Garmin Forerunner 965 Review: Advanced Navigation and Full Mapping Capability

Known for its premium aesthetics and features, is Forerunner's newest high-end smartwatch worth upgrading to if you already own a pervious Garmin?

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In part two of our Garmin sports watch review series we discuss the Garmin Forerunner 965, known for its premium aesthetics and features, and whether it is worth an upgrade to this watch if you are already an owner of a Garmin Forerunner 955 or similar watch.

Going for a retail price of SGD $919, the Garmin Forerunner 965 is known for its premium aesthetics and features, with an AMOLED touch screen the most notable and visible upgrades, making it the jewel of the Forerunner series at present.

If you are new to smart watches or have only just begun your training journey, you may also wish to consider that the Garmin Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 are higher end advanced sports watches that belong in the top-tier with comprehensive sports, health and fitness tracking capabilities and will thus be on the pricier side.

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Depending on your own daily training needs, you might wish to consider a more basic sports watch at the entry level or a mid-tier option that is more affordable with some similar capabilities to the Forerunner 965 such as the Garmin Forerunner 265.

You can read our review of the Garmin Forerunner 265 here.

If you are ready to consider a higher end option though, both the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 are both excellent, high-spec smartwatches that offer you plenty of training tools to help athletes understand their progress, sleep and recovery.

The Garmin Forerunner 955 was launched a little less than a year before Garmin Forerunner 965 did, with the latter featuring an AMOLED touch screen as one of its biggest upgrades.

The Forerunner 965 features a larger, 1.4-inch display, with this larger display complete with a titanium bezel around it providing a more immersive and colourful experience when viewing your data and maps.

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In comparison to the Forerunner 955, the Forerunner 965 has a slightly thinner case albeit a little heavier due to its titanium bezel although the difference is negligible and won't put people off buying the latter.

The bezel's does provide better resistance against scratches and impacts though, making it an ideal choice for runner and athletes who would want a durable and long-lasting.

Beyond just the aesthetics there are quite a few software upgrades too with the Forerunner 965, with more data packed into the watch and wrist-based dynamics that allow you to run without a chest strap and heart rate monitor and still get equally useful training data - things like vertical oscillation and ground contact time.

Fitness Tracking & Unified Training Status

Similar to other Garmin watches, things like heart-rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and stress level monitoring to provide insights into your overall well-being are part of the Forerunner 965.

In fact, if you are already a previous Garmin user, you will be happy to know that one of the key updates for Forerunner 965 is the Unified Training Status, which helps synchronise even more performance metrics across different devices, namely Training Status, Training Readiness and HRV Status.

Each time a compatible device syncs, the data will be updated on the primary Garmin wearable you use most often to log your workouts and key activities.

Additionally, the Forerunner 965 also features guided breathing exercises to help you manage stress levels and enhance recovery and relaxation.

Advanced metrics such as vertical oscillation, VO2 max, cadence, stride length and ground contact time can also help you fine-tune your performance overall.

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Advanced Navigation, Full Mapping Capability

One of the things I like most, since I do quite a bit of trail running, is the Forerunner 965's enhanced mapping capabilities. While I haven't made full use of the features in this watch as I am pretty familiar with Singapore's terrain (i.e. MacRitchie), I have tested out the the maps on the Forerunner 965 and there is a greater level of detail at every zoom level compared to previous Garmin watch models.

Whether you are doing trail running or hiking, you will find the advanced navigation capabilities of the watch useful, particularly with pre-loaded topographical, road, and trail maps that can also be downloaded from Garmin Connect app.

If you do choose to select a course to follow, you will be guided on whether you are on track / on course by different colours on the screen that indicate the route you have completed versus the one you have yet to complete.

This new feature definitely makes it a great option for outdoor enthusiasts who wish to explore new routes without needing to rely on their mobile phones or physical maps while on the go.

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Acute Load vs Chronic Training Load

Other advanced training feature I really like is the ability to track training load over longer periods of time - i.e. monitoring and observing your training load ratio to show the relationship between Chronic Load (approx 28 days) and Acute Load at a glance.

This is useful for those who work with structured training blocks for their trainings, and need to know how to adjust their training load based on how they are performing and the amount of rest they are getting.

Even for everyday non-elite athletes, having this ratio as an indicator and understanding the numbers could help you make more informed decisions on whether to increase or decrease your training load over a period of time, instead of just relying on your training readiness readings.

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More Activity Profiles

There are also way more sports and activity modes to toggle through than before, and even if you can't find your particular activity you can add them in manually - great for me as I do quite a bit of cross-training across other sports.

For fitness tracking, the Forerunner 965 also offers expanded Activity Profile options for swimming, skiing, paddle sports, on top of the default sports like running, cycling and triathlon. With the help of additional training plans that can be downloaded from the Garmin Connect app, everyday users can customise their workouts based on their own personal fitness goals and performance data.

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Battery Life

While Garmin's watches are known for the longevity of their batteries, the Garmin Forerunner 965 may have had to sacrifice a bit of juice in order to power its new AMOLED touch screen features. While Garmin says it can last up to 13 days in smartwatch mode and up to 20 hours in GPS mode, we would say it more likely operates at about 6-8 hours when used fully for GPS outdoor workouts, but the good news is that it charges very quickly and now comes with USB-C cables too for charging.

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Overall Verdict

So is it worth upgrading to the Forerunner 965 then?

If you have yet to own a Garmin and are looking to do some serious training or are an advanced athlete, it is definitely worth considering and would most likely be a value-for-money purchase.

However, if you are looking at a more affordable option without the nice aesthetics and enhanced navigation features, we would say that the Forerunner 955 can certainly do an equally good enough job for your trainings and races.

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