Max battery life: Up to 11 days | Case material: Silicone | Supported OS: GarminOS | Display type and size: AMOLED, 1.2-inch | Weight: 39g | Waterproof: Yes, 5ATM
Out of all the watches I tested, the Garmin Forerunner 165 was the one I wanted to wear the most when I went out for a run. The expertise of the Forerunner line is in the name, and Garmin truly excels at making comprehensive yet friendly GPS running watches in flavors that will suit all kinds of athletes, from beginner to expert. The Forerunner 165 stands out with its lightweight design, bright AMOLED touchscreen, straightforward button controls, accurate built-in GPS and its ability to track workout stats just as well as all-day activity data.
Starting a run with the Forerunner 165 is as easy as pressing a single button — the top-right button on the case literally has “run” embossed onto it, and it takes you to the workout profile menu where you can choose the exercise you want to track. Run is the first option, but you have more than 25 profiles to choose from including track run, treadmill, walk, strength, swim and more. When running outside, the GPS took an average of 15-20 seconds to lock onto my location, but you don’t have to wait for it to do so — press the run button again to begin and the GPS will catch up on its own.
During a run, it’s easy to glance down at the bright, 1.2-inch AMOLED display to check stats like distance, pace and heart rate. Audio prompts are enabled by default and they’ll tell you the time it took you to complete each lap (mile). You can customize these prompts further in the Garmin Connect app if you want to know things like your current pace, heart rate or heart rate zone and other data. This is something I appreciate about Garmin Forerunner wearables in general — you can go as deep as you want with them. I prefer keeping audio prompts to a minimum, but someone with a different preference can get all of the info they want read out to them with just a few taps in the app.
That extends to other parts of the Forerunner experience as well via the Garmin Connect app, which has come a long way in recent years. The previously clunky, confusing app has been well refined so that you can customize its homepage the workout and activity stats you care about the most, including things like Body Battery, Sleep Score, menstrual cycle information and more. It’s easy to dive into your most recently tracked activity and get in the weeds with pace, cadence, training effect (aerobic or anaerobic), power and stamina stats. On top of that, Garmin’s adaptive training plans can help you prepare for 5K, 10K and half-marathon races with suggested daily workouts and personalized tips based on your most recent activity data. What frustrated me most in the past with Garmin Connect was the fact that it wasn’t very user-friendly, and that made it difficult to really use a device like the Forerunner 165 to the fullest. That’s not a problem anymore.
I found the 30.4mm case on the Forerunner 165 to be just the right size for my wrist, and at 39 grams, the watch is super lightweight and comfortable to wear even during the sweatiest of training sessions. The bands are interchangeable, too, since they’re a standard 20mm size. But I enjoyed the ones included with the Forerunner 165 because they have a healthy number of notches on them, making it easy to get a just-right fit to allow for accurate heart rate monitoring.
Garmin puts the battery life of the Forerunner 165 at 11 days in smartwatch mode, and I found that to be mostly accurate even with a handful of GPS-tracked runs thrown in. The company claims you’ll get up to 19 hours of battery life with continuous GPS use, which should be enough for most runners and athletes competing in long-haul races. You can also get the 165 with music storage built in or not, with the former allowing you to store music locally on the watch so you can listen with a pair of Bluetooth headphones.
The Garmin Forerunner 165 will set you back $250 without music storage, or $300 for the model with music storage built in. That’s on the lower end of the price spectrum for GPS running watches; you could easily spend $500 or more if you’re unsure about what you need and what’s just extra fluff. While Garmin does have a few cheaper devices, the Forerunner 165 strikes the right balance of feature set and price that will appeal to seasoned runners and those who are just diving into a more regimented running routine. It does all of the basics well and supports a number of extra features like training effect that will appease runners looking for something slightly above average from the jump, but will also be useful for novice runners who want one wearable that can grow with them as the advance their training.