Last update on 2024-04-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Until a few years ago, you had to carry your phone around when working out to track your performance, and if you wanted to track your heart rate, you’d have to wear a band around your chest.
Nowadays, not only can you do all this with a small smartwatch, some reliable brands like Garmin offer capable smartwatches dedicated to unique sports like rowing.
Read on as we explore the best Garmin watches for indoor rowing enthusiasts.
Can Garmin Track Indoor Rowing?
Currently, various brands produce smartwatches unique to rowing, both outdoors and indoors on a machine. Garmin is the top-rated brand in this industry, and rowers often recommend watches from Garmin.
Rowing focuses on cardiac training and endurance, and tracking data is necessary for enhancing overall training performance.
Indoor Rowing, also known as erging, requires a watch to track your stroke rate, stroke count, heart rate, and time.
Plus, if you want your watch to connect to your rowing machine and use the dedicated apps, it should be compatible with the machine’s brand.
Although GPS and waterproof features are nice to have, you don’t need them for indoor rowing.
A capable smartwatch for rowing should prevent you from exhausting yourself by recognizing early signs of cardio overload.
By overdoing it, you may lose your muscle gains, lose weight unexpectedly, experience soreness, pain, or injuries, and be at a higher risk of heart attacks.
3 Best Garmin Watches for Indoor Rowing
Garmin Fenix 6 Pro
- Fit for performance with rugged, sophisticated design that features an always-on 1.3” (18% larger than previous fēnix models) sunlight-readable display with...
- Enhanced estimated wrist heart rate and Pulse Ox to support advanced sleep monitoring and altitude acclimation at high elevations (this is not a medical device...
- Advanced training features include PacePro for grade-adjusted pace guidance throughout your activity plus environmentally adjusted VO2 max and training status...
Last update on 2024-04-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The Garmin Fenix 6 Pro is a hybrid multisport smartwatch that can support athletes who play any land or water sport, including rowing.
It supports Garmin’s rowing app, which monitors your stroke length, stroke frequency, recovery time, and more.
The watch can measure your heart rate with a highly accurate heartbeat tracker. It also features a VO2 max reading ability that can tell you how well you’re consuming oxygen and records the oxygen saturation of the blood.
Calories, time, cadence, and other fitness metrics are also included. For instance, the Fenix 6 Pro supports Garmin Coach, which can train you for three marathon types.
Moving on to the physical features, the smartwatch has an excellent build quality with a stainless-steel body and tough crystal glass. The sunlight-readable display has a 260 x 260 resolution and backlighting for night readings.
The watch comes with customizable silicone straps that you can attach and detach easily.
There’s no touch glass to avoid accidental touches, but the watch is easy to operate with five soft buttons.
The battery performance is highly improved, lasting up to 14 days in smartwatch mode and 48 days in battery saver mode.
If you ever want to bring your indoor practice to the water, Fenix 6 Pro can handle that, too. It’s waterproof for up to 100 meters, making it suitable for diving, swimming, and high-speed water sports.
It can connect you to multiple global navigation satellite systems, including GPS, GLONASS, and GALILEO. Combine this with an altimeter, a gyroscope, and a 3-axis compass, and you’ll have the best navigation device on your wrist.
Pros
- Suitable for indoor and outdoor rowing.
- Supports Garmin rowing app and Garmin Coach.
- Lightweight and excellent build quality.
- High-resolution display.
- Accurate heartbeat tracker and VO2 max reader.
- Compatible with iOS and Android.
- Supports GPS, GLONASS, and GALILEO navigation systems.
- Altimeter, gyroscope, and 3-axis compass included.
- Waterproof up to 100 meters.
- TOPO maps and ski routes included.
- Great battery life.
- 32GB storage.
Cons
- Understandably expensive.
- None-touch display.
What Do the Reviews Say?
Not only is Fenix Pro 6 Amazon’s choice, but it also has 4.7/5 stars out of 650 ratings. Aside from the fact that many people believe there’s a complex learning curve to this watch, almost all reviews are happy with their purchase and even excited to recommend the smartwatch to others on the fence.
Garmin Fenix 5X Sapphire
- Ultimate multisport GPS watch with full color Topo U.S. mapping, routable cycling maps and other outdoor navigation features
- Fit for adventure with rugged design that features stainless steel bezel, buttons and rear case: Physical size 5.1 x 5.1 x 1.8 centimeter; Weight silicone band:...
- Built in navigation sensors include GPS and Glonass capability to track in more challenging environments than GPS alone as well as 3 axis compass, gyroscope and...
Last update on 2024-04-14 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
If the Fenix 6 Pro is out of your price range, the Fenix 5X Sapphire is your next best option. It carries fewer bells and whistles than the 6 Pro, but still, one of the best rowing smartwatches you can find.
The Fenix 5X Sapphire comes with a preinstalled rowing app that provides all the rowing data tracking features you’ll need for both indoors and outdoors rowing, including number of strokes per minute, workout intensity, and calories burnt.
This smartwatch is equipped with the Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate technology that provides accurate heart rate, fatigue, and stress readings. It can record and evaluate your exercise history to help you analyze long-term training habits.
The watch’s durable and rugged construction includes a PVD coated stainless steel bezel with silicone straps and a sapphire crystal lens that doesn’t scratch. The Garmin Chroma display is sunlight-readable with LED backlighting. It has a 240 x 240 resolution with full, bold colors.
You can wear this watch when rowing outdoors, as well. It’s waterproof for up to 100 meters, and it features GPS, GLONASS, and GALILEO connectivity, omnidirectional stainless-steel EXO antenna, barometer, altimeter, 3-axis antenna, and Topo maps.
Pros
- Suitable for indoor and outdoor rowing.
- Supports Garmin rowing app.
- Great build quality.
- High-resolution display.
- Accurate heartbeat tracker.
- Compatible with iOS and Android.
- Supports GPS and GLONASS navigating systems.
- Waterproof up to 100 meters.
- TOPO maps included.
- Good battery life.
Cons
- Expensive.
- No touchscreen.
- A bit heavy.
What Do the Reviews Say?
Almost 800 customers have rated the Fenix 5X Sapphire 4.6/5 stars on average on Amazon. Almost all customers were happy with the smartwatch’s connectivity, battery life, tracking abilities, comfort, app store, and other features. The phrase “I love this watch!” repeats itself when you go through the reviews.
Garmin Vivoactive 3
- Garmin Pay contactless payment solution lets you pay for purchases with your watch (available for supported cards from participating banks)
- Personalize your watch with thousands of free watch faces, apps and widgets from our Connect IQ store
- More than 15 preloaded GPS and indoor sports apps, including yoga, running, swimming and more
Last update on 2024-04-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Still not satisfied with the price? Garmin Vivoactive 3 will suit your wallet better then!
This gadget has the standard features you’d expect from a smartwatch, like running modes, multisport modes, and phone connectivity. More importantly, the Vivoactive 3 carries the preconfigured rowing app that monitors your rowing metrics.
The Vivoactive 3 has the Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate technology that can measure your heart rate. The watch can also measure calories, maximum oxygen uptake, and workout intensity.
It comes with a stainless-steel bezel, an anti-scratch Corning Gorilla Glass 3 cover, and a silicone strap. The 240 x 240-pixel touchscreen display is made of trans-reflective LCD and also lights up at night. The battery lasts up to 7 days in smartwatch mode.
The Vivoactive 3 smartwatch has a 50-meter waterproof feature, GPS, accelerometer, and compass that makes it suitable for outdoor rowing, too.
Pros
- Suitable for indoor and outdoor rowing.
- Supports Garmin rowing app.
- Great build quality.
- High-resolution touchscreen display.
- Compatible with iOS and Android.
- Supports GPS navigating systems.
- Accelerometer and compass included.
- Waterproof up to 50 meters.
- Affordable.
Cons
- Doesn’t carry the most accurate heart rate monitor.
- Relatively low battery life.
What Do the Reviews Say?
Over 9,000 happy customers gave the Garmin Vivoactive 3 an average rating of 4.5/5 stars on Amazon. Many compared the watch to other fitness GPS smartwatches and called it relatively accurate and easy to work with. It works well for all sports, and users have confirmed its durability.
Final Thoughts and Best Pick
The best smartwatch for both indoors and outdoors rowing is obviously the Fenix 6 Pro. It boasts lots of great features that you can’t find in the others.
Your budget option would be the Garmin Vivoactive 3 with fewer abilities. However, this watch still gets the job done perfectly fine. And the Fenix 5X Sapphire hits the perfect middle ground. The more you invest, the better quality you’ll get!
Check out the most popular Garmin watches for indoor cycling if you’re interested.
