Garmin makes some of the best fitness trackers and smartwatches for runners and athletes, but it’s not typically a brand I recommend to people outside that crowd. Its watches have, historically, been expensive, complicated or dated compared to other options, in my experience.

The Garmin Forerunner 165 is none of these things — it’s a robust smartwatch with many of the brand’s best features for $250. I tried it for over a month (after the brand sent me a sample to try out), and I am now seriously considering buying it as my new fitness tracker of choice. As a tech reporter who tries new wearables monthly, that’s saying a lot.

What we like

Exceedingly comfortable

Robust tracking/training tools

Long battery life

The Garmin Forerunner 165 ($249.99) is a fitness watch that tracks a plethora of metrics, including heart rate, daily steps, calories burned, floors climbed, detailed running data, sleep, stress, blood oxygen and menstrual cycle. Like most smartwatches, it syncs with your phone to show text, call and email notifications. It also has many training tools built into the watch like Garmin Coach, Training Plans, and Daily Suggested Workouts (more on these below).