15 Best Running Watches with Music in 2022

Our “Premium Pick” and the best of the best out of this list is the Garmin Fenix 7X Solar. Aside from the usual premium materials and build quality of the Fenix series, the 7X Solar has all the bells and whistles available from Garmin’s suite of fitness and health watches. These include the Garmin Body Battery with its heart rate monitor, sleep monitoring, and pulse OX sensor. Also among the wearable’s main selling points is its lens that utilizes sunlight to boost battery power.

As a running watch with music, the Fenix 7X Solar lives up to its “premium” price and offers connectivity with Amazon Music, Deezer, Spotify, and other online streaming apps through Garmin’s Connect IQ Store. Aside from that, it has 16 GB of internal storage available that allows up to 1,000 songs to be stored internally.

The Fenix 7X Solar also has Bluetooth connectivity with most Bluetooth-capable headphones and earphones that allow you to control the music selection from the watch without the phone. It can also connect to Android and iOS phones through the Garmin Connect app.

We have chosen the Suunto 7 as our “Best Choice” running watch with music for those who would not compromise on build quality and want a cheaper than premium price. The Suunto 7 is the latest Suunto wearable device that does offer full music capabilities, as the newer Suunto 9 does not support online or offline music listening.

When it comes to music, the Suunto 7 runs on Google’s Wear OS and would work for any platform that has an app on that system. The Suunto 7 officially only supports the Spotify app when it comes to offline music playing.

While the Suunto 7 has Bluetooth connectivity and can work on Training Mode with GPS for up to 12 hours, the battery life is not great. Those that want to listen to music while running with this watch should remember to pace their use as directly connecting headphones and earphones to the Suunto 7 would drastically lower its battery operating time.

An objectively obscure brand compared to Garmin, Samsung, or Apple, Zepp Health Corporation is the brain behind our “Best Value” choice, the Amazfit Stratos 3. This relatively new Chinese company was first established in 2015. Although new, its Amazfit Stratos is already on its third iteration, with the Stratos 3 version as their latest music-capable product in the sports line.

While it is incapable of online streaming from services like Spotify or iTunes, the Amazfit Stratos 3 does offer 2 GB worth of onboard internal space for songs. It lets you store around 400 songs into the watch, with each file at 5 MB each. Aside from that, the Amazfit Stratos 3 is Bluetooth compatible and can interface with both Android and iOS devices.

Another Garmin premium product, the Forerunner 745 has a lot of the features the latest models in the Solar series have. The biggest exception, of course, is the exclusive solar rechargeability. But due to the similarities, the Forerunner 745 could be considered as a slightly cheaper alternative.

The Forerunner 745 can also connect with Amazon Music, Deezer, and Spotify through WiFi. It can also play music offline with up to 500 songs saved internally. This models’ battery is a little weaker than the Solar timepieces as it can only operate for up to six hours in GPS mode with music.

Overall, while still keeping Garmin’s premium build quality and specs, the Forerunner 745 is a great alternative for those that want a Garmin running watch with music without shelling out too much.

Samsung’s equivalent and competitor to the Apple Watch Series 7, the Galaxy Watch 4 is a running watch with music and was released a few months earlier, on August 27, 2021. Equipped with Google’s WearOS, the Galaxy Watch 4 can now connect and pair with YouTube Music and Spotify, so you can save offline playlists and stream them online through WiFi or LTE.

While it can use any future WatchOS compatible music streaming apps, its ability to save offline songs and podcasts is limited by its 16GB memory capacity. Aside from that, the Galaxy Watch 4 also has two models, a 40mm model and a 44mm model, that have different battery capacities. The 40mm model has 247mAh, while the 44mm has a 361mAh battery. Due to the differences between what apps are running while playing your music, either model’s battery life varies immensely from user to user.

The latest Apple Watch is the Series 7, which was announced on September 14, 2021. This version of the Apple watch still supports Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity as well as integration with Apple products like Apple Music.

The Series 7 offers 32 GB of internal memory but is unable to independently have offline music without the Apple Music app. This model is more attuned to users who also have Apple devices like iPhones and Macs due to the integration between devices.

Overall, the Apple Watch Series 7 is only this high on this list due to the heavy integration between Apple products. However, Android users or other platforms should give this running watch a hard pass.

Another Garmin product, the Vivoactive 4 is a good alternative to Garmin’s premium 7X Solar and the Forerunner 745. Although there are a few big differences between the Vivoactive 4 and the Forerunner 745, like their active sensors and “Daily Smart Features,” the high build quality and customer service support are the same.

Similar to the Forerunner 745, the Garmin Vivoactive 4 also features Amazon Music, Deezer, and Spotify compatibility through their respective apps on the Connect IQ store. Overall, although the Vivoactive 4’s main strengths are still on its health and fitness apps and programs, it is the most affordable Garmin running watch with music that we recommend to users.

As a creation of one of the first companies that developed smart wearables for health and fitness, Fitbit’s Versa 2 continues to focus on the said features. While it is a running watch with music, the main draw for the Versa 2 is its activity and fitness trackers.

That said, the Fitbit Versa 2 offers up to 300 songs to be saved internally, as well as offline and online streaming for Pandora, Deezer, and Spotify when connected and paired to a phone or through WiFi. Aside from that, the Versa 2 is a little cheaper than the Fitbit Sense due to being part of an older generation of smartwatches.

Fitbit’s most advanced wearable smartwatch, the Fitbit Sense has the most up-to-date health sensors with sleep functions and stress managers. Quite similar to the Versa 3, the Sense has similar specs when using it as a running watch with music.

While it can sync with Amazon Music, Deezer, and Spotify, it cannot store music offline, like the older Versa 2. This means you can only play online through the apps or on your paired phone.

Yet another Garmin smartwatch, the Garmin Venu comes from the same sub-series as the Garmin Vivoactive. Due to this, the Venu also has similar features when using it as a running watch. It has the same six-hour battery life when using it in GPS mode with music and offline storage for up to 500 songs.

Aside from these similarities, the Venu also has the same compatibility with Connect IQ apps like Amazon Music, Deezer, and Spotify that lets you play songs offline from the smartwatch. Overall, the Venu offers more monitoring and health tracking compared to the Vivoactive. However, those using it as a simple music player for their jogs should get the Vivoactive instead due to its lower price.

Although more known for their classic analog and mechanical watches, Fossil also has its own line of smartwatches and hybrid smartwatches. One of the standouts is the Carlyle. It works on Google’s Wear OS for compatibility with other apps within the system such as YouTube Music, Spotify, and Deezer.

Aside from that, the Carlyle is compatible with Android and iOS phones and can pair with both through Bluetooth. It can also access online streaming services through WiFi. Battery-wise, Carlyle’s battery needs only 60 minutes to reach 80% charge.

The Huawei Watch is Huawei’s contending device in the wearables market, and the running watch with music we chose is their third iteration of the Huawei Watch – the Watch GT 3. Although available in two models, we have chosen the 46mm model due to its higher battery capacity capable of up to 14 days on one charge.

Practically, though, the Watch GT 3 (46mm) can only sustain playing music for 30 minutes continuously at a time according to that 14-day schedule. Aside from this, the model can only store up to 4GB of data, including the onboard Harmony OS, and does not have apps to connect to online streaming services.

Also See: Huawei Watch 3 Review

Quite similar to the Apple Watch, the LG Watch Sport has a model with integrated LTE support for data services, aside from WiFi or Bluetooth. Although already discontinued, the Watch Sport stays on this list and its second-hand versions are still sold on Amazon. Why? That’s due to its more than decent features and specifications as a running watch with music.

The Watch Sport has 2GB internal onboard space for offline music and other apps aside from the Wear OS. Aside from that, it is also compatible with Wear OS online and offline music streaming apps. You can also pair it with both Android and iOS phones and use it as a remote when playing music from your phone.

The second last on this list of running watches with music is the Coros Vertix 2. Coming from a company established in 2016, Coros’ Vertix 2 is the latest model of their smartwatch line. Aiming to compete with others in the wearables scene, the Vertix 2’s best selling point is its satellite system compatibility, as it can connect with GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and Beidou.

While mainly meant for training and traveling, the Vertix 2 also has 32GB of onboard storage for songs and audio files. Those buying this will need that space since the Vertix 2 has no music streaming support for any app. It does have a battery that lets you have all systems turned on while playing music for up to 30 hours.

Our last pick for a running watch with music is from Polar, one of the many players in the wearable fitness and health market. The Vantage V2 is among their latest offers and packaged with their Polar Flow app that works with the smartwatches’ different trackers and monitors, including its heart rate, energy level, and running monitors.

When it comes to using it as a running watch with music, the Vantage V2 does not have internal offline storage to save your songs. It does allow you to use it as a remote when paired to a compatible Android or iOS phone, however.