The Garmin Forerunner 955 is the successor to the Forerunner 945 and it comes with new features. It has a bigger display size, touchscreen support, slightly longer battery life, and welcomes new activity tracking features. The Forerunner 955 comes in two models, the Standard and Solar edition. The Solar model has a longer battery and is priced higher. In this post, we’re comparing the differences between the Garmin Forerunner 955 and 955 Solar, so you know the differences.
Garmin Forerunner 955 vs 955 Solar Full Specifications Comparison
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Forerunner 955 vs 955 Solar – What’s the Difference?
The Garmin Forerunner 955 and 955 Solar are two identical smartwatches. These two have the same design and features but differ in battery life and price.
The difference between the Forerunner 955 and 955 Solar is that the 955 Solar has Solar charging that ensures it has a longer battery life than the Forerunner 955. With the Solar model, you get up to 20 days of battery life compared to about 15 days with the Standard model.
As a result of the longer battery life, the Forerunner 955 Solar is priced at $600 compared to the $500 price tag on the Forerunner 955.
Garmin Forerunner 945 vs 955 – What’s New?
- Forerunner 955 has a bigger display size and touchscreen support
- Forerunner 955 has more storage
- Forerunner 955 has a longer battery life
- Garmin Forerunner 955 features onboard Connect IQ store
- Garmin Forerunner 955 welcomes spectator messaging
- More gym profiles added
- Onscreen muscle maps and animated workouts added
- New training and planning features
- New health tracking features added
- New running profiles
- New outdoor recreational profiles
- New cycling profiles
Garmin has increased the display size of the Forerunner 955. It has a 1.3 inches display compared to the 1.2 inches of the 945. The Forerunner 955 also has a touch-sensitive screen in addition to 5 physical buttons that make it easier to interact with the watch.
The storage capacity of the Forerunner 955 has also been increased to 32GB which is twice what you get with Forerunner 945 and 945 LTE.
Battery life has also improved. With the Forerunner 955, you get up to 15 days of battery life. It’s up to 20 days with the 955 Solar. The Forerunner 955 also welcomes the new customizable battery saver mode that elongates battery life significantly.
Just like the Fenix 7 series, the Forerunner 955 series also have the Garmin Connect IQ store app on board the watch. This will make it easier to manage watch faces and applications.
The Forerunner 955 welcomes Spectator messaging that allows your LiveTrack followers to send you audio and text messages. It also features Assistance Plus which enables the watch to contact the Garmin International Emergency Response Coordination Center (IERCC) team when the watch detects a fall. The IERCC will then contact the corresponding emergency service on your behalf so that you can get help quickly. Note that you must carry your phone along to enable these features while working out outdoors.
Assistant Plus and Spectator messaging are not new features. These two features are available on the Forerunner 945 LTE. And because the 945 LTE has cellular capability, you don’t need to carry your phone along to activate these features.
Garmin has added new gym profiles to the Forerunner 955. This includes bouldering, HIIT and indoor climbing profiles.
It also features the onscreen animated muscle map that shows which muscle is targeted during a workout. Onscreen muscle maps and onscreen animated workouts are available on all recent Garmin watches.
New training and planning features have been added to the Forerunner 955. This includes improved intervals (open repeats, rest screen and auto-detection), rest timer during workout and VO2 max. for a trail run.
New health tracking features have been added and this includes training readiness that gives you a score when you wake up based on sleep quality, recovery and other vital stats so that you know when to train. This is very similar to the body battery energy monitor.
Another new health tracking feature is the morning report which also gives an overview of your sleep, recovery, and training outlook to help you determine when to train.
HRV status is another new health-tracking feature that gives you an overall overview of your health, training and recovery based on heart rate variability during sleep.
The Forerunner 955 welcomes ultra running profile as well as running power and course and weather-specific race predictor. Running power shows you how much effort you’re exerting as you run. Ultra running profile is also present on the 945 LTE.
New outdoor recreational profiles have been added to the Forerunner 955 and these include backcountry skiing, snowshoeing, mapping, navigating, tennis, pickleball, padel, track me and project waypoint.
Garmin has also added new cycling profiles to the Forerunner 955. This includes road biking, gravel biking, bike commuting, bike touring, ebiking, emountain biking and cyclocross. ebiking and emountain biking are not new as they are also present on the Forerunner 945 LTE.
These are all the new features that have been added to the Forerunner 955 which separates it from its predecessor, the 945. You notice that some of these features are also present on the 945 LTE, and that’s because it’s a newer smartwatch than the 945.
Garmin Forerunner 945 LTE vs 955 – The Difference
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The Forerunner 945 LTE has a similar design and battery life as the Forerunner 945. Although, it has a few of the new features present on the Forerunner 955. It features a health snapshot, improved intervals and a customizable low power watch. Apart from these extra features, the 945 LTE is identical to the 945.
However, the 945 LTE has cellular capability which is the main difference between it and the 945/955. The LTE capability doesn’t mean it can make and receive calls as you would with a Galaxy Watch 4, it only ensures you get security features without carrying your phone along.
With LTE enabled on the Forerunner 945 LTE, you don’t need to carry your phone along to access LiveTrack, group LiveTrack, live event sharing, incidental fall detection, assistance, Spectator messaging and assistance plus.
While LiveTrack allows you to automatically share details of your workout with family and friends as you train, group LiveTrack allows you to keep track of your connections. Meanwhile, live event sharing allows you to send messages to friends and family during a workout.
The incidental fall detection feature will automatically activate Assistance which allows the watch to automatically send a message containing your name and location to a preset emergency contact. And with Assistant Plus, the Forerunner 945 LTE will automatically contact the Garmin IERCC team who will then contact local emergency services on your behalf.
With the Forerunner 955, you must carry your phone along to enable all these security features, and this is the difference between the 945 LTE and the 955.
Meanwhile, the Forerunner 945 lacks Spectator messaging and Assistance plus.
You will need to subscribe to a monthly or yearly cellular plan which is handled by Garmin. Note that the LTE services of the 945 LTE aren’t available in every country.
As a result of the LTE capability of the Forerunner 945 LTE, its priced at $650 which is far more than the $500 Forerunner 955 and $600 955 Solar.
Garmin Forerunner 945 vs 955 – Should You Upgrade?
In my honest opinion, I really think the Forerunner 955 is worth upgrading to. It has a larger display size that lets you see more at a glance plus a touch-sensitive screen that makes navigation easier. It also has twice the storage capacity of the Forerunner 945. Moreover, you get more activity tracking features that can make your workout more productive. These new tracking features won’t come to the Forerunner 945.
On this note, the Forerunner 955 is a better multisport GPS smartwatch and a worthy upgrade from the Forerunner 945.
Garmin Forerunner 945 vs 945 LTE vs 955 Activity Tracking Features
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