Garmin, a manufacturer of fitness-focused smartwatches, has announced the release of two smartwatches designed specifically for runners, the Forerunner 955 Solar and the Forerunner 255. The former adds solar charging and a new training readiness metric, while the latter adds a slew of new racing features and multi-band GPS. Let us take a closer look at both smartwatches.
Garmin Forerunner 255 Features:
The Forerunner 255 is a lightweight smartwatch with a sleek design that comes in two sizes: 46mm (49g) and 41mm (32g) (named Forerunner 255s). It is water-resistant to 5ATM and features a 1.3″ screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The watch tracks steps, calories burned, floors climbed, distance travelled, intensity minutes, and much more in terms of activity tracking.
It includes a new racing widget, SpO2 sensors, HRV status during sleep, multi-band GPS, and the ability for triathletes to switch between sports more easily with a single button press. The race widget will include information on how to prepare for the race, such as performance predictions, race day weather, and a countdown clock.
The smartwatch will provide a daily morning report with weather, temperature, and other information for the day, as well as daily workout suggestions and access to training programmes via Garmin Coach and in-depth metrics via the Garmin Connect app.
The Forerunner 255 has an NFC sensor that allows you to use Garmin Pay. It has a battery life of up to 14 days in smartwatch mode and up to 30 hours in GPS mode. Buyers can upgrade to the music edition of the smartwatch for an additional US $50, which allows them to store up to 500 songs.
Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar Features:
The Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar has a 47mm dial with a 1.3″ full colour touchscreen display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass DX, a fiber-reinforced polymer bezel, a silicon strap, 5ATM water resistance, 5 physical buttons for easy operation, and weighs 53g. There’s also a Solar Forerunner 955 with Garmin’s proprietary Power Glass lens.
It also includes a new racing widget, SpO2 sensors, HRV status during sleep, multi-band GPS, similar to the Forerunner 255, and a few extra training metrics, such as PacePro and ClimbPro, which provide real-time guidance on your pace and elevation.
The new training readiness metric in the Forerunner 955 takes into account sleep, recovery time, HRV, and a few other metrics to provide users with a score indicating how “ready” they are for a training session. Steps, calories burned, floors climbed, distance travelled, intensity minutes, and much more are all tracked by the watch.
Every morning, the smartwatch will give you a report on the weather, temperature, and so on, as well as workout suggestions, access to training programmes through Garmin Coach, and detailed metrics on the Garmin Connect app.
The battery life is estimated to be 15 days in smartwatch mode and 42 hours in GPS mode. With solar charging, the 955 Solar can last up to 20 days in smartwatch mode and 49 hours in GPS mode.
Pricing and Availability:
The Garmin Forerunner 255 and Forerunner 255S comes with gray, pink, blue, and black and costs US$ 349 (Rs. 27,050 approx.) (US$ 50 extra for music edition).
The Garmin Forerunner 955 comes in black and white colors and costs US$ 499 (Rs. 38,700 approx.) for non-solar variant, while solar variant costs US$ 599 (Rs. 46,455 approx.).