Garmin's new Forerunner 255 doubles the battery life, adds tons of new features
We may earn a commission if you make a purchase from the links on this page.
The new Garmin Forerunner 255 is finally official today, a perfect timing coinciding with World Running Day, and the sports watch comes with a bunch of new features and metrics, while doubling the battery life of the predecessor.
For those not very familiar with Garmin's sports watches, you should know that the new Forerunner 255 features a Transflective MIP display rather than a full-color screen like traditional smartwatches. This kind of screen is super easy to see even under direct sunlight and allows you to get up to 2 weeks of battery life out of your watch instead of charging it everyday.
The Forerunner 255 in particular replaces the Forerunner 245 edition, a watch that is now three years old, but still quite popular among runners and other athletes.
Before we dive in the details, here is a quick summary of everything new in the...
Garmin Forerunner 255 new features:
- Comes in two sizes now, 46mm and 41mm
- Slightly bigger bezel than Forerunner 245
- Made of plastic, very lightweight
- 14-day battery life for 255 (30 hours with GPS), 12-day for 255s
- Newer and more accurate HR sensor
- HRV data, Running Power, Race Widget
- 30+ sports profiles
- Multi-frequency connectivity
- Barometric Altimeter, Gyroscope
- Comes with NFC and Garmin Pay
Also interesting:Garmin Forerunner 955 is now official
So the Forerunner 255 now comes in two sizes, the regular Forerunner 255 is now a quite large, 46mm watch that pairs with a 22mm standard industry band, while the smaller version goes by the Forerunner 255s moniker and measures 41mm and goes with 18mm bands. You also have a Music model for both sizes, which allows you to add up to 500 songs, including Spotify playlists, for offline listening.
Forerunner 255 models:
Forerunner 255 — 46mm; 45.6 x 45.6 x 12.9mm, comes with a 1.3-inch Transflective MIP display with 260x260 pixel resolution
Forerunner 255s — 41mm; 41 x 41 x 12.4mm, 1.1-inch TrMIP display with 218x218px
Forerunner 245 — 42mm; 42.3 x 42.3 x 12.2mm, 1.2-inch TrMIP display with 240x240px
Both non-Music new models come at a $350 price, while for Music you'd need to add $50 on top of that. You also have only 2 color options for each model, so let's also break that down:
Forerunner 255 colors:
Forerunner 255 — Slate Gray, Dark Blue
Forerunner 255 Music — Black, Stone White
Forerunner 255s — Light Gray, Dusty Pink
Forerunner 255s Music — Black, Stone White
First of all, you now have more than 30 sports profiles vs just over 15 on the previous generation. This includes a new triathlon mode that used to be reserved for the more expensive Garmin watches.
New Features: Morning Report, HRV Status, Race Widget, Running Power
The first cool new feature is called Morning Report and is pretty self explanatory. First introduced on the Garmin Lily a couple of years ago, it gives you a morning summary of your sleep, recovery and training status, as well as the HRV status, and it gives you your daily training recommendation.
The HRV (heart-rate variability) status is a brand new metric that Garmin introduces with this watch. HRV status is recorded while you sleep, and on the watch you get to see your nightly HRV as well as a 7-day running average. The goal is to stay within reasonable HRV, indicated with a green zone on the watch, and avoid the red zone.
The new Race Widget is a place for training tips, suggested workouts, weather forecasts and estimated finish times for particular courses and your fitness level.
The Running Power widget is a great tool to measure your running performance and efficiency in real time, but keep in mind that it requires an additional accessory like a compatible chest strap. If you have that, you will be able to use the widget to measure your effort while running, a kind of an alternative to the heart rate measure.
Among the other new features are a barometric altimeter, which was missing on the previous generation. An altimeter is great to give you accurate estimations of elevation changes which are hugely important in running.
Finally, the Forerunner 255 also comes with Garmin Pay, a feature that was missing on the predecessor. You can add your card and just pay with your watch.
The new watch will also show you your fitness age, as well as have HIIT, Yoga and Pilates types of workout. In addition to the pool swim that you had on the previous watch, you now also have open water swimming measurements.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: