Garmin Forerunner 255 has been launched in May 2022. The new model is a natural progression from the Forerunner 245 series fitness watch for runners. We look at the key differences between the Forerunner 245 and Forerunner 255 series watches.
For the purpose of our comparison between Forerunner 255 and Forerunner 245, we have considered the standard edition watches on this page.
Physical Specifications
The primary difference between the Forerunner 255 and Forerunner 245 lies in the physical size of the watch and the screen size. We list these differences below for your ready reference.
- Forerunner 255 has a watch size of 45 mm and the Forerunner is 42 mm.
- The screen size of Forerunner 255 is 33 mm and the size of Forerunner 245 is 30.4 mm.
- Forerunner 255 weighs 49 g and the Forerunner 245 weighs a little over 38 g.
- Both the Forerunner models have a MIP screen or a memory-in-pixel screen. However, Forerunner 255 has a screen resolution of 260 x 260 pixels while the Forerunner 245 has a screen resolution of 240 x 240 pixels. This is on account of the bigger size of the display screen of Forerunner 255.
- Forerunner 255 comes with a 22 mm watch band and the Forerunner 245 has a 20 mm band.
Essentially, the Forerunner 255 smartwatch is marginally broader than the Forerunner 245 smartwatch. Both watches have a round shape.
Garmin Pay
Forerunner 255 supports Garmin Pay NFC payments. This is a major advancement over the Forerunner 245 because the Forerunner 245 did not support Garmin Pay.
Garmin Pay is a contactless solution that allows you to complete payments through your Garmin watch. You still need to link your wallet with the Garmin watch. And, Garmin Pay works if the participating Banks in your country support wireless and contactless payments.
Device Storage
Garmin Forerunner 255 has device storage of 4 GB that allows you to maintain historical data on the device memory. Forerunner 245 could store 200 hours of activity data on the device storage. Do remember, that the Forerunner 245 standard edition does not have the capacity to store personal music files on the watch.
To store personal music files on the watch, you will need to select the Forerunner 255 music edition or the Forerunner 245 music edition.
Battery
There has been an improvement in the battery backup levels of Garmin Forerunner 255 over the Forerunner 245.
- Smartwatch Mode – Forerunner 255 has a backup of 14 days and Forerunner 245 offers a backup of 7 days.
- GPS Mode – Forerunner 255 offers a backup of 30 hours and the Forerunner 245 offers a backup of 24 hours.
Sensors
Forerunner 255 has integrated additional sensors to expand the features and functionality of the watch. The following sensors are added to the Forerunner 255 smartwatch.
- A gyroscope sensor is added to the Forerunner 255 watch.
- A Barometric altimeter also gets added to the Forerunner 255 watch.
- Multi-frequency positioning sensor for multi-point GNSS has been added to the Forerunner 255.
Multi-point frequency positioning is another significant advancement over the Forerunner 245. It would improve the GPS accuracy of the Forerunner 255.
General improvements
Forerunner 255 also scores several wins over the Forerunner 245 smartwatch. These small wins end up in making several improvements on the Forerunner 255 watch.
- Health Monitoring – Continuous respiration rate monitoring, sleep score and insights and health snapshots are offered in Forerunner 255.
- Battery saver mode has been introduced in the Forerunner 255 watch.
- HIIT, Yoga, and Pilates workouts have been added to Forerunner 255. On-screen workout animations and muscle maps are also added to Forerunner 255.
- Ultra running mode has been added to the Forerunner 255 watch.
- Outdoor recreation profiles of Hiking, Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Classic Skiing, Stand Up Paddleboarding, and Rowing are added to Forerunner 255 smartwatch.
- Support for Vector and Rally power meters has been added to the Forerunner 255 for cyclists.
- Open water swimming profile has also been added to the Forerunner 255 watch.
- Mountain biking and ebiking support have been added to the Forerunner 255.
- There have been improvements and tweaks to the training and activity profiles, swimming profiles, cycling profiles, and Gym profiles.
- Auto and manual multisport activities have been added to Forerunner 255.
- VO2 Max or volumetric oxygen can be tracked through Forerunner 255.
- Heart Rate Variability tracking is also possible through Forerunner 255.
- You can connect to smart trainer control software like Neo through Forerunner 255.
Summary
In our opinion, the Forerunner 255 has integrated some very useful features:
- Garmin Pay support
- Better battery backups
- Gyroscope and Barometric altimeter
- Multi-point GNSS support for better GPS accuracy on the device.
- Ultra running mode for runners
From the perspective of runners, Forerunner 255 is step forward in the right direction.
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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].