If you love the Garmin Forerunner 955 form factor, I’m more of a fēnix guy, but lusted after the AMOLED display on the Epix, or Venu models. The new Forerunner 965 is the thing for you. There are also a bunch of new software features, but those are coming to the 955 (and probably the fēnix/Epix as well) in the next feature drop. Overall, it looks solid, and pretty. I’ve never been tempted by the Forerunner family before…
News
March 2, 2023
Garmin Releases Forerunner Epix, er…, 965
Hmm… very tempted. I wanted the Epix 2 but decided to wait. Then I realized the 955 Solar might be good for me (at half the price) since I’m spending most of my outdoor time in the sun and I could use the extra charging.
Too bad the 965 is not solar. Tough choice between 955 Solar and this one especially since they’re the same price.
I wonder if they’ll every make a Solar OLED watch though. Might be that the solar panels aren’t worth adding to a device with higher power requirements.
The solar panel is barely worth it on the fenix, burn rate for AMOLED makes it a much tougher sell.
Personally, I think the 965 looks better than the 955, and not just because of the fancy new screen. It’s probably the new bezel that does it for me, but I don’t want to think on it too much because I already have a perfectly fine watch.
Hmm that’s a good perspective. I’ll have to reconsider, though I still feel Solar might be worth it if all outdoor activities are in bright sunlight. Anyway, another thing that occurred to me related to Fenix vs Forerunner is that I’ve heard from several independent sources that their old (pre 955) Forerunners lost their airtightness pretty quickly. In contrast, I’ve used Fenix 3 and 5X for years, and I used them quite a lot for open water swimming in the ocean, not to mention banging them up. The 5X is still holding up without issues. So now I’m wondering if… Read more »
It wouldn’t surprise me if the fenix was more robust. I beat the crap out of my f6 and besides some scratches on the bezel it’s totally fine. Most of the hits I’ve taken are on the bezel, so having a metal one might provide an advantage there. Fenix is quite a bit more money though, so the “worth it” math would depend somewhat on how long you want to keep it. I’m a sucker for cool-new-features, so I tend to trade up and push my old devices (phones, laptops, watches) downstream to my kids. FWIW, I bought the f7… Read more »