Garmin Forerunner 101 vs Garmin Forerunner 165 Music
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| GarminForerunner 101 | GarminForerunner 165 Music | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | 2004 | February 2024 |
| Display | ||
| Case sizes | 83 mm | 43 mm |
| Panel | – | OLED |
| Always-on display | Yes | Yes |
| Display detail | Backlit 36.49 × 23.35 mm monochrome display, 100 × 64 pixels, operated with physical buttons. Garmin does not identify the panel technology. | 1.2-inch (30.4 mm diameter) colour AMOLED touchscreen, 390 x 390 pixels; optional always-on display; five physical buttons |
| Screen protection | – | Chemically strengthened glass |
| Health and fitness | ||
| ECG | No | No |
| Blood oxygen | No | Yes |
| Skin temperature | No | No |
| Sleep apnoea alerts | No | No |
| High blood pressure alerts | No | No |
| Body composition | No | No |
| Fall detection | No | No |
| Crash detection | No | No |
| GPS | Single-band | Single-band |
| Water resistance | – | 50 m |
| Sensors | Twelve-channel GPS receiver with built-in patch antenna; no heart-rate or cadence sensor support. | Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate; Pulse Ox; barometric altimeter; compass; accelerometer; thermometer; ambient light sensor; GPS, GLONASS and Galileo |
| Health features | – | Continuous heart rate with high/low alerts; HRV status; Body Battery; stress, respiration and blood oxygen; advanced sleep and sleep score; sleep coach and nap detection; Health Snapshot; hydration and women's health tracking; no ECG app |
| Fitness features | Time, distance, pace and calorie tracking; Virtual Partner, interval training, Auto Pause, Auto Lap and pace, time and distance alerts. | Daily suggested running workouts and Garmin Coach plans; training effect and recovery time; wrist-based running dynamics and running power; PacePro; VO2 max and race predictions; pool and open-water swimming; running, cycling, strength, HIIT, yoga, Pilates, tennis, pickleball and padel profiles; point-to-point and breadcrumb course navigation, back-to-start and TracBack; no full offline maps or dedicated triathlon mode; no training readiness, load or status (Wareable and Tech Advisor) |
| Safety features | Stores 100 locations and offers basic route display and navigation back to the start; no detailed base maps. | Incident detection during selected activities, assistance and LiveTrack require a paired compatible smartphone and connectivity; live event sharing is Android-only |
| Battery and connections | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 15 hours | Up to 11 days |
| In low-power mode | – | Up to 20 days |
| Mobile data option | No | No |
| Works with | No phone pairing | iPhone and Android |
| Storage | – | 4 GB |
| Battery life detail | Two replaceable 1.5 V AAA batteries; fourteen to fifteen hours of typical use according to the owner's manual. | Smartwatch up to 11 days; battery saver smartwatch up to 20 days; GPS-only up to 19 hours; all-systems GNSS up to 17 hours; GPS-only with music up to 7 hours; all-systems with music up to 6.5 hours; actual life depends on display settings, enabled features and use |
| Charging | – | Garmin proprietary plug charging/data cable; rechargeable built-in battery |
| Connectivity | No computer interface or direct phone pairing; history is viewed on the watch. | Bluetooth and ANT+ and Wi-Fi; stores music for Bluetooth headphones; Spotify, Deezer and Amazon Music downloads require compatible subscriptions; Garmin Pay; Connect IQ apps, watch faces and data fields; smart notifications; Android-only text responses and notification images; Garmin Share and Garmin Messenger; no cellular connection or multi-band GNSS |
| Storage | Up to 5,000 laps and approximately two years of training history. | 4 GB memory/history; offline music playback |
| Design | ||
| Weight (lightest version) | 74 g | 39 g (better) |
| Software | Garmin | Garmin |
| Case materials | High-impact plastic alloy housing; IPX7 immersion protection, one metre for thirty minutes. This is not a swimming watch. | Fibre-reinforced polymer bezel; chemically strengthened glass; silicone band; 5 ATM water rating |
| Size | 83 × 43.5 × 23 mm; 74 g including batteries, according to Garmin's series datasheet. Width is used as the case size. | 43 x 43 x 11.6 mm; Garmin lists 39 g without a separate body-only weight |
| Bands | Adjustable wrist strap. | 20 mm quick-release silicone bands; fits 126–203 mm wrists |
| Colours | – | Black/Slate Grey; Mist Grey/Whitestone; Turquoise/Aqua; Berry/Lilac (currently not sellable on the UK maker page) |
| In the box | – | Forerunner 165 Music; charging/data cable; documentation |
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