Garmin Forerunner® 965, Running Smartwatch, 47mm, Black/Powder Gray

Why it's worth it

The Forerunner 965 tracks swim, bike and run with a button press between each, and Garmin rates it for up to 31 hours in GPS mode. That's an entire Ironman on one charge, with the AMOLED screen bright enough to read at mile 22.

If you only buy one thing on this list, make it this. A multisport GPS watch topped 220 Triathlon's reader survey as the most-wanted gift among competitive triathletes, ahead of nutrition, wetsuits and bike gear. It's the item that touches every workout they do. And it's expensive enough that plenty of athletes keep putting it off, which makes it a genuinely great thing to unwrap.

The battery number is the part that matters for racing. Garmin rates the 965 at up to 31 hours of GPS tracking and up to 23 days in smartwatch mode. Even a slow full-distance finisher stays comfortably inside that window, so there's no charging scramble the night before. Owners who came from Apple Watches consistently mention this as the thing that changed their training — no more watching the battery die mid-long-run.

From our review of 6 gifts for triathletes

What we like

• +If you only buy one thing on this list, make it this
• +The battery number is the part that matters for racing
• +Built-in multisport profiles cover triathlon, duathlon, brick workouts and swimrun, so switching disciplines in transition is…
• +The training readiness score pulls from sleep, recovery, training load and HRV to tell them whether today should be hard or easy

What to know

• –It's the priciest gift here by a wide margin, and it's a hard one to give casually — a watch this personal reads as a big gesture
• –There's also a platform question