In comparison to the Forerunner 245, the Forerunner 255 series includes an NFC chip for Garmin Pay. Sensorial, it’s not that different. It still has continuous heart rate monitoring and SpO2 sensors for features like Body Battery. The statistic assesses how well you recovered during sleep as well as how “tired” you are from stress during the day. The Forerunner 255 series will also offer standard smartwatch functions like push notifications, as well as Garmin’s safety features like incident detection and live monitoring. In terms of training capabilities, it will also provide users with daily workout suggestions, access to training programmes via Garmin Coach, and in-depth stats via the Garmin Connect app.
The Forerunner 955, on the other hand, is more of a high-end running watch. (However, it isn’t quite as feature-rich as Garmin’s flagship Fenix series.) It weighs 52 grammes and has a 47mm always-on, full-colour touchscreen display. However, button enthusiasts need not panic. The 955 retains five physical buttons that can be utilised in conjunction with the touchscreen. It has the same water-resistant rating as the 255 series but has a somewhat longer battery life of 15 days, with 42 hours in GPS mode. A $599.99 Forerunner 955 Solar with Garmin’s proprietary Power Glass lens is also available. With solar charging, the 955 Solar can last up to 20 days and 49 hours in GPS mode. (This assumes three hours a day under 50,000 lux settings, so take that with a grain of salt.)
The Forerunner 955, like the Forerunner 255 series, includes multi-band GPS, HRV status, morning reports, and the new race widget. It also offers a new metric for training preparedness. As the name suggests, the measure considers sleep, recovery time, HRV, and a few other factors to provide users with a score indicating how “ready” they are for a training session. It also has real-time stamina tracking, which Garmin pioneered with the Fenix 7 series.
