Why I Think the Garmin Forerunner 265 Is the Best Running Watch

If you know me, you know that I never get too attached to technology. I will happily run without any watch ; I know that my body is what really registers the miles. But I tested the Garmin Forerunner 265 and I’m not exaggerating when I say I think I fell in love.

I wore this watch for four months, during which time my opinion changed from “good watch, I think” to “me and my best friend [this watch] will win the race together.” I used his training recommendations to prepare for a 5K race —not the first time, but the first time in a long time—and came shockingly close to setting a record-breaking PR. I found the metrics and training recommendations helpful without being overwhelming, and the watch itself is much more comfortable to use than your average Apple or Pixel smartwatch.

The Forerunner 265, like many of its Garmin siblings, is designed for runners, unlike most smartwatches. It has physical buttons so you can finish the lap at exactly the right moment without even looking at the screen. It has tools for creating detailed workouts. It automatically detects your maximum heart rate and lactate threshold. It can offer you personalized workouts whether you’ve bothered to create a workout plan or not. And it’s customizable enough to get all of that out of your way if you don’t want to use it.

It’s rare that a gadget can provide all the data you want without overwhelming you with all the data. Garmin is great at this across its entire ecosystem. The Forerunner 265 combines this philosophy with a feature set that will appeal to most runners, from casual to serious. It’s so designed for runners that it has a feature—on by default—that when you’re standing in line at the grocery store, you can swipe up on the screen and see a forecast of how fast you can run a 5K. if you were to run it right now .

How is the Forerunner 265 different from other Garmin watches?

Garmin makes a variety of watches, including several levels of the Forerunner. I’ll give you the rundown: the Venu and Vivoactive are what you might call lifestyle smartwatches. Lily is in the same vein, but smaller and cuter. If you want a regular fitness watch, this will do; but if you’re a runner, you’ll probably want something a little sportier.

Runners will generally love the Forerunner line, but if you do a lot of walking and outdoor activities, you may prefer the rugged (and on some models, solar-powered) Instinct line. On the other hand, if you have a hefty budget and/or an expensive hobby, you might like the premium multisport watches in the Fenix ​​line. They include additional features for mountaineering and scuba diving, and are also available in versions with solar panels and/or sapphire screens instead of glass.

When it comes to the Forerunner, the best option for most runners is the 265 model. At the lower end is the Forerunner 55 , which can track your runs and sleep but doesn’t offer much analytics capabilities. There’s the new Forerunner 165 , which is a great running watch, but it lacks the workout readiness and workout status features that many runners love (I’d definitely miss it if I didn’t have it). If you want something a little more refined, there’s the Forerunner 965 , which has additional features and functionality and is especially popular among triathletes.

If you’ve narrowed your choice down to the Forerunner 265, you have one more decision to make: big or small screen? Some Garmin watches only come in one size, but the 265 has a 46mm screen; its little sister, the 265S (apparently the S stands for small) has a 42mm screen. The only difference between the two in terms of features is that the S has slightly longer battery life. Both have the same size battery, but the larger screen uses a little more power.

What are the best features of the Forerunner 265?

• Physical buttons (including start/stop and circle buttons) in addition to the touchscreen

• Excellent location tracking (GPS, etc.)

• Heart rate tracking with or without chest strap

• Daily recommended workouts based on your goals and recent workouts.

• VO2max and race time predictions

• Customizable data screens during workouts

• HRV and resting heart rate tracking

• Assessments of training readiness and training status

• Excellent battery life (almost two weeks on a charge)

• Bright, clear AMOLED screen.

What are the disadvantages of the Forerunner 265?

• The chunky shape of the heart rate sensor will leave a dent on your wrist if the band is pulled too tight.

• The outer part of the case is plastic and can be painted in color, so you won’t get a more elegant look by replacing the straps.

• There’s no way to control the music playing on your phone like you can on the Apple Watch. (However, you can store music directly on the watch and play it from there.)

• Screenshots don’t appear on your phone—you’ll need to connect your watch to your computer to download them. (Taking a photo of the watch is an easier way to share what you see.)

• There is no extensive app store – you do everything like Garmin or not at all. ( There is a ConnectIQ store, but it’s not like the one on Apple/Samsung/Pixel watches, with corresponding name brand apps on the phone and watch.)

Out of the box

The Forerunner 265 comes with the watch and a charging cable that plugs into the back (a proprietary connector on one end and USB-C on the other).

It has five buttons.

• The top right button (START) starts or stops the action. Press this button when you are ready to go for a run.

• The bottom right button (BACK) is the circle button. You can also use it to exit any menu or screen.

• The top left button (LIGHT) turns the screen on or off with a quick press. Press and hold it and you will get a menu of shortcuts. I use the payment wallet and flashlight most often, but you can also access tools like a stopwatch or the “find my phone” feature.

• The left middle (UP) and bottom (DOWN) buttons act as up and down arrows to scroll through whatever is on the screen. Sometimes this is more convenient than using the touchscreen, and some workout modes still block the touchscreen.

Press and hold the left middle button and you’ll see a menu that includes all your settings, as well as watch functions like setting an alarm or changing the watch face.

You can also set up keyboard shortcuts for other functions. For example, I have it set up so that long pressing the bottom left button brings up the music controls.

Using watches in everyday life

Watch dials

Like most smartwatches, you can choose a watch face with additional features – small data icons or shortcuts to tools. My favorite setting shows my weekly mileage and the time of the next sunrise or sunset, as well as standard items like the date, battery level, and steps taken. This watch also predicts how many hours are left before I “recover” from my last workout, so I have a hard time too (although I think it’s a bit of a silly metric, I still like to see it).

The watch comes with 15 built-in watch faces, and you can create your own simple watch faces using the app. There is also a ConnectIQ store where you can download or buy faces created by the developers. However, the selection of watch faces is nowhere near as extensive or interesting as what you can get on, say, the Apple Watch.

Views

The most interesting feature (in my opinion) is what you get when you scroll down on the main watch face: your “views.” This is a quick view of various statistics. My VO2max and predicted 5K time are at the top of my list of views. Do I need to see this at any time? Of course not. Do I think they’re fun to look at? Absolutely.

My other looks include the weather, upcoming events on my calendar, races I have planned for the end of the year, upcoming training sessions, training readiness, HRV status and more. (You can customize this list; there are plenty to choose from.) Views are handy for things you might want to check quickly but don’t want to clutter up your watch face. Each time you view, you can click on it to see more detailed information (for example, for each upcoming race, the detailed view will include the date of that race, the likely weather at the start time, and a forecast of your finish time based on how your training is going. )

Comfort

I tested the full size 265 and honestly the only thing I would change about the comfort of this watch is the size. (If I were buying one for myself, I’d get the 265S). I appreciate that it seems to give a very good reading without being too tight. I wear it pretty loosely most of the time, and even then my readings are consistent with what I get with the chest strap. (Although I do tighten it when I run, just to keep it from bouncing.)

The watch comes with a silicone strap, which is not as breathable as a fabric one, but I like that I can wash it with soap in the shower, leave it on the sink to dry, and when it’s dry, turn it off, and the watch is dry too.

Some people notice itching or irritation when wearing their watch 24/7. The watch even comes with instructions to change your wrists periodically. But even though I have sensitive skin, I’ve never had any problems with this watch. One day I noticed some itching, realized it had been a day or two since I washed it, and noticed some dirt near the sensor. After a quick wash I was able to wear it again without any problems. And like I said, I wore this thing every day for four months . This gets my approval.

Display

Forerunner 265 has an AMOLED display. It’s bright, clear and colorful. Until recently, Garmin watches used MIP displays. On forums like Reddit, I constantly see Garmin fans saying that MIP screens work great in sunlight and they never want to switch to AMOLED.

But I don’t understand it. I’ve gone on plenty of runs in blinding sunshine, with and without sunglasses, and never had a problem reading the screen. It was always bright and clear no matter what I did with it. One oddity, however, is that I tried to take pictures of the screen one sunny day by the pool and found that the photos came out dim. However, in real life the screen was bright. I wonder if the rumor about poor readability is due to dim photos?

Frequently used functions

Other than starting a workout or just using the watch as a watch, I don’t use a ton of other features. I use alarms for wake-ups and reminders (like when my kids need to get on the school bus), and change the color of the watch face from time to time, just for variety.

265 can display some notifications from your phone, but you won’t be able to reply to messages unless you’re using Android. I don’t like getting notifications on my watch – I even have most notifications turned off on my phone, so this wasn’t an important feature for me.

To get the most out of your watch, install the Garmin Connect app. It gives you quick visuals and graphs of all your metrics, such as your workout readiness and status, how you slept last night, what workouts you have coming up, and more. Here you can also view the results of your runs (maps, split times, etc.), and create workouts or sign up for a training program. The analytics are good enough that you can unsubscribe from Strava , but many runners use both.

Taking him for a run

If you want to run with Forerunner 265, you press the START button and select the type of workout you want to start. This is usually ‘Running’ if you are a runner, but track running, treadmill running and trail running are also available. The watch can also track strength training, cycling and more.

When you’re on the Run screen, the watch will often suggest a workout for you. You can complete a workout, view future workouts, and choose one instead, or reject it and do whatever you want—either a “just run” workout or a workout you programmed yourself. For example, I programmed the trendy Norwegian 4×4 as one of the workouts.

Data fields

You can store a ton of data on your wrist while you run. You need to select your favorites in advance and create a screen on which they will be displayed. You can get anything from current elevation to predicted finish time, but most of us will choose some combination of time, distance, pace and/or heart rate.

My favorite screen for everyday runs shows the time of day (so I know if I’m literally late for a deadline or family obligations), my total distance (because I’m usually trying to hit my goal mileage for the day), my current pace (some runners prefer average lap pace, but I like instant) and a color indicator at the bottom with my heart rate zones.

If I’m doing interval training, I often prefer a screen with lots of data fields, including the time and distance of the current and previous laps. When you run a race, you can create a PacePro plan with customized splits for each mile it trains you for. You can even program a specific race track to allow for a slower pace on hills, for example.

Create and track workouts

I found myself doing a lot of the daily recommended workouts. The watch will offer you one almost every day (some days it will offer a rest day), regardless of whether you’ve set up a workout program or not. If you add a race, such as a 5K, to your calendar in the app, it will take that into account when suggesting workouts. I wouldn’t trust important training decisions to anything automated, but it’s great for adding variety to your training program. My weeks typically consisted of two “base” runs at a steady pace, one or two tempo runs or moderate intensity intervals, and maybe a day of “anaerobic” work such as short sprints. There might also be a two-mile slow “recovery” run in there somewhere.

Because Daily Suggested Workouts (DSW, in Garmin parlance) are a feature of the watch and not the app, you had to press buttons on the watch to see what workouts you had ahead of you. But Garmin recently added a “Garmin Coach” option to the Connect app, which is essentially a way to host your DSW in the app. If you want to customize a training plan in the app, you can choose this automatic Garmin Coach plan or a standard race distance plan (like a marathon or 5K) designed by Coach Jeff, Coach Greg, or Coach. Amy .

You can also create your own workouts: Go to the Garmin Connect app on your phone and select More, then Workouts & Planning, and Workouts. Don’t forget to press the button that will send the workout to your watch; for some reason it doesn’t happen automatically. Once I got the hang of it, creating workouts became easy. As I mentioned, for the Norwegian 4×4 I used a specific workout with heart rate targets for each section. I also created custom weightlifting workouts.

When you perform a workout, the watch displays a data screen specifically for the purpose you need to pay attention to, depending on how that workout is programmed. For example, if they want me to run at 10:20 pace for 39 minutes, the watch will tell me how many minutes I have left and show me that my pace is in the green zone if I’m close to 10:20. or red if I’m going too fast or too slow. It will give me a beep (via headphones if plugged in, or via phone if not) telling me to speed up or slow down. The only thing that bothers me is that there is no way to turn off these sound alerts as they are very disturbing if I’m trying to focus on a podcast or audiobook.

Using Circles

The physical circle button is one of the best things about using a Garmin rather than a phone-centric smartwatch. I can press a button as soon as I want to start or end a circle, rather than flicking my wrist to turn on the display, visually locating the button I want to press, and then hoping it registers my finger the first time I press it. (This may seem simple, but when I’m sweating and shaking at the end of a fast 400, I have to poke my Apple Watch too many times before it registers, meaning my lap time will be off by a few seconds.)

You can also program a workout or use the built-in workout. For example, to test my mile time, I can warm up and then tell it to start a 1 mile lap when I press the lap button. The watch tracks my distance and automatically completes the lap (and announces it) when I walk exactly one mile.

After a run

When you finish your run or workout, the watch will ask you how hard the workout was and how strong you felt. (You can turn this feature off if you don’t need it.) The watch then displays several stats screens: not just your pace and distance, but also a measure of how much aerobic and anaerobic work it thinks you got from it, which type workouts (base running or tempo running?) and updating your VO2max if needed. VO2max is measured based on your heart rate relative to your GPS walking speed, so it won’t change after running on a treadmill or doing other indoor work. You might want to turn off VO2max estimation for runs so that when you slow down on hills, it doesn’t think you’re suddenly less fit.

The treadmill is running

I liked the treadmill’s steady running feature, but it drove me crazy if I had to follow any interval program. At the end of your treadmill workout, you can “calibrate” by entering the exact distance displayed on the treadmill screen. So, for example, if the watch thinks you ran 4.87 miles but you actually ran 5.0, you can enter 5.0 and your pace and mileage will be adjusted. The watch also remembers this (essentially how the movement of your watch matches your pace) and can use it to more accurately measure your pace and distance next time.

But this is just a Band-Aid for a truly intractable problem. The watch on your wrist has no way of knowing how fast your feet are moving. He might understand how much wrist bouncing correlates with 11-minute-per-mile pace, but that doesn’t mean he’ll understand what happens when you run at eight-minute pace or when you slow down to 11-minute-per-mile pace. walk (or, worse, rest your hand on the handrail). I found interval training to be nearly impossible to follow. The clock thought I was walking too slowly, so I waved my arms exaggeratedly, and sometimes it may have believed me that I was actually walking at the programmed pace.

I wish there was a way to turn off the “too slow”/”too fast” alerts for workouts that the clock creates, but there isn’t. The best solution I’ve found is to record the time and pace of the workout, then create a new custom workout without any pace targets and run it .

Racing with Forerunner 265

I run occasionally, and when I first put on the Forerunner 265, my final “on” phase was just a few months away. Since I had no serious competition goals, I ignored some of the suggested workouts but did others when the mood struck me. And over time, I noticed that my 5K time prediction was getting lower and lower. The pace programmed for my “base” runs was also slowing down. Did I run faster? It really seemed like that! And while I should probably take most of the credit, I can’t help but admit that the watch helped me by showing me how much progress I’ve made. And the watch face complication showing my weekly mileage was a constant reminder that I have the ability to stay consistent with my training.

I do think I ran more miles, more consistently and with more challenging workouts than I probably would have done on my own. As my fitness improved and the weather cooled, I began to notice my predicted 5K time dropping quickly. It used to take over 30 minutes; then it was 29, 28, 27…

I know not to put too much emphasis on any predictions. From what I’ve seen on forums, most people think the forecasts are too optimistic. But I started to wonder how fast I could actually run a 5K, so I ended up signing up for one. The day before the race, my watch said I could run 25:50. Could this be true?

I made a PacePro plan for 26 minutes with negative splits, but on the morning of the race I decided that I was too skeptical of the forecast to trust it that much. Instead, I simply pressed the Run button and used the same data screen as for my training runs. To my surprise, I found myself maintaining a faster pace for longer than I had ever done in my entire training season. I finished in 26:04, just 14 seconds behind the forecast.

Ironically, I immediately forgot to pause the watch, and the GPS shaved off a small corner that I didn’t actually cut in real life. So my watch says I ran 3.09 miles in 26:14 and doesn’t count me as a 5K PR. But I got a medal for first place in my age group, so it’s hard to be too angry.

Final Thoughts

Once again, this is a great watch for runners. The Forerunner 2xx line is probably the most popular line of running watches, with mega-popular running app Strava reporting that the top running devices among its users in 2023 were the Forerunner 235 globally and the 245 Music in the US (among older devices). Previously, music storage was an optional feature; the 265 has it standard on all models.) Not only does this statistic indicate that this is a popular line of watches, but the popularity of older models is a testament to the Forerunner’s popularity. durability and continued usefulness over time.

I’ve found that the 265 does everything I need in a running watch, plus it unobtrusively provides a ton of interesting data. If you don’t care about your HRV, you can hide this look. If you don’t need daily workout suggestions, you can turn them off. I find the way HRV metrics are presented to be the most useful and readable of any gadget out there (and I’ve tested a few !)

Ultimately, I feel like I can recommend this watch to any runner or athlete. You can save money by choosing the Forerunner 55 and still get most of the key features (no HRV or training readiness). Or you can invest in a more fashionable watch. But the 265 is the sweet spot in the lineup, the lineup is the sweet spot (for runners) in Garmin, and Garmin is the gold standard for sports smartwatches. This is the watch that all other running watches have to contend with. Good luck to them; it will be tough competition.

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