Garmin Forerunner 15 vs Garmin Forerunner 265

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Forerunner 15 compared with Forerunner 265

	GarminForerunner 15	GarminForerunner 265
Overview
Released
Released	2014	March 2023
Display
Case sizes
Case sizes	52 mm or 57 mm	42 mm or 46 mm
Panel
Panel	Memory-in-pixel	OLED
Always-on display
Always-on display	Yes	Yes
Display detail
Display detail	Monochrome memory-in-pixel display, 55 × 32 pixels; 2.1 × 2.0 cm on the small version and 2.5 × 2.4 cm on the large version, with a backlight and four-button control.	Forerunner 265S has a 1.1″ (28.1 mm) AMOLED touchscreen, 360 x 360 pixels; Forerunner 265 has a 1.3″ (32.5 mm) AMOLED touchscreen, 416 x 416 pixels; five buttons; optional always-on mode
Screen protection
Screen protection	–	Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Health and fitness
ECG
ECG	No	No
Blood oxygen
Blood oxygen	No	Yes
Skin temperature
Skin temperature	No	No
Sleep apnoea alerts
Sleep apnoea alerts	No	No
High blood pressure alerts
High blood pressure alerts	No	No
Body composition
Body composition	No	No
Fall detection
Fall detection	No	No
Crash detection
Crash detection	No	No
GPS
GPS	Single-band	Dual-band (L1 and L5)
Water resistance
Water resistance	50 m	50 m
Sensors
Sensors	Built-in GPS; supports a chest-worn heart-rate monitor and optional ANT+ foot pod for indoor pace and distance.	Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate monitor; Pulse Ox blood oxygen monitor; barometric altimeter; compass; gyroscope; accelerometer; thermometer; ambient light sensor
Health features
Health features	Daily steps, calories and inactivity reminders; heart-rate recording requires the chest strap sold in some bundles.	High and low heart rate alerts; HRV status; Body Battery; all-day stress; sleep score, sleep coach and nap detection; breathing variations; respiration rate; Health Snapshot; menstrual cycle and pregnancy tracking; jet lag adviser
Fitness features
Fitness features	Outdoor pace, distance, personal records, Auto Lap, Auto Pause, Virtual Pacer and run/walk intervals; indoor distance requires the foot pod.	Training readiness and training status; training load, load ratio and load focus; training effect, VO2 max and recovery time; wrist-based running power and dynamics; PacePro; race predictor; Garmin Coach running, cycling and strength plans; daily suggested running and cycling workouts; triathlon and open-water swimming; course navigation with a breadcrumb trail, TracBack and Up Ahead
Safety features
Safety features	–	Incident detection during select activities; assistance; LiveTrack; spectator messaging; live event sharing (Android only); these features require a paired phone
Battery and connections
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 35 days	Up to 15 days
Mobile data option
Mobile data option	No	No
Works with
Works with	No phone pairing	iPhone and Android
Storage
Storage	–	8 GB
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Up to five weeks in watch/activity-tracking mode or eight hours with GPS on.	Forerunner 265S up to 15 days in smartwatch mode, 24 hours GPS only, 18 hours SatIQ (AutoSelect), 15 hours All-Systems + Multi-Band; with music up to 7.5, seven and six hours respectively. Forerunner 265 up to 13 days in smartwatch mode, 20 hours GPS only, 16 hours SatIQ, 14 hours All-Systems + Multi-Band; with music up to seven, 6.5 and six hours respectively
Charging
Charging	Rechargeable lithium-ion battery with a USB charging and data cable.	Garmin proprietary plug charger; USB-C charging/data cable included
Connectivity
Connectivity	USB connection to a Mac or PC for Garmin Connect uploads; no Bluetooth or direct smartphone sync. ANT+ supports optional heart-rate and foot-pod accessories.	Bluetooth, ANT+ and Wi-Fi; multi-band GPS with GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou and SatIQ; Garmin Pay; offline music from Spotify, Deezer and Amazon Music (premium subscription required); Connect IQ; notifications and Android text responses; Garmin Share
Storage
Storage	Seven activities of on-watch history.	–
Design
Weight (lightest version)
Weight (lightest version)	36 g (better)	39 g
Software
Software	Garmin	Garmin
Case materials
Case materials	Plastic case and band; 5 ATM water rating.	Fibre-reinforced polymer bezel; silicone band; 5 ATM water rating
Size
Size	Small 4.0 × 5.2 × 1.6 cm and 36 g; large 4.6 × 5.7 × 1.6 cm and 43 g. The longest case dimensions appear in the size comparison.	Forerunner 265S is 41.7 x 41.7 x 12.9 mm and 39 g; Forerunner 265 is 46.1 x 46.1 x 12.9 mm and 47 g; Garmin does not publish case-only weights
Bands
Bands	–	Quick-release 18 mm bands for the 265S, fitting 115–178 mm wrists; quick-release 22 mm bands for the 265, fitting 135–205 mm wrists
Colours
Colours	Small black/green, teal/white and violet/white; large black/blue and red/black.	–
In the box
In the box	Watch, charging/data cable and manual; a chest heart-rate monitor was included in some bundles.	Forerunner 265 or 265S, USB-C charging/data cable, documentation