Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar Review

The article contains affiliate links to products selected by our editors.
Smartwebreviews my receive a commission for purchases made through these links.

Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar – The Bottom Line

Among the best fitness watches we’ve seen, this is the Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar. Garmin’s design and layout are perfect, it has a classic interface, and it has many features. In addition, the solar battery lives up to its reputation, and the Daily Readiness function is really helpful. In terms of daily activity watches, it’s becoming my favorite Garmin yet.

A look at the design of the Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar

In spite of being hefty and rugged, I don’t mind bringing it on even the roughest adventures, and it weighs just 52 grams, so it’s not a problem. In addition to being comfortable on the wrist, the watch has a silicone strap perfect for swimming. Metal casings, as well as the five buttons, are present in the Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar.

The button setup on the Garmin watch is familiar to those who’ve used the Forerunners, Epix and Enduro: one side has up, down and ‘light’ buttons, while the other has a ‘confirmation’ button and a ‘back’ button. All the details are clear and bright on the 46.5mm screen with 260 x 260 pixels.

This is my first touchscreen Garmin watch, and I did not use the touchscreen feature much when I first got the watch. The buttons are fine for navigation on their own, too.

After that, I began using the touchscreen and buttons for a variety of purposes, using them as tactile mid-workout controls while swiping left and right.

A thumb and forefinger can be used to navigate quickly through my list, such as grabbing the weather or Training Readiness scores.

In terms of design, the watch retains little change from Garmin’s pre-existing model, including its Garmin Connect orientation. There are a few new watch faces on the 955, but if you’ve ever owned a Garmin watch, especially a Forerunner watch, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

Even though there is no need to reinvent the wheel here, there are some changes:

for example, the recommended workouts for each day change if you’re preparing for a race.

Garmin Connect will suggest daily workouts based on your race length and time, such as generating a plan based on your past performance.

Overview Of The Features Of the Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar

As with the other premium Garmin watches, including the Enduro and Epix, the Forerunner 955 offers a wide range of fitness features. As a start, it provides improved mapping accuracy, with multiple satellite systems supported by multiband GNSS and SatIQ technology. In our testing, we found the watch just as accurate as any other benchmark.

So you don’t have to think about where to turn next, you can set routes with turn-by-turn directions. With the accompanying Garmin Connect app, you can set distance and time targets, and we especially like the Forerunner’s circular route, which guides us back to our doorstep as we run. Turn-by-turn directions were easy to follow, and full-color map readouts worked perfectly.

On-route guidance is offered by PacePro and ClimbPro to alert you to the challenges ahead.

It includes new innovative software features like HRV status, which analyzes the heart rate changes while sleeping, so sleep tracking is more accurate.

As part of the Training Readiness score, a feature that has been revamped from previous models, it offers a simple colored gauge that lets you know how ready you are for hard training, much like Polar’s Nightly Recharge or Fitbit’s Daily Readiness score.

Menu

Garmin’s main widget menu provides easy access to both widgets, but also includes them in its Morning Report, a wrist-mounted morning digest consisting of upcoming weather, sleep patterns, and Training Readiness information. Your Training Readiness score, the weather, and your sleep quality are all included in the Morning Report. What’s better: a long run or some light accessory training to start off your day?.

During the last few weeks, using this tool has proven to be the most useful in adapting my training to my statistics. I have run 10 miles on days when I had only planned to run six or seven, and have not overtaxed my body when I should be resting because of my Training Readiness score. My push notification revealed a very low Training Readiness score during a trail running festival in west Wales. I took my body down a notch when I got that notification.

My poor sleep the previous night made it harder to remember this reminder the next day. My sleep hadn’t been good, and the notification wasn’t welcome. The idea of getting notifications about sleep updates may seem counter-intuitive if you get anxious about your health data. In addition, the Training Readiness score doesn’t give you much information about how it is calculated, only that it is determined by factors such as HRV status, sleep quality, and Body Battery scores.

When you are not able to change your behavior due to a poor night’s sleep, or if your next race will be big, you may feel terrible if you have a poor Training Readiness score. It is possible to disable the feature in ‘settings’ if you do not wish to receive the morning notification.

Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar performance

During my training with this watch, I loved every minute. I’m satisfied with the watch’s accuracy with its Multi-Band GPS software, since I’ve worn multiple Garmins previously, and my GPS tracking and calories burned were in agreement with my phone’s GPS and the information collected on MapMyRun on my usual 6km test route. Also, my Polar Vantage V2, the watch I wear every day, was equally accurate when it came to heart rate.

Although I used the TracBack feature to retrace my steps back to my start point rather than when I got lost, I was impressed by how easy it was to retrace my steps back to my start point.

The Garmin Connect app allows you to zoom in once you’re done running the route, and heat maps show you where you slowed down and how fast you accelerated.

A daily prediction for different distances including 5k and 10k was provided, along with recommended workouts, along with a goal to hit, allowing you to race against yourself. Having a training load feature that tells you whether you’re detraining, maintaining your load, or overtraining would also be beneficial. While using the watch, I encountered all of these.

I had never been able to analyze my performance like I did as a runner. While my primary discipline is cycling, the metrics here are just as impressive if you are a swimmer and cyclist: swimming includes stroke count, average pool lengths, and time and distance in addition to open water functionality.

In the strength training mode, I was able to count my reps with reasonable accuracy (but sometimes glitchy), but it is something that Garmin generally doesn’t do well, which isn’t the fault of the Forerunner.

We had no problems charging the solar battery. Even though the watch’s battery life isn’t as impressive as the Garmin Enduro, with 60 days of battery life with moderate use, I have been using it on GPS mode for several runs each week with no problem. A sixteen-day battery charge lasted under an hour, so I topped it up when it was running low. Multi-sport watches are one of the best investments you can make if you loathe charging them every few days.

What’s the price and release date of the Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar?

A solar lens helps extend the battery life of the Forerunner 955, while another version doesn’t. There is a solar option available in the 955 Solar, which costs in the US, $549.99. The Forerunner 955 without the solar option costs in the US and $479.99 .

Buy It If…

• Triathlons or running are your passions
• It’s one of the best watches right now if your main activity is endurance sports, particularly running.
• An enduring watch is what you’re looking for
• The Forerunner 955’s large amount of juice is squeezed to the limit with the Power Glass’ twenty days of battery life.