Breaking with tradition, Garmin released a new set of Forerunner watches two years in a row. The Garmin Forerunner 965, Garmin Forerunner 265, and smaller 265S have arrived to shake up our list of Garmin’s best watches, complete with new AMOLED screens – a huge improvement in appearance and brightness over their predecessor’s dull pixelated memory.
The Garmin Forerunner 965 is the biggest and best in the range, and it’s what we’re going to dive into to help you decide if it’s really worth the money. Our full review is coming soon, but in the meantime, we’ve broken down all the information you need to help you decide if you want a watch before it hits the shelves.
Garmin Forerunner 965: get down to business
- What is this? Another premium running watch from Garmin and a follow-up to the acclaimed Forerunner 955
- when is it coming out? March 27
- How much? $599.99 / £599.99 / AU$999
Garmin Forerunner 965: Specifications
Below we have created a table containing the most important specifications of the Garmin Forerunner 965 and how it compares to its predecessor, the Garmin Forerunner 955.
| Hi | Garmin Forerunner 965 | Garmin Forerunner 955 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $599.99 / £599.99 / AU$999 | Solar: $599.99 / £549.99 / AU$899.99. Outside Solar: $499.99 £479.99 / AU$799 |
| Dimensions | 47.2×47.2×13.2(mm) | 46.5×46.5×14.4(mm) |
| Libra | 53 gr | 52g |
| Housing/frame | Titanium | Fiber reinforced polymer |
| display | 454 x 454 px AMOLED, Corning Gorilla Glass | 260 x 260 MIP pixels, Corning Gorilla Glass |
| GPS? | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, SATIQ | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, SATIQ |
| Battery life | 23 days (31 GPS hours) | Solar: 20 days (49 hours GPS), Non-solar: 15 days (41 hours GPS) |
| Connection | Bluetooth, ANT+, WiFi | Bluetooth, ANT+, WiFi |
| Waterproof? | Yes, 5ATM | Yes, 5ATM |
Garmin Forerunner 965: design
The Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar was crowned our favorite running watch last year, and little has changed internally: it’s still the same excellent watch at heart. In fact, his insides are a little too similar; it will perform almost exactly like the 955, which leads us to believe that this updated version may be a little premature.
However, the exterior has at least been redesigned, with the most notable feature being the bright AMOLED screen. The Garmin Forerunner 965’s 1.4-inch, 454 x 454-pixel touchscreen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, making it as durable as the old version. The 955 was also a touchscreen, but had the old pixel memory format and was only 1.3 inches. You can see the AMOLED touchscreen in more detail in our early hands-on look at the Garmin Forerunner 265S.
The case has also been redesigned to accommodate a larger screen, but that’s not the only change. The up and down buttons have been replaced with “music” and “list” icons (although functionally they are still the same), and the “play” icon is now centered on the larger top right button, which is usually used to stop and start exercise. The larger button is more glove-friendly than the previous iteration, although the 265 and 265S replaced the “play” icon with a “gear” legend.
The watch comes in three color options: matte black, stone white, and the attractive yellow AMP, which you can see below:
Garmin Forerunner 965: Features
The Forerunner 965 has all the features that made the 955 great, with one exception: no solar option. The 955 used Garmin’s battery-extending Power Glass, which helped extend the life of the watch with solar power when you spend a few hours outside. That’s gone, presumably because Garmin hasn’t yet been able to provide both an AMOLED screen and Power Glass features.
However, Garmin says the battery will last longer than the Solar 955 in smartwatch mode, up to 23 days instead of Solar’s 20, but that power-hungry AMOLED screen reduces GPS mode’s battery life to 31 hours. While it still impresses, it’s not as good anymore, so those who go on full-trail weekends need to keep that in mind.
Otherwise, the watch works pretty much the same with very minor internal changes: both can play music with 32GB of storage, both pack Garmin’s multi-band GPS with GNSS and GLONASS coverage, and both can take advantage of newer features like Garmin’s Training Readiness score, an updated version of the Body Battery widget that provides a morning report with key recovery metrics.
Oxygen saturation heart rate, fitness age, post-workout abnormal heart rate alerts, women’s health and more health metrics have also been transferred. It also has the same advanced running metrics including pace, distance, time, heart rate and effort. Full-color maps and TracBack allow you to navigate on running trails or in the wild, although we would have liked to see more audio navigation.
Other than the cosmetic changes, it’s more or less the same watch in every way, so while it’s a beautiful fitness watch in its own right, if you already own a 955 there’s no point in upgrading.
Garmin Forerunner 965: Leaks preceding the premiere of the watch
Before the launch of both watches, we knew they were coming due to more leaks regarding the smaller 265.
As reported by 5K runner (opens in a new tab), a reliable leak site, photos of the Garmin Forerunner 265 surfaced online last year. The images allegedly show a new AMOLED screen replacing the battery-saving MIP 255 offering, suggesting that Garmin has advanced its energy efficiency tech to the point where it can offer an AMOLED screen of a “true” modern smartwatch without compromising the Forerunner. impressive battery life.
An early listing that was posted on a golf website and then quickly removed according to ours sibling Advnture website (opens in a new tab) and Flo from Fitness Tracker Test, provided more reported details on the 965 and 265. The retailer list from 5 Under Golf confirmed the rumor of improved AMOLED screens for both models, as well as the fact that the 955’s training readiness assessment feature will be available on the 265, and also a 965. The listing also suggested there would be a brighter yellow and black color option for busy bees who are fed up with dull black watch cases and are looking for something a bit brighter.
Another seemingly premature offer that was quickly removed came from retailer Running Direct, which provided pricing information: The Forerunner 965 is it is rumored to cost €649.99 while the 265 is said to cost €499.99 (opens in a new tab); if correct, these prices will be around $700 / £570 / AU$1,000 and $530 / £440 / AU$770, although the actual prices are likely to be different.
RunningDirect is the third online retailer to announce the upcoming Forerunner 265 and Forerunner 965, and the first to confirm projected prices of €499.99 and €649.99.#garmin #forerunner #running #sports #wearables pic.twitter.com/ kDvGbhEOqVJanuary 26, 2023
Another tweet from FTTest (opens in a new tab) reported a leak from its own Garmin website, which accidentally appeared photos of watches.
The render below shows the dimensions of the Forerunner 965’s screen based on all of the above rumors, which is 0.1 inch larger than the screen on the 955, with a larger version of Garmin’s “Start” button in the upper right corner. It wasn’t too far!
Since Garmin accidentally shared photos of the Forerunner 965 on their website, I was able to visualize the relationship between the FR965 and the FR955 a little better. Thanks to @the5krunner for pointing it out. Still no precise CAD drawing.#garmin #forerunner #leak pic.twitter.com/1PDKHqZdghFebruary 9, 2023