Garmin Forerunner 165 vs Forerunner 55

Garmin Forerunner 165

Packed with tons of features and starting at just $250, the Garmin Forerunner 165 hits the sweet spot in terms of functionality and price. Boasting a touchscreen OLED display, this running-focused smartwatch tracks advanced health and fitness metrics, like pulse ox, ground contact time, vertical oscillation, and stride length, as well as advanced sleep monitoring (including naps) and breathwork. Added connectivity features include contactless payments and responding to texts. Plus, in battery-saver mode, it’ll last an impressive 20 days.
Pros

OLED display

More running features

Contactless payments
Cons

Shorter battery life

Slightly more expensive
Garmin Forerunner 55

One of the cheapest Garmin smartwatches on the market, the Garmin Forerunner 55 offers comprehensive performance for entry-level runners and fitness enthusiasts. In addition to GPS tracking and wrist-based metrics, like heart rate and respiration rate, this smartwatch will even suggest runs and workouts tailored specifically to you. The battery life is nothing to scoff at either, lasting up to two weeks in smartwatch mode or 20 hours in GPS mode. It’s a solid performance-focused smartwatch from Garmin for the most budget-conscious shoppers.
Pros

Cheapest Forerunner model

Long battery life

Overall capable running smartwatch
Cons

No mobile payments

No option to download music

Garmin recently announced one of its most affordable smartwatches yet, the $250 Forerunner 165. The Forerunner 55 remains the company’s lowest priced running smartwatch at about $50 less. So, which is the better buy? Is the new Forerunner 165 worth the extra money?

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If you’re willing to spend an extra $50, the Forerunner 165 offers a bit more value with an updated OLED screen, additional fitness and health features, and a longer-lasting battery. However, the Forerunner 55 still remains an excellent option for those looking for a solid entry-level running smartwatch, covering all the basics and then some.

Let’s dive into exactly how the two models differ, so you can decide which running smartwatch is the best match for your fitness and financial goals.

Price, availability and specs

The Garmin Forerunner 55 has been on the market for years and currently retails for $200, making it the cheapest Forerunner model available.

	Garmin Forerunner 55	Garmin Forerunner 165
Battery Life	14 days, 20 hours of GPS workouts	11 days, 19 hours of GPS workouts
Offline Media Storage	32MB	4GB
Weather	Yes	Yes
Smartphone Music Control	Yes	Yes
Display	Transreflective, 280 x 280 pixels	AMOLED screen, 390 x 390 pixels
Connectivity	View notifications and messages	View/respond to notifications and messages
Health sensors	Heart rate	Heart rate, pulse ox
Weight	37g	39g
Audio	Via Bluetooth	Via BlueTooth
Mobile payments	No	Garmin Pay
Workout detection	Cadence, PacerPro strategies, race predictor	Vertical oscillation and ratio, ground contact time, stride length, running power, cadence, PacerPro strategies, race predictor

The newly-released Forerunner 165 starts at just a slightly higher price, $250, but it’ll cost you an extra $50 if you want the Music model. While both models are widely available through Garmin and third-party retailers, you’re more likely to find the Forerunner 55 on sale in the coming months. In fact, you can find the black color for $182 right now on Amazon.

Now, let’s take a quick look at the specs of each watch.

Design and display

Is OLED worth the hype?

The overall design of the two watches is similar, with both models sharing the same look and aesthetic of all Forerunner models. The biggest difference is that the new Forerunner 165 features a 1.2-inch OLED display screen instead of the Forerunner 55’s transreflective display. The inclusion of OLED technology gives the Forerunner 165 a much brighter and sharper screen — we’re talking 390 x 390 pixel resolution as opposed to 280 x 280 pixel resolution.

Beyond just being higher quality, the Forerunner 165’s OLED display is also a touchscreen, which might be more appealing to some than using the button-navigation system on the Forerunner 55. Plus, there’s an optional always-on mode for the Forerunner 165’s display.

Otherwise, the size, weight, and materials of the two watches are similar with a shared waterproof rating of 5ATM. Technically, the Forerunner 165 is two grams heavier than the Forerunner 55 (39g vs. 37g) and one millimeter larger, but they both fit wrists of the same circumference (126-203mm).

The Garmin Forerunner 165 sits on a pair of running shoes.

Fitness and health features

It’s all about advanced running metrics

Most notably for runners, the Forerunner 165 comes with even more running features, including vertical oscillation and ratio, ground contact time, stride length, running power, and course- and weather-specific race predictor. This is well beyond what the Forerunner 55 measures: GPS tracking, cadence, PacerPro strategies, race predictor, run/walk/stand detection, and run workouts. You can also view wrist-based running power and dynamics directly on the Forerunner 165.

There are also a few extra health features on the Forerunner 165, too. In addition to calculating recovery time before your next workout, the smartwatch can track your body’s energy levels to help you identify the best times for rest and activity. It also has more advanced sleep monitoring than the Forerunner 55, breaking down sleep stages and giving you a sleep score, as well as automatically logging your naps and calculating your ideal napping time. The Forerunner 165 also has a pulse ox sensor for measuring blood oxygen saturation.

Smart connectivity features

New messaging capabilities and contactless payments add convenience

In terms of smart connectivity, both smartwatches offer the ability to view notifications and messages. The Forerunner 165 goes even further and lets you respond to a text, reject a phone call with a text response, and view images from text messages and other notifications.

You can also access the Connect IQ Store to download apps, widgets, and watch faces directly on the Forerunner 165, while you have to go through your smartphone with the Forerunner 55. The Forerunner 165 also supports contactless payments (which is quite handy for grabbing a post-run snack or drink), a feature you won’t find on the Forerunner 55.

Garmin Forerunner 55 review photo 1 — Pocket-lint

Battery

Not as straightforward as you might think

When you first look at the battery specs, it seems like the Forerunner 55 is the winner. The Forerunner 55 can last up to 14 days in smartwatch and up to 20 hours in GPS mode, compared to 11 days and 19 hours for the Forerunner 165. However, there is one important caveat: a special battery-saving mode on the Forerunner 165 that extends the battery life up to 20 days.

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So, while the base battery life of the Forerunner 55 is higher, the overall battery of the Forerunner 165 is still better. Keep in mind, though, that the battery-saving mode limits certain features and functions of the watch in order to preserve power.

Music

The big difference here is the ability to download songs directly

You can control music playing on your smartphone with either smartwatch, but only the Forerunner 165 Music will let you store music directly on your smartwatch. Upgrading to the Forerunner 165 Music costs a bit more, priced at $300, but you can download songs from Spotify, Deezer, or Amazon Music and then listen directly to your tunes through wireless Bluetooth headphones even without a smartphone.

Part of what makes this possible is a greatly increased on-board memory in the Forerunner 165, bumping the Forerunner 55’s 32 MB to a whopping 4 GB.

Garmin Forerunner 165 vs Forerunner 55: Which smartwatch is best for you?

While both are excellent entry-level running smartwatches, the Garmin Forerunner 165 offers a bit more value for the cost. It’s about $200 less than the premier Forerunner 265, with the major difference being the dropping of EKG support and dual-frequency GPS. A lot of the other features of the Forerunner 265 remain on the Forerunner 165, though.

Garmin Forerunner 165

Best value and features

Compared to the Forerunner 55, it only costs an extra $50, yet boasts a number of significant improvements, both in terms of overall user experience and fitness and health tracking. So, if you can afford the slightly higher price, the Garmin Forerunner 165 takes the lead for the best affordable Garmin running smartwatch. If you’re budget is strict, you can likely find the Forerunner 55 discounted, and it does the basics really well. It’s a great starter fitness smartwatch.