You don’t need to spend $1,100 on the latest Fenix 8 to get a serious running watch that tracks everything you need. The sweet spot in Garmin’s lineup has always been the Forerunner series, and for good reason: these watches outsell everything else in the brand’s catalog. The Forerunner 265 is the most premium and popular model in the range and packs a brilliant AMOLED display and advanced training metrics that rival watches costing twice as much. Amazon just quietly marked it down to $299, slashed from its usual $449 price tag. That’s an all-time low for a watch that delivers fantastic running features without the extreme price of Garmin’s flagship models.
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Why Runners Keep Picking This Watch
The difference is apparent from the very first moments you fire up the Forerunner 265: that brilliant AMOLED touchscreen pops with color and sharp text which remains quite readable under direct sunlight, joined by traditional button controls that work beautifully when your hands are sweaty or you’re wearing gloves. The 46mm size makes the watch feather-light on your wrist so you just about forget it’s there on those ultra-long runs-or really through most of the day. Get up to 13 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and up to 20 hours in GPS mode to give you plenty of juice for training weeks.
Your day begins with a personalized report which provides context for how to approach each and every training day. Upon waking, you get an overview of your sleep quality, recovery status, and training outlook alongside HRV status, training readiness, and local weather. This information helps you decide if today is the day to push hard or if your body needs an easier session. The training readiness score brings together sleep quality, recovery, training load, and HRV status to tell you if you’re primed to go hard and get the most out of your workout.
Race preparation becomes strategic with personalized daily suggested workouts. You input your target race and course details into the Garmin Connect app, and the watch creates training plans that adapt after every run to match your current performance and recovery status. The race widget on your watch keeps your goal front and center while the workouts adapt as your body responds to training.
Multi-band GNSS technology with SatIQ provides accuracy in positioning that more affordable watches simply cannot attain. This matters when you’re running in areas with tall buildings, heavy tree cover, or challenging terrain where the basic GPS signals struggle. Optimizing this accuracy for battery life means you won’t be sacrificing runtime to get accurate distance and pace. You have more than 30 built-in activity profiles for running, triathlon, cycling, open-water swimming, and lots more.
Safety features add peace of mind during solo training sessions. Incident detection works during select outdoor activities and sends a message with your live location to emergency contacts when paired with your compatible smartphone. The Assistance feature lets you manually trigger an alert when you need help, something that is good to have when you are exploring new routes or training in remote areas.
At $299, you’re getting a watch that competes directly with models costing $600 or more.
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