Best Garmin Watch for Mountain Biking (2024)

By Naila Syifa
Updated March 2024

Garmin makes some of the best GPS watches for tracking your mountain biking adventures. It sets itself apart from other GPS watch manufacturers with its MTB-specific stats, including Grit and Flow, which respectively measure the difficulty of a mountain bike trail and how well you maintain speed during a ride.

In this article, we have compiled a list of the best Garmin watches for mountain biking. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, there's a Garmin watch that can help you monitor your performance, navigate trails, and stay connected on the go.

On our list

#1 Best for Beginners: Garmin Instinct 2

#2 Best for Professionals: Garmin Forerunner 965

#3 Best for Multi-Day Riding: Garmin Enduro 2

#1 Best for Beginners: Garmin Instinct 2

Garmin Instinct 2

If you're a beginner in mountain biking, perhaps your main concern is finding an affordable, durable, and easy-to-use GPS watch that can track your rides and help you navigate trails. Garmin Instinct 2 is the perfect choice that combines those elements.

At 299.99 USD, Garmin Instinct 2 offers multi-band GNSS positioning, which combines GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo satellite systems for more accurate tracking in challenging environments. This is especially useful for mountain bikers who may often ride in areas with weak GPS signals, such as dense forests.

TracBack & Reference Point in Garmin Instinct 2

You can also use a range of navigation features that help you to stay confident on the trails, including navigating to waypoints, bread crumb trail in real time, distance to destination, and more. TracBack also allows you to retrace your path back to the starting point, while Reference Point allows you to keep track of a known place, such as your car or campsite, relative to your position. Garmin's MTB-specific stats like Grit and Flow are also available on the Garmin Instinct 2 to help you analyze your rides.

The watch is durable with thermal and shock resistance, and has an impressive battery life of up to 30 hours in GPS mode, 28 days in smartwatch mode, and up to 65 days in battery saver smartwatch mode.

For safety and precautions, Instinct 2 is also equipped with incident detection, assistance, and livetrack features, so your loved ones can be notified and keep track of your location in case of emergencies.

Garmin Instinct 2

Best for Beginners

✓ TracBack, Reference Point
✓ 24/7 Health Monitoring
✓ Multi-band GNSS
✓ Up to 30 hours in GPS Mode

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#2 Best for Professionals: Garmin Forerunner 965

Garmin Forerunner 965

If you're a serious mountain biker looking for a top-of-the-line GPS watch with advanced features, the Garmin Forerunner 965 is an excellent choice. At 599.99 USD, the watch comes preloaded with road and trail maps, also called TopoActive Maps, which provide detailed terrain data as well as turn-by-turn navigation perfect for mountain biking.

On top of the MTB-specific Grit and Flow stats, as well as navigation features offered by Garmin Instinct 2, like TracBack and Reference Point, the Forerunner 965 also offers more advanced features like NextFork, which shows the distance to the next trail intersection, as well as the name of the upcoming trail.

With the Up Ahead feature, you can also get a quick glance at upcoming points of interest, like aid stations or scenic viewpoints, so you can plan your stops and breaks accordingly.

Garmin Forerunner 965

Another advantage that the Garmin Forerunner 965 offers is a large, high-resolution AMOLED touchscreen display that makes it easy to view your stats and maps at a glance, even in bright sunlight or low-light conditions. Its durability is also undoubtedly great, as it features a scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 3 DX lens paired with a strong but lightweight titanium bezel.

The battery life of the Forerunner 965 is also impressive, as the watch can last for up to 31 hours in GPS mode and 23 days in smartwatch mode. When enabled, the SatIQ feature will also help maximize battery life by selecting the optimal GPS mode based on your environment without sacrificing accuracy.

When it comes to safety and tracking features, Garmin Forerunner 965 also offers incident detection, assistance, and livetrack features available in the more affordable Garmin Instinct 2. What sets it apart is the Group Livetrack feature, allowing you to keep track of other bikers, perfect for those who frequently ride in groups or participate in organized events.

Garmin Forerunner 965

Best for Professionals

✓ Built-in TopoActive Maps & NextFork Navigation
✓ Group LiveTrack
✓ Multi-band GNSS with SatIQ
✓ AMOLED Touchscreen

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#3 Best for Multi-Day Riding: Garmin Enduro 2

Garmin Enduro 2

If you're planning multi-day mountain biking adventures, the Garmin Enduro 2 is the ultimate GPS watch for you. With a long-lasting battery life of up to 110 hours in GPS mode, 34 days in smartwatch mode, and 111 days in battery-saver mode, you'll be guaranteed to have enough power for even the longest rides without needing to recharge.

Garmin Enduro 2 even features a Power Sapphire lens, which allows the watch lens to convert sunlight into battery power, extending the battery life even further when you're out on the trails. With this solar charging feature, you can extend the battery life to 150 hours in GPS mode, 46 days in smartwatch mode, and 550 days in battery-saver mode.

Garmin Enduro 2

Garmin Enduro is a high-end model, retailing very expensively at 999.99 USD. It is packed with advanced features and capabilities to justify its price tag. Navigation features like NextFork, Up Ahead, and multi-band GNSS are all included, as well as a large touchscreen display and a durable titanium bezel. A super bright LED flashlight is even integrated into the watch, providing a convenient light source for nighttime rides or low-light conditions.

Garmin Enduro 2 also offers built-in multi-continent TopoActive Maps, which provide detailed terrain data and turn-by-turn navigation for trails around the world. It even provides ski maps for over 2,000 ski resorts worldwide and golf course maps for over 42,000 golf courses globally, making it a versatile choice for those who enjoy a variety of outdoor activities beyond just mountain biking.

Garmin Enduro 2

Best for Multi-Day Riding

✓ Built-in TopoActive Maps & NextFork Navigation
✓ Group LiveTrack
✓ Multi-band GNSS with SatIQ
✓ Up to 150 hours in GPS Mode with Solar Charging

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Best Garmin Watch for Mountain Biking