I am a long time Garmin customer for both running watches (had the 405), and bike computers. I am 60 years old and have been doing triathlons since 1982.
Most recently, I had the Forerunner 245 (music). I loved it as a running watch and also for pool swimming. It didn't have multi-sport capability, so I was stuck using my Fenix 5 for triathlons, but I always found that watch super bulky and was barely able to fit it under my wetsuit.
I had seen lots of reviews about the new Forerunner 265 which, I thought, was basically my 245 Music PLUS a new AMOLED Display, and multi-sport and a lot of other metrics too. So I bought the 265.
It is true that -- when it is "active" -- the display is fantastic. Vibrant colors, etc.
The BIG problem -- at least for my older eyes -- is watches with an AMOLED Display (like an Apple watch) CANNOT allow the stay on all the time. The "active" display times out after a maximum of 15 seconds. What does that mean?
SWIMMING: Say you are swimming an interval of 200 yards, the 265 will basically go into a VERY DIM mode (called "always on") after 15 seconds and it was impossible for me to see any of the data with a quick glance.
It is true that if you do a violent wrist turn, the watch display could go back into "active mode", but that sort of wrist move was very difficult to do while swimming and was, at best, a hit or miss type of thing anyway.
FYI - there is no option to keep the watch display in active mode all the time, which I would have opted for even though it would wear down the battery much faster. (I suspect a future firmware update might allow for this).
By comparison, my old Forerunner 245 was super easy to glance at while swimming to, for example, let me see my distance within an interval etc.
RUNNING: I also like to catch a quick glance of the screen to check out pace or heart rate. Even in bright sun, my old 245 was super easy to glance at the data. However, it was darn near impossible for me to see any of the data on the 265 when it was in the dim mode. Again, if you did the violent wrist turn (admittedly easier to do while running), the watch display would go back into active mode for 15 seconds. I was very frustrated by this during a recent triathlon. (The active mode comes on for 15 seconds for things like displaying, for example, 1-mile splits, so I could easily see those, but just not anything else after the 15 seconds when it would go back into the dim mode).
AWESOME CUSTOMER SUPPORT: I contacted Garmin's customer support and explained the problems I was having. They said it sounded like the Forerunner 255 (Music) would be a better fit for me and they shipped one to me. The 255 is basically my 245 Plus multi-sport and a lot of other metrics too.
The display of the 255 works exactly like the 245 -- meaning it is easily viewable all the time, in the pool, in bright sun, etc. The 255 is definitely a better fit for me. (And Garmin credited me for the 265).
The bottom line: it doesn't matter what extra features the 265 has over the 255 if I can't see the data while I'm exercising. After I was having this issue with the 265 display, I went online and couldn't find anyone else discussing this, which is why I made this post. I also made a YouTube video to show what is described above in case you want to see. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHLUi01IwdY&ab_channel=SteveSherman)
Happy training!
I'm just one 50-mile race away from my goal weight.
Most recently, I had the Forerunner 245 (music). I loved it as a running watch and also for pool swimming. It didn't have multi-sport capability, so I was stuck using my Fenix 5 for triathlons, but I always found that watch super bulky and was barely able to fit it under my wetsuit.
I had seen lots of reviews about the new Forerunner 265 which, I thought, was basically my 245 Music PLUS a new AMOLED Display, and multi-sport and a lot of other metrics too. So I bought the 265.
It is true that -- when it is "active" -- the display is fantastic. Vibrant colors, etc.
The BIG problem -- at least for my older eyes -- is watches with an AMOLED Display (like an Apple watch) CANNOT allow the stay on all the time. The "active" display times out after a maximum of 15 seconds. What does that mean?
SWIMMING: Say you are swimming an interval of 200 yards, the 265 will basically go into a VERY DIM mode (called "always on") after 15 seconds and it was impossible for me to see any of the data with a quick glance.
It is true that if you do a violent wrist turn, the watch display could go back into "active mode", but that sort of wrist move was very difficult to do while swimming and was, at best, a hit or miss type of thing anyway.
FYI - there is no option to keep the watch display in active mode all the time, which I would have opted for even though it would wear down the battery much faster. (I suspect a future firmware update might allow for this).
By comparison, my old Forerunner 245 was super easy to glance at while swimming to, for example, let me see my distance within an interval etc.
RUNNING: I also like to catch a quick glance of the screen to check out pace or heart rate. Even in bright sun, my old 245 was super easy to glance at the data. However, it was darn near impossible for me to see any of the data on the 265 when it was in the dim mode. Again, if you did the violent wrist turn (admittedly easier to do while running), the watch display would go back into active mode for 15 seconds. I was very frustrated by this during a recent triathlon. (The active mode comes on for 15 seconds for things like displaying, for example, 1-mile splits, so I could easily see those, but just not anything else after the 15 seconds when it would go back into the dim mode).
AWESOME CUSTOMER SUPPORT: I contacted Garmin's customer support and explained the problems I was having. They said it sounded like the Forerunner 255 (Music) would be a better fit for me and they shipped one to me. The 255 is basically my 245 Plus multi-sport and a lot of other metrics too.
The display of the 255 works exactly like the 245 -- meaning it is easily viewable all the time, in the pool, in bright sun, etc. The 255 is definitely a better fit for me. (And Garmin credited me for the 265).
The bottom line: it doesn't matter what extra features the 265 has over the 255 if I can't see the data while I'm exercising. After I was having this issue with the 265 display, I went online and couldn't find anyone else discussing this, which is why I made this post. I also made a YouTube video to show what is described above in case you want to see. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHLUi01IwdY&ab_channel=SteveSherman)
Happy training!
I'm just one 50-mile race away from my goal weight.