Garmin has announced new Forerunner GPS running watches with many options at both ends of the market. Forerunner 255 and Forerunner 955 Series are available today.
The watches, which have been announced to coincide with Global Running Day, sound like a big step forward for the series and look set to offer a normally excellent experience for those on different budgets. All are available for purchase starting today.
Let’s start with the new Forerunner 955 series of smart watches, designed for triathletes. The headliner is the Forerunner 955 Solar model, which offers a new Power Glass charging capacity that can power the device for up to 49 hours in GPS mode and 20 days in smartwatch mode. Solar charging is the key update to the Forerunner 945 series.
There’s also a new full-color, always on-screen touchscreen interface that joins the normal five-button physical controls. There’s now a multi-band GPS and a new “training readiness” feature that uses sleep, recovery, and heart rate variability metrics to inform users of how ready they are to make a personal choice.
There is also a new morning report with information on sleep, weather and workout suggestions. Runners will get real-time endurance information when they go out on foot or by bike, while there’s a new race widget that can provide a performance prediction and more.
The Forerunner 955 Solar is £ 599.99, while the standard edition is £ 519.99.
Meanwhile, the Forerunner 255 series (below) promises improved support for triathletes, better battery life, new training modes, and improved smartwatch features.
The Forerunner 255 and Forerunner 255 Music offer 46mm case sizes for £ 349, while the lighter 255S and 255S Music are 41mm and cost £ 299.99. Improvements over the Forerunner 245 include the aforementioned morning report, race widget, and HRV status updates. Garmin Pay is also on board the 200 Series for the first time. Multiband GPS is also available here.
All watches are also available starting today.