Ive got some vouchers and looking to use them to partly fund a Garmin watch.
I’ve got the 830 for the bike, use it on every ride.
What spec Garmin watch would actually pair up usefully with the 830?
Or are all their watches pretty much standalone. This is what I’ve concluded so far from the info on the dozens of models.

I’d say they are completely stand alone. Can’t think of any benefit except for redundancy for using both. They are great as stand alone items though. You can sync all your data from multiple devices so they do work together though.

The watches are more sport based, and will work on it’s own but they all feed the data into Garmin connect. You’ll get more health stats from the watch like sleep tracking, body battery etc.

Pick one that suits your budget/activity type/battery life etc.

I just use a Vivoactive HR watch to broadcast heart-rate to the Garmin 530. If I forget the 530 I can still record rides on the watch as it has a GPS, but it has less overall functionality than the 530.

I think some Garmin watches allow “extended display” functionality which allows “watch only” fields to display on Garmin head units.

Not sure which watches or units this applies to, so do your own research! Haha

Hardly use my 520plus since I got my vivoactive 3. Not having to bother with HR strap is the main reason. Also not having to worry about bouncing the 520 off the bars.
Now that I have found out that the watch can broadcast heart rate to the 520 I might use it like that as I occasionally want to look at something like time or distance while I’m riding and that is easier with the head unit. Especially on longer Xc type rides and where I don’t want to kill the watch battery. Thanks to this thread for that bit of info. 👏

Wait at least a week if possible.
Lots of strong rumours of a new fenix 7 next week and instinct 2.
Even if they’re not of interest, the new release should force prices down on previous models.

Instinct won’t pair up with an 530 for sure.

There were quite a few B-stock and post Xmas returns with heavy discounts at the high street shops last week. I didn’t have the knowledge or the cash at the time to know if what I could get was a good deal or good functions.
I think I need the biggest size dial, need to be able to see without the old reading glasses on a ride.

Same position but without the vouchers, I’ll carry on with my 830 on the bike stuff and the watch will pick up everything else (walking, sleeping etc.)

I’m pretty sure it will be a Fenix 6 but I’m waiting on the Fenix 7 announcement in case there’s something in there that I really can’t resist…

I don’t think anything will pair to give you more than the 830 does, unless you do triathlons and want to track on a single device.

I think any Garmin watch will do broadcast HR. If you like the level of training metrics you get out of the 830, you’ll need a Fenix 6 or the Forerunner equivalent, I think.

I think there are a couple of choices

First up, get whatever watch you fancy and use the broadcast heart rate function to add HR data to your 830 stats

Alternative is get a fenix pro that offers extended display on the edge and use the fenix as your primary device.

Alternative is get a fenix pro that offers extended display on the edge and use the fenix as your primary device.

Not worth the hassle unless you’re doing a multi-sport activity, imo.

I would say the recent Fenix and maybe the 945 would do everything the bike computer would except on a smaller screen on your wrist. They even do navigation now which used to be only saved for the 830 and 1030 ranges.

Maybe think more about, what are the core things I need this device to do, then have a read of a DC Rainmaker review of the device. I recently converted from edge devices for MTB to a 945 and love it, out of harms off my bars, does everything my 530 does and is an okay watch too, edge 530 is now kept on the road bike exclusively.

Looks like the Instinct would be plenty good enough. Looks like it’ll take a bit more abuse than the forerunner. I don’t want to replace the 830, I still like having the maps and data in view on the bars. So really I don’t need a watch at all.
I just caught up on that PSA garmin price thread, that would have been interesting!

I’ve used the Fenix 6 Pro as a bike computer substitute many times when on hire bikes etc. No problems at all and there’s almost nothing the 830 or 530 does that the Fenix can’t do, with the exception of using Di2 buttons to scroll between pages.

If you’ve already got a modern Garmin bike computer and don’t do other sports, you don’t need the watch.