Garmin Forerunner 55, GPS Running Watch with Daily Suggested Workouts, Up to 2 weeks of Battery Life, Aqua

I never owned a smart watch, and didn’t really want any more devices in my life, but as an avid runner I wanted a way to track my runs without having a phone in my hand. I was originally looking at fitbits but was totally turned off by the subscription model they use for their app. I did a little more research and found out about this Garmin.This watch ticks all the boxes for me, and I’m very happy with my purchase. I actually like the non-backlit screen (with a button for backlight) that’s always on and reflects well under even low light. The GPS is exremely accurate, and even charted the fastest parts of my runs geographically. The app is FANTASTIC, it charts absolutely everything and breaks down every stat under the sun (also comes free with the watch, no subscription for all its features). It syncs with my Strava automatically to share runs with friends. I like that it isn’t touch screen so I can feel the buttons to stop and start at lights, and it has a nice buzz to let me know when I do that.I didn’t want another “smart” device in my life, but this one is just limited enough for me. I don’t have to take calls into my wrist like James Bond, or tap away on a tiny screen. I get email and text notifications which is surprisingly handy, so I’m taking my phone out less for less urgent things (which inevitably leads me to fiddling with other apps). I also use it as an alarm in the morning, it works great. It doesn’t get in the way, and it does absolutely everything I needed it to do. I got the white one and it looks pretty nice, too. Highly recommend for runners, couldn’t be happier.

I love my Garmin Forerunner 55. I wear it 24/7 and it’s so comfortable I don’t even notice I’m wearing it. Waterproof so I never have to worry about it. It has all the features I need and not a lot that I don’t. I’m a 3-4 day/week runner and this keeps my pace and workouts logged. Battery lasts almost a month depending on how long and how often I run. The only thing I would improve was better/faster satellite detection. Sometimes it takes awhile and affects the accuracy of my pace/distance on the watch. Overall, solid product that I would buy again.

I bought this a few months ago and loved it but wanted to wait to write a review so I could comment on its reliability over time. So far, this thing is great. Best sports/tracking watch I have ever owned.The battery life is as advertised. Lasts about two weeks depending on how active you are with the GPS during that timeframe. You can display the exact battery percentage, also.The size and display area are great. It doesn’t feel too big but there is plenty of room on the screen for all the important info you might need.During workouts: you can customize what fields are displayed for each activity. I primarily use this for running, and I like how I can adjust what I see on the screen (HR, pace in whatever units I want, total distance, etc). There are actually quite a few different metrics you can display, so I’m confident you will find what you want. I also like how it vibrates at every mile marker and gives you a quick read out of how you’re doing so far in terms of pace and whatever else you decide to display. The vibration is actually quite useful, and is powerful enough that you will definitely feel it (I know some watches are sort of weak in this regard).Heartbeat sensor: this was an important one for me, and this watch has performed very well in this regard. My older Garmin watch (Forerunner 35 I think?) seemed pretty unreliable with HR, but this one seems like its pretty spot on most of the time (as verified by manually checking my HR to see how close it is).It has some really cool “widgets” that you can add to your main menu. For example, I can check the weather for the next week with two or three button presses, which I think is a cool bonus. It also has health focused ones like V02 max and you can review your HR over the past week, displayed as a simple line graph.The only thing that bugs the hell out of me is that when you go to start a workout, a run for example, it will always give you this “suggested workout” that you have to say no to every time. It’s really annoying and I wish I could turn it off, it just adds extra button presses before I can start my run. Not enough to deduct any points, but it’s still a really annoying feature.

I got this to replace my 5yr old Forerunner 235 and am super happy with it.Best points:- Excellent battery life, easily tracks a 50-miler and longer; I rarely charge compared with every few days for my FR235- It sits closer to the wrist with less bulk- Strap is more flexible- customizable watch face is easy to see; press a button for a backlight when it’s dark- 4 data fields (only had 3 on the FR235)- Great GPS tracking, fast satellite location- Buttons are easy to press on the moveCons (slight)- scant instructions so I could see this being pretty unintuitive for a first time Garmin user. Luckily the watch itself gives hints on the customization features. I probably fiddled for about 30min to get it all just right.- when you go to start a run, it tries to suggest your workout which is nice but not necessary. It’ll also tell you it’s locating satellites, when in fact it’s already good to go. Just press start and it’ll start tracking.I can’t comment on sleep/HR, as I don’t track those; though HR seems on par with every other wrist based monitor I’ve had.Overall a great running/biking/activity tracking watch for those who don’t want/need smart watch features. There’s a lot of running data to geek out on, packed into a small, lightweight package. I’ll probably rarely/never use it all, but it’s fun if you want to mess with the extensive Garmin Connect app. Would highly recommend – does everything I want as a competitive ultra runner.

It’s accurate with tracking runs, heartbeat etc. I used it as soon as it was delivered and it works great.