Best Garmin for Swimming and Running
Compare the best Garmin watches that track both swimming and running — pool laps, open-water GPS, multisport mode, and Training Readiness in one device.
If you split your week between the pool and the road, you do not need two watches — you need one that handles both sports without faking the metrics. These five Garmin models track pool laps, open-water GPS, running pace, and Training Readiness in a single device.
The trap most buyers fall into: grabbing a watch that excels at running and assumes swimming is just "waterproof and counts something." The Forerunner 165, for example, tracks pool laps accurately but has no open-water mode. The Fenix 8 covers everything but weighs more than some smaller wrists can handle. The right pick depends on where you actually swim, how hard you actually run, and what battery life you need to survive a long training weekend.
What a dual-sport watch needs to do
The 5 best Garmin watches for swimming and running
Which pick actually wins?
For most swim-run athletes, the Forerunner 265 is the cheapest watch that does both sports competently: pool laps, open-water GPS, training readiness, and structured workouts from AquaPlan — for $449. The display is bright, the metrics are honest, and it does not pretend to do things it cannot.
Step up to the Forerunner 965 if open water is a regular part of your training and you want the multi-band GPS to stop drifting in choppy water. The titanium bezel and topographic maps are the visible upgrades; the satellite fix is the actual one.
The Fenix 8 is the right call only if your swimming and running overlap with hiking, climbing, or full-day outdoor sessions where battery life and ruggedness matter more than weight. Otherwise, you are paying a premium for a watch that does the same swim and run metrics as a 965 at 50+ grams on your wrist.
The Forerunner 165 at $349 is the honest budget pick — pool swimming accurate, running metrics solid, but no open-water GPS. If you never leave the lane lines and you do not need barometric elevation for your runs, it does the job and saves real money.
The newest Forerunner 970 is the flagship buy if you want the latest sensor stack, ECG, and Running Power From Wrist in a single watch. It shares the multisport bones of the 965 with a newer heart-rate sensor and additional metrics that quantify endurance rather than just pace.
How to use a dual-sport Garmin with AquaPlan
The watch tracks; AquaPlan plans. Build a pool session in the workout generator, set your send-offs by pace or CSS zone, then create a .FIT file for USB transfer or use connected-account upload when available. Supported swim distance and rest steps can load on a compatible watch; AquaPlan does not currently encode pace, CSS-zone, or heart-rate targets in the FIT file.
Read more about how the pieces fit together in our Garmin swim integration guide and our broader Garmin swimming comparison if you want all available models, not just the dual-sport picks.
Build swim and run sessions that load to your Garmin
AquaPlan's swim workout builder creates structured .FIT files with ordered steps and supported rests. Exact on-watch behavior varies by model and software.
Pick by where you swim, not by the highest price tag. A Forerunner 165 in the pool beats a Fenix 8 you never take outside, and a 265 with a clear training plan outperforms a 965 you forget to charge.
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Written and maintained by AquaPlan Team, Swim Training & Product.
The AquaPlan team builds swim-training software for structured pool workouts, Garmin-compatible FIT export, printable workout PDFs, and progress tracking.
Focus areas: Structured swim workout design, Garmin-compatible FIT file export, Pool training plans and workout-library systems, Swim training tools for web, iOS, and Android.
Editorial standard: AquaPlan is built by lifelong swimmers — 20+ years in the water, competitive racing, and countless hours on deck. Our training guides come from that experience, not a content mill.