I had to get one today, I'd get this Garmin Vivoactive 5 deal over the Apple Watch 10 for 3 simple reasons

Garmin Vivoactive 5
(Image credit: Future)

I've tested a lot of smartwatches over the years and all the best running watches, and two of the most popular brands, which people choose consistently and have been doing for years, are Apple and Garmin.

The best Apple Watches are great running watches, but they're also good lifestyle companions. With a raft of third-party apps, better communication features and seamless integration with iOS, they're the smartwatch of choice for iPhone users because they're the best all-rounders, but they don't have very good battery life.

Both smartwatches are superb buys, but if you're buying a watch today to primarily assist with your running, I know which one I'd get out of the two great deals above.

• Shop more deals at Amazon

If I had to buy one today, I'd go with the Garmin. There are three very simple reasons for this:

  1. Battery life. As a runner and regular exerciser, battery life is one of the prime considerations I need to take into account when looking for an everyday watch. Workout profiles using GPS, such as running, take a lot of battery life on any watch, and the Apple Watch Series 10's scant 18 hours can't hold a candle to the Garmin Vivoactive 5's chunky 11-day limit. With three or four runs, you're likely to go about eight days before need to recharge the Vivoactive, while the Apple Watch will need to be charged nightly.
  2. Body Battery. The long battery life makes it a lot easier to wear the Garmin to bed, whereas the Apple Watch needs to be removed and charged for 30 minutes to an hour after a full day's wear. Wearing the Garmin to bed allows you to take advantage of Garmin's excellent Body Battery metric, which uses an aggregation of sleep quality and exercise intensity to estimate your energy levels.
  3. Garmin Coach. While you don't get the Daily Suggested Workouts that you do on more expensive Garmin watches, you do get access to Garmin Coach, and its racing plans available on the app. Designed by experts, they're perfect for seeing you through your first 10k, your first half marathon and beyond.
Matt Evans
Senior Fitness & Wearables Editor

Matt is TechRadar's expert on all things fitness, wellness and wearable tech.

A former staffer at Men's Health, he holds a Master's Degree in journalism from Cardiff and has written for brands like Runner's World, Women's Health, Men's Fitness, LiveScience and Fit&Well on everything fitness tech, exercise, nutrition and mental wellbeing.

Matt's a keen runner, ex-kickboxer, not averse to the odd yoga flow, and insists everyone should stretch every morning. When he’s not training or writing about health and fitness, he can be found reading doorstop-thick fantasy books with lots of fictional maps in them.

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