Pros
- Vibrant and high quality AMOLED display
- Solid sports tracking performance
- Still strong battery life
Cons
- It’s more expensive than 255
- No cheaper music-free model
If you’re looking for a running watch that is well suited to smaller wrists, the Garmin Forerunner 265s is a fantastic choice. The smartwatch sits below the top-end Forerunner 965 but offers more advanced training metrics and features than the budget-oriented Forerunner 55.
The Forerunner 265s sports a 41.7mm case, keeping it small and light on the wrist. The watch has five physical buttons and is paired with an 18mm quick-release silicone band available in three colours.
Unlike our best mid-level running watch, the Garmin Forerunner 255, the 256s boasts a small 1.1-inch AMOLED display with a 360 x 360 resolution, an always-on mode and raise-to-wake gesture support. The screen is built from tough Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and is incredibly vibrant with deep blacks and rich, accurate colours
While the Forerunner 265s is primarily designed to support runners, the wearable also offers some swimming, cycling and indoor workout tracking capabilities. There are even profiles for skiing and snowboarding, as well as a dedicated triathlon mode.
For running, the Forerunner 265s is excellent. The wearable is small and lightweight to run with and the screen makes it easy to view and customise your stats in real-time. Many of the running features are the same as those found on the 255, including the Sat IQ and multiband GPS technology which ensure you’re using the best GPS tracking option for any environment. We found this feature performed well against similar features on the Apple Watch Ultra and Garmin’s own Forerunner 965.
Treadmill runs perform similarly well and there’s the option to calibrate the watch to ensure it offers accurate tracking on future runs.
The Garmin Coach feature allows you to sync running-focussed workouts on the watch and there’s the option to upload routes for breadcrumb-style navigation (for more complete mapping, opt for a pricier Garmin watch). Other features include the race predictor and PacePro pacing strategies, while Training Readiness offers insight based on heart rate variability, sleep quality, recovery and training load to let you know whether you should be training that day or taking a day off to rest.
Despite the new AMOLED screen, the battery life is still very good, offering up to 15-days of use in smartwatch mode with the always-on screen deactivated and up to 24-hours when using the optimal GPS tracking mode.
That Garmin Forerunner 265s may be a bit pricier than the Forerunner 255 with its coloured AMOLED display, but it’s nevertheless a great running watch and perfectly-sized for smaller wrists.
Reviewer: Michael Sawh
Full Review: Garmin Forerunner 265s review
