While three years had passed between the release of the Forerunner 945 and 955, it took barely a year for Garmin to renew its high-end running and triathlon watch. An evolution more than a revolution, however, despite one of the most significant changes: an AMOLED screen instead of the traditional transflective LCD screen that is still found on the vast majority of outdoor sports watches.
AMOLED without affecting autonomy
A privilege previously reserved for more lifestyle watches, such as the Garmin Venu, as well as the very exclusive Garmin Epix Gen 2. This is undoubtedly the popularity of the latter, associated with the democratization of Amoled technology. , which prompted Garmin to equip its new running watch with it.
The Forerunner 965 is therefore adorned with a 1.4 “and 454 x 454 px AMOLED touch screen, larger and much more defined than that of the Forerunner 955 (1.3 “and 260 x 260 px). If we could fear a severe drop in autonomy, it is not so, Garmin announcing up to 23 days of operation in connected mode, eight days more than the Forerunner 955! In GNSS mode, GPS only, we lose on the other hand, the 965 only lasting 31 hours, against 42 hours for the 955.
Titanium, but also 100 € more
This AMOLED screen is integrated into a fiber-reinforced polymer case and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass DX glass, itself surrounded by a titanium bezel. A material previously reserved for the Fēnix range and which gives a more opulent appearance to this new version of the Forerunner.
Let’s move on immediately to the painful: this time you have to pay €649.99 to afford this Forerunner 965, which is certainly attractive, but expensive. A price that brings it closer to Fēnix and Epix watches, the latter already sharing most of their features with the latest Forerunner 955 – so much so that the usual Fēnix audience could be tempted to choose a 955 to save a few tens of euros .
Either way, this is therefore a €100 increase over the Forerunner 955, with the Forerunner 965 finally matching the price of the 955 Solar. It should be noted in passing that Garmin still does not seem ready to offer its Power Glass technology with an Oled screen, since no solar version of the 965 seems planned.
Wider, thinner
But let’s come back to the technical characteristics of this Forerunner 965. Small wrists will be at their expense, since the watch widens a little, fully adopting the 47 mm format (47.1 x 47.1 mm), while the 955 did not exceed 46.5 mm. The good news is nevertheless in the thickness reduced to 13.2 mm, or all the same 1.2 mm less than the 955. The mass remains for its part at 52 g, which is quite light.
The Forerunner 965 also benefits from the same components and sensors as the Forerunner 955. We find in particular the dual-band GNSS chip, the wifi, the barometric altimeter, the gyroscope, as well as 32 GB of internal memory that can be used for storing music . 5 ATM water resistance is also on the program, which allows the watch to be used for swimming.
Power and metrics on the wrist
In terms of features, the Forerunner 965 adds the training load ratio, running power to the wrist as well as Running Dynamics (cadence, vertical oscillation, ground contact time, etc.) also to the wrist. These metrics already exist on the Forerunner 955, but on the condition of using an HRM Pro chest strap or a Running Dynamics Pod sensor. The 965 gets rid of accessories by employing a power calculation algorithm, for more convenience (but potentially a little less precision).
Moreover, we find the color mapping with turn-by-turn navigation which makes the 900 series of Forerunners so interesting compared to the 200 series, as well as the Stamina function which the Forerunner 255/265 also lack.
The Garmin Forerunner 965 is already available on the Garmin site for €649.99 in three colors (black/grey, white/grey, yellow/black).