GarminForerunner 265 Running Smartwatch, Colorful AMOLED Display, Training Metrics and Recovery Insights, Black and Powder Gray

This model is a solid choice. My first choice for an update to my Forerunner 35 (still functional and a great watch) was a more expensive model. The display was completely illegible. Returned it. Then I tried going low end: the 165. A faulty accelerometer had that watch not waking up. So back it went. Now the 265: winner winner chicken dinner. A bright Amoled display and a better accelerometer. Yes it’s an amazingly complex menu. But once you get it, you get it. Things I didn’t know I needed: automatically tracking my walk/run segments yet tracking it as a “run.” The watch did exactly what I wanted without my knowing it was possible. Sleep insights: the watch is making solid recommendations for improving my life through sleep. A coach in my ear while listening to Apple Music has me staying aerobic. The form fit is nice too. The body of the 165 was like something out of a Cracker Jack box. The 265 has metal buttons and a cool solid feel to the strap and body. Rolex on my left wrist, Garmin on my right. I struggled for so long and I’ve finally ended up with the perfect pick. Save yourself time and money and go with the 265. I’m going 5 stars even though it did not come with a USB C power block to charge the watch. Come on Garmin how much could it cost? Upon reflection I guess it allows the watch to be sold internationally without including it. Also I won’t ding you for the short little power cord. Come on Garmin stop being so damn cheap.

I've had for about 2 months now and really like the watch. It took me about a week to get comfortable with the navigation and idiosyncrasies of the watch (like needing to use the buttons when running).It's very light and comfortable on my wrist, so i wear it often. I also wear it to bed so it tracks my sleep and gives me a report in the morning (and reprimands me for not getting enough sleep). The only activity I track is running. I haven't used it for music.I downloaded and used a "Data Field" (a custom screen) from the Garmin site, which took some googling to figure out. However, this added a nice run/walk tracker that worked well. There are a lot of other apps, data fields, watch faces, etc. I still need to explore. I'm confused why there are two apps (Connect, and Connect IQ) apps for my phone.After about a week, the watch is down to about 40% so i recharge it (it recharges very quickly).I also tried the FR965, which is a tiny bit thicker (but about the same), has a slightly nicer looking bezel, has maps, has more memory and slightly better battery, and is about $150 more. I decided those features were not worth an extra $ to me. Note, the FR265 has a running route tracker that shows you the shape of your run (a line on a black background), but does not show it on a map. There has been one run since I've had the watch where I thought having the map would be nice, but I still don't regret choosing the 265.I tried the EPIX Gen2 because the white version was on a big discount, but I couldn't stomach the white (even with a replacement band).

Love this watch. It’s very lightweight. Easy to use, and has many great features to track your work out. Battery live is very long which is a plays. I’ve had mine for several years and still love it.

I absolutely LOVE this watch! I got into fitness about a year ago and started with a Samsung watch.The battery life of this watch is incredible! It can go a week+ without being charged. I typically charge it a few minutes every day and skip weekends.I love running, and the display is awesome. You can also set alerts based on speed, heart rates, etc., which is really helpful for training. There are a bunch of pre-programmed workouts to pick from. I favor some of the 10 minute high intensive workouts to burn a quick 100 calories.It tracks your sleep data. I like the morning snapshot report.Overall, I am psyched that I got this and highly recommend it!

What you have on your wrist is a phenomenal computer with 100's of thousands of man hours in the writing of code and algorithms to take all the data from the sensors and turn it into a comprehensive health guide for physical fitness. And Garmin, along wth Polar and Apple and Suunto and all the other lesser known brands, have barely scratched the surface of the possibilities to harness computing power on your wrist. They haven't even begun to tie in AI to take the data and give you your own personal narrative for how to optimize your health and fitness. One could write a book on all the potential for this technology in this field.But as to the implementation...The menus need some work...Garmin Connect, where one can build an app and upload it to the watch to run weight lifting routines or HIIT exercises needs a very lot of work. It works but it's crude and basic. For instance, if you want to track HRR [Heart Rate Recovery] after an excercise you have to remember to hit stop immediately, hit the lower right button to gain access to a set of options and then scroll to track HRR over the next two minutes. All the while you are losing heart beats to count. Really? Why isn't that option in the GC app maker so you can add it to the app you are building? And why, when you do a repetitive set that has work-rest and you repeat that x number of times do they insist on ending with a rest period. The last period should be a work period. And why can't the tie their lame audio beeps to your phone where you can customize the sounds you want to hear when doing a HIIT routine, eg?But, for all my grousing, I love being able to track my sleep and quality of sleep, my HR, HRV, time to recover, quality of the workout, time in HR Zones, Anaerobic and Aerobic quality, Body Battery, Stress, Intensity minutes, Training Status, Training Readiness, etc. Too many things to mention. And I've just scratched the surface in learning how to use it over these last 5 months. I'm really excited about how they will integrate AI into this journey. I would love to have an AI bundled with the watch that I could talk to through my phone. Or have the Garmin Forerunner 256 be able to talk to me through Bluetooth to ear buds.