Garmin Forerunner 955, An In-Depth Review for Runners and Athletes

by Samuel Kalenga on Aug 22, 2024

The Garmin Forerunner 955 is the flagship running watch from Garmin, the latest in a line of wearables that have driven a technological revolution on the wrists of serious athletes. It’s designed to help you train better, run faster and track your overall health and fitness more accurately than ever before through an astonishing array of advanced features and focused, data-driven insights. Whether you’re an elite runner or triathlete, a social jogger or simply looking to get fit, the Garmin Forerunner 955 is worth a look.

Unveiling the Key Features: What Sets the Forerunner 955 Apart?

Then we mention how this Forerunner 955 has ultimately so much to offer: The Forerunner 955 is such a fitness tracker from Garmin. The watch stands out with its impressive features and functions. What are the most important features of this Forerunner 955 that should not be missing to create a fitness tracker that makes every exercise user happy?

Advanced Performance Metrics: A Deep Dive into Your Running Form

Beyond the basics: In addition to the usual metrics, such as pace, distance and heart rate, the Forerunner 955 offers an in-depth look at your running form so that you can become reacquainted with your own running technique. The metrics will prove useful tools for understanding your efficiency as a runner, but also for selecting the part of your technique to hopefully improve. In other words, you can discover your ground contact time, your vertical oscillation and stride length.
Running Dynamics: Based on sensors in the heel, the 955 measures running cadence and advanced running metrics to help improve running form. These metrics are a nuanced view of running motion, but the device cannot make adjustments on your behalf; you need to figure that out yourself. Running dynamics could be used for monitoring injury risk and improving performance.
Estimate of VO2 Max: The Forerunner 955 calculates your VO2 Max: a measure of your aerobic fitness. It helps you gauge your overall fitness and track your progress over time when regular monitoring is maintained. With a VO2 Max, you can set realistic goals and track the efficacy of your training program.
Recovery Time Suggestions:- The watch provides personalised recovery time suggestions to help you avoid overtraining and fully optimise your training schedule. This is an essential feature to have if you wish to adjust your training routine optimally and minimise the risk of injury.

Comprehensive Health and Fitness Monitoring: A Holistic Approach to Wellness

Sleep Tracking: the Forerunner 955 tracks your sleep patterns to show how well you sleep, whether you’re in REM or light sleep, how long these have lasted and your average sleep over time. With this information, you begin to identify an inability to sleep optimally, which in turn directs you to your sleep hygiene to make changes that will enable you to get enough rest and return to recovery and optimal performance. Stress Monitoring: the tracker 955 is capable of recording your state of stress all day, alerting you to high-stress periods, and offering breathing exercises to relax you.
Blood Oxygen Saturation: Now the watch measures SpO2, which is the level of oxygen in your blood. Saturation is a critical marker of normal physiologic health, and a low SpO2 is associated with a variety of disease states. This measure can be helpful in assessing whether your body is performing well with how it utilises oxygen, like at high altitude. Some sleep trackers use this data to determine sleep disturbance and overall health status.
Menstrual cycle tracking: Forerunner 955 also features menstrual cycle tracking designed to provide women with a personalised understanding of their cycles. This allows women to better track hormonal fluctuations and adjust their training schedules accordingly as they prepare for a great race.

Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: Power Up Your Training

Beyond Running: For a training device that also tracks swimming, cycling, hiking and even trail running, the Forerunner 955 is the ideal companion for the multi-sport athlete. For seasoned runners, this forerunner 955 also displays depth graphs of music, suggesting songs you may want to listen to alongside just sound. Its advanced features also position this all-in-one training device as a healthy and motivating tool.
Multi-sport training: designed for different sports and activities, the 955 can track a variety of sports and allow you to monitor all aspects of your fitness, ensuring a well-rounded approach in terms of your athleticism and practically ensuring that your sports regime doesn’t lead too rapidly to certain kinds of injury. As it can monitor swimming, cycling and hiking (among other things), it will be able to track things such as stroke styles in swimming, cadence and speed in cycling and elevation gain when hiking.

Smart Notifications: Stay Connected, Stay Focused

Cropped Smoothie side: With every sleek, connected feature, the Forerunner 955 picks up the pace of your workout, fuelled by all the data Star Trek thought we were supposed to have by now What does this image convey?Seamless integration with your smartphone for smart notifications for calls, texts and alerts from your favourite social media apps. Keep your phone out of sight and free from interruptions by pairing with your Forerunner 955.
Greater Comfort: The 955 is fitted with intuitive functions such as music control and smartphone app functionality, making it possible to track your beats directly from the tempo on your wrist or sending a heartbeat signal to a loved one’s email inbox, among many other things. This function will prove very convenient, expedient and importantly, help you become more focused on your training without distractions.

Sleek Design, Durable Construction: A Watch That Performs and Looks Good

Stylish Aesthetics: Elegant and stylish, the Forerunner 955’s bold colour display is easy to see in any lighting, and it comes in several colour options to match your style and preference. The sleek aesthetic of the 955 also gives this watch a comfortable, everyday look and feel that makes it a stylish companion, both on the track and off.

Who is the Garmin Forerunner 955 For?

The Garmin Forerunner 955 is designed for the seasoned pro, to the weekend warrior … as well as recreational athletes and those who just care a little bit about their biostats. Here’s who the 955 is built for:

Serious Runners: Your body will tell the story that data cannot capture. Another set of humans mark the other side of the spectrum with regard to both running and wearables. Having excelled at communication through the fictional tapping of knuckles, wrists, ankles and toes, we are not inclined to record, or passively ingest, any one piece of dalliance. The day our hard-won skills as runners and athletes are challenged by these devices, these are the runners we shall become. Athletes who desire the bleeding edge, crave nuanced insight, for whom the metrics prove invaluable in pushing through comfort zones. For these runners, the 955’s advanced running dynamics, the estimation of VO2 Max and recovery time will be their new support structure to break plateaus and reach faster times.
Triathletes: The 955’s multi-sport capabilities make it a great choice for triathletes, who each individual sport (swimming, cycling, running) but then can also compare running versus cycling and see where his strengths and weaknesses lie as well as fine-tune training strategies.
Outdoor adventurers will also welcome the 955’s excellent battery life, solar recharging and ability to store multiple sports profiles via the fact that it can support up to 100 hours of battery life, recharges via solar charging, and can track up to four different sports per outdoor session. The Forerunner 955 can endure your epic outdoor adventures, several times over. It supports multiple sports profiles, boasts solar charging and stability profile options Finally, runners who are inclined to push their limits may find the 955’s capabilities most appealing. Its large battery and focus on runners may be just what you need to prepare for that next world record or personal best at next season’s Olympics.
Lovers of fitness: Anyone with an interest in comprehensive body health and fitness tracking (eat sleep, train, balance, recover), or anyone who might like to keep tabs on their own cortisol levels, sleep health, or general sleep/body health.The 955 a watch that counts steps. It provides a full ecosystem that helps you make thoughtful decisions about your training life and fitness regime, encouraging balance over excessive focus. It helps you see a holistic picture of your overall health.

Garmin Forerunner 955 vs. Garmin Forerunner 945: A Closer Look

The Garmin Forerunner 955 builds on the Forerunner 945 from last year with numerous upgrades and iterative improvements. Here’s what’s new.

Solar charging: Solar charging is a next-level battery life boost providing up to six weeks in smartwatch mode and 34 hours in GPS mode with full solar charging in a typical use scenario. The Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar’s enduring battery life makes charging a thing of the past, allowing athletes to train harder and go farther without any power problems.
Superior Performance Analytics: 955 takes you up another rung of performance analytics, providing a deeper level of insight into your running truths than ever before. These metrics can help you to train smarter, accessing a deeper understanding of your biomechanics.
Extended Health and Fitness Features: The forerunner 955 has extended its health and fitness features to include blood oxygen saturation tracking and enhanced sleep tracking to help you learn more about your body and make smarter decisions related to your lifestyle and training.

Garmin Forerunner 955: Real-World Reviews and User Experience

Testers of the Garmin Forerunner 955 provide real-world reviews and even run-alongs that highlight the features – especially accuracy, range of features, and ease of use. Specs like advanced performance metrics and a robust power manager provide superior insight into running form and efficiency. Runners also laud the longer battery life of the 955 Solar-edition, meaning fewer charges and longer runs for adventures outside of everyday wear. The sleek and clean look of the 955’s user interface, combined with easy menu navigation, are features that real-world users appreciate.

Garmin Forerunner 955 Price and Availability

The Garmin Forerunner 955 is available from a variety of suppliers, including online retailers like Amazon, bricks-and-mortar electronics retailers like Best Buy and Garmin itself. The price of the 955 is likely to be dependent on which version (solar or non-solar), whether you just want one colour or multiple ones and who you are buying from. Check to see what deals – if any – can be found, and what your options are in terms of colour. The solar edition is generally a little higher in terms of the cost. The increased battery life when using the solar version is going to be a consideration for seasoned athletes and anyone who plans to engage in very long training sessions or adventures in the great outdoors.

Conclusion

At the crux of all this is Garmin’s laboured-over three-word slogan: innovations in wearables. The Forerunner 955 is proof positive that Garmin can, and will, continue developing wearables that break new ground, throwing down new challenges and impregnating the tech-loving bodies of athletes across the spectrum with ever more precise, revealing and nuanced data. Price: $599.99 at retailers. Garmin supplied a device for review.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are some commonly asked questions about the Garmin Forerunner 955:

How long does Garmin Forerunner 955 battery last?
Is the Garmin Forerunner 955 compatible with Apple?You can link the Garmin Forerunner 955 to an Android or iOS device (smartphone or tablet). To connect it to an Apple device, you can download the Garmin Connect app to easily pair and sync your iPhone and watch for effectively transferring your data between your gadgets.
Is the Garmin Forerunner 955 waterproof? It is IPX8 certified – based on 5 ATM (50 metres/165 feet) water resistance, which means splashes and incidental exposure are no problem, and it can also be briefly submerged without issue, although you shouldn’t swim or dive with it, and rain shouldn’t be an issue at all. It will be fine to go for a run in the pouring rain and you won’t have to worry about sweating during a workout.

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