Garmin Forerunner 255 Review

The Forerunner 255 has a lot of customizable features. I personally love the customized workouts. Easy to program within the Garmin app and send directly to your watch, you can customize an interval workout, even down to specific paces for time or distance intervals. Then there's no thought or tracking required when you're mid-workout. The watch buzzes between intervals, notifies you of nearing goal pace, and tells you which set you're on.

It is super easy to start and pause a workout via the side buttons. The run versus trail run workouts are great as the trail run workout includes elevation stats.

I'm unsure if others experienced something similar, but my buttons got very sticky. Sometimes they get stuck halfway pressed down and automatically activate because of this. A quick warm water bath usually does the trick to fix it though.

I tend to use an external heartrate monitor for more accurate HR data. I got a Garmin HR monitor so it pairs easily. I get a notification on my watch when the HR monitor detects and is synched. On my runs without that device, my watch has similar heartrate data. It's always a few BPM lower than I anticipate, when comparing similar workouts with and without an external HR monitor. For most runners, the HR accuracy would be enough for what they're doing. I watch my HR more because it often gets very high, so I like the more accurate assurance of a chest monitor.

I have never been VO2max tested, but I feel the VO2max data is inaccurate. I feel my VO2max is higher than my watch calculates. It does not take into consideration that my active HR runs higher than normal.

The GPS does perform well. Tested against Google maps and iPhone GPS, distances are similar with all three. It runs much closer to externally validated GPS sources than other fitness watches. I've ran with groups and all the Garmins are synced while the other, less-running-focused watches are completely different in distance.

Sleep data is awesome to have and can be more challenging to gather. I like that the watch tracks sleep cycles, but I do feel they are also a bit off sometimes. I've learned to look at the data, but also recognize that I can feel rested in the morning when my watch claims my sleep was unproductive.

I've ran a 14-hour ultra on one battery. The watch made it through the whole race. It probably would not make it through a 100 mile race, though Garmin advertises battery life as GPS-Only GNSS mode: Up to 30 hours; All-Systems GNSS mode: Up to 25 hours. On a regular training week, I charge it once a week. It charges super fast, so I still gather sleep stats on a charge day.

I use the manufacturer watch band. I have not upgraded. I've had my watch for about two and a half years. The band is starting to tear near the holes I usually have it set to. I need to replace the band. For an original band with the watch, it's pretty durable. I've put this watch through a lot. The screen has survived being scratched on a wall and slammed into the ground during a fall. The band does not pop off the watch face, which has been problematic with other fitness watches.

I'm sure there are other watch models that would provide more features than the Forerunner 255. This is a great base model for beginner runners or people who want a simple, fairly low-cost option. Starting at $350, but going up to $400 with the music/Spotify connection, it is significantly lower cost than other Garmin watches.