On the eve of World Running Day, Garmin introduced two new running watches in its Forerunner line: the Forerunner 255 for $ 349.99 and the Forerunner 955 (solar-powered) for $ 499.99.
Forerunner 255 is a lightweight middle-class running watch based on the Forerunner 245. It will come in two sizes. The standard Forerunner 255 will measure 46 mm and weigh 49 g, and the smaller 255S will weigh 41 mm and 32 g. There will also be Forerunner 255 Music and 255S Music, which can store up to 500 songs on the watch itself. Music models will cost an additional $ 50. The watch is designed for water resistance up to 5 ATM, 14 days of battery life and up to 30 hours in GPS mode.
Key features this time include a new racing widget, sleep heart rate (HRV) status, multi-band GPS and the ability for triathletes to switch faster between sports at the touch of a button. The race widget will contain information about the preparation for the race, including forecasts of results, weather on the day of the race and the countdown. Multi-band GPS is the most popular feature in a multi-sport watch that enhances GPS accuracy by providing communication with multiple satellite frequencies. Promises accuracy in conditions where it is difficult to get a good signal. Finally, the watch is also equipped with a “morning report” function. When the user wakes up, the watch provides brief information about the weather for the day, suggestions for daily workouts, as well as a report on last night’s sleep, recovery time, workout status and HRV.
Compared to the Forerunner 245, the 255 line includes an NFC chip for Garmin Pay. It is still equipped with continuous heart rate monitoring, as well as SpO2 sensors to enable features such as Body Battery. The metric measures how well you recover during sleep, as well as how exhausted you are during the day due to stress. The Forerunner 255 series will also support basic smartwatch features such as push notifications, Garmin security features, incident detection and real-time tracking. It will also provide users with recommendations for daily training, as well as access to training programs through Garmin Coach and detailed indicators in Garmin Connect.
Garmin Forerunner 955 is more of a premium watch for runners, which is equipped with a 47 mm permanently included full-color touch screen weighing 52 g. However, fans of buttons have nothing to worry about. The 955 includes five physical buttons that can be used with the touch screen. Like the 255 series, it is designed for water resistance of 5 ATM, but has a slightly longer battery life, about 15 days, with 42 hours in GPS mode. There is also the Forerunner 955 Solar for $ 599.99, which uses a patented Garmin Power Glass lens. With solar charging 955 Solar works up to 20 days without charging, of which 49 hours in GPS mode.
The Forerunner 955 also features multi-band GPS, HRV status, morning reports and a new race widget. In addition, it has a new training readiness metric. As the name implies, this metric takes into account sleep, recovery time, HRV and some other indicators to give users an estimate that shows how ready they are to train. Also added is the real-time endurance tracking feature that Garmin introduced for the first time in the Fenix 7 series.
In terms of health and intelligence tracking, the Forerunner 955 has the same basic features as the Model 255. However, it adds a few additional training metrics, such as PacePro and ClimbPro, that provide real-time recommendations for your pace and altitude. You can also save more songs – 955 – 2000, to be exact.
Both the Forerunner 255 and Forerunner 955 are available today. The Forerunner 255 is available in four colors: gray, pink, blue and black. And the Forerunner 955 is available in white and black.