Garmin announces Forerunner 955 and Forerunner 255 GPS running watches
Garmin has just announced a refresh of its GPS running watches with the Forerunner 955, which comes with solar charging and a touchscreen, and the Forerunner 255, which has a multi-GPS location for even more precise tracking.
The Forerunner 255 is a lightweight mid-range running watch based on the Forerunner 245. It is available in two sizes. The standard 46mm Forerunner 255 weighs 49 grams, while the smaller 41mm Forerunner 255S weighs 32 grams. There will also be variants of the Forerunner 255 Music and 255S Music, which are capable of storing up to 500 songs, support Spotify, Amazon Music, and Deezer playlists. The Music models cost $50 more. The watch received water protection (5 ATM), is designed for 14 days of battery life and up to 30 hours in GPS mode.
Key featured include a new racing widget, heart rate variability (HRV) tracking while you sleep, multi-band GPS, NFC for Garmin Pay, and the ability for triathletes to more easily switch between sports at the touch of a button. The widget contains information about the preparation for the competition, including predictions of results, weather forecast and countdown. The watch also received the "morning report" function. When the user wakes up, the watch provides weather forecast, daily workout recommendations and last night's sleep report, recovery time information, workout status, and so on. In addition, the watch still tracks blood oxygen levels (SpO2). Forerunner 255 price is $350.
The Forerunner 955 is a higher level running watch. The 47mm watch features an always-on full-color touchscreen in addition to five hardware buttons. Like the Forerunner 255, it comes with 5ATM water resistance, multi-band GPS, heart rate variability tracking, morning reports, and a new race widget. The Forerunner 955 is yet to receive an LTE version. Battery life is 15 days and 42 hours in GPS enabled mode. The solar-charged version of the 955 Solar lasts up to 20 days without recharging, 49 hours of which in GPS mode. Forerunner 955 cost $500. The Forerunner 955 in a solar-powered version — $600.