If you use a garmin *and* listen to music, I'd love your advice....

[prncssjas]

Good afternoon Run Disney friends,

I currently use the Garmin Forerunner 55, which I love. But I also carry my iphone and use my shockz for every single run. I know that Garmin sells watches that play/download music, which would eliminate the need for me to carry the phone (I realize that the phone is good for safety reasons but bear with me...). If you use a Garmin for running and you listen to music, what watch do you have? Do you like it? Is it easy to get the playlists downloaded (through Apple music or wherever)? Would love any/all recommendations. DH uses the fenix 7 and he likes it ... but the watch looks very big to me. I am not all about the bells and whistles--just some basic data and my music is good enough.

 

[camaker]

Good afternoon Run Disney friends,

I currently use the Garmin Forerunner 55, which I love. But I also carry my iphone and use my shockz for every single run. I know that Garmin sells watches that play/download music, which would eliminate the need for me to carry the phone (I realize that the phone is good for safety reasons but bear with me...). If you use a Garmin for running and you listen to music, what watch do you have? Do you like it? Is it easy to get the playlists downloaded (through Apple music or wherever)? Would love any/all recommendations. DH uses the fenix 7 and he likes it ... but the watch looks very big to me. I am not all about the bells and whistles--just some basic data and my music is good enough.

I know this isn't a direct answer to your question, but maybe an alternate approach to consider. I use my Garmin (Fenix 7) to track my runs and had the need to carry a phone for safety purposes made very clear to me when I was bitten by a dog on a training run and had to walk home bleeding because I couldn't call my wife to pick me up to take me to the ER. My solution has been to get an Apple Watch with cellular and wear it on my off wrist. The Apple Watch allows me texting and cellular service for safety while also being a very convenient platform for my audiobooks and music. I love not having to carry a heavy, potentially bouncy phone with me.

 

[prncssjas]

I was bitten by a dog on a training run and had to walk home bleeding because I couldn't call my wife to pick me up to take me to the ER.

Oh my goodness, that's horrible and I am so sorry. I very much appreciate this response--as I said, I recognize that having cellular service is important. I have had a few falls where I had to walk home bleeding, ugh.

Never tried the apple watch (mostly due to battery life) and have always been a garmin user but will keep this in mind. Thank you so much.

 

[Winston Wolf]

Have you tried a flip belt to carry the phone?

 

[prncssjas]

Have you tried a flip belt to carry the phone?

Yes, I have -- especially for runs longer than 10 miles (for carrying fuel, as well as the phone). Some runs, I just don't want to carry anything, which is why I asked the question about the watch. Trying to downsize

 

[Kerry1957]

I have a Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music. I used to stream music from the watch into my shockz and it worked well. I did not carry my iphone; I liked it not bouncing around in my pocket, but I worried one of my semi-annual falls on the trails would be bad enough that I would need to make a call.

I changed things when I bought a new pair of hearing aids (HAs) with bluetooth streaming capability. Garmin does not stream to HAs. Wearing both shockz and HAs also seemed to be overkill and I got some odd feedback between the two devices. So now I carry my iphone and stream music from it directly into my HAs.

I gave the shockz to my DD and no longer use the music streaming capability of my Garmin. With all that said, if you are not going to carry a phone, then the music streaming capabilities of the Garmin works very well with shockz. Downloading music may be a bit more cumbersome that an iphone, but it's still pretty easy.

 

[Grabnar]

Have you tried a flip belt to carry the phone?

The new flip belt is great, it's made out of nylon mesh so it's more breathable and lighter. I put my phone in a ziploc and then use that for everything.

 

[Bree]

I have music capability on my watch and don’t use it. It’s a battery drain and I prefer to use stations on music apps instead of making playlists. You can only download playlists from Spotify, Deezer or Amazon Music. It used to be only the paid options for those services. Still could be, but I have no idea since I don’t use it.

I buy clothes with pockets to carry my phone, use a RooSport pouch if I’m not carrying liquids or my UltrASpire hydration belt if I am carrying liquids. As a woman I do not feel comfortable running without my phone. I can’t use the emergency alert on my Garmin without it. There’s also way too many jerk dog owners lately that think it’s perfectly okay to let their dogs roam the streets.

Some of the Garmins come in different sizes. I have a Fenix 6s. All the “s” means is that it is the smallest in that line with a 42mm diameter. Most running stores have watches you can try on for size.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I have a vivoactive 4s, and that has downloadable music capabilities. It looks more watch-y and less “I’m a gps watch with 8,000 functions.” DS2 has a forerunner 245 music. I still run with my phone, and don’t use the music option (except to skip or pause from my watch so I’m not digging my phone out for those things.)

Battery life is waaaay less when you use your watch for music, as already stated. I do believe you need Spotify premium (for the Spotify option) to download to your watch.

 

[nancipants]

For what it’s worth, I always wear bike shorts while running and never have a problem with my phone bouncing around or slipping out of my pocket. Most of the time I don’t even know it’s there - same with keys and the case for my AirPods. Like someone said above, I could never run without my phone even if I had music on my watch.

 

[GollyGadget]

I have a Vivoactive 4s that I bought mostly for the music capabilities. It's important to note which streaming services it supports because I did switch my subscription from apple to Spotify due to these limitations. Otherwise, the music functionality works fine. It's easy to sync playlists or skip a song right from the watch. As noted, the battery drains waaaaay faster when streaming music.

I also highly advocate for bringing a phone for safety reasons. Until a couple of years ago, I rarely brought mine. I figured people had been running for decades without them and I didn't want my phone to make me a theft target.

After an exercise induced anaphylaxis event a couple of years ago, I now bring my phone in case of emergencies. I hated running with it before but I agreed with my doctor that I wouldn't run without it. Now I don't even notice it shoved in my shorts or bra pocket. And since I already have my phone,I just use it for music, podcasts, or audiobooks.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I did have a Garmin 945 with music, and replaced it with a thinner Forerunner 255 music version when the 945 was damaged.
Both were purchased with the idea of leaving the phone at home and streaming music from the watch. <sigh>
But.....
1. I've taken to listening to podcasts during training runs, and stream from my phone to my Aftershokz
2. Like a lot of others, I bring the phone for safety. That finally paid off when my knee gave out 1.5 miles from the house and I was able to call the wife
3. Plus I want the phone during races for photos (like at Disney) or for post-race communications

All of which means that the music feature on my watch is largely unused. Just dang.
As for uploading music, it is easy. I use the usb cord and download tunes from my PC to the watch.

YMMV

 

[lukemorenus]

I recently switched to the Forerunner 965 and I really like the music experience. It's simple to download/synch my Spotify playlists, podcasts, favorites, etc.

 

[azrivest]

I also have a Vivoactive 4s that I bought specifically to listen to music while running. I would buy music off the internet and upload the MP3s to my watch using Garmin Connect. I dont want to pay for a Spotify subscription.

I've had it for almost 4 years now, and I've quit using the music feature. I now listen almost exclusively to podcasts on my phone, which were harder to upload to my watch. And as others have said, I appreciate having my phone for emergencies.

 

[GuinnessRunner]

I have the 955 that I upgraded to last January for the music capability. I've found that I don't really use it all that often for a couple of reasons:

1) A couple of times I have gone to use it and it says it needs to connect to WiFi and re-download my playlist from Amazon music. Would not be a huge issue if I remembered to check this before going out for a run, but alas it's always when I'm out ready to go.
2) I like to listen to podcasts when running too and haven't found an easy way to do that on just the Garmin (Amazon music will not stream podcasts on the Garmin for reasons I do not understand). I tried one service that works on the Garmin but it didn't access most of the podcasts I liked. There's probably a solution for this issue, but I'm too lazy to figure it out, especially because of #3 below.
3) Like most others have said, I also realized I like to have my phone for safety reasons anyway.

So in the end I would say I decided it's a nice feature to have and, when I remember to check in advance, I do like it. However, when I upgrade in the future, a watch without the capability is not a deal breaker for me at this stage.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I have the 955 and occasionally use the music feature but usually just use the phone. I don't love the battery drain and at least for me I have trouble getting my Aftershockz to always connect to the watch right away (seems to want to default to phone and not the watch). I do like it if doing a Training Peaks workout with a lot of intervals since having audio queues through the headphones is nice, but that’s not a must have.

The whole process of getting music on the watch is OK, did take a bit to get everything all synced up.

Overall it’s not a critical feature for me.

 

[ChipNDale86]

I use the Forerunner 945 and download playlist from Spotify. Very easy to do. Love the 945. I use my AfterShokz and never take my phone. Male privilege in the fact that I never feel unsafe during a run so don't worry about not having a phone. The 945 also has a version with LTE so that's an option if you want to stay somewhat connected for emergency, without your phone. Unfortunately, neither the 955 or 965 have an LTE version (at least not currently).

 

[camaker]

I use the Forerunner 945 and download playlist from Spotify. Very easy to do. Love the 945. I use my AfterShokz and never take my phone. Male privilege in the fact that I never feel unsafe during a run so don't worry about not having a phone. The 945 also has a version with LTE so that's an option if you want to stay somewhat connected for emergency, without your phone. Unfortunately, neither the 955 or 965 have an LTE version (at least not currently).

Do what feels right for you, but I would point out that male privilege didn't insulate me from a dog bite and it won't protect against any number of other untoward things that may happen on a run (cars, trips/falls, muscular injuries, etc) after which the ability to contact someone may be important.

 

[ChipNDale86]

Do what feels right for you, but I would point out that male privilege didn't insulate me from a dog bite and it won't protect against any number of other untoward things that may happen on a run (cars, trips/falls, muscular injuries, etc) after which the ability to contact someone may be important.

Wasn't trying to imply that males can't also run into unsafe conditions. Obviously anyone can be bite or hit by a car, etc. Simply stating that my safety is *luckily* something I don't tend to think about on a regular basis cause I've never been cat-called or followed as I know most of my female runner friends have.

Everyone should always do what they feel puts them in the best scenario to be safe!