Garmin launches two Forerunner watches with new racing features

Image: Garmin

Just in time for Global Running Day, Garmin is introducing two new running watches to its lineup: the $349.99 Forerunner 255 and the $499.99 Forerunner 955. New racing features, including a racewidget, are included in both the gps and the watch. The Solar version of the Forerunner 955 will add solar charging for even longer battery life.

The Forerunner 255 is a running watch that builds on the Forerunner 245. It will come in two sizes. The standard Forerunner 255 will measure 46mm and weigh 49 grams, while the smaller 255S will measure 41mm and weigh 32 grams. There will be two versions of the watch that will be able to store up to 500 songs. It also includes music from Deezer. The Music models will cost an extra $50. The watches are rated for 5ATM of water resistance with an estimated 14 days of battery life.

The new additions include a racing widget, heart rate variation (HRV) status during sleep, multi-band gps, and the ability to switch between sports via a single button press. Performance predictions, race-day weather, and a clock will be included in the racewidget. Multi-band gps is an increasingly popular feature on multisport watches that boost gps accuracy by enabling communication with multiple satellite frequencies In environments where it is hard to get a good signal, the promise is better accuracy. The watch also has a morning report feature. A summary of the day's weather, a daily workout suggestion, and a report of last night's sleep, recovery time, and training status will be delivered when a user wakes up.

The 255 lineup has an NFC chip. It isn't too different sensor-wise. Continuous heart rate monitoring and SpO2 sensors are still present. The metric measures how well you recover from stress and how well you sleep. Push notifications, incident detection, and live tracking are some of the basic features that will be supported by the Forerunner 255 series. For training features, it will give users daily workout suggestions, access to training programs via Garmin Coach, and in-depth metrics on the Garmin Connect app.

Image: Garmin

The Forerunner 955 is a top-of-the-line running watch. It's not quite as full-featured as the Fenix series. It weighs 52 grams and has a 47mm always-on display. Button fans don't need to worry. The 955 has physical buttons that can be used with the touchscreen. It has a slightly longer battery life than the 255 series but is still rated for 5ATM of water resistance. The $599.99 Forerunner 955 Solar features a Power Glass lens. The 955 Solar gets up to 20 days on a single charge, with 49 hours in gps mode. Take that with a grain of salt, as this assumes you are getting three hours per day in 50,000 lux conditions.

The new Forerunner 955 has multi-bandGPS, HRV status, morning reports, and a new racewidget. There is a new training readiness metric. The metric takes into account sleep, recovery time, HRV, and a few other metrics to give users a score indicating how ready they are for a training session. The real-time tracking was first introduced with the Fenix 7 series.

The staple features of the Forerunner 955 are health tracking and smart features. It adds a few extra training metrics, like ClimbPro, that give real-time guidance on your pace. You can store a lot more songs on the 955.

The Forerunner 255 and 955 are available today. The Forerunner 255 is available in four different colors. The Forerunner 955 is black and white.