I ditched the original saddle after my first long ride on it (~60km's) because it was very uncomfortable on short rides and brutally uncomfortable on long rides. Even with padded cycling shorts.

Initially as a stopgap I stuck on a cheapo "Velo Plush" saddle that I had in a bin in the garage that came off of a previous Costco bike. Not a great saddle either, but it was much better that the stock Giant one.

So then I figured it was time to spend some coin on a "real" saddle, and after much research and reading over and over again that for longer rides less padding is supposed to be better than more, but the design of the saddle and the fit for your sit-bone width was important, I went to my LBS to be fitted, and chose the "Specialized Henge" to try out. It gets really good reviews online, and the guy in the shop really recommended it based on what I told him about my riding style. He also attested to the "less is more" philosophy for padding. Well, my experience with the Henge was exactly the same as the factory Giant saddle - pretty uncomfortable off the initial hop. Quite painful after 30 km's, and an instrument of torture after 60 km's. It went back for a refund after 2 honest attempts.

Then after reading countless positive reviews for the Planet Bike ARS saddle, I decided to try one out. Mountain Equipment Coop here in Canada has their own OEM version of this saddle made for them with their non-intrusive "MEC" logo on the nose rather than the large (somewhat ugly) red lettering of the Planet Bike version, but otherwise exactly the same, for a paltry $36CDN ($27USD). It's medium width, a lot more padding than the factory one or the Henge, but still not anywhere near a "granny" saddle.

That one has stayed for me. It's still not perfect and I might try something different sometime, but after 3-60km rides over the past couple of weeks, it's in the "significantly better, actually not too bad" category for me. I can definitely live with it for the time being and price.

Next step for me will be to try the Selle Royal Scientia - those look pretty good to me, but I'm seeing if I can come to love the MEC/Planet Bike one a bit better first.

Like others say though, saddles are like shoes - there is no "one fits all", and certainly others' recommendations will just be a guideline. You need to find one that fits and works for you personally.

Coincidentally, my LBS that carries Giant and Specialized has a bin of "take-offs" where people who buy a new bike and want a different saddle right off the showroom floor dump their factory saddles and they sell them for $25 each. In the bin, there was one of these, one of those, etc, and 3 of the Giant Connect's that come stock on the Roam. I think that says something about the Giant factory saddles...

Cheers
TRJB