The Best Triathlon Watch in 2022

Garmin Forerunner 35 Watch

Garmin makes some of the best athletic watches around. However, their commitment to quality often comes with a price tag that is worth hundreds of dollars. The Garmin Forerunner 35 triathlon watch trims down the price while still offering the fundamentals that make Garmin watches so high-quality. It’s an all day activity tracker that provides 24/7 heart rate monitoring, activity tracking milestones, and smart notifications.

In terms of features, this triathlon watch is one of the most baseline units you could expect. It covers the fundamentals without managing to really stand out in quality. But that’s overlooking the primary reason for buying a Garmin watch in the first place: the unparalleled quality of their GPS tracking technology. The features available may be basic, but the Forerunner 35 watch gives you access to some of the best and most accurate pace trackers to monitor your training peaks whether you’re running, swimming or riding a bike.

Garmin Fenix 5 Plus

The Fenix 5 Plus is Garmin’s sports car equivalent to the economical Forerunner 35 watch. The $700 asking price for this triathlon GPS watch is no small chunk of change. However, if you want the best triathlon watch available today, you are sure to find this watch at the top of the list.

It is a multisport watch that is rugged enough to survive just about any disaster. Every variant of this top runner watch is constructed from either diamond-like carbon or stainless steel. The important components embedded inside the watch are made from titanium.

That’s not all. The real stars of the show are the range of tri features. This watch comes with a multi-satellite interface that provides you with accurate mapping even when a running GPS alone isn’t up to the task. And to make things better, this triathlon watch includes a gyroscope, compass, and barometric altimeter. If you’re looking to do your training out in the wild, the Fenix 5x watch can serve essentially as a singular survival tool kit.

Timex Ironman 10 Watch

The Timex Iron Man watch is one of the oldest and most respected triathlon watches around. And Timex seems to be operating under the principle that if it’s not broken there’s no need to fix it with their Essential model. While it doesn’t offer features like swimming, cycling, and sports modes, or heart rate monitors, it does cover all the fundamentals for an easy $30 buy in.

This isn’t a GPS watch. Instead, it’s an effective, basic sports stopwatch that also includes an alarm and countdown timer. It can even withstand water, up to a hundred meters. The entire face is luminous to make reading it in the dark easy. Its simple design also makes it incredibly easy to operate. It won’t meet the needs of serious tech geeks, but it gets the fundamentals right with a high level of accuracy and manages to do so at a cheap price point.

Garmin Forerunner 935

The Forerunner 935 is one of the Garmin triathlon watches that was built off the fundamentals of the entry level Forerunner 35 watch. Bringing in a whole host of GPS modes for cycling and running, it still manages to retail for $200 less than the Fenix 5 Plus. The Garmin 935 may not be as appealingly built for rough and tumble outdoor use as the Fenix 5, but it comes with its own distinct advantages. One of them is the fact that it’s significantly more lightweight. The less bulky frame lets it fit more comfortably on your wrist and serve as an all purpose health wearable even when you’re out of training.

However, when you are looking to improve your form, you’ll find some top notch metric tracking tied to the multisport GPS. Detailed dynamics are catered towards cycling, swimming, and running. It also includes a compass, altimeter, and barometer just like the Fenix. Its biggest strength is the training evaluation that lets you know whether you’re over or under performing.

Garmin Vívoactive 3

The next in our extensive selection of the best Garmin triathlon watch review is the Garmin vivoactive. A top pick sports watch that comfortably occupies the mid-range market for Garmin, this device provides some tremendous value for under $200. As with all Garmin watches, the incredibly high level of accuracy that comes from the GPS signal is a pretty appealing prospect. Garmin is undoubtedly the industry leader in this regard. However, the Vivoactive HR monitoring is also quite good with its highly accurate built in sensors.

The Chroma display on the Garmin vivoactive is bright and easy to read. And the touchscreen interface is also simple to navigate. The vivoactive 3 makes the most of its integration with the Garmin Connect app, allowing you to make incredibly detailed training session plans and upload them to your watch for a more customized training experience. It also comes with over 10 sports apps out of the box. This is a very smart feature that more water-proof GPS watches could benefit from.

Coros Pace GPS Multisport Watch

It’s understandable if you don’t recognize the Coros name, but their Apex GPS triathlon watch is worth paying attention to, which is why we have included it in this review of the best multi-sport watches. The Coros Pace is a dedicated wearable that exclusively focuses on training modes. While the general health features here can’t always keep up with the competition, the training features are top notch. If you want to use your watch exclusively as a triathlon training aid, you won’t find significantly better options at such a reasonable price.

With its lightweight frame, large and bright display, and easy to navigate interface, the Coros Pace was primarily built for the needs of triathlon athletes. Dedicated sports profiles are available for running, swimming, and cycling with separate profiles for indoors and outdoors. Rather than packing in dozens of different profiles, they’ve clearly focused on getting the three fundamentals of the triathlon right, thereby offering you the best feature set that’s more deep than it is wide.

Timex Ironman Classic 30 Watch

As with the 10 model, the incredibly low price tag and stripped down sensibilities of the Iron Man Classic 30 are its biggest selling point. You’re basically getting the same thing here: basic lap tracking, stopwatch features, and reliable timekeeping. But this Timex Ironman is sleek too. It shares the same light up display you’d find in the 10 Elite model and an almost identical price point.

The biggest difference here is the style. Timex Ironman Classic 30 triathlon watch is a little chunkier and looks a bit more like a traditional digital watch. However, that works to its advantage when trying to navigate the five buttons that control the interface. The screen may be small, but it can record a decent amount of information, and operating it will quickly become second nature. It also offers tracking for 30 laps as opposed to the 10 offered by its counterpart.

Polar M430 GPS Running Watch

Polar offers some great watches ranging from the Polar Vantage to the Polar v800. The Polar M430 listed here is one of the coolest triathlon watches around specifically because it distinctly prioritizes functionality over aesthetics. That’s not to say it’s a bad looking watch. The slim and streamlined design is clearly built in a way that makes comfort in high energy situations the number one concern. It’s a clever choice that doesn’t leave a lot of room for navigating the various features. Polar, however, smartly sidesteps the problem by transferring most of the navigation features to the compatible phone and desktop apps.

And while that means that you’ll need to be tethered to your phone for setup, it provides a lot of functions without having to overcrowd the face of your watch. Automatic lapping is built in along with exercise profiles for cycling, running, and many common activities. You have a lot of control in how you customize your training plans as well.

Amazfit Stratos Multisport Smartwatch

The Amazfit Stratos comes with a price tag of less than $200. It’s not the most feature rich triathlon watch in our buying guide, but it’s easily one of the best HR watches in terms of sheer value. Reliable GPS and a truly deep bench of fitness tracking metrics are accompanied by general quality of life features such as music streaming through your phone’s Bluetooth connection. It can even store music locally so you can un-tether it from your phone entirely. It’s a borderline premium feature set for a mid-range price.

This triathlon watch offers tracking for a ton of different exercises right out of the box. You also have a huge amount of leverage in customizing specific workout plans to your needs. That’s a big deal considering how grueling and personal a triathlete’s fitness plan can be. It can also sync up with a variety of different Bluetooth accessories to supercharge your metric tracking.

TomTom Runner GPS Watch

TomTom may not be as prominent a name as they once were, but they’ve found a new life by adapting their smart GPS technology for the needs of athletes. The TomTom Runner is one of their first entries in the market, and while they’re clearly still getting their bearings, it’s still a reliable standby that covers all the essentials. It’s a triathlon watch with simple graphical and navigational interfaces, which can actually be an asset when you’re in the middle of a strenuous run.

The TomTom Runner sports a sleek design that’s built to be aerodynamic and comfortable. And the super thin face blends seamlessly into the band itself. Triangulated satellite technology goes beyond simple GPS, and it’s capable of working as an indoor and outdoor tracker. There’s plenty of motivation as you can strive to beat your best with the embedded race and goal settings. The heart rate monitor keeps you safe by ensuring that you stay within safe boundaries.

Garmin Forerunner 735XT

Up next on our best triathlon watch Garmin forerunner review is the Garmin Forerunner 735XT. This watch is the Goldilocks of the company’s product line. It offers an expansive list of running, cycling, and swim tracking features while still maintaining a decent price tag. This triathlon watch even manages to pack in most of the features you’d expect to find in a more general smartwatch like smart notifications and music streaming.

Garmin’s best and biggest appeal may be the quality of their GPS mode and their generally high-end heart rate technology, but it is also noteworthy to mention how good their Bluetooth smart features function. Garmin Connect allows you to automatically upload all of your data, make the most of real time tracking, and perform in-depth analysis of your results over time. Garmin has also included more complicated health tracking features like lactate thresholds and VO2 max estimates.