Garmin Forerunner 255: my review after wearing it for a few months.

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Why I bought the Garmin Forerunner 255

As a runner, I wanted a watch that could syncs with Strava for tracking running workouts so that I didn’t have to carry my phone during on runs.

That is the ultimate reason I decided to get a Garmin. Now, for the specifics:

What attracted me to the Garmin Forerunner 255

I considered the Apple watch, but eventually decided to get a Garmin for a few reasons:

1. Battery: the Garmin has an MIP (made-in-pixel) display, so you can read the watch without turning on the backlight. The battery lasts two weeks when I wear it daily (I track 2-3 GPS activities per week on average).
2. Strava Auto-Sync: The Forerunner 255 has exceeded my expectations in activity tracking and auto-syncs to Strava whenever its near my phone, without having to click any buttons.
3. Solar would have been cool (as you see with the Enduro 3 and Fenix for example), but you end up paying more for that, and the battery still eventually drains even with solar, although delayed. This wasn’t a must-have for me.

Fitness watch features I wanted to avoid:

There were a few features I specifically DID NOT want:

• I did not want a touch screen
• I did not want an AMOLED backlight display that would drain the battery
• No smartwatch features: The 255 is a fitness watch. I didn’t need a ton of apps, nor do I want my watch to sync to text messages and calls, even though the Garmin technically has some of these features. I never enabled them.

Mission Accomplished – I knew that Garmin would satisfy all of my requirements.

Why I chose the Forerunner 255 versus other Garmin models

After I settled on a Garmin watch, I also looked at the Fenix, Enduro 3, Venu, and Forerunner models. There are actually several other Forerunner models that you can choose from depending on what you want, whether that’s music or light up screen, or sapphire.

From a quick look at some of these other models, the Forerunner series provided the most value for the money as a fitness watch in my opinion.

After deciding on the Forerunner series, I originally purchased the Forerunner 55, but after unboxing it and exploring some of the features, I decided to return it in favor of the 255 for two reasons:

1. Size: the Forerunner 55 as you can see here is a bit small, so I opted for the Forerunner 255 because it was a little bit bigger. It looks better on my wrist, and is easier to read.
   Its about as big as a dive watch, just like my Casio, which is a 44mm diameter size (as seen in the above photo).
2. More activity types: the Forerunner 55 did not have as many activities. As a waterman, I really wanted something that I could wear into the ocean to track surfing, swimming, and bodysurfing. The Forerunner 255 has “open water swim” activity that does this. You have to re-name the activity once it posts to Strava to “surf”, though. It has worked very well in the ocean, but I wouldn’t recommend scuba diving with the Garmin 255.
   I also use rowing, stationary bike, walking, and biking activities quite often and it works really well for those.

My Favorite things about the Garmin Forerunner 255:

Aside from GPS workout tracking during runs and in the ocean, here are some of my other favorite things.

VO2 Max tracking:

One feature I really enjoy is the VO2 max estimate. It takes a few runs before you get an estimate, and my VO2 max tends to hover between 51 and 54.

Heart rate tracking:

The heart rate tracking is really cool too. Below are some of my heart rate charts from my Norweigan 4 by 4 workouts. This workout requires 4 rounds of 4 minutes of intensity, with a rest between rounds. You can see in the photos below that the Garmin does a great job of tracking my heart rate fluctuations between rounds. My heart rate spikes during each high-intensity round, and then drops while I rest before the next round.

Vibrate alarm:

You can set an alarm and the watch will vibrate to wake you up.

Navigation:

The navigation feature seems to work for the purpose. I haven’t actually gotten lost in the wilderness and needed to use it yet. I tried it out in my neighborhood on a run, it did accurately navigate back to the start. You can set pins on the map and the watch will navigate you back there. The user interface isn’t super great, because you have to click a lot of buttons to work it, but it does work.

Telling the time:

Aside from being a great watch for tracking workouts, the 255 functions exceptionally well for the singular purpose of telling the time. The pixels are always on, even though I have the backlight turned off. You can press the light button to see the watch face in the dark.

Appearance / aesthetics:

I like how the Forerunner 255 looks. It’s a perfect size, and I like a round watch much better than a square watch.

Personally I have always thought Apple watches are kind of ugly. Apple’s watches look too robotic to me, like something E.T. would wear.

Easy to Switch Straps:

I have enjoyed switching the straps out. The straps have a quick release hinge that makes is super quick.

I bought a couple different straps and tend to wear the forest green nylon strap the most often. I like this specific nylon strap a lot because it is double layered, quite affordable, looks good especially in dark green, and comes in 5 color options.

Nylon straps are also more comfortable than silicon straps in my opinion, and I think they look more athletic too.

The Garmin 255 looks nice enough to wear to work when I throw on the silicon strap. Several of the executives at my company actually wear Garmins too, one has a Fenix and another has a Venu. Of course, many many people wear Apple watches at work haha.

Screen protectors:

I bought a pack of screen protectors that I have kept on the watch at all times. I can’t even tell they are there, and the watch still looks clean and elegant when I have them on. I personally would not wear the watch without a screen protector.

I tried out a bumper case, but when I wore it in the sand, I realized that tiny pieces of sand would get embedded in side the case, and that kind of defeats the purpose of having a case on it… thankfully I took it off before any sand could scratch the watch. The bumper case just doesn’t fit my lifestyle as someone who wears it in the ocean, but they do look pretty cool and let you change the color.

Personalize your home screen:

You can personalize your homescreen to show various metrics like your VO2 Max and Sunrise time.

Overall the Garmin Forerunner 255 has been a great watch and I recommend it to anyone that wants to track their workouts as a versatile fitness tracker.