My last Garmin, the Fenix 5X Plus was a fine watch. The screen is tough and it has many features a modern smartwatch can offer. The only downside is that it’s a tad heavy on the arm. Am I a weakling for complaining about a big, heavy watch? No but after wearing it for some time, you will notice it weighing your arm down. Why tolerate such a thing when you can get lighter alternatives?
As always, choosing a new watch, a smartwatch especially, is never easy for me. An Apple Watch is always an option but it still feels fragile to me plus I prefer round, circular watches compared to Apple’s square ones. The day Apple designs an round smartwatch will be the day I'll throw them my money again. The only version of Apple watch that slightly appeals to me at the moment is the Apple watch Ultra but naturally it’s beyond my budget at the moment. That leaves me with just a few Garmin models including the interesting Instinct Solar which is powered by solar cells on the watch face and also the cheap Forerunner 55 (bezels too big) and the older but smaller Forerunner 245 with slightly less features. Ultimately I settled on the Forerunner 255 Music because of its many features and also because it comes in this pretty whitestone colour compared to the non-music version.
First impression: it’s a really lightweight smartwatch (49 grams) especially coming from the Fenix 5X Plus. The watch face is clean and minimalist, mainly because it doesn’t have the graphics on the bezel like it did on the Fenix series. The bezel on the 255 is slightly smaller than the Fenix (I feel) and instead of the rugged tough metal look of the latter, this one has a clean plastic frame with a hint of blue on the surface. Out of the box, it comes with the standard Garmin proprietary charger, a few stickers and nothing else.
You can read in detail about this watch’s many features on its official product page or the dozens of reviews on YouTube. I will only highlight a few that I find useful. First thing I noticed about the 255 is that it has a lot more data fields compared to my previous Garmins. Or maybe I never realized my Fenix or previous Garmins had these data fields as well. While running, I can now see the distance, elapsed time, pace, heart rate, total calories AND the time of day at the same time plus many others. You can configure up to six different data fields at once on the watch face. Gone are the days the I wonder what time is it already when I'm trotting slowly on the road in the evening since I'm too lazy to click the button to show the actual time.
Apart from that, I can set the time solely by GPS (instead of syncing it with my phone), read my blood oxygen level through the pulse oxygen meter and see how high I am with the barometric altimeter sensor. I can add Spotify or Deezer music app on the watch, sync offline music, listen to them using Bluetooth earphones and also control music that’s playing on my phone (endlessly useful on a bike). The 4GB on board memory is enough to sync up to 500 music files.
Battery life depends on how much you are using all the features on the watch. With regular GPS use, the watch can only last three days. With light use (ie no exercise at all), it can last up to a week. One thing for sure, it can charge from 20% to 100% in less than an hour. Another improvement the 255 has compared to the Fenix is that it connects to my phone via Bluetooth more readily compared to the latter. Like when I leave the watch downstairs, I don’t have to reconnect it to the phone manually next time I wanna use it. Little things but it matters when you have to do it daily.
Overall, I’m very pleased with my new Garmin smartwatch. It has just the right amount of features at a relatively affordable price. The Instinct Solar is an attractive proposition but it looks too much like a G-Shock (which I don’t like) and it has some limited range of watch faces plus a monochrome display. Its closest competitor, the 245 is slightly older and cheaper but it lacks the altimeter which I feel is a downgrade coming from the Fenix series. I love the more detailed, customizable data fields for activities. Lack of solar charging can easily be compensated by its fast 1 hour charging (I usually carry a power bank everywhere anyway). The white chassis and bands is a refreshing change from the usual black or gray colours. If you’re looking for a Garmin smartwatch at around 1,500 ringgit in price with many good features then the Forerunner 255 is perfect for you.
