Garmin Forerunner® 255 Music, GPS Running Smartwatch with Music, Advanced Insights, Long-Lasting Battery, Black - 010-02641-20

I LOVE this watch. I've been debating buying a running watch for so many years now and finally decided to do it. I have been doing marathon training and this watch has aided me plentifully. It has cool features when you record runs where it'll tell you every time you finish a "lap" which you can set the distance for - so during a long 10 mile run I have it set to tell me every time I finish 1 mile and what pace I finished it at.It also has cool badges you unlock when you run certain distances, and it will notify you every time you recorded a new personal best mile, 5k, 10k, half marathon, etc. during any long run.It displays a very accurate heartrate as well which I've tested multiple times and it's always within 5 of what I measure manually.You have to download Garmin Connect and Garmin Connect IQ on your phone which can then be used to download your favorite music app right to your watch (I use Spotify). From there, you can download your music/playlists/podcasts/audiobooks right to your watch. You can leave your phone at home then for long runs and just have your watch and your headphones with you; which is a lifesaver personally lol.The second you get back home from a run, it'll connect back to your phone and send the data over immediately. On your phone you can then see all your runs, as well as the pace, average heartrate, calories burned, and a few other cool measures.It can also record your sleep and give feedback on the quality of it, length, etc. but I have yet to use this feature. I sleep like a rock and can easily tell how well I slept when I wake up haha.I highly recommend this product. If you are on the fence as I was for so long, GET IT

I've been using this as my only watch, as well as for helping me train for races, and the only time it leaves my arm is when it's charging. I run 5-7 days a week and only need to charge it once a week. I've had it for over a year and the battery life is still excellent, the band is still in good shape, and it's smaller than most garmins so it doesn't look like I have this giant ugly thing on my wrist. I chose this model because it does NOT have a touch screen, which means I don't accidentally have settings being changes from water droplets hitting it in the shower. Even with having to use the buttons on the sides, it's incredibly easy to use. It looks like a normal watch, which is what I wanted, and it's lasted this long as my every day watch, without any signs that it's going to need to be replaced any time soon.

I’ve owned Garmins before and find the ability to objectively gauge and plan your training is a powerful tool. This watch takes it to the next level compared to my old ones. You get essentially the Forerunner 265 here minus the Amoled screen and the training readiness metric. Here’s a hint, look at your body battery and recovery metric and you have pretty much training readiness nailed down. The biometric sensors of the 255 and 265 are the same.Activity tracking is light years beyond Fitbit and also stock Apple Watched. Hell, having 5 buttons blows any Apple Watch out of the water for running. You can just hit an activity and go, or take a recommended workout. You can also make your own routines and upload to to the watch. I had some workouts from when I last owned a Garmin that I designed 10 years ago, and was able to upload and run them. I principally use it for running and strength training. For running I can’t find any faults for me. For strength training my complaint is the list of strength exercises is missing common exercises, like any read deltoid exercises…. It has an exhaustive list of odd ones too. Worst of all, you can’t make new ones. You can just use an existing one that is close enough and make a note that exercise X is really the one you did…. The watch also does a good job tracking indoor runs and both indoor and outdoor walks. It is pretty accurate in automatically detecting activities like impromptu walks, as well.The MIPs screen is amazing outdoors and way better at night when you would don’t want to blast your face looking at the time. In mixed-level indoor lighting, it lacks compared to AMOLED. It doesn’t have the pretty colors nor the contrast indoors, but I like a more serious looking watch anyway and find AMOLED to look like a game. The battery life is amazing. To get this sort of life on the 265 you have to let face go dark when inactive and use gestures to wake it. Not a big deal, but nice to be able to see the watch with a side glimpse without having to raise hand all the time.Customization is great. I downloaded a watch face that allows me to put all the metrics I need and have the time highly visible. Data screens are also very customizable. I have downloaded a custom data screen for running and for strength training to supplement the default screens.This isn’t a Pixel watch or an Apple Watch. As a smart watch it has limited ability and that’s fine. It reliably shows notifications. If you have your phone with you, you can initiate contact with an emergency contact. For example, you can send a message to come get picked up. If you have a compatible bank or credit card, you can use Garmin pay. I do find my financial institutions don’t currently support it, though.The music functionality is flawless. I use it with Spotify and a pair of JBL earbuds. It’s nice to be able to run with just the watch and earbuds and not have to carry a phone for music.I was able to use my ANT heart rate strap and foot pod from 13 years ago with no issues. They sync quickly and stay synced. The onboard wrist heart rate and running dynamics functionality have been very good when I haven’t used my ANT accessories. So there is no need to get an HR strap, but if you have or want one, they work flawlessly.The Garmin ecosystem; the watch, Garmin Connect App, and the website are great. Highly customizable and reliable. I had most recently used Fitbit and found the experience with the app and its website to be headed in a negative direction this last year.Overall, I highly recommend this watch. If the price difference between this and the 265 is around $50, it’s a hard decision. It boils down to how you feel about AMOLED versus MIPS, and maybe the chance that 265 feature set continues to get updated a bit longer than the 255. When the price delta is above $50…. The 265 becomes hard to justify and the 255 is the obvious choice. To reiterate, training readiness isn’t worth much at all. It’s a combination of other metrics that are already on both watches. So the decision is simply AMOLED vs MIPS display versus price.

The 254 is a great basic work horse for tracking my running, other sports and overall fitness. It takes a while to learn the push buttons so get ready for that learning curve. I don't need music and don't use my phone for calls or texts so I put zero weight on those things.

I would like to say I came over from using a Apple Watch Series 6, and wow the difference in incredible. The display you can see at any time of the day, and the quality is amazing. The battery life lasts up to 10 days for me at a time, and I can barley tell I'm even wearing it sometimes from how light it is. Before the weight of my apple watch prevented me from comfortably sleeping with it, whereas the weight of the garmin makes it so easy to have it on without realizing you have it on. The OS is also very fast and it looks great when paired with any athletic outfit. Great value for money especially in comparison with all the competitors on the market.