Garmin probably makes the best running watches in the market. Garmins Forerunner heart rate watches is a series of dedicated GPS-running watches. Regardless if you are a beginner, experienced exerciser or elite runner, you´ll find the running watch you need among the heart rate watches in the Garmin Forerunner-collection.
In this article you can learn more about the differences, when I compare Garmin Forerunner 55, Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, Garmin Forerunner 265, Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar and Garmin Forerunner 965.
Check out the guide for choosing the right Garmin running watch below.
PRESENTATION
This article is composed of the following sections. You can click on one of the headlines to proceed to the section you want to read.
- COMPARISON OF THE GARMIN FORERUNNER-COLLECTION - TABLE
- Garmin Forerunner 165 / 165 Music
COMPARISON OF THE GARMIN FORERUNNER-COLLECTION
Here you get a full list of what all the GPS-running watches in Garmins FORERUNNER-collection are really capable of when we compare Garmin Forerunner 55, Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, Garmin Forerunner 265, Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar and Garmin Forerunner 965.
| General | 55 | 165 / 165 Music | 255 / 255 Music | 265 S / 265 | 955 / 955 Solar | 965 |
| Diameter | 42 mm. | 43 mm | 46,6 mm. | 41,6 / 46,1 mm. | 46,5 mm. | 47,1 mm. |
| Display size | 1,04" | 1.2" | 1,3" | 1,1" / 1,3" | 1,3" | 1,4" |
| Display resolution | 208x208 px. | 390 x 390 | 260x260 px. | 360x360 / 416x416 px. | 260x260 px. | 454x454 px. |
| Color display | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Touchscreen | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Weight | 37 g. | 39 g. | 49 g. | 40 / 46 g. | 53 g. | 52 g. |
| Battery life – Smartwatch mode | 14 days | 11 | 14 days | 13 / 15 days | 15 / 20 days | 23 days |
| Battery life – GPS | 20 hours | 19 timer | 30 hours | 20 / 24 hours | 42 / 49 hours | 31 hours |
| Memory | 200 hours activity data | 4 gb | 200 hours activity data | 8 gb. | 200 hours activity data | 32 gb. |
| Waterproof | 5 ATM / 50 meter | 5 ATM / 50 meter | 5 ATM / 50 meter | 5 ATM / 50 meter | 5 ATM / 50 meter | 5 ATM / 50 meter |
| Sensors | 55 | 165 / 165 Music | 255 / 255 Music | 265 S / 265 | 955 / 955 Solar | 965 |
| Satellites | GPS, GLONASS & GALILEO | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS & IRNSS | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS & IRNSS | Multiband GNSS with SatiQ | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS & IRNSS | Multiband GNSS with SatiQ |
| Multiband GPS | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Wrist heart rate monitor | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (+ during swimming) | ✓ |
| Barometric altimeter (Pressure altimeter) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Electronic compass | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Gyroscope (Improves GPS-precision in UltraTrac-mode) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Accelerometer (Counts steps and measures distance) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Thermometer | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Pulse Ox sensor (Measures oxygen saturation in the blood) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Smartwatch features | 55 | 165 / 165 Music | 255 / 255 Music | 265 S / 265 | 955 / 955 Solar | 965 |
| Bluetooth, ANT+ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| WiFi | ✓ | ✓ (255 Music) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Smart notifications (See calls, mails, messages, etc.) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Calendar | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Weather | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Music control (Control music on your smartphone via the watch) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Find my phone | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Find my watch | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Safety and tracking feature (Incident detection) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Assistance Plus | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Garmin Pay (Make payments with the watch) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Garmin Music (Listen to music from Spotify and Deezer as well as mp3-files directly from the watch) | ✓ (music) | ✓ Up to 500 songs (only 255 Music) | ✓ 8 gb. | ✓ Up to 2000 songs | ✓ 32 gb. | |
| Preinstalled topographical map | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Navigation | ✓ | ✓ (Breadcrumb) | ✓ (Breadcrumb) | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Turn-by-turn navigation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Route suggestion | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Activity monitoring | 55 | 165 / 165 Music | 255 / 255 Music | 265 S / 265 | 955 / 955 Solar | 965 |
| Pedometer | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Auto Goal (Automatically adjusts to your target of the day) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Calories burned | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sleep monitoring | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Floors (Number of floors climbed) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Distance | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Intensity min. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stress monitoring all day | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Body Battery Energy surveillance | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Health tracking for women | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sports- and outdoor features | 55 | 165 / 165 Music | 255 / 255 Music | 265 S / 265 | 955 / 955 Solar | 965 |
| GPS-based distance and speed | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Wristbased running wattage |
✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Auto-pause (Automatically pauses activity when standing still) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Morning Report | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Acute/chronic load balance | ✓ | |||||
| Training Readiness | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Anaerobic training effect | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Training status | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Training load | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Training load focus | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| HRV Status | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Recommended recovery times | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Recommended training sessions | ✓ (limited) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| VO2 max estimation | ✓ (limited) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Race widget | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Running calculator | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Performance mode | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Lactate-threshold (Acid threshold) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Running dynamics | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Wristbased Running Dynamics | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Retrace start | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Virtual Partner & Virtual Racer | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Live track | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Spectator messages | ✓ | |||||
| PacePro Pace strategies | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| ClimbPro (See current and future climbs in realtime) | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| GroupTrack (Follow your friends in realtime – compare yourselves to each other) | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Live segments (Garmin, Strava) | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Heat - and altitude acclimatisation |
✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Advanced Outdoor features | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| UltraTrac mode | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Activity profiles | 55 | 165 / 165 Music | 255 / 255 Music | 265 S / 265 | 955 / 955 Solar | 965 |
| Running | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cycling | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Swimming | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Triathlon / Multisport | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Fitness | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Outdoor | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Golf | ✓ | ✓ |
GARMIN FORERUNNER 55
Garmin Forerunner 55 is a great GPS-running watch at an affordable price. Garmin Forerunner 55 and the many running specific features makes it possible to reach new levels as a runner and exerciser.
Its a GPS-watch for the one who generally wants to exercise more, learn more about his/hers general health and make training a part of your daily routine.
Recommended for: Garmin Forerunner 55 is an affordable watch for beginners as well as more experienced exercisers wanting a list of basic heath- and training data.
GARMIN FORERUNNER 55 ADVANTAGES:
- Longer battery life.
- Full access to the Connect IQ app (for downloading apps, widgets and watch dials).
- Several activity profiles, i.e.Track run, Virtual Run, Pool Swim, Pilates, Hiit and Breathwork.
- Advanced sleep monitoring
- Health tracking for women (incl. pregnancy tracking).
- Improved running features, incl.,
- Recommended training sessions (lite-version)
- Recommended recovery time (lite-version)
- Running calculator
- PacePro Pace strategies
- Interval mode
- Finishing time calculator
GARMIN FORERUNNER 55 DISADVANTAGES
- Lacks many of the advanced training features - and data
- Lacks Garmin Music, Garmin Pay and integrated card
Also read a thorough review of GARMIN FORERUNNER 55 here.
Read more about Garmin Forerunner 55 and buy it here:
GARMIN FORERUNNER 165
Garmin Forerunner 165 / 165 Music is a lightweight, delicate, and user-friendly running watch. The Forerunner 165 is a smaller watch, with big arm movements. You indeed get some of the most useful features, for those aspiring to become a better runner and gain greater insights into their training and performance.
Garmin Forerunner 165 / 165 Music comes with enticing features like an AMOLED touchscreen, Garmin Pay, Morning report, Sleep score & HRV status, and much more. All are features from some of the bigger watches but in a lighter and more user-friendly package.
Advantages:
- User-friendly
- AMOLED Touchscreen & Garmin Pay
- Lightweight
Disadvantages:
- No Multi-band GPS
- No option to connect a power meter
Play
Garmin Forerunner 255 Music
The watch comes in two versions: Garmin Forerunner 255 and Garmin Forerunner 255 Music. The watches are completely alike except for the fact that in the Music-version you have the option to transfer music directly to the watch - and thereby play music without having a smartphone nearby.
Recommended for: With Garmin Forerunner 255 you get a lot of features for your money. If you don´t need the extra features you will get in Garmin Forerunner 955 and Garmin Forerunner 965, Garmin Forerunner 255 is a great option for a terrific running watch!
GARMIN FORERUNNER 255 ADVANTAGES:
- A lot more activity profiles (30+. Incl. i.e. triathlon)
- Race widget
- Garmin Pay: Make payments everywhere where contactless payment is possible
- Multiband GPS for increased precision
- Larger display (1,3" vs 1,2" in Forerunner 245)
- Barometric altimeter (pressure altimeter): More precise altitude data and elevation profile drawing
GARMIN FORERUNNER 255 DISADVANTAGES:
- Lacks some of the features that you can find only in Forerunner 955 og 965 as well as the Fenix-collection.
- Lacks integrated card and real navigation.
Also read our comprehensive review of GARMIN FORERUNNER 255 MUSIC here.
Read more about Garmin Forerunner 255 and buy it here:
GARMIN FORERUNNER 265
Just like the Garmin Forerunner 255, Garmin Forerunner 265 is available in two sizes (Garmin Forerunner 265 and Garmin Forerunner 265S). Garmin Forerunner 265 is a pure running watch in the Garmin watch-collection and the successor to Garmin Forerunner 255. A number of new features have been introduced in the new watch which improves the experience.
Recommended for: Garmin Forerunner 265 is a great option if you want the latest features but don´t want to invest in the top model. You get lots of features and basically its a great watch.
Garmin Forerunner 265 is recognized as a pure running watch in the Garmin watch-collection. The later generations in the collection also have many other sports integrated and the watch is consequently a great option for a training watch regardless if you want to use it for running, cycling, swimming or something different.
GARMIN FORERUNNER 265 ADVANTAGES:
- Has ALL the same features as Garmin Forerunner 255
- New AMOLED touch-screen in 1,1” (265S) eller 1,3” (265)
- Updated design
- Training readiness
- Music in all models
- Wristbased “Running Dynamics” and running wattage
- Twice as much memory as Garmin Forerunner 255 (8 gb)
GARMIN FORERUNNER 265 DISADVANTAGES:
- Lacks some of the features that you can find only in the Forerunner 965 as well as the Fenix-collection.
- Lacks integrated card and real navigation.
Garmin Forerunner 955
Garmin Forerunner 955 has really got a lot of features! Among those one can mention the touch screen which fascilitates daily navigation in the watch - especially in the map. In Garmin Forerunner 955 you also have the option of multiband GPS, which increases precision.
In addition to the features already mentioned above, Garmin Forerunner 955 offers more feedback in relation to training and recovery, so you have the best options for optimal training.
The watch comes in two versions: Garmin Forerunner 955 and Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar. The watches are identical with the exception that Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar has integrated sun panels which improves battery life.
Recommended for: The serious runner or triathlete who wants to save a little money compared to the latest model, Garmin Forerunner 965.
GARMIN FORERUNNER 955 ADVANTAGES:
- Has ALL the same features as Forerunner 255.
In addition you get:
- Multiband GPS
- Touch screen
- Additional feedback-features guiding you to optimal training and recovery
GARMIN FORERUNNER 955 DISADVANTAGES:
- Not as tough as the Fenix-watches
- Lacks some of the latest features that you will find in Garmin Forerunner 965
Also read our comprehensive review of Garmin Forerunner 955 here.
GARMIN FORERUNNER 965
Garmin Forerunner 965 is the latest topmodel in the Forerunner-collection and thereby the successor for Garmin Forerunner 955. In the new version they have focused on optimizing the user experience and among other things you´ll find a new and much improved AMOLED touch-screen offering a much more powerful and clear display than in Garmin Forerunner 955.
Recommended for: The serious runner or triathlete who wants the best of the best and who doesn´t want to compromize on features or performance.
GARMIN FORERUNNER 965 ADVANTAGES:
- Has ALL the same features as Forerunner 955
- In addition you get:
- New AMOLED touch-screen
- Titanium bezel surrounding the new screen
- Wristbased ”running dynamics”
- Acute/chronical load
GARMIN FORERUNNER 965 DISADVANTAGES:
- Not as tough as the Fenix-watches
More inspiration?
Find further articles in our universe of inspiration right here:
