It’s a great place for learning from your runs, evaluating performance, and most of all, it’s really fun. And in a new update, Strava is adding long-awaited AI insights to put you in touch with your running data.
Strava has a great community, it’s likely most of your buddies will be on there, and features such as Strava Segments and kudos add some extra spice to your training. What’s more, by using a third-party platform, if you want a new running watch or smartwatch, you won’t lose your data.
Pretty much everything works with Strava now, but below we’ve outlined the core brands, which of its range is best for Strava, and any special or dedicated Strava features on board.
Garmin watches
All of Garmin’s current watches are built to play nicely with Strava, from budget watches like the Garmin Forerunner 55 all the way up to the likes of the Fenix 8 and the Forerunner 965.
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.
Garmin Connect isn’t nearly as fun, informative, and motivating as Strava, despite its recent facelift. Thankfully, you can link your account with the app for seamless syncing of runs, cycles, and swims.
Garmin devices with Live Strava Segments
- Forerunner 945/945 LTE
- Forerunner 955
- Forerunner 965
- Forerunner 735 XT
- Forerunner 745
- Fenix 8 and older
- Enduro
- Epix (Gen 2)/Epix Pro
- MARQ Athlete
- MARQ Captain
- MARQ Expedition
- MARQ II series
- Swim 2
That list just so happens to be the most expensive Garmin devices. So, here are our favorite Garmin watches – all of which play nicely with Strava.
Apple Watch options
Apple has a standalone Strava app that’s compatible with the Apple Watch – so you can have your data seamlessly transferred over 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 all play nicely with Strava.
The app, however, is very limited 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 to Strava – and have workouts synced over manually. Follow our guide to connecting Apple Health from within the Strava app.
Polar watches
Just like Garmin, all of Polar’s sports watches offer integration with Strava.
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, as well as take advantage of features such as Strava Segments.
To import Strava Segments to your Polar Flow account:
- In your Strava account, choose the segments you wish to import to your Polar Flow Favorites/Grit X2 Pro. This is done by choosing 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 a maximum of 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
When it comes to 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.
That’s because these generations run on Wear OS 5, and it means you get access to a host of apps that have been rebuilt for Wear, including the new Strava app.es.
You could also choose the Google Pixel Watch 3 (another top heart rate tracking performer, or the TicWatch Pro 5, which also performed well in Wareable’s stringent testing.
From the Strava Wear OS app, you can record a run, ride, walk, or hike and it even offers Nordic ski and e-bike modes. If you subscribe to Strava you can access the Beacon safety feature. Strava will be looking to add indoor tracking in the future, too.
Suunto
Suunto’s watches are falling better in line with Garmin and Polar’s top-end devices, led by the Suunto Race S, Suunto 9, Suunto 9 Peak and Suunto 9 Peak Pro, as well as the more affordable Suunto .
When the Suunto watch and Strava are connected, you can track runs, rides, and cross-training sessions with Segment support syncing 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.
Suunto also supports live segments, too:
- 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 fire data over to Strava. That includes the excellent Coros Pace 3, which is 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, letting you create routes on Strava and send them over to the Coros app, which you can then fire over to the watch. This only works with Apex and Vertix devices, though, as the Pace 2 doesn’t have navigation features.
For the standard data syncing, you need to connect the two services together in the same manner as Garmin and Polar devices, with Suunto watches letting you view all your run, ride and swim data in Strava.
You will, of course, need to sync workout data to the Coros app first, but it’s one of the quickest at doing it based on our experience.
Check out the Coros Apex 2 and Apex 2 Pro, as well, if you want something a little more advanced.
Amazfit
If you really didn’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 likes of the Amazfit Bip 3 Pro, the GTS 2 Mini (pictured above) or the sleeker-looking trio of the Amazfit GTS 4, GTR 4, and GTS 4 Mini are well worth considering – and they can all be set to upload activities to Strava.
The Bip 3 Pro is one of the cheapest and features a square design. The more premium GTS 3 uses a vibrant, full AMOLED display also on a square face. The GTR 3 and GTR 3 Pro offer similar hardware, albeit with a round display.
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 them adept at gauging your recovery.
They’re health and fitness smartwatches that actually 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 Zepp app is actually a great place to view workouts, as well, but it can’t compare to Strava for analysis, motivation and social interactions. Luckily, of all the budget smartwatch manufacturers that are 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 now changed. All Huawei smartwatches will now transfer data to Strava, thanks to an integration in the Huawei Health.
That’s great news for Huawei users. The company’s smartwatches, such as the excellent Huawei Watch GT 5 and Watch Fit 3 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 in the excellent platform.
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