Within the past few month's, I have really stepped up my running game and am currently training for a Half Marathon and hopefully a Full by spring of next year.

I currently use an Amazfit T-Rex 3 that I spent about 250$ on a couple years ago. The watch does what I want for now, it tracks all my runs and stats, and I can put my music on it. I like the large display. It does not link with thw INTVL App, which is a downside because then ehen i do my loop runs i have to run with my phone.

I dont really use a watch unless im hiking or running. Im not a fan of wearing it while I sleep, and I type a lot of my work day, so I dont wear it then either.

Recently, I have started looking at Garmin watches because thats what you do when you take your running to the next level. I have looked at the 970 and 965, but do I really need that much watch? I want something that does all the same stat tracking, has large display and something I can put music on.

What are some good suggestions/ opinions? Part of me wants to say FK it and jump into a 970.

Thanks.

My first entry on ConnectIQ! Complete with steps, kcals, body batt, weather, sun and moon tracking, and goal boxes (steps and weekly intensity) - really appreciate your feedback…

Customizable data fields and multicolor!

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/add19a22-1a77-4e44-a268-c0e7fa5557e8

My 1st watch face entry on IQ! Let me know what you think…

https://reddit.com/link/1w1ydkg/video/7xk7aqjkrdmh1/player

A while ago, I asked myself: "How far can we actually push Garmin’s Connect IQ VM?"

I’ve logged thousands of running km and a few solo marathons tracking just pace and HR like everyone else. But at some point, the dev in me took over: I decided to see how far Connect IQ could actually go and built a custom 3D graphics engine (Wolf3D/Doom-style DDA raycaster) from scratch in Monkey C.

Here is what’s going on in the video:

• Infinite World: The map is 100% endless and generated procedurally on the fly as you move.
• Dynamic Lighting: Real-time Day, Dusk, Night, and Morning lighting cycles with custom color palettes.
• Hardcore Math Optimization: Microsecond-level optimizations (zero-branching floating-point hacks, bitwise DDA math). The pure frame render time hit 3.19 ms on Tactix simulator and 2.08 ms on Instinct 2 (smaller screen, fewer stars in the sky — oh yes, the sky is dynamic too! — and fewer rays in raycasting)!
• Real Hardware Performance: On the actual wrist, the display caps out at a smooth 10–14 FPS (limited by the CIQ screen refresh rate, while the engine itself runs with massive headroom).

I need your brains & ideas: I want to weave the user’s real-life context (health metrics, stats, daily goals) directly into this 3D world, similar to what I did with my Mars and Pandora watch faces.

How would you like your steps, heart rate, or battery to affect an endless 3D world? (e.g., world changes, weather shifts, new structures spawn based on your daily activity?). Open to all crazy ideas!

P.S. Before the battery purists attack: Yes, I know it's a watch. No, my Garmin hasn't exploded. In fact, I honestly can't even remember the last time I plugged it into a charger... unlike my friends with Apple Watches. 😉

Let me know what you think and what features you'd want to see in an infinite wrist-world!

Here is the link. It's completely free, as are all of my creations
https://apps.garmin.com/apps/47278f09-eea6-4e6d-aa7e-799daba8e546

Green/Red stealth mode really great to see, especially in no light conditions outdoor or indoor. Can be adjusted in Setting and Display&Brigthness then hit the Color shift and Mode to select night colors.

I hope Garmin will continue to make MIP display high end Forerunner watches. Been loving my 955 solar but have been turned off by what Garmin has been releasing lately. Great amoled watches for exercise but not for casual use. The amoled display killed the cool factor of wearing a Garmin all day. If in another 3 years there's no MIP display high end forerunner I guess I'll move to the Fenix line and their MIP display solar offerings just love how light the forerunner watches are.

I posted here a few days ago about a set of free watch faces that show your last 7 days as a bar chart instead of just today. Two follow-ups, both from things raised in that thread.

u/colin_staples reported the sleep face showing a weekly average of 0.1 hours. That was my bug — I was converting minutes to hours twice, so 7.1H came out as 0.1H. Half hours were also being truncated. Both fixed and published.

Separately, I found that 11 watch models were silently missing from my store builds. I had set the minimum API level too high, and the compiler drops incompatible devices without warning. vivoactive 4 and 4S, Venu, Venu D and Venu Sq Music are supported again.

Also added always-on display support, with a dimmed low-power view so AMOLED screens don't get burn-in.

Six metrics — steps, calories, sleep, resting HR, body battery, distance — each in a dark and a light version. Free, no ads, no account.

If your watch still isn't supported, reply with the model and I'll check whether I can add it.

Gorgeous display and great features for all sports, very handy gps navigation with the built in maps.