Unlike its predecessor, the Forerunner 245, the Forerunner 255 is a true multisport GPS smartwatch featuring both auto and manual multisport activities. It also has a long battery life, an NFC that enables Garmin Pay plus an altimeter that enables it to count floors. Furthermore, the Forerunner 255 is equipped with most of the newly introduced health metrics as well as features the multi-Band GPS sensor that improves location tracking accuracy. It’s clearly a step above its predecessor, and in this post, we’ll try to show you the differences between the Garmin Forerunner 245 and 255, and perhaps help you decide if you should upgrade.
Garmin Forerunner 245 vs 255 Full Specifications
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Forerunner 245 vs 255 – What’s New?
- Unlike the Forerunner 245, the Forerunner 255 comes in two sizes, 41mm and 46mm units.
- The Forerunner 255 is equipped with an altimeter that enables it to count floors climbed as well as show you elevation data.
- NFC is also onboard the watch, this enables Garmin Pay which allows you to make payments directly from the watch.
- Forerunner 255 features onscreen animated workouts and onscreen animated muscle maps. These two features are not present on the 245. The popular health snapshot is also present on the Forerunner 255.
- The Forerunner 255 has more gym profiles as well as features HIIT, yoga, and pilates workouts.
- New training features have been introduced to the Forerunner 255, this includes improved intervals, rest timer, training load focus, auto multisport, and manual multisport activities.
- New health tracking metrics have also been added to the Forerunner 255, this includes race glance, morning report and HRV status. While the morning report gives you an overview of your recovery, sleep quality, HRV status as well as weather, HRV status gives you a better understanding of your overall well-being based on your heart rate variability during sleep.
- The Forerunner 255 also welcomes new running features that include an ultra running profile, running power (doesn’t require third-party apps) and a race predictor based on your course and weather.
- New outdoor recreational profiles like hiking, skiing, snowboarding, XC classic skiing, stand Up paddleboarding and rowing have been added to the Forerunner 255. It also features up ahead, elevation profile and barometric trend indicator with storm alert.
- New cycling profiles like mountain biking, eBiking and eMountain biking have been introduced to the Forerunner 255. It also features bike lap and is compatible with a power meter.
- Unlike the Forerunner 245 which only tracks pool swimming activities, the Forerunner 255 now supports tracking for open water swimming. It will track your strokes, calories, distance, pace and swim efficiency (SWOLF) when you swim in open water. It also features other swim tracking features like time and distance alerts, pace alerts and critical swim speed.
- The Forerunner 255 has up to 12 days of battery life compared to about 7 days of the Forerunner 245.
In essence, the Forerunner 255 is a more equipped smartwatch than the Forerunner 245.
Garmin Forerunner 245 vs 255 Features Review
- Design
- Display
- Activity Tracking
- Media Storage
- Notifications
Beyond the new features that have been introduced to the Forerunner 255, it shares a lot in common with its predecessor.
In terms of design, just like the Forerunner 245, the 255 also has a fiber-polymer case paired with silicone straps while Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protects the display. Both watches have 5 physical buttons, 3 on the left and 2 on the right.
Both watches are also rated 5ATM, meaning they are waterproof up to 50 meters. You can wear any of these while swimming, and like stated above, the Forerunner 255 will now track your swimming activity in open water.
Display wise, both watches have a transflective memory-in-pixel display, although not as colorful as AMOLED is easy to read outdoors. The 46mm unit of the Forerunner 255 with a 1.3 inches display has a bigger display size than the 1.2 inches of the 245. Meanwhile, the 41mm model of the Forerunner 255 has a 1.1 inches display size.
You get lots of watch faces on the Garmin IQ store to choose from. You can also make your personal picture a watch face. These watch faces have a customizable widget that you can adjust to your preference.
The number of available activity tracking features is where the Forerunner 255 has the edge over the 245. The 255 welcomes new activity tracking features as stated above which are not present on the Forerunner 245.
With an altimeter onboard the Forerunner 255, it can now count floors. The multi-Band GPS sensor introduced to the Fenix 7 series is also available, this sensor enables improved location tracking accuracy. Moreover, as stated earlier, there is the health snapshot feature that gives you an overview of vital stats that include stress, spo2 and respiratory rate. Also present are onscreen animated workout and onscreen animated muscle maps which will not come to the Forerunner 245.
Nonetheless, the Forerunner 245 has lots of activity-tracking features. Just like the Forerunner 255, it will track your steps, calories, sleep, heart rate 24/7, respiratory rate, stress and blood oxygen. It also features other activity tracking functions like body battery energy monitor, fitness age and more.
Just like the Forerunner 245 music, the Forerunner 255 music also comes with 4GB storage that allows you to add music to the watch which you can listen to offline. Supported music services include Amazon Music, Spotify and Deezer.
Both watches will alert you when you receive a notification on your phone. You need to enable this from the Garmin Connect app to be able to receive message alerts on the watch and your phone must be nearby.
As mentioned earlier, the Forerunner 255 is equipped with an NFC chip that enables Garmin Pay. This is a non-contactless payment system that lets you make payments from the watch without carrying your debit card. Note that Garmin Pay is not available in all countries.
Garmin Forerunner 255 vs 255s – Which Size is Right For You?
Unlike the Forerunner 245, the 255 is available in two sizes; 41mm and 46mm. These two are basically the same in every aspect including price and have almost the same battery life.
However, the 46mm model is bigger and as a result, has a bigger display size. The 46mm model also weighs a little more even though both sizes are still very compact and lightweight.
The 41mm model measures 41 x 41 x 12.4 mm, while the 46mm model measures 45.6 x 45.6 x 12.9mm. Thus, the 46mm model has a 1.3 inches display compared to the 1.1 inches of the 41mm unit.
In terms of weight, the 46mm weighs 49 grams while the 41mm unit weighs 39 grams. The available colors also differ, the 46mm model is available in tidal blue and slate gray, while the 41mm model is available in light pink and powder gray colors.
Meanwhile, the 46mm model is compatible with 22mm straps while the 41mm unit is compatible with 20mm straps.
The aim of the two size options is to give you the end user a choice to choose the size that is right for you. In this case, the 46mm unit is a better fit for men and individuals with a fat wrist size while the 41mm unit will be more suitable for women and individuals with small wrist sizes.
- 46mm: Tidal blue and slate gray ($349.99) | ($400 – Music edition)
- 41mm: Light pink and powder gray ($349.99) | ($400 – Music edition)
Forerunner 255 vs 255 Music – The Difference
Both sizes of the Forerunner 255 are available in music and non-music editions. The music edition comes with 4GB of storage capacity out of which about 3GB is available for use. This will allow you to load your personal music as well as the option to add music through music services such as Spotify, Deezer and Amazon Music. You can listen to music with the watch offline via a Bluetooth headphone. This comes with a lot of conveniences especially if you are involved in an outdoor workout like me. Note that offline music requires you to subscribe to the mentioned music services
I hate carrying my phone along when I go for an outdoor workout, I just load the music to my watch, connect my headphone and off I go. It’s an awesome experience.
Because the Forerunner 255 Music allows you to load music to the watch, it’s priced higher than the non-music edition. The price tag on the Forerunner 255 music is $400 compared to $350 for the non-music model.
Forerunner 245 vs 255 – Should You Upgrade?
From every indication, the Forerunner 255 is a better smartwatch than the Forerunner 245. It has a more advanced elevate v4 heart rate sensor that enables increased accuracy as well as a multi-band GPS sensor that improves location tracking accuracy. Beyond these, you get more activity-tracking features and longer battery life. It’s clearly a worthy upgrade.
Meanwhile, the Forerunner 245 is still one of the best midrange GPS smartwatches.
Garmin Forerunner 245 vs 255 Activity Tracking Features Compared
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