At a look<br>
Knowledgeable’s Score
Professionals
- Smaller case than common 255
- Improved GPS accuracy
- Helpful Morning Report characteristic
Cons
- Lacks AMOLED from 265
- Worth bounce with music version
- No Coaching Readiness characteristic
Our Verdict
The Garmin Forerunner 255S may lack the additional splash of color you get on the AMOLED-packing Forerunner 265, however that is nonetheless an awesome operating look ahead to runners getting extra critical about placing in additional targeted time on the treadmill, trails or pavement.
Worth When Reviewed
$349.99
Greatest Costs Right this moment: Garmin Forerunner 255S
$319.99
Garmin has a sports activities watch at just about each value level and when you’re a runner who’s began to get extra critical about that operating time, the Forerunner 255S is a watch constructed for you.
The follow-up to the Forerunner 245 grabs Garmin’s new multiband GNSS mode from its top-end watches to enhance out of doors monitoring accuracy in sometimes difficult circumstances together with providing two case sizes and continues to be one thing swimmers, cyclists and now triathletes can put to good monitoring use.
It has since been succeeded by the Forerunner 265, which most notably provides an AMOLED display into the combo, however with the 255S providing an analogous characteristic set outdoors of that AMOLED for much less, it’s nonetheless a operating watch price casting an eye fixed over.
Design & construct
- Weighs 39g
- 1.1-inch transflective show
- Waterproof as much as 50 metres
The Forerunner 255S is the smaller of the 2 case choices the 255 is offered in, with a 41mm-sized case versus a 46mm one. So when you like the concept of a watch that doesn’t dominate on the wrist, then that is the 255 mannequin for you.
Mike Sawh
You can too seize the 255S in music or non-music editions. The previous provides a built-in 32GB music participant to retailer your personal bought audio or offline playlists from music streaming providers together with Spotify and Deezer. Choosing the music version does push the value up by $50/£50.
That 41mm case is constructed from polymer, which is just about the go-to materials for Garmin’s Forerunner watches and that’s matched up with an 18mm silicone strap that’s effectively constructed for train and could be eliminated if you need one thing extra trendy or vibrant as a replacement.
Together with a typical array of bodily buttons there’s a 1.1-inch, 218 x 218 decision reminiscence in pixel (MIP) show. That’s a smaller show than discovered on the 245 and in addition a drop in decision.
That does imply it lacks the extra vibrant and vibrant AMOLED you’ll discover on the brand new Forerunner 265 and it’s not a touchscreen show both. Should you’re blissful residing with out that AMOLED touchscreen, then you definitely’re nonetheless getting a good-sized display right here with stable viewing angles indoors and outdoor that was additionally positive to view throughout pool swims.
On the swimming entrance, it carries the identical waterproof ranking as its predecessor so it may be submerged in water as much as 50 metres deep and also you don’t must take it off when having a shower, although it’s price taking it off every so often to wash the sweat off the strap.
Mike Sawh
Flip the watch over and also you’ll discover Garmin’s personal optical sensor that gives coronary heart price information constantly and through train and moreover provides blood oxygen measurements throughout sleep or all through the day. That’s additionally the place you’ll discover the charging port, which is the spot for Garmin’s fairly common charging cable for many of its watches although it lacks the wi-fi charging assist Garmin launched to its Vivomove Pattern hybrid smartwatch.
General, it’s been a really snug time carrying the 255S. Sure, it’s small, nevertheless it’s gentle and unobtrusive and has a adequate show to take in your metrics and different insights it serves up on the transfer.
Well being and health monitoring
- HRV Standing delves deeper into restoration
- Improved GPS efficiency
- Now contains open water swim monitoring
Forerunner could be within the title, however like different Forerunner watches, the 255S additionally has the sensors and monitoring options to trace swimming, biking and has profiles for climbing, snowboarding and snowboarding amongst different extra outdoorsy pursuits.
Mike Sawh
Garmin has bolstered the sports activities profiles out there with the 255S now getting an open water swimming mode and a devoted triathlon mode to make it a extra inexpensive triathlon watch in Garmin’s assortment.
In case you are turning to it for operating, then there’s lots right here. It covers operating profiles for ultras and observe operating, and you’ve got entry to Garmin Coach to sync exercises from applications constructed for 5K as much as half marathon distance. There’s additionally a visible race predictor to offer you a way of what you may find yourself operating on race day based mostly on exercise historical past.
The large additions right here on this division are Garmin’s new multi-band GNSS mode and SATIQ expertise. The primary of these is just like the twin band mode used on the Apple Watch Extremely, tapping into a number of frequency bands from supported satellite tv for pc programs to ship richer accuracy, notably when close to tall buildings, bushes and mountain ranges.
Utilizing multi-band GNSS means sacrificing extra battery than utilizing the usual GPS monitoring mode, however does notably ship extra correct information and did once we in contrast information to a non-dual band operating watch operating close to huge buildings, which may sometimes impression on location monitoring accuracy.
The SATIQ expertise is utilized by Garmin to robotically decide which degree of satellite tv for pc assist it’s best to use given your environment and site. So the concept is that you just’re not losing battery utilizing the highest finish positioning mode once you don’t want it. Finally although, I discovered that manually selecting the GPS mode was one of the simplest ways to go in most situations.
Mike Sawh
Garmin has additionally sought to supply extra when it comes to insights into your restoration and in addition doing a greater job of packaging your information in a method that you could higher take in it. On the evaluation entrance, you now have one thing referred to as HRV standing, which makes use of coronary heart price variability measurements taken from the optical sensor throughout sleep. Because the watch gathers these measurements over a couple of weeks it tries to higher perceive in case your physique is dealing with your present coaching load.
Whereas a faucet of the highest bodily button will reveal in case your HRV standing is nice or dangerous, the presentation of it feels a contact complicated. It might have undoubtedly benefited from together with the Coaching Readiness characteristic, which is offered on the brand new Forerunner 265 and different pricier Garmin watches. It takes that HRV standing and different items of your monitoring information to offer you a extra simplified method of figuring out whether or not it’s best to practice or ease off.
It’s one thing that I like in regards to the new Morning Report, which you’ll see once you get up telling you ways you’ve slept, the climate forecast, recommended exercises to do for the day and just a little motivational message to place some pep in your step. It feels a bit gimmicky, nevertheless it’s a characteristic I’ve warmed to over time and it’s fairly a helpful factor to take a look at very first thing once you get up.
On prime of these new options, the 255S has all the pieces the 245 provided. Whether or not that’s monitoring every day exercise and sleep or dispensing stress and blood oxygen saturation information, it may be helpful as a health tracker and a monitor on your common wellbeing, however lacks the extra critical well being monitoring options you’ll discover on the smartwatches just like the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch.
The guts price monitor carried out fairly effectively each for regular paced and extra excessive depth exercises in opposition to Garmin’s personal HRM Professional Plus coronary heart price monitor chest strap, with scope to pair up an exterior coronary heart price monitor to bolster accuracy.
The 255S nonetheless lacks the total mapping assist you’ll get on Garmin’s top-end Forerunner, Fenix and Epix watches, nevertheless it does provide point-to-point navigation and the power to see breadcrumb trails in actual time, which nonetheless makes it helpful to get round or get again house when you’ve obtained a bit misplaced.
The Forerunner 255S’s sports activities monitoring is well-rounded, providing good accuracy, a wealthy degree of coaching evaluation and a few new options that do make it extra dependable and insightful on these fronts too.
Smartwatch options
- Spotify offline playlist syncing
- Security and stay monitoring options
- Works with Garmin Pay
As a smartwatch, the 255S does a fairly admirable job of being helpful once you’re not out monitoring train. It really works with Android and iOS and the expertise of utilizing the Garmin Join companion telephone app throughout these platforms is fairly constant when it comes to presentation and reliability of setup, pairing and syncing the watch.
Mike Sawh
By way of smartwatch options, it’s the exact same ones included on the 245. You’ve entry to Garmin’s Join IQ Retailer, which isn’t at Apple App Retailer degree of high quality when it comes to apps, however is a helpful place for grabbing some extra watch faces, information fields and further widgets if just a little gradual at instances to obtain and sync them over.
Viewing notifications works effectively regardless of that small display, although it could be a nicer expertise with the added touchscreen performance you get on the Forerunner 265. Should you’re utilizing it with an Android telephone, you may reply to texts and the notifications (out of luck on iPhone) and the assist normally is best than you’ll discover on most sports activities watches.
Garmin Pay is supported right here too, letting you make contactless funds from the watch in case your financial institution is supported and it labored positive for me after I wanted to shortly seize a drink. But it surely does lack the slickness and supported banks you get from rival watch-based cost programs.
Mike Sawh
Then you’ve got the music options, which is made up of the controls you need to use for controlling audio taking part in in your telephone and the built-in music participant to retailer bought audio and playlists from Spotify, Deezer and Amazon Music.
There’s capability to retailer as much as about 500 songs and getting playlists over from supported music streaming providers could be carried out in a comparatively simple style. Utilizing the music streaming throughout monitoring dents the battery extra, however the assist works effectively, it was straightforward to pair a bunch of various Bluetooth headphones to make use of it.
Once more, it could be good to have a touchscreen right here to work together with the music options, however if you need the power to stream music, podcasts and audiobooks on a sports activities watch, you need a Garmin just like the 255s in your wrist.
Battery life and charging
- As much as 12 days in smartwatch mode
- As much as 26 hours in GPS mode
- As much as 5.5 hours with music streaming
The Garmin Forerunner 255S is a watch I’d say is constructed to final a superb week when you’re planning to make use of its key sports activities monitoring and smartwatch options regularly all through that week. Garmin says it needs to be 12 days, however attending to that quantity means lighter use of core monitoring modes. Such longevity is helped by the MIP display somewhat than a power-hungry AMOLED.
Mike Sawh
The largest drain on battery life right here is the music streaming and the continual blood oxygen saturation monitoring, which sees the battery life drop fairly dramatically. Should you can stay with out that 24/7 blood oxygen information, then it’s price disabling it.
Should you swap to the brand new multiband GNSSS out of doors monitoring mode, that quantity drops from 26 hours to 13 hours to offer you a way of the distinction in battery utilization. Add music streaming into the combo and that drops to five.5 hours. That’s nonetheless adequate to final an extended marathon, however listening to music does hit the battery onerous.
The numbers are larger than what was promised on the Forerunner 245, however in contrast to numerous dearer Garmin watches, you’re getting one thing right here that may maintain out for per week with the potential to go additional when you sacrifice a few of these extra battery-hungry options.
Worth and availability
The Garmin Forerunner 255S prices $349.99/£299.99 or $399.99/£349.99 for the music model. You should purchase it direct from Garmin.
It’s additionally out there from Amazon US or Amazon UK.
The 255S undoubtedly sits at that extra midrange class of sports activities watches, so it’s a good bit of a bounce from Garmin’s entry degree watches just like the Forerunner 55 ($199.99/£149.99) and the likes of the Coros Tempo 2 ($199.99/£179.99), which does provide an analogous characteristic set for much less cash.
It does additionally share related options to the Forerunner 265, which sees roughly a $100/£100 value bounce in comparison with the 255S to get that added AMOLED show and a few of Garmin’s newest software program options.
Verdict
The Garmin Forerunner 255S may not be the most recent mannequin on this explicit Forerunner vary, however that doesn’t imply it’s best to totally low cost shopping for it both.
Should you’re not that fussed about having an AMOLED touchscreen show and options like Coaching Readiness and some additional sports activities profiles and would gladly take an even bigger battery as a substitute, then there’s nonetheless causes to go for the 255S.
It provides a extremely complete expertise total and never only for runners both. Should you have been on the lookout for a Garmin watch that may work as a triathlon watch, then it’s price taking a look at too.
The issue Garmin has is that the Coros Tempo 2 can provide numerous what the 255S provides for much less cash. It’s not a greater smartwatch and the UI received’t be everybody’s cup of tea, however for sports activities monitoring and worth, it’s up there with the 255.
The Garmin Forerunner 255S provides an awesome expertise total, that’s not as dear because the newer 265 and reveals going for an older watch isn’t essentially a nasty factor.
Specs
- 1.1in 218 x 218p MIP show
- Gorilla Glass 3
- Polymer casing
- 4GB RAM
- 5 ATM water ranking
- 18mm fast launch straps
- 41 x 41 x 12.4mm
- 39g