Forerunner 965 vs Forerunner 955 Garmin running watches

Forerunner 965 has been launched today. The latest variant of Forerunner seeks to replace Forerunner 955 and Forerunner 955 Solar watches.

We look at some essential features and improvements of Forerunner 965. At the same time, we look into the significant differences between the Forerunner 955 and Forerunner 965.

Forerunner 965 start screen

In this comparison guide, we will evaluate Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 on the following criteria:

Key points about Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955

The main improvements on Forerunner 965 running watches have happened on the display of the watch. The core features remain unchanged between the Forerunner 955 and Forerunner 965 running watches.

Forerunner 955 comes for a list price of $499.99 and the Forerunner 965 is priced to sell at $599.99. So, there is a $100 difference between the two Forerunner watches.

Forerunner 965 has a titanium bezel while the Forerunner 955 has a fiber-enforced polymer bezel. The appearance of the titanium bezel lends a more premium look to the Forerunner 965.

The display size of the Forerunner 965 has marginally increased by almost 10% over the Forerunner 955 smartwatch. Forerunner 955 has a display size of 33 mm and Forerunner 965 has a display size of around 36 mm.

The biggest improvement on the Forerunner 965 is the introduction of an AMOLED display. Forerunner 955 has a memory-in-pixel or MIP screen. There is a marked difference in the display appearance of both watches. Forerunner 965 has a display resolution of 454 x 454 pixels and the Forerunner 955 has a display resolution of 260 x 260 pixels.

Forerunner 965 display resolution is better by almost 80% over the Forerunner 955 smartwatches.

Forerunner 965 watches with improved battery life and AMOLED display.

We can summarize the main display features of the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 smartwatches below:

FeatureForerunner 965Forerunner 955
Display size36 mm 33 mm
Display typeAMOLED displayMIP or memory-in-pixel screen
Display resolution454 x 454 pixels260 x 260 pixels
Display glassCorning Gorilla DXCorning Gorilla DX
Always on DisplayYesNot available
Thickness13.2 mm14.4 mm
Weight53 g52 g
Ambient light sensorYesNot available

Battery life of Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955

Forerunner 965 comes with improved battery life. This is on expected lines because Garmin releases newer Forerunner watches with bigger-sized batteries. We look at the battery backup offered by Forerunner 965 and compare it against the battery backup of a Forerunner 955 smartwatch.

Battery modesForerunner 965Forerunner 955
Smartwatch mode23 days15 days
GPS-only mode31 hours42 hours
SatIQ GNSS22 hoursNot available
GNSS mode with multi-band GPS19 hours20 hours
Ultratrac mode without music34 hours80 hours

We can see that there is an improvement in battery life on the smartwatch mode on a Forerunner 965 smartwatch.

Forerunner 965 display glass

Features of Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955

Apart from the improved battery life and display experience of the Forerunner 965 smartwatch, there are many important core features of the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 series.

FeaturesForerunner 965Forerunner 955
Android compatibilityYesYes
iOS compatibilityYesYes
Water rating5 ATM5 ATM
Device storage32 GB32 GB
GPS GPS, Galileo, GLONASSGPS, Galileo, GLONASS
Multi-frequency GPSYesYes
NFC or Contactless paymentsGarmin PayGarmin Pay
Music storageYesYes
Wireless connectivityBluetooth, Wi-Fi, ANT+Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ANT+
Incident detectionYesYes
LiveTrackYesYes
Spectator messagingYesYes
Wireless chargingNot availableNot available

In the table above, we can see some core features of the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955.

Sensors on Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955

Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 have almost an equal number of sensors on the watch. We look at some sensors that are available for the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955.

SensorsForerunner 965Forerunner 955
Garmin Elevate wrist-based heart monitoringYesYes
Barometric altimeterYesYes
CompassYesYes
GyroscopeYesYes
AccelerometerYesYes
ThermometerYesYes
Blood oxygen saturation sensorYesYes
GPS, GLONASS and GalileoYesYes
Heart rate monitoring on Forerunner 965 running watches

Health tracking on Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955

Both Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 offer an exhaustive collection of health tracking features. We list the main health and heart monitoring features below.

Health monitoring featureForerunner 965Forerunner 955
Wrist-based heart rate monitoringYesYes
Abnormal heart rate alertsYesYes
Respiration rateYesYes
Pulse Ox blood oxygen saturationYesYes
Body Battery stress scoreYesYes
Sleep scoreYesYes
HydrationYesYes
Women’s HealthYesYes
Health snapshotYesYes
Fitness ageYesYes

Both the Forerunner watches come with in-built profiles for cycling, outdoor sports and recreation, Golf, running, swimming, and Gym. There are hardly any differences between the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 running watches for these profiles and activity tracking features.

For people who would love to watch a video review of the Forerunner 965, DC Rainmaker’s in-depth review of the Forerunner 965 smartwatch has everything you could ask for. Have a look at the video below to go through every feature of the Forerunner 965 running watch from Garmin.

You may also like to read more Forerunner content below:

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Helen Kurt - Contributor on TECHEPAGES.COM. Reach me on email.

Helen Kurt is a geeky nerd who loves to cover the wearables space. She has over 5 years of experience in the smartwatch domain. You can reach her on email at [email protected].