Hi there.

Recently purchased Fenix 5 and I am loving it! I also have an apple watch 3 with LTE that I don't really wear any more. Before I got the Garmin, I would wear the AW for my gym workouts, which were mainly high intensity, indoor run, or stair stepper. I work with a trainer and we do 30 minute high intensity workouts, so heart rate monitoring is important. I also love running, but for a while now I've only been running indoor on the treadmill. Recently I asked my trainer for us to focus on making me a better runner, so now our workouts will focus on that.

I don’t swim, bike, and don’t hike. Not that I don’t want to do those things, it’s just that I don’t. Those are activities I may do in the the future, but for now most of my activities consist of working out in the gym.

I do want to track steps, and I am not fond of apple watch only tracking movement, not steps.

I do have AirPods, and these allow me to listen to apple music on the watch while working out. I can still do this though without the apple watch, as I just leave my phone in the gym cubby and can still hear music via iPhone and AirPods.

I like the look of the Fenix 5 much better than the apple watch. The AW I would only wear for working out, and had no desire to wear it as an all day timepiece. I have been wearing the Fenix non stop, including sleep, since I got it (about 5 days ago). I also purchased the Garmin metal bracelet for dressing it up.

But I just don’t know if I need all of what the Garmin offers. I like the looks a lot, and I love the battery life. I also bought the Garmin HRM to more accurately track heart rate. I have a polar bluetooth strap for my AW as well.

But is the Garmin necessary for mainly indoor workouts? Does the extra data from the HRM chest strap add any value even though I mostly run indoors?

I know I am all over the place here, and maybe I am looking for someone to tell me it’s okay that I spent 700 (with metal bracelet) on the Garmin.

Back to my trainer and I focusing on making me a better runner: will the extra data the Garmin HRM assist me in making me a better runner? In the future, when I am ideally making strides (pun intended) on my running game, do you think I will be glad to have all of this extra running data?

Also, when warmer weather arrives I will be running more outdoors, if that makes any difference.

I do like the simplicity of the AW when working out though: just show up to gym and select my workout. When doing my 30 minutes with trainer I would simply select “high intensity workout”. After our session, when moving on the cardio, I would then select “indoor run” or “stair stepper”. With the Garmin, however, there is no “high intensity” or “stair stepper”. I have to select “cardio” workouts for those. Which I guess is no different than Apple’s selection since apple seems to be only measuring heart rate during those sessions.

So again, I know I am all over the place. I am still in the return window for the Garmin. Just need some guidance on what to do hear based on my needs. Thanks in advance!