The Forerunner 265 ushers in a new era for Garmin, bringing bright, sharp OLED displays to its class-leading running watches while maintaining week-long battery life.
But the display upgrade comes with a price increase. The Forerunner 265 costs £430 ($450 / A$769), making it £80 more than its excellent LCD-equipped sibling, the Forerunner 255 Music. OLED screens have long been a feature of smartwatches, like the Apple Watch, but this marks a starting point for serious sports watches.
Aside from the updated display and a new workout tracking feature, the 265 is very similar to the 255, which isn’t a bad thing. It comes in two sizes, is lightweight and comfortable, stays in place during vigorous exercise, and is designed to handle most sports, including swimming. It has buttons and a touchscreen, similar to the more expensive Forerunner 955 and 965, and it syncs via Bluetooth with an Android or iPhone app, directly over Wi-Fi, or via USB cable to a computer.
The display can be activated with a gesture or button press, or stay on all the time, switching to a dimmer display mode when not actively being used. It still looks like a sports watch, unlike competitors from Apple, Google and Samsung, which tend to feature more refined designs. But there’s a range of colors to choose from, and the standard rubber straps are easy to change.
Graphs, stats and metrics recorded by Garmin’s best-in-class sports tracking features look sharper on screen and are easily visible during a run, even in bright light. The OLED screen is also easier to read than LCD versions in the dark, and can be dimmed or turned off at night to monitor sleep.
The other great novelty of the 265 is the excellent training preparation function, taken from the best sports watches of the firm. It continuously tracks your recovery after exercise, adjusting for sleep, rest days, illness, fitness and other factors, combining a wealth of data into a simple prediction of how ready you are to exercise more. It will suggest how hard you run or how fresh you are for a run, matching energy levels and muscle fatigue almost perfectly.
Specifications
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Screen: 1.1 or 1.3-inch AMOLED
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Box Size: 42 or 46mm
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Case Thickness: 12.9mm
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Band Size: 18 or 22mm standard
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Weight: 39 or 47g
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Storage: 8GB
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Waterproof: 50 meters (5ATM)
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Sensors: GNSS (Multiband GPS, Glonass, Galileo), Compass, Thermometer, Heart Rate, Pulse Ox
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Connectivity: Bluetooth, ANT+, Wi-Fi
One week battery life
One of the downsides of an OLED screen compared to the low-power LCD-based technology used by previous Garmins is the impact on battery life. The 265 lasts a long time for an OLED watch, handling up to seven days between charges used as a smartwatch with general health tracking and the screen on all the time. But that’s about half the life of the 255.
However, battery life is very similar to its stablemate for activity tracking. One hour of operation without music consumes approximately 6% of the battery. That means the watch lasts about 16 hours of tracking on its default settings, which is about the same as its energy-efficient sibling and long enough for a marathon or two. It takes about an hour to fully charge with the included USB-C cable.
Sustainability
The Forerunner 265 is usually repairable. The battery is rated to last at least a few years of frequent charge cycles maintaining at least 80% capacity. The watch does not contain any recycled material. Garmin guarantees at least two years of security updates from release, but typically supports its devices for much longer. Offers swap schemes for some lines and WEEE compliant and other local electronics recycling laws.
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Price
The Garmin Forerunner 265 comes in two sizes (42mm or 46mm) and costs £429.99 ($449.99/769 Australian dollars)
For comparison, the Forerunner 255 Music costs £349.99the Forerunner 955 costs £479.99the Forerunner 965 costs £599.99 and Garmin Epix costs £709. The Apple Watch Series 8 costs £419Choirs Pace 2 costs £180 and the Polar Vantage V2 costs £429.
Verdict
The Forerunner 265 proves that OLED displays can make great sports watches, but it’s best thought of as a “plus” version of the already excellent Forerunner 255 Music. It has a touchscreen and physical buttons, offline music, and class-leading sports tracking, including extremely helpful workout readiness. It has everything you need to run, short of full maps, which are still reserved for the best Garmin watches.
The new screen reduces daily battery life to about seven days between charges, but it’s still at least four times longer than an Apple Watch. The Garmin handles basic smartwatch features like simple alerts from your phone, but it lacks a voice assistant and other smart bits.
One unexpected benefit of the sharper screen is that the smaller version of the 265 is much easier to read and use, making it more tempting.
While the added training prep is a great feature, the 265 is no better than the Forerunner 255 for tracking runs. Instead, it’s a prettier, brighter option. OLED screens are clearly the future of sports watches, but for now they command a premium over LCD-based rivals.
Advantages: Slim, lightweight, real buttons, crisp OLED touchscreen, choice of sizes, multi-band GPS, accurate heart rate, extensive stats, multi-sports, great health tracking, highly customizable, 7-day battery life, offline music, features smart watch basics
Cons: expensive, no offline maps, no voice assistant, shorter battery life than LCD siblings, limited Garmin Pay compatibility with UK banks.
