Garmin Forerunner 165 vs Garmin Forerunner 955
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| GarminForerunner 165 | GarminForerunner 955 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | February 2024 | June 2022 |
| Display | ||
| Case sizes | 43 mm | 47 mm |
| Panel | OLED | Memory-in-pixel |
| Always-on display | Yes | Yes |
| Display detail | 1.2-inch (30.4 mm diameter) colour AMOLED touchscreen, 390 x 390 pixels; optional always-on display; five physical buttons | 1.3-inch (33 mm) transflective colour memory-in-pixel touchscreen, 260 x 260 pixels, with five buttons. |
| Screen protection | Chemically strengthened glass | Corning Gorilla Glass DX. |
| Health and fitness | ||
| ECG | No | No |
| Blood oxygen | Yes | 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 | Dual-band (L1 and L5) |
| Water resistance | 50 m | 50 m |
| Sensors | Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate; Pulse Ox; barometric altimeter; compass; accelerometer; thermometer; ambient light sensor; GPS, GLONASS and Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, multi-frequency GNSS, Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate, Pulse Ox, barometric altimeter, compass, gyroscope, accelerometer and thermometer. |
| 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 | Pulse Ox, HRV status, sleep score, all-day stress and Body Battery energy monitoring. |
| Fitness features | 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) | Training readiness and status, morning report, race widget, real-time stamina, PacePro, ClimbPro, triathlon profiles and full-colour maps with turn-by-turn route guidance. |
| Safety features | Incident detection during selected activities, assistance and LiveTrack require a paired compatible smartphone and connectivity; live event sharing is Android-only | Incident detection and assistance require a paired smartphone; LiveTrack. |
| Battery and connections | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 11 days | Up to 15 days |
| In low-power mode | Up to 20 days | – |
| Mobile data option | No | No |
| Works with | iPhone and Android | iPhone and Android |
| Storage | 4 GB | 32 GB (better) |
| Battery life detail | 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; actual life depends on display settings, enabled features and use | Up to 15 days in smartwatch mode, 42 hours in GPS-only mode without music or 20 hours with all-systems multi-band GNSS without music. |
| Charging | Garmin proprietary plug charging/data cable; rechargeable built-in battery | Rechargeable battery with Garmin charging cable; this standard model has no solar charging lens. |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth and ANT+ ; controls smartphone music without offline playback; no Wi-Fi; 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 | Bluetooth, ANT+ and Wi-Fi; Garmin Pay, Connect IQ, notifications and on-watch music storage for up to 2,000 songs. |
| Storage | 4 GB memory/history ; standard model has no offline music player | – |
| Design | ||
| Weight (lightest version) | 39 g (better) | 52 g |
| Software | Garmin | Garmin |
| Case materials | Fibre-reinforced polymer bezel; chemically strengthened glass; silicone band; 5 ATM water rating | Fibre-reinforced polymer bezel and silicone band; 5 ATM water rating. |
| Size | 43 x 43 x 11.6 mm; Garmin lists 39 g without a separate body-only weight | 46.5 x 46.5 x 14.4 mm; 52 g. |
| Bands | 20 mm quick-release silicone bands; fits 126–203 mm wrists | QuickFit-compatible 22 mm band; fits wrists 130–220 mm. |
| Colours | Black/Slate Grey; Mist Grey/Whitestone | Black. |
| In the box | Forerunner 165; charging/data cable; documentation | – |
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