It’s true that there are many notable smartwatches in the market including the recent ones from Huawei and Samsung. Still, there’s one particular model – the new Garmin Forerunner 265 – that really stands out from the crowd with it’s robust suite of workout and training features which makes it an ideal companion for true runners.
Thanks to Garmin Singapore, we actually got a chance to test out the new Forerunner 265 for slightly more than two weeks and here are five of our favorite features of this latest smartwatch.
1) An Ultra-Comfort Design
The Garmin Forerunner 265 is available in three different colorways such as Aqua (Blue), Black and Whitestone (White). Each of these colors has it’s own charm though I personally prefer the Aqua (Blue) version as the color looks more striking and lively than the other two colors, giving it a more sporty outlook that goes well with your training attire.
While the overall design of the watch may looks pretty simple, the key highlight actually lies in the comfort it offers. Compared to most other 46mm-equivalent smartwatch models, the Forerunner 265 felt much lighter on hand thanks to it’s amicable weight of just 47 grams which makes it comfortable to wear even for long hours.
It’s high quality silicon strap also felt smooth and gentle on the skin, and has a vast number of holes for the clasp which allows you to find a suitable width for a more comfortable wearing experience. Speaking of the strap, it features an intuitive quick-release pin which allows it to be removed easily and swapped with any official or third-party strap whenever you long for a change.
2) Sharp & Vibrant AMOLED Screen
Next, the Forerunner 265’s display. It’s a high-end AMOLED display which is certainly more pleasant to look at compared to traditional LCDs found in older models including Garmin’s own Forerunner 255.
It sports an overall resolution of 416 x 416 pixels and has an impressive peak brightness that goes up to 2,000 nits in outdoor environment. This is an important (but often overlooked) feature which ensures the screen remain visible even under harsh sunlight – so you wouldn’t have to strain your eyes when checking your workout stats.
Those coming from the older Forerunner 255 or 245 would also appreciate the new touchscreen feature on the Forerunner 265 which makes it more user-friendly, especially for those who’re relatively new to smartwatches.
3) Best-in-class Tracking Features
In terms of health and fitness tracking, there’s no doubt that the Garmin Forerunner 265 has one of the most robust tracking features you could possibly find on a smartwatch. Besides sporting the usual ones like SpO2, heart rate, sleep quality, stress level and daily steps count, the Forerunner 265 take things further by offering a more holistic and in-depth review of your overall health status.
Let’s take the Garmin Morning Report feature as an example. It comes in the form of a notification that lists out key metrices such as Body Battery level which carries an assigned value between 0 to 100 to help you better manage your personal energy resources around the clock. That’s because knowing your current Body Battery level would let you know when you are ready to benefit from a challenge and when taking it easy is the wise choice.
For general day-to-day usage, Body Battery in my opinion is certainly good enough for planning light workout. However, it might not be as useful for those planning for heavy workouts such as weight lifting or endurance training since having a high energy level doesn’t necessary means your muscles are fully recovered from fatigue.
That’s precisely why Garmin introduced a new and more accurate feature known as Training Readiness which fixes what Body Battery level fails to take into account – acute load and recovery time. Hence, it’s certainly a much better indicator for your body’s suitability for strenuous exercises.
4) Features That Make Your Run More Exciting
While most smartwatches do support music playback, not all models support offline music playback like the Forerunner 265 which allows you to enjoy your favorite music even in the absence of your smartphone. This is made possible thanks to it’s ample 8GB internal storage which can store thousand of songs to keep you companied during workouts when your phone might not be close at hand.
Those who love to share on socials would also fall in love with Garmin’s LiveTrack feature which creates a real-time view of your location during an activity, so friends and family can follow along using the Garmin Connect app. Since this feature is available out of the box, there’s no longer a need to rely on any additional third-party app.
On the more geeky side of things, the Forerunner 265 also has an intuitive feature dubbed as Running Dynamics that feeds you with intricate details such as Ground Contact Time, Stride Length, Vertical Oscillation, Vertical Ratio and Running Power. While these data might not be applicable to casual runners, they are definitely useful for professional runners who can leverage these data to better evaluate their training progress.
5) Exceptional Battery Life That Last For Weeks
Another aspect which sets the Forerunner 265 apart from other competing models is battery life. In smartphone mode, I was able to get around 12 – 13 days of usage on a single charge, and around 20 hours in GPS mode. This might not be the most enduring battery life among Garmin smartwatches, but it’s easily one of the best in the sub-$700 category.
As far as charging is concerned, the Forerunner 265 uses Garmin’s proprietary charger which has a 4-pin (magnetic) connector that clicks to the underside of the watch. During my testing, it took only around an hour time to recharge a completely flat battery from 0 to 100% which is actually pretty fast.
Pricing & Availability
The Garmin Forerunner 265 is priced at S$689 in Singapore, and is available for purchase via Lazada, Shopee, Garmin Online Store, Garmin Brand Stores and all authorised retailers.
