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.
In this comparison guide, we will evaluate Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 on the following criteria:
- Key points about Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955
- Battery life
- Features comparison
- Sensors
- Health tracking
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.
We can summarize the main display features of the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 smartwatches below:
| Feature | Forerunner 965 | Forerunner 955 |
|---|---|---|
| Display size | 36 mm | 33 mm |
| Display type | AMOLED display | MIP or memory-in-pixel screen |
| Display resolution | 454 x 454 pixels | 260 x 260 pixels |
| Display glass | Corning Gorilla DX | Corning Gorilla DX |
| Always on Display | Yes | Not available |
| Thickness | 13.2 mm | 14.4 mm |
| Weight | 53 g | 52 g |
| Ambient light sensor | Yes | Not 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 modes | Forerunner 965 | Forerunner 955 |
|---|---|---|
| Smartwatch mode | 23 days | 15 days |
| GPS-only mode | 31 hours | 42 hours |
| SatIQ GNSS | 22 hours | Not available |
| GNSS mode with multi-band GPS | 19 hours | 20 hours |
| Ultratrac mode without music | 34 hours | 80 hours |
We can see that there is an improvement in battery life on the smartwatch mode on a Forerunner 965 smartwatch.
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.
| Features | Forerunner 965 | Forerunner 955 |
|---|---|---|
| Android compatibility | Yes | Yes |
| iOS compatibility | Yes | Yes |
| Water rating | 5 ATM | 5 ATM |
| Device storage | 32 GB | 32 GB |
| GPS | GPS, Galileo, GLONASS | GPS, Galileo, GLONASS |
| Multi-frequency GPS | Yes | Yes |
| NFC or Contactless payments | Garmin Pay | Garmin Pay |
| Music storage | Yes | Yes |
| Wireless connectivity | Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ANT+ | Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ANT+ |
| Incident detection | Yes | Yes |
| LiveTrack | Yes | Yes |
| Spectator messaging | Yes | Yes |
| Wireless charging | Not available | Not 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.
| Sensors | Forerunner 965 | Forerunner 955 |
|---|---|---|
| Garmin Elevate wrist-based heart monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Barometric altimeter | Yes | Yes |
| Compass | Yes | Yes |
| Gyroscope | Yes | Yes |
| Accelerometer | Yes | Yes |
| Thermometer | Yes | Yes |
| Blood oxygen saturation sensor | Yes | Yes |
| GPS, GLONASS and Galileo | Yes | Yes |
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 feature | Forerunner 965 | Forerunner 955 |
|---|---|---|
| Wrist-based heart rate monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Abnormal heart rate alerts | Yes | Yes |
| Respiration rate | Yes | Yes |
| Pulse Ox blood oxygen saturation | Yes | Yes |
| Body Battery stress score | Yes | Yes |
| Sleep score | Yes | Yes |
| Hydration | Yes | Yes |
| Women’s Health | Yes | Yes |
| Health snapshot | Yes | Yes |
| Fitness age | Yes | Yes |
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.
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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].