Our review: Excellent navigation and all of Garmin’s best features packed into a lightweight package
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Garmin has long been the market leader in the GPS watch market, with design quality, GPS accuracy and excellent functionality making many of its watches stand out against the competition.
On test here is the brand’s Forerunner 955 in its Solar guise, which is pretty much the same apart from its ability to give battery life a boost via solar charging.
What’s the design like?
The Forerunner 955 has similar dimensions to Garmin’s standard 47mm Fenix 7. It has a 46.5mm diameter and a thickness of 14.4mm compared to the Fenix’s 14.5mm.
Despite being similar in size, it feels less bulky, which is largely down to the weight difference. The 955 comes in at 53g, whereas the Fenix is 79g.
It might not seem like much, but it’s actually noticeable when it’s on your wrist.
For the difference in weight, and price (the Fenix 7 is £559.99), the Fenix comes with a stainless steel bezel and a metal rear cover, while the Forerunner 955 uses a fibre-reinforced polymer throughout. Both also use Corning Gorilla Glass on the display.
The stainless steel bezel of the Fenix naturally offers a little extra protection against drops or scuffs, but I must admit I was impressed with the durability of the Forerunner 955 following a mountain biking fall.
The case and bezel remain unmarked, though there is a very faint blemish on the screen.
How easy is it to use?
This tester has long been a fan of Garmin’s five-button design and that shows no sign of changing, even with the addition of a touchscreen here.
The setup means you always have a back button, plus an up and down button, which makes navigating the various screens a breeze.
A long press on the up button also takes you into the menu or settings for whatever section of the watch you’re in.
If you choose to use the touchscreen (you can turn it off in the settings if you don’t want to), you’ll experience a smooth interface that’s incredibly responsive.
You can also choose to have the touchscreen on or off while recording activities, though it is useful when trying to explore a map.
How does the display perform?
While not as bright or colourful as AMOLED screens (such as that found on Garmin’s Forerunner 965), the 955’s screen remains clear, even on a sunny day.
Flashes of colour help pull out key details or differentiate between data fields, while you can also change the brightness of the backlight and the length of time it remains on.
That’s key for getting the perfect balance between legibility and battery life.
How good is the navigation?
Very good, actually, as many Garmin watches are. You can create routes using the brand’s accompanying software, Garmin Connect (in the app or on the website).
This can be done manually using the provided mapping (it doesn’t have the same detail as an OS Map, so won’t highlight all rights of way) or you can import a GPX file.
The latter means you can find routes online or via the Ordnance Survey app, for example, download the files and then import them to Garmin Connect.
Then it’s just a case of syncing the route with your watch, starting the activity, opening up the menu and loading up the route.
You’ll then get multiple data screens including elevation info, a full-colour map showing the route and your location on it, and a screen showing which direction you have to go in.
The map offers a reasonable amount of detail, such as rivers or wooded areas, as well as contours, but it’s not as clear as a navigation app on the phone or a paper map.
Of course, you’ll also get standard data like pace, time elapsed, distance, distance remaining, ETA (though you’ll need to take this one with a pinch of salt!) and so on.
If you go off-course it’ll notify you and it’ll tell you once you get back on track.
I’ve used this watch for navigation extensively and it hasn’t let me down so far. While I always carry a paper map, it’s largely stayed in the bag, while the navigation has proved invaluable when the cloud comes in up high.
Vital to that is the watch’s accurate GPS, which kicks in very quickly when you start an activity, too.
What training and performance features does it have?
On the Garmin website, this watch is found in the ‘Multisport & Triathlete’ section as opposed to the ‘Adventure’ section.
While it clearly works for both camps, the fact it’s designed to appeal to athletes means there’s a huge amount of features.
You get what feels like an endless amount of sport profiles to choose from, including hiking, swimming, running, climbing, bouldering, mountain biking, skiing and so on.
In addition to that, you get a Training Status feature, which explains whether you’re overtraining or improving your fitness, plus a Training Readiness feature, which lets you know if you need more recovery or not.
As you’d expect, there’s an optical heart rate monitor, which has proved accurate throughout our usage. This is also used to determine a heart rate variability score, which helps inform how ready your body is for physical exertion.
And that’s not all. Truthfully, we’d be here all day if I described every single feature. The final two I will mention, however, is Hill Score, which tells you how primed you are to tackle hills, and Endurance Score, which gives you an indication of how well you’ll be able to tackle an endurance activity.
What other features are there?
The Forerunner 955 comes with the full gamut of features you’d expect from a modern, premium GPS watch.
That includes step count, sleep scores, Garmin Pay, calories burnt, floors climbed and smartphone notifications (though you can’t reply to anything through the watch).
You also get music controls, which you can use to control music you’re playing through your phone.
With 32GB of onboard storage, you can also add music directly onto the watch, allowing you to connect Bluetooth headphones and listen to it on the go without your phone.
More relevant features for outdoor enthusiasts include a compass, altimeter, sunset/sunrise times and barometer.
How good is the battery life?
Battery life is good, but not range topping. In smartwatch mode you get up to 15 days (or 20 if you have the solar version and plenty of sunshine to go with it).
With full multi-band GPS in operation, that number drops to 20 hours (22 with solar). That’s plenty for two long days of hiking, but isn’t ideal if you’re planning a multi-day hike for a week, for example.
For comparison, the Fenix 7 offers up to 40 hours in the same mode.
Of course, it is possible to switch to a mode that uses less satellites to save battery, but doing so will also mean you don’t have the most accurate GPS possible.
For example, switch off the multi-band mode and use GPS only and you’ll be looking at up to 42 hours (49 with solar).
Best for…
Anyone that wants a fully-featured and accurate GPS watch without it weighing down their wrist and doesn’t need the extra durability of a stainless steel bezel.
However, if you’re planning to rely on a watch for super accurate GPS for days on end, you may want to opt for something with slightly better battery life.
Facts at a glance: Garmin Forerunner 955
Price: £479.99 (£549.99 for solar)
Size: 46.5mm x 46.5mm
Thickness: 14.4mm
Weight: 53g
Display type: Sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP)
Display size: 1.3in
Battery life: 15 days in smartwatch mode, 20 hours in full, multi-band GPS mode,
Barometer: Yes
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