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Tom’s Guide
Tom’s Guide
Technology
Jane McGuire

I test Garmin watches for a living, and this $2 watch face is a game-changer

The goals watch face on Garmin Forerunner 570.

There’s a lot to consider when moving from Apple Watch to Garmin — sure, you’ll get a better battery life and more health tracking features, but one thing you might miss, as well as answering calls and texts from your wrist, is closing your rings. The good news is, you can still close your rings using this Garmin watch face.

I review the best Garmin watches for a living, and while this is the watch face I always download, the Goals screen is super popular, and mimics Apple’s rings. The best part is, unlike Apple, you can completely customize what your rings measure.

Like all custom Garmin watch faces, you can download the watch face, named Goals, from the Connect IQ app. You can download a free trial of the watch face first, and then it will cost $1.99/£1.99. Once you’ve downloaded the face, you’ll be able to move it from watch to watch, if you ever choose to upgrade your Garmin.

Here's why I recommend it.

There’s something extremely motivating about rings

I’ve been reviewing the best fitness trackers for the past decade, and I’m the first to admit, the Apple Watch rings are extremely motivating. Far more motivating than my watch randomly buzzing throughout the day, telling me to move. I’ve been known to go for a walk at 10 pm just to close my move ring, and the same applies with the Garmin goals, which I love seeing my move throughout the day.

It’s fully customizable

(Image credit: Future)

One big step up from the move, exercise, and stand rings you’ll find on the Apple Watch is the ability to customize your goals to ones that are important to you. The goals watch face lets you pick from a huge list of stats, including all of the obvious options like steps, movement, and calories, but also more unique goals, such as floors climbed, monthly walking minutes, and time to recover in hours.

It allows you to see active calories

As a marathon runner, it’s always helpful to see my active calories — a stat you can’t see on most of Garmin’s built-in watch faces. This helps me ensure I’m eating enough when my training plan involves high mileage runs. If you’re looking to lose weight, it’s also a helpful metric to keep an eye on, as you want to ensure you’re in a calorie defict, burning more calories than you consume.

It doesn’t affect battery life

I’ve installed the Goals watch face on my Garmin Forerunner 570, Garmin Forerunner 970, and Garmin Epix Pro, and have not experienced any difference in battery life while using it. It looks fantastic on the bright, AMOLED screen, and I appreciate the option to customize the colors of the bars to suit my style.

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