The Garmin Forerunner 955 got here out in June 2022, slightly below six months after the Fenix 7 and Epix 2. It’s a less expensive sibling of those large hitters and arguably a greater deal than both.
Specs
Display: 1.3in 260 x 260 MIP
Storage: 32GB
GPS: Multi-Band
Water resistance: 5ATM
Weight: 55g
Dimensions: 46.5mm x 46.5mm x 14.4mm
Screen: Gorilla Glass DX
The high-end Garmin options we most wished to see – and that seem on the very best health trackers (opens in new tab) – are right here, and whereas we now have points with the Maps app (and located the Fenix 7 heart-rate outcomes higher from time to time) these are components Garmin will hopefully repair in a software program replace.
Price and launch date
The Garmin Forerunner 955 got here out in June 2022, slightly below six months after the Fenix 7 (opens in new tab) and Epix 2 (opens in new tab). It’s a less expensive sibling of those large hitters and arguably a greater deal than both.
The customary Forerunner 955 prices $499.99 within the US and £479.99 within the UK, whereas the Forerunner 955 Solar prices $599.99/£549.99. The solely distinction is the photo voltaic charging – principally offered by a bronze-tinged ring that sits across the 1.3in display screen.
Design and show
The Forerunner 955 is Garmin at its most pragmatic, offering a high-end health watch however with financial savings made by utilizing a plastic casing as an alternative of a metallic one.
Let’s evaluate it to the Fenix 7. That watch has a titanium/stainless-steel ring across the show, relying on the mannequin you decide. The identical metals are used on the again, whereas the core is bolstered plastic. These fancy bits are left off the Forerunner 955. Bezel, backside and sides are all plastic. This makes you’re feeling much less like you’re sporting one thing world-class athletes would possibly use to coach.
But does it matter? The solely situation with the “fiber reinforced polymer”, as Garmin calls it, is that it’s simpler to dent. After a number of weeks of use we managed to ding the bezel. It wasn’t a part of an epic journey, we simply knocked the watch in opposition to a door body.
The protecting show glass of the Forerunner 955 is identical because the Fenix 7’s: Corning Gorilla Glass DX. This is the half you don’t need to scratch. And, thus far, we haven’t.
There’s one other potential Forerunner 955 situation: it’s waterproof to 5ATM, not the 10ATM provided within the Fenix and Epix sequence. For use within the sea, or a swimming pool, they’re clearly higher than the 955. However, Garmin’s 5ATM will do the job for surface-level swimming.
The Forerunner 955’s simplified construct brings advantages, too. It is lighter than the highest Garmins and lighter than the bigger Apple Watch fashions. With a strap connected it weighs 55g in accordance with our scales. The Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar we used for comparability is 75g.
Lower weight makes the Forerunner 955 extra snug to put on in a single day, or when monitoring train that entails arm movement – like operating. In this respect at the least, we favor the Forerunner over the Fenix for run-tracking.
The display screen makes use of a transflective memory-in-pixel panel. This means it will get clearer in vivid daylight, not dimmer like an OLED or customary LCD, and makes use of nearly no energy to function. Where smartwatches have “always on” modes that halve battery life, the Forerunner 955 show is on on a regular basis by design. In return, its colour is muted, distinction is restricted, the 260×260 decision has a barely blocky character and it makes use of a digital watch-style entrance mild to light up the display screen indoors.
Transflective MIP isn’t the peak of shiny smartwatch tech, however its practicality is mainly unbeatable in an outside coaching watch.
Features
Mapping is a very powerful factor, as you don’t get full on-watch maps within the Venu, Instinct or Forerunner 255 sequence, however you do right here.
At first we thought Garmin would possibly restrict the areas you can obtain freely on a Forerunner 955. But it hasn’t. Our watch got here with European TopoActive maps put in, and a visit to the Map Manager part allows you to load up the US, Africa, Australia, mainland China maps and extra. Solar and non-Solar Forerunner 955s have 32GB storage, double that of the most cost effective Fenix 7.
Maps allow you to see the place you’re whereas understanding, no knowledge connection required. However, that is additionally the place we get our first compelling purpose to purchase one of many pricier Garmins. The Forerunner 955’s Maps app shouldn’t be the identical because the Fenix 7 one, it feels clunkier to function and doesn’t assist straightforward collection of locations for on-watch navigation.
There is a separate Navigation app. This allows you to search for native factors of curiosity, and the Forerunner will calculate a path to them offline, full with turn-by-turn navigation. However, you may’t simply choose such a vacation spot simply by flicking across the map – an oversight so basic it looks like a mistake. Hopefully the expertise will get smoother in a future software program replace.
The watch does have a sequence of options not seen within the large weapons, but. It introduces HRV Status and Morning Report. HRV Status displays coronary heart charge variability (opens in new tab) in a single day. This seems to be on the common disparity within the gaps between your coronary heart beats over time, measured in milliseconds. It’s not a pleasant metric to get your head round, however the next determine is nice, a decrease one not so good.
You get a rating every night time, and Morning Report feeds that to you whenever you get up, alongside a abstract of how properly you slept. The sleep stuff is neat, and stops you from having to dig into the related widget to select this knowledge. The HRV knowledge sits uncomfortably subsequent to it, because it’s a lot much less digestible. Then once more, this can be a high-end Garmin watch, not a “first fitness tracker” Fitbit.
This knowledge additionally feeds into Training Readiness, a brand new metric you’ll see whenever you press the “up” or “down” buttons from the Forerunner 955 watch face, or within the Garmin Connect app. It’s right here to recommend – in our view at the least – whenever you would possibly not train, since you’re run down or have undertaken a tough exercise too just lately.
There’s additionally a Race Calendar function, additionally not seen in different Garmins. You enter race dates within the Garmin Connect app in your telephone and the Forerunner 955 retains a document, a countdown, and may tailor instructed exercises to swimsuit.
Aside from these extras, you get the same old Garmin options. The Forerunner data VO2 Max (opens in new tab) scores as you train, and Training Status provides you an thought of how efficient your routine is over time. Pulse Ox takes blood oxygenation readings.
The Forerunner 955’s 57 train modes are typically extra helpful than the “100+” of some cheaper health trackers as a result of the 955 can a) hook up with exterior ANT+ sensors b) has a barometric altimeter c) has a built-in GPS library of golf programs and d) can hook up with and management good bike turbo trainers.
Performance
The Forerunner 955 has the identical internal core {hardware} as Garmin’s different high-end watches, and meaning an Elevate v4 coronary heart charge array with 4 teams of sunshine sensors, and the most recent Multi-Band GPS tech.
You can select what number of satellite tv for pc arrays you need the Forerunner 955 to entry. Full All+Multi-Band will get you higher accuracy in areas with out good GPS protection, however “GPS only” will use much less battery.
Garmin says a cost will last as long as 15 days when used as a smartwatch, or 20 days with the Solar model. Actual longevity will depend upon which settings you activate and the way a lot you employ the GPS.
After 48 hours sporting the watch 24/7 together with an hour of GPS monitoring utilizing full Multi-Band GPS, the Forerunner 955 was all the way down to 83%. This suggests we are able to count on it to final round 12 days. We used the watch for a lot longer than two days, however don’t are likely to put on all of it day and all night time so used these days to get you a clearer view on what to anticipate.
Users get to profit from Garmin’s newest coronary heart charge sensor tech, which brings these watches as much as the type of reliability you see in an Apple Watch Series 7 (opens in new tab). We in contrast the Forerunner 955 with the Fenix 7, a coronary heart charge chest strap and the Apple Watch Series 7. It is superb in most respects.
It solely struggled a few occasions throughout runs, when detecting a shift from a fairly excessive coronary heart charge of 160bpm to someplace within the mid 170s. The Forerunner might be sluggish off the mark with these increased exertion will increase, which resulted in a barely decrease “maximum” coronary heart charge in contrast with a Fenix 7 worn throughout the identical run.
However, some early Fenix 7 critiques additionally famous this, so the Forerunner 955’s conduct could change in future software program updates.
The Forerunner 955’s GPS is dependable and fast to triangulate, so long as you join the watch to Garmin Connect. Unlike an Apple Watch you need to use a Forerunner phone-free, however syncing to the Connect app in your telephone reduces GPS link-up time from 30 seconds to below 5 seconds. We can’t think about many individuals not doing so anyway.
More fascinated with step counts? A Forerunner 955 is whole overkill for such a job, however we’re pleased with its step calculations. The watch’s algorithm efficiently ignored the hand actions you’ll make whereas at a desk, assuming you’re not a wild gesticulator, and avoids overinflated step counts.
Verdict
The Garmin Forerunner 955 might be the best-value high-end Garmin watch. You lose the onerous, flashy-looking metallic on key surfaces seen within the Epix 3 and Fenix 7, however retain key options like on-watch maps and navigation.
New options like Training Readiness and Morning Report provide one thing for each poles of the Garmin viewers: critical athletes and folk who will typically use the watch as not more than an off-the-cuff health/well being tracker.
The Maps app is clunkier than the model seen within the Fenix 7. We hope to see this enhance in future software program updates. But the Forerunner 955 successfully will get you all the very best Garmin content material for much less cash. As such, we predict the non-Solar model maxes out on the Forerunner enchantment.
If this is not for you
If you’re blissful to spend extra, take a look at the Fenix 7. The bezel and underside are manufactured from metal or titanium, making it extra hardwearing. Arguably, it’s a better-looking watch, too, and its waterproofing is superior. However, the Fenix 7 is considerably heavier, which isn’t very best for sleep monitoring, and base fashions solely have half the interior storage.
Garmin Forerunner 255
The Forerunner 255 sits a step under the Forerunner 955. It’s accessible in the same dimension, or a lot smaller within the Forerunner 255S mannequin. This sequence misses out on a number of of the extra superior options, like on-watch maps and navigation, and bike turbo coach management. It has the identical core {hardware}, together with an Elevate v4 coronary heart charge array and Multi-Band GPS. An incredible possibility for individuals who don’t want options reserved for the costly bands.
It could seem odd celebrating the Forerunner 955’s worth when the Apple Watch Series 7 is increased profile, flashier and cheaper. The watch additionally makes a wonderful train tracker, because of its correct GPS and top-tier coronary heart charge sensor. However, it doesn’t have offline maps, can’t hook up with exterior sensors to the identical extent and (sometimes) must be charged every day. It’s an excellent look ahead to informal exercisers however doesn’t have the specialist enchantment of Garmin.
