At MW, we get asked a lot about running watches. Smartwatches that go beyond the usual run of the mill fitness features and deliver the stuff serious runners are looking for. Almost always, Garmin smartwatches are part of our list of recommendations for this demanding group who need multiple wellness and tracking metrics that can help them slay their goals. Garmin’s Forerunner 955 Solar walks into that list. Straight off the bat, we can say that this is one of the best running and wellness wearables we’ve checked out all year. In 2019 the Forerunner 945 was on our list, the 955 Solar takes it a few notches higher.

Utilitarian design

The Forerunner 955 Solar stays in Garmin’s comfort zone when it comes to design. We like to think of Garmin watches as more substance than style. This watch delivers many of the premium features of Garmin’s Fenix line with a smaller case that also feels lighter on your wrist and more conducive to wear for hours together. As we’ve come to expect from Garmin smartwatches, there’s a whole bunch of buttons that can take some getting used to. These buttons team up with a responsive touchscreen that makes that learning curve less steep. The 1.3-inch touchscreen is quite vivid with excellent visibility. This one’s a Power Glass screen that leans on solar energy with a positive impact on battery life. It’s this additional source of power that distinguishes it from the regular version.

No fuss

Set up is a breeze. The Garmin Connect App is one of our favourite companion apps of any smartwatch brand. I paired this device with an iPhone and it quickly detected the Forerunner. You get access to heaps of data that are broken down and presented in easy to view screens on the app. The Forerunner 955 Solaris is kitted with Garmin’s cutting-edge, fourth-gen
heart-rate sensor, barometer, compass and a thermometer. It also boasts of ‘SatIQ’ that finds the balance between power consumption and location accuracy, both critical features for folks who take their running seriously. In terms of smartwatch functionality, you get music storage on your watch but not a lot of third party apps that give the Apple Watch a significant
edge over most of the other brands and smartwatch platforms.

Your personal dashboard

Garmin’s smartwatches go well beyond the standard tracking features that we’ve come to expect on trackers and smartwatches. We’ve been big fans of Garmin’s Body Battery that we’ve checked out on watches like the Epix and Vivomove Sport. feature. This unique energy monitoring that shows the body’s current energy level that allows you to plan your workouts better and also tells you when it’s time to slow down. I always found this feature was an accurate reflection of how I ‘felt’ at any given point of time. The 955 Solar takes it even further with a Training Readiness Feature that combines factors like your Sleep Score, Stress History and Recovery History to arrive at ‘Training Readiness’. We believe this is a very handy input for regular runners or if you’re prepping for a specific event. It’s one more feature along with the stellar battery life (up to 20 days) that makes the Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar a great option for running enthusiasts and outdoor lifestyles.

The Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar costs Rs 63,990