Garmin Forerunner 265S Running Smartwatch, Colorful AMOLED Display, Training Metrics and Recovery Insights, Whitestone and Neo Tropic

I’ve had the FR265 for about a month now—I switched from the FR165 after signing up for a triathlon and needing something that supports multisport mode. I love the bigger screen, better battery life, and the additional training metrics. I’ve been a Garmin user for a long time, and this watch really does a lot. I’ve also used a few other brands (Apple and Coros). With Apple, I hated having to recharge daily and the lack of buttons. Coros was good, but very simple, and the ecosystem didn’t feel as refined. A small example: with Coros, if you leave the timer screen, it cancels the timer—Garmin keeps it running in the background.

I had the Garmin Forerunner 245 and liked it very much. After it died (lasted nearly 6 years w/ daily, heavy use!) I briefly tried the newest Apple Watch and just couldn’t make the switch. It felt like Garmin was so much more intuitive. Briefly tried the Garmin Lily 2 Classic because I wanted something that looked more feminine and classy, which it did, but it wasn’t able to broadcast my heart rate to my bike trainer or track my activities independently of my phone. This Forerunner 265 is fantastic. It has everything I need, including a big face so I can read all the options easily even without my glasses, and it is organized intuitively, so I can find things simply. I highly recommend it!