If you're looking for the best Strava compatible sports watch, you have heaps of great options.
Owning a sports watch or a smartwatch compatible with Strava is the ideal way to maximize your experience with the platform and enhance your workouts.
The good news is that Strava integration is ubiquitous among all watches from major brands. So, once you are set up with a compatible watch, you can configure automatic session syncing and enjoy all of the platform’s unique insights—whether you’re a free or paid Strava subscriber.
However, it’s still true that some integrate better with Strava than others; watches from Garmin, Polar, and Suunto offer additional features such as Live Segment support.
This guide provides an overview of the top wearable devices compatible with Strava, offers advice on which model from each brand works best with the app, and highlights any dedicated features you should know about.
Garmin watches
Garmin’s current watches are all built to work with Strava, from budget options like the Forerunner 55 to more premium picks like the Fenix 8 and Forerunner 970.
You can connect Garmin and Strava from within Garmin Connect, meaning any activity you track on your watch can be synced automatically to Strava. That means you get full Strava Segments, KOM, and records.
Strava does a lot of good analysis of your sessions based on heart rate – but there are data points it doesn’t track, such as vertical oscillation and running cadence, which you’ll find in the upper reaches of Garmin’s range. So connecting Garmin Connect and Strava does give you the best of both worlds.
Despite its recent facelift, Garmin Connect isn’t nearly as fun, informative, and motivating as Strava. You can link your account with the app to seamlessly sync runs, cycles, and swims.
But some Garmin smartwatches offer deeper Strava integrations. Live Segments enable you to mark segments that you want to focus on.
When you arrive at said place, your Garmin watch will show you your live performance against your PB so you can shoot for records in key areas. It’s super motivating and enables you to grab records or Local Legends spots in your area.
Garmin devices with Live Segments support
- Forerunner 935-965 series
- Forerunner 645 series
- Forerunner 735 XT/745
- Fenix 5-8 series (including spin-offs—D2, Descent, Quatix, Tactix—from the same generation)
- Fenix E
- Enduro 1-3
- Epix (Gen 2)/Epix Pro
- MARQ and MARQ (Gen 2) series
That list just so happens to include the most expensive Garmin devices. So, here are our favorite Garmin watches—all of which work nicely with Strava.
Apple Watch options
Apple has a standalone Strava app that’s compatible with the Apple Watch, so you can seamlessly transfer your data to the fitness service. That means that every Apple Watch, from the Series 10 and older, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and even Apple Watch SE 2, plays nicely with Strava.
The app, however, is minimal in terms of customization of the data screens, and you can’t view workout history from the watch itself. What’s more, you miss out on the excellent Workout app on the Apple Watch itself.
Apple has come to the rescue, and you can now link Apple Health data to Strava and sync workouts manually. That means you get all the benefits of Apple’s baked-in running features, grab Apple Workout badges and all-new Training Load data in watchOS 11, and still get all your data synced to Strava.
Polar watches
Like Garmin, all of Polar’s sports watches offer integration with Strava. You connect Polar Flow to Strava within the app, and all workouts will be synced automatically.
Like Garmin, you can also take advantage of Strava Live Segments. There’s Live Segment support available on some of the newer and more expensive models, too, including the Polar Pacer, Pacer Pro, Vantage V3, and Polar Grit X2 and Pro versions.
Those who enjoy using the Polar Flow app can sync runs and cycle rides and take advantage of features such as Strava Segments.
Here’s how to do it:
To import Strava Segments to your Polar Flow account:
- In your Strava account, select the segments you wish to import to your Polar Flow Favorites/Grit X2 Pro by clicking the star icon next to a segment name.
- In the Polar Flow web service’s Favorites page, choose the Update Strava Live Segments button to import the starred Strava Live Segments to your Polar Flow account.
- Your Grit X2 Pro can have 100 favorites at a time. Choose the segments you want to transfer.
- Sync your Grit X2 Pro to save your changes to the watch.
Samsung / Wear OS watches
Regarding Samsung smartwatches, the new Galaxy Watch Ultra is the pick of the bunch, thanks to solid heart rate performance from our latest reviews. But the Galaxy Watch 7 is also a great pick.
This is because these generations run on Wear OS 5, which means you can access a host of rebuilt apps for Wear, including Strava.
You could also choose the Google Pixel Watch 3 (another top heart rate tracking performer, or the OnePlus Watch 3, which also performed well in Wareable’s stringent testing.
From the Strava Wear OS app, you can record a run, ride, walk, or hike. It even offers Nordic ski and e-bike modes. If you subscribe to Strava, you can access the Beacon safety feature. Strava will also look to add indoor tracking in the future.
Suunto
Suunto’s watches align with Garmin and Polar’s top-end devices, led by the Race S, Suunto 9, Suunto 9 Peak, and Suunto 9 Peak Pro.
When a Suunto watch and Strava are connected, you can track runs, rides, and cross-training sessions with Segment support, which syncs the data to Strava.
The best way to get the two to play nice is to head into Suunto Movescount from the web application and choose the Connect with Strava option to get the ball rolling.
Best Suunto watches with Strava Live Segments
- Suunto 9 Peak
- Suunto 9 Peak Pro
- Suunto 9 Baro
- Suunto Vertical
Coros
Coros might be one of the lesser-known brands on this list, but all of its watches offer the ability to upload data to Strava. That includes the excellent Coros Pace 3, one of our top running watches.
Along with sending workout data, including runs and rides, to the app, it’s also added new Strava Routes syncing. This lets you create routes on Strava and send them to the Coros app, which you can then fire over to the watch. However, this only works with Apex and Vertix devices, as the Pace 2 doesn’t have navigation features.
For standard data syncing, you need to connect the two services together in the same manner as Garmin and Polar devices. Suunto watches let you view all your run, ride, and swim data in Strava.
Of course, you will need to sync workout data to the Coros app first, but based on our experience, it’s one of the quickest ways to do it.
If you want something a little more advanced, check out the Coros Apex 2 and Apex 2 Pro.
Amazfit
If you don’t want to spend big on a sports watch, Amazfit smartwatches have impressed us with their workout accuracy, health and fitness features, and low prices.
The Amazfit T-Rex 3, Amazfit GTS 4, or Amazfit Active 2 are all top options for syncing to Strava.
All are packed with GPS (and are accurate) and a bunch of sports modes, including running, cycling, and swimming. What’s more, each possesses SpO2 blood oxygen, stress tracking, and sleep monitoring, making it adept at gauging recovery.
They’re health and fitness smartwatches that deliver, with good sleep tracking and a weekly rating of your activity and fitness using the PAI score. It’s a single number derived from all your weekly health and fitness activity – and we have a lot of respect for that technology and are glad it’s seen the light of day here.
The newly revamped Zepp app is also a great place to view workouts, but it can’t compare to Strava for analysis, motivation, and social interactions. Luckily, of all the budget smartwatch manufacturers churning out low-cost sporty smartwatches, the Zepp platform is the only one currently with Strava support.
Huawei smartwatches
Huawei smartwatches were the last holdout of major devices that wouldn’t connect to Strava, but that’s changed. Thanks to an integration in the Huawei Health app, all Huawei smartwatches will now transfer data to Strava.
That’s great news for Huawei users. The company’s smartwatches, such as the excellent Huawei Watch 5, GT 5 Pro, and Watch Fit 4 Pro, are excellent running watches. The main downside is the Huawei app, which, while generally decent, isn’t up to Garmin or Strava standards.
The integration means that users can enjoy great value running watches and get their data on the excellent platform.
