My Initial Thoughts After 1-Week With the Garmin Forerunner 255
The Battery Life is AMAZING!
With the weather starting to get better, I finally decided that it was the right time to start working towards one of my New Year’s resolutions, which was to be more active.
This year, I plan to cycle even more miles, spend more time at the gym and start doing an activity I always hated, running.
To help me along with that, I decided to invest in a watch that is dedicated to those types of activities, the Garmin Forerunner 225.
The Garmin Forerunner 255 comes in 2 versions, including the basic version and the music version which allows you to store around 500 tracks from Spotify, Amazon Music and Deezer.
I went with the basic version, which I might regret when I start running, but we’ll see how it goes.
Anyway, without any further ado, here are my thoughts after daily driving this watch for a week…
This isn’t a regular smartwatch
The first thing I wanted to talk about is the fact that this isn’t a regular smartwatch, it’s far from that.
If you are after a watch that you can download apps to and keep in touch with people, I would look elsewhere. The watch doesn’t even have a touch screen, which may sound like a dealbreaker for some, but trust me it still works incredibly well with the buttons.
I would even say that the fact that there are buttons instead of a touch screen gives the watch a more natural user experience.
Speaking about smart features, you can actually download apps to it using the Garmin IQ Store app on your phone but don’t expect Apple Watch-style apps.
Most of the apps available are to do with mapping and fitness, but you do get known apps such as Komoot, which I always use on my phone when looking for cycling or hiking trails. You can also get watch faces, which I haven’t tried yet.
The watch is also compatible with Garmin Pay, which is great for people like me who go on long cycling trips, as it means I can stop in cafés and buy snacks along the route.
However, not many banks seem to support this feature yet, you can check if your bank is supported here.
The battery life is AMAZING!
I unboxed this watch on Saturday and gave it a full charge, it’s now Friday morning and the battery level is at 47%.
Considering the fact that I’ve been using the watch to track various activities, including a 20-mile cycle ride on Sunday evening as well as several long walks, I think that that is amazing!
With many other smartwatches or activity trackers I used in the past, I would usually have to either top up the charge or fully charge the watch either after the activity or on the same day as the activity.
I don’t think that having to charge a watch frequently is bad, especially if the activities that you do are under 2 hours, but it’s the long activities that can have an impact.
For example, during the summer I went hiking in the Tatra mountains and I decided to switch from my Google Pixel Watch to the Garmin Instinct as I didn’t think the Pixel Watch would cope with a 10-hour hike. I kind of regret not testing that.
Great fitness features and tracking
In all honesty, I wasn’t actually planning to get this watch to begin with, I was actually looking at the Garmin Vivoactive 5 which looks like your typical smartwatch and has a better screen.
The one thing that put me off was that it didn’t have a barometric altimeter. To me, it was a deal-breaker as I want to be able to accurately track my altitude, particularly when hiking in the mountains or cycling uphill.
Back on topic, the Garmin Forerunner 255 has some very impressive fitness features that are already making a difference in my everyday life, starting with Recovery time, which tells me how long it takes to recover before my next high-effort workout. It’s based on your latest training as well as my overall stress, sleep and daily activities.
I think this is a great feature which has not only helped me become less tired but it’s also helped me become more productive as I am less tired.
The watch also provides me with some great insights when it comes to sleep tracking. I’m a big fan of the Morning Report feature, which gives you an overview of your sleep, recovery, and training outlook when you wake up. You can even customise this report with the information relevant to you.
My overall thoughts after a week
Based on my usage, I think that it’s an excellent fitness watch. Don’t get me wrong, I do miss having a traditional smartwatch on my wrist such as the Apple Watch or a WearOS alternative, but you get used to it.
The main reason I tend to use a smartwatch is so that I can see important notifications and track my fitness, which the Garmin Forerunner 255 does very well.
But it’s still early days and I haven’t yet had a chance to try all the features. That is why I will write a follow-up after daily driving this watch for a month.