10 Best Triathlon Watches (Review) In 2021

Deciding to take up any new sport can be expensive, so imagine what it’s like when you need the gear for three! If you are new to Triathlon and not yet sure whether you will have the necessary discipline and strength of character to seriously compete, then there’s no point spending mega bucks on equipment. That said, you do want to be able to track your stats. That’s where our Best Choice triathlon fitness watch from Timex is a winner.

The Timex Ironman Classic is a full-size watch with a round digital display. It’s lightweight and easy to wear and has been securely sealed for water resistance. With its iconic five-button Timex design, you have access on your wrist, and at your fingertips, to all the basic timers and alarms you should need when starting out. It’s durable and reliable as you’d expect from Timex and comes with a 10-year battery life. With a resin strap featuring a secure buckle closure, it’s also hard wearing and stays securely in place.

As you’d expect from Garmin, this triathlon watch from their collection comes stacked with navigation features as well as Wi-Fi connectivity. In particular, it’s an excellent option for the Swimming and Cycling elements of that Triathlon thanks to routable cycling maps as well as water resistance to 100 meters. Besides all of that, it can also keep a useful track of steps, stride length, stress, and even your sleep patterns. There’s not really very much this beauty can’t monitor. With built-in navigation sensors, including both GLONASS and GPS, it’s reliable and accurate.

As well as the excellent functions the Triathletes among you will appreciate, you can also view calls and clearly see text and e-mail notifications on the generous, round, and easy to read display. The Wi-Fi connectivity allows you to automatically upload your latest activity to your Garmin connect account as long as you are in range. The wrist bands are also interchangeable, so you can style it up for work or dress it down for pleasure. Overall, we rate Garmin Fenix 5 as being a premium triathlon GPS watch with excellent advanced fitness features and perfect for multipart disciplines. For more great GPS watches, check out our guide to the best golf GPS watches.

There are plenty of athletes out there who would argue that this is one of the best watches that Garmin has released. It’s literally jam-packed with useful features while being lightweight, easy to wear, and benefiting from excellent battery life. It has the capacity to last for 24 hours even while using your GPS and can monitor and track distance covered, speed achieved as well as strokes executed. If you are into precision detail, then the Garmin Forerunner 935 is an excellent choice.  It’s compatible with a chest-based heart rate monitor, or you can track on the wrist. It also features a built-in barometer to track elevation changes as well as an altimeter and electronic compass.

Besides functions designed to make your swim more efficient, this triathlon sports watch is compatible with a wide range of cycling accessories, and you can buy a quick release kit to efficiently move your watch from your wrist to your bike. It’s smartphone compatible and works with iPhone, Android, and Windows devices. With plenty of performance monitoring and enhancing features, you can continually be improving your output by analyzing your technique.

The battery life is impressive, the GPS is highly responsive, and it’s jam-packed with valuable insights thanks to its multi-sport functionality making it easy to switch between metrics and data on screen whether you are running, cycling or swimming. Lightweight and thin, it’s reasonably good value for money given all the sophisticated features. Heart rate can be monitored at the wrist, so there’s no need to wear a separate chest strap. It even tracks that heart rate underwater. You can also view your VO2 max, lactate threshold as well as race predictor and recovery advisor information.

If you are looking for a genuinely multi-sport experience, then check out this Suunto triathlon heart rate monitor. Whether you’re biking, hiking or hitting the water, this Suunto Ambit3 watch will be an invaluable companion, helping you to accurately track and monitor your physical performance and also that all important recovery sleep! You can even download and use the Suunto app to plan and share your workouts, take photos, and share your experience instantly via your social media networks.

Featuring GPS as well as smart mobile connectivity, the Suunto sports watch also happens to be very stylish and good looking too. So much so that it’s won a prestigious Good Design Award. The round digital display is easy to read, features an LED backlight and is also water resistant to 50 meters. With useful features including route navigation, activity-based recovery time along with speed, pace and distance, and altitude, all the vital stats are conveniently at your fingertips.

Up next we’re taking a look at something from the competitive end of the market, as used by many of world’s leading athletes. The Polar V800 GPS sports watch is a triathlon dedicated watch with superb build quality, exceptional performance and tones of advanced functionality as you’d expect with its top end price point. With built-in GPS, you can keep track of speed, route, and distance traveled whether you are running, cycling, hiking, or swimming.

Made with reliable and robust Gorilla glass, it’s one seriously smooth operator, and not only looks but most definitely performs the part. It’s full Bluetooth enabled and can be connected directly to iPhone and Android devices. Compatible with an H7 heart rate monitor, it can even track your heart underwater and is waterproof to 40 meters. With a clear, large display, you can always stay on top of your performance stats and reach peak performance. 

The next best triathlon watch to get the review treatment comes from Suunto, and it’s incredibly stylish, sleek, and good looking. It is a smaller GPS sports watch that’s totally versatile. An excellent choice for training activities as well as being a great lifestyle tracker. It’s a neat and compact package that will support your training goals whether you’re headed for a swim or to the gym.

Designed in Finland, the Suunto Spartan features a convenient wrist-based heart rate monitor and is the optimal size and shape for everyday wear. The ideal tool to keep your work, life, training, and sleep patterns all totally balanced and in sync. The battery life will last for up to 10 hours in training mode, and it’s water resistant to 50 meters.

If you are looking for a strong and sturdy, one button control triathlon GPS watch with an extra large display, then check out this TOM TOM Multi-Sport watch. You can easily keep a track on all those key stats simply at a glance. Whether you are swimming, cycling, or running, easily navigate through the settings to access the unique built-in training modes. With a heart rate monitor included, everything you need is right there on your wrist.

With this particular TOM TOM, you can track time and distance as well as keeping an eye on your pace. The high-resolution display is clean and clear with bright, easy to read graphics in high resolution. Let the TOM TOM conveniently guide and support you through that grueling training program, motivating you to improve with those important performance stats. The screen may be large, but watch itself is still slim and lightweight and designed to fit all wrist sizes comfortably.

We’re back again with Garmin for the next best Triathlon watch review and this time we’re looking at what’s great about their Vivoactive HR. In a nutshell, it’s a smartwatch which is packed with features any athlete will appreciate. You can easily keep tabs of all those vital stats, across a range of different sports, and it happens to have a pretty reliable battery life too. From running and walking to cycling and hiking, whether you’re indoors or out, this watch will monitor all the key training info. While it is waterproof and swimming is supported, open water swimming is not.

The large and bright display is easy to read, and the watch itself works like a powerhouse. It might be a little too large for those of you with more delicate and refined wrists, but the touchscreen display is not only impressive but also sunlight readable. You can track sleep and steps, calories expended, and distance covered. Smart notifications are delivered right to your wrist, and there are also vibration and sound alerts. The Garmin Vivoactive HR has highly accurate GPS and is compatible with an iOS or Android device when connected to the Garmin Connect app. It’s a modern rather than fashionable design and is definitely designed to support your sporting activities rather than to look stylish on your wrist.

If you are looking for a durable, reliable and popular triathlon style watch, then you really can’t go wrong with the Timex Ironman Classic 100. It’s been seen on many a competitors wrist heading over the finish line, and there’s little wonder why. With its iconic and instantly recognizable five-button design you can easily see all your latest stats at a glance, right there on your wrist. It’s lightweight and water resistant and is a highly dependable choice.

Featuring a host of extras that you will appreciate, it’s easy to use and budget friendly too. With access to an interval training timer, countdown timers and also a sports stopwatch with a 100 lap memory, it’s got all the bases covered. An Indiglo backlight on the large digital display panel ensures you can always keep tabs on your key stats even at night. The case and strap are both highly durable and made from resin while the watch is also water resistant to 100 meters. With customizable settings, you can configure this Classic Ironman watch to suit your personal requirements.