Garmin have been around in the sports watch game since 2003 when they introduced the rather unglamorous Forerunner 201 sports watch to the world, Garmin’s inaugural GPS unit. That’s 20 years of experience in the training sphere for Garmin and they even managed to survive the smartwatch revolution from Apple and Samsung.

Now the competition is fierce, there’s Coros, Polar, Suunto, Fitbit and Huawei (to name a few) who have thrown their hat into the ring of GPS watches. Most are tailored for runners or cater for runners exceptionally well and the Garmin Forerunner 265 is no exception to that list.

Released in March 2023, this watch is jam-packed with ever-growing new technology in an increasingly smaller casing, here are three reasons you should seriously consider forking out for a Garmin Forerunner 265 to help you crush your fitness goals.

1. Versatility

From day-to-day wear to run-ready, the Garmin Forerunner 265 has a sleek, lightweight design that can be worn day and night, discreetly mistaken for a smartwatch. The straps are silicone (matching those of the likes of Apple or Samsung smartwatches) and are interchangeable so matching the straps to an outfit is effortless.

Versatility doesn’t just come from the outer casing of the watch either, whatever activity you’re doing, this watch can track it, and the sky is the limit (we’re talking even triathlon and multi-sport profiles can be measured). Not only that but the 265 also supports GPS, Galileo and GLONASS tracking systems – versatility from space! So no matter where you are in the world, you should be able to figure out where you are and where you’re going.

Need a watch that can do it all? That allows payment via the watch for in-depth sleep reports, the weather forecast to text notifications. From on-screen music controls to rest and recovery metrics, from incident alerts to adaptive training plans – consider the Forerunner 265.

You get a lot for your dollar because the 265 is essentially a smartwatch, training watch and personal trainer all rolled into one. The 265, with its latest technology, offers longevity and a helping hand on your running journey from beginner 5k to ultramarathon distances (with adaptive training plans/advisory training metrics for the day) and everything in between.

It has workouts ready-made and ready to go at the touch of a button on the app too, ensuring your health and fitness come first at a competitive price of $449.99.

2. Features

Let’s focus on the running element, this Garmin Forerunner 265 is chock-full of features that will undoubtedly level up your training – there’s no doubt about it, here is a snapshot of the best:

The moment you wake up a morning report is ready to view – that’s an abundance of information summarised for you to digest early-doors. It tells you how you slept, the weather, and a suggested workout for that day – with a little ‘go get em’ quote to boot. What’s better? You can customise the morning report to show you whatever you want.

The daily training suggestion takes your sleep, recovery training load/training readiness and the looming race day into account and creates a workout only for you. Time, distance, pace, splits, the lot – so you don’t have to.

Training status lets you know if you’re overdoing it, under training or productive. It utilises your heart rate variability, recent exercise history and performance to produce a fool-proof training status. This will help prevent you from overtraining – there are several warnings before pressing ‘Go’ on your next run. Equally, it will let you know if you’re having too much rest and losing VO2 Max levels for example.

Constant body battery and stress monitoring helped me identify how stressed I was (and then how drained I quickly got) throughout the day. It’s a fantastic Garmin feature that makes such a difference day-to-day. A call from the boss peaked your stress response? Don’t worry Garmin notices this and a notification appears on the watch screen to take you through a breathing activity – a game changer.

3. Garmin is a strong brand

If there’s one thing that reassures anyone to hand over hundreds of dollars for a piece of technology, then it would be the brand’s recognition worldwide.

Garmin have had their fingers in the running pie for over 20 years. So, with all this time in the game of GPS watch technology on your wrist, you’re guaranteed to be purchasing kit that has developed and grown alongside the demands of runners… over two decades?! – that’s a lot of runners!

According to Garmin’s website, on National Running Day (June 7th) ALONE, Garmin users ran 8,604,934 miles, that’s 1,057,542 more miles than the year before – that shows this brand is still growing!?

Still growing after so long in the game is a sensational effort, proving Garmin are still in touch with their customer’s desires – and delivering. The proof is in the pudding, here’s another stat for you: Of the total running miles logged in Garmin Connect, 12.7 billion miles have been from Forerunners. That’s 68% of all Garmin running miles.

Still undecided? Have a look at our full review of the Garmin Forerunner 265!