Garmin Forerunner 955 Review: Best-Value Sports Watch for Everyday Athletes
Gear · Published 6/15/2023 ·
Someone I know mentioned they were after a smartwatch — something to track their workouts. The wish list went like this: charging shouldn’t be a hassle, it shouldn’t cost a fortune, the waterproofing had to be solid, and phone notifications needed to come through reliably. This is a person who enjoys running, hiking, swimming, and a bit of aerobics. For that kind of use, an Apple Watch would’ve been worth considering — but the battery charging situation ruled it out.
So, as usual, I went back to the brand I know best: Garmin. I scanned through the Forerunner lineup, went a little over budget, but the 955 just felt like the best bang for the buck — and right now it’s discounted by 100,000 won. I’m guessing the next generation must be just around the corner.
Among the Forerunner series, the 955 is rated by the manufacturer for up to 15 days in everyday smartwatch mode. But from a user’s standpoint, as long as it lasts a week there’s really no problem, so I figured it was fine — and realistically, you’ll probably feel the need to charge it after about a week of use.
If you focus on an hour of exercise a day and toss in swimming or post-run showers and sleep tracking, the battery will be drained within a week. Honestly, it might even fall a little short.
But for someone like me — the type who’d get neurotic about the hassle of charging every single day, the pressure of keeping it topped up, and lugging a charger around when traveling — an Apple Watch or Galaxy Watch is obviously not something I’d recommend.
It packs in pretty much all the standard features. There are slight differences from the high-end models like the Fenix or Enduro when it comes to water resistance rating, battery capacity, housing, and so on, but it’s still the top of the Forerunner line. And in exchange, it costs less than half the price. The specs might feel like a bit much for a beginner, but for someone who’ll use one device for five years, I felt this was actually the better value. The person is still using an iPhone 8 going on six years now, so five years out of this is a given — and I figured if I get the battery swapped around the three-year mark, there’d be no issues.
The box packaging has gotten smaller, and the QuickFit size is 22mm.
The screen-protector film artwork makes it look like it’ll deliver enough battery to finish a marathon with no trouble.
The screen isn’t small at all. It’s not chunky or rugged-looking — it’s actually quite handsome.
That display takes some real getting used to at first, but once you’ve used it for a while, it’s a screen that gives you zero trouble when checking your data.
Since the user is a woman, I went with the white housing.
Features like training status and the morning report are much the same as on other Garmin models.
You can check on your heart’s condition too.
Since I gave it as a gift, this was a bought-with-my-own-money review.
This is a sports watch I can recommend to people who enjoy a moderate amount of activity, don’t mind being free of the charging pressure, and don’t need the convenience of tapping their watch to pay for things. It does have features like AI automatically detecting the workout you’re currently doing — the way an Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy Watch does — but they don’t work as accurately as on those watches. That said, once you manually start an activity, it tracks everything precisely from that point on.
Thank you.
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