Garmin Fr955

[Martta Borromeo]

TheForerunner 955 packs in a massive slate of new features, compared to the previous Forerunner 945 (or FR945 LTE). However, there is a large chunk of them that was previously introduced on the Fenix 7 & Epix series some five months ago. Still, there are also legit new-to-Garmin features, virtually all of which are also coming to the Fenix 7 & Epix series. More on that a little later in this section.

Starting with the outer hardware, the Forerunner 955 has five buttons like most Garmin fitness watches. Three on the left side and two on the right. In general, the upper right button is your confirmation button, and the lower right is your back/escape button. The left buttons are for navigating in the menu. And you can long-hold any of the buttons to either access different menu items, or assign quick-access buttons.

The Forerunner 955 supports up to 6 custom data fields per data page, and has no practical limit of data pages you can customize/create. There are both custom data fields, but also numerous stock graphical pages like the heart rate or power gauges.

But I actually prefer creating a new custom Stamina page that shows me the metrics in a more logical format, specifying exactly how much time/distance I have left, along with my current pace/HR. Here you can see earlier in the workout:

Switching focus areas briefly, the Forerunner 955 allows broadcasting of your heart rate data (from the optical HR sensor) on both ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, so you can pair it up to something like a bike computer or any other app. Every app and device on the planet supports one of those two standards. You can enable this to automatically turn-on anytime you start a sport profile, or you can do a one-off enablement of it:

While these are kinda limited right now for triathletes, they are sorta neat for running/cycling. But again, the real meat of this feature is how it drives automatic workout creation and training plans. Which, is a great segue into the next section.

Up till now, Garmin used HRV data behind the scenes for countless metrics. But never really exposed that to you. We first saw them start to do so with the Health Snapshot feature a year ago, which allowed you to take one-off HRV values, but no easy way to trend them.

HRV Status works by trending your nightly HRV values against historical timeframes. It records your HRV values while you sleep, presenting you with a graph of the nighttime fluctuations and then the average/max values for the night, as well as 7-day trending values:

And then in the midst of all that it was unhappy about my decreasing VO2max. However, I think the decreasing VO2Max is actually a new-watch bug (more on that in a second). You can see earlier it lists the three core factors for Training Status: VO2Max, HRV Status, and Acute Load

While the previous Forerunner 945 had maps for the region you bought it in, the Forerunner 955 now has the ability to download maps for any region for free. Beyond that though it contains new navigational features, like Up Ahead, which lets you see pre-planned waypoints and the distance to those waypoints, sorta like a check-list or a cue sheet. Virtually all of the core navigation/routing functions are identical between the Forerunner 955 and Fenix 7 series, so you can also see my deeper navigation/routing section in that review too.

Entire watch (System): This is a system-wide setting across all sport profiles, and is considered the default for any sport profiles unless otherwise specified

Per-Sport/Activity Profile: This allows you to increase (or decrease) GPS accuracy on a given sport, likely in exchange for battery life.

So the idea being that you can perhaps use higher-level dual-band accuracy on an openwater swim or a mountain bike ride through difficult terrain, but then go with less-battery-draining options for a road bike ride, which is typically one of the easier things to track GPS-wise.

Using the Power Manager feature, you can get crazy detailed on which features you care about (for example, toggling off optical HR sensor and connecting to a chest strap saves a boatload of battery), and thus can easily extend these. Or, inversely, leaving the backlight on at full blast while playing music will decrease them. Use your powers wisely.

GPS accuracy can be looked at in a number of different ways, but I prefer to look at it using a number of devices in real-world scenarios across a vast number of activities. I use 2-6 other devices at once, trying to get a clear picture of how a given set of devices handles conditions on a certain day. Conditions include everything from tree/building cover to weather.

(Note: All of the charts in these accuracy portions were created using the DCR Analyzer tool. It allows you to compare power meters/trainers, heart rate, cadence, speed/pace, running power, GPS tracks and plenty more. You can use it as well for your own gadget comparisons, more details here.)

This is a dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart cycling cadence sensor that you strap to your crank arm, but also does dual Bluetooth Smart, so you can pair it both to Zwift and another Bluetooth Smart app at once if you want.

This is one of the top straps I use daily for accuracy comparisons (the others being the Polar H9/H10). It's dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart, and in fact dual-Bluetooth Smart too, in case you need multiple connectons.

Seriously, this will change your life. $9 for a two-pack of these puck Garmin chargers that stay put and stay connected. One for the office, one for your bedside, another for your bag, and one for your dog's house. Just in case.

This speed sensor is unique in that it can record offline (sans-watch), making it perfect for a commuter bike quietly recording your rides. But it's also a standard ANT+/BLE sensor that pairs to your device. It's become my go-to speed sensor.

This wifi-connected scale will track your weight and related metrics both on the scale display and in Garmin Connect (plus 3rd party apps like TrainingPeaks). It'll also then sync your weight to your watch/bike computer, to ensure accurate calorie data.

The HRM-PRO Plus is Garmin's top-end chest strap. It transmits dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart, but also transmits Running Dynamics & Running Pace/Distance metrics, stores HR data during a swim, and can be used without a watch for other sports. Also, it can transmit XC Skiing Dynamics as well.

Adding 2 connectiq fields often cause them to crash, especially when an ANT+ enabled field is included. So stryd powerzone and another field is never working. But also other fields cause issues (not memory related, plenty of that on the 955).

So all in all, the experience has been so-so unfortunately. Hoping this is just the result of a rushed device with not finished software, sure feels like it, and will be fixed soon with sw updates. (This is with the most recent 10.10 update which was available btw)

Also, do you know whether Garmin has made (or at least tried to make) any improvements to the altimeter sensor (as compared to FR 935 and FR 945) to ensure that it will not break so often (and so quickly) for people swimming regularly in the pool with the watch?

Pardon my french but what a piece of garbage. No volume control over headphones! Loosing my mind here. I connected my jbl headphones to the 955 and its lound to the point of unbearable pain. And volume control does not work. And than I find Garmin had this problem for over 2 years and did nothing with it in new product. OMG returnhing the s**ty product back to them.

Mine JBL Free could not control volume. And I am finding more and more people on the internet complainig about this issue. Listening to music during excersise is important for majority of users. I find this a big fail on their part. Can you shave which headphones were you using?

Hi. In my view the 955 screen is perfec. For context, I tried the Epix 2 but whilst the AMOLED is nice , I found it less legible when in activity such as running. Of course my eyes at 59 are not the best but I find the 745/945LTE/955 screen type great. The 955 is slightly larger than the 945LTE and that is nice for me.

I sold my 745 a month or so ago and both the 945LTE on sale (with a nice return window) whilst waiting on the 955 with. It was a rough decision which to keep , but in the end I settled on the 955 for the following reasons:

The cool part though is that long-term stamina includes your overall recovery levels. So if I go run a marathon today, my long-term stamina tomorrow will show that. Whereas if I just did a 5KM easy run today, my long-term stamina tomorrow is likely 100% ready.

Does anyone know how the Daily Workouts based on Race/Events compare to competitors, such as TrainerRoad, etc? Given that there is an adaptive training plan that is created based on a race, this certainly merit more explanation and a comparison with other platforms

I was wondering how Garmin handles adaptive training plans for cycling, based on a target event. The new edge 1040 does not seem to base its suggestions according to any plan. Any news on this issue? Thanks!!!

Thanks! I actually had pretty good success using the recommended run & bike workouts on my fenix 6 last year during my offseason. I was excited to see that they were supposedly making it better for actual event prep.

What are your thoughts if I should not wear my 955 during some parts of the day while I wear my dress watch. Would you agree that as long as I wear the watch in the evening leading up to bed and during my workouts which are always in the morning would not effect the new Training Readiness score?

That said, there is actually the option to pause training status related messaging. It was somewhat intended as a blend for things like vacation as well as pregnancy, whereby having these messages are a distraction from alternative goals.

My experience using the two is that the RD-Pod results in lower power numbers than the HRM-Pro. Consistent for the month I used it. I went back to the HRM-Pro because it was getting to winter and awkward for me to wear it at the perfect spot on my wait band. HRM-Pro on my chest is more convenient for me for al types of weather.

3a8082e126