Forerunner 965 vs Forerunner 955

Garmin Forerunner 965 was released in March 2023 and succeeds the Forerunner 955 range of premium running watches.

We look at the main points of distinction between the Garmin Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 below. This should help you in making the most suitable purchase between the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955.

We evaluate the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 watches in terms of display technology, physical specifications, battery backups, and other features of significance.

Smartwatch features covered in this post

Main differences between the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955

There are some critical differences between the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955, and we discuss these below.

Forerunner 965 has an AMOLED display with Always-on-display mode while the Forerunner 955 continues to be on the MIP or Memory-in-pixel display screen.
Forerunner 965 has a much better display resolution than the Forerunner 955.
The size of the Forerunner 965 is marginally bigger than the Forerunner 955 watch.
The Forerunner 965 is thinner than the Forerunner 955.
Forerunner 965 has a better battery life than the Forerunner 955 running watches.
Forerunner 965 has an ambient light sensor. Forerunner 955 does not have it.
Forerunner 965 costs $100 more than the Forerunner 955 smartwatch
Forerunner 965 has a titanium bezel. Forerunner 955 uses fiber-enforced polymer in the bezel and watch body.

These differences are the major differences between the Forerunner 965 and the Forerunner 955 watches. All other core features remain unchanged between these two smartwatches. We discuss these differences in detail below.

Essentially, you are paying extra cost of Forerunner 965 for the AMOLED display, Ambient light sensor and an improved battery backup.

Display technology

Forerunner 965 comes with an AMOLED display. It helps in improving the display brightness, clarity, and user experience. Forerunner 955 uses the MIP or memory-in-pixel screen display.

The benefits of AMOLED display can be seen in the lights on the following improvements:

The AMOLED display has allowed the Forerunner 965 watches to use Always-on-display mode on the watch.
The AMOLED display has improved the display resolution of the Forerunner 965 watch to 454 x 454 pixels. Forerunner 955 has a display resolution of 260 x 260 pixels only.
Another benefit of the AMOLED display is the richer PPI or pixel-per-inch performance of the Forerunner 965. The Forerunner 965 has a pixel density of 458 ppi and the Forerunner 955 has a pixel density of 282 ppi.

The AMOLED display is a major improvement in the Forerunner 265 and Forerunner 965 range of running watches. And, it does appear that the premium price of the Forerunner 965 can be attributed to the AMOLED display technology.

Both, Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 use the DX coated 3rd generation Corning Gorilla Glass. The DX coating is an anti-reflective coating. It helps in improving the display readability of both smartwatches under bright sunshine.

Physical size

The Forerunner 965 smartwatch is bigger and thinner than the Forerunner 955 range of watches.

Forerunner 965 has a watch diameter of 47.2 mm and a display size of 36 mm. The Forerunner 955 has a watch diameter of 46.5 mm and a display size of 33 mm.
Forerunner 965 has a thickness of 13.2 mm and Forerunner 955 has a thickness of 14.4 mm.
Both watches use 22 mm silicon bands.
Forerunner 965 weighs 53 g and Forerunner 955 weighs 52 g,
Forerunner 965 is recommended for a wrist circumference between 135-205 mm. Forerunner 955 is recommended for a wrist circumference of 130-220 mm.

Another point worthy of your attention is that the Forerunner 965 has a fiber-enforced polymer body and rear cover. But the bezel is made of titanium.

The titanium bezel renders a premium look to the Forerunner 965 smartwatch.

Forerunner 955 is completely made of fiber-enforced polymer.

GPS

Forerunner 965 and the Forerunner 955 support GPS, GLONASS, and GALILEO satellite networks. Both watches have multi-frequency positioning sensors.

The multi-frequency positioning sensor helps in providing the multi-band GPS mode capability.

Multi-band GPS allows the smartwatch to pull GPS data from multiple satellites at any given point in time. This helps in improving the GPS accuracy and reliability of Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 smartwatches.

For athletes and triathletes, the multi-band GPS mode is one of the best features of the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 series running smartwatches.

Battery

The Forerunner 965 makes major advancements in battery capacity. On each mode of the watch, the Forerunner 965 offers longer battery backup than the Forerunner 955.

We look at some important battery modes and the battery capacities of each of these watches.

Smartwatch mode – Forerunner 965 has a battery life of up to 23 days and Forerunner 955 has a battery life of up to 15 days. That is almost a 50 percent higher battery life on the Forerunner 965 watch.
GPS mode – Forerunner 965 has a battery life of 31 hours and Forerunner 955 has a battery life of 42 hours.

On the various GPS modes, you will find that the Forerunner 955 has a slight edge over the Forerunner 965 in terms of offered battery life.

You may be surprised by the lower battery backup of Forerunner 965 for the various GPS modes of the watch. This could be explained in terms of the higher battery usage by the AMOLED screen of the Forerunner 965 smartwatch.

Table of comparison

So, if you were to compare the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 955 in terms of essential differences and core features, you would find that both watches have the following important features.

Feature	Forerunner 965	Forerunner 955
Price	$599.99	$499.99
Display	AMOLED	MIP (Memory-in-pixel)
Display resolution	454 x 454 pixels	260 x 260 pixels
Watch diameter	47.2 mm	46.5 mm
Display diameter	36 mm	33 mm
Ambient light sensor	Yes	No
Pixel density	458 ppi	282 ppi
Bezel	Titanium	Fiber-enforced polymer
Thickness	13.2 mm	14.4 mm
Weight	53 g	52 g
Android support	Yes	Yes
Watch band	Silicone	Silicone
Band size	22 mm	22 mm
Recommended wrist circumference	135-205 mm	130-220 mm
iOS support	Yes	Yes
Water rating	5 ATM	5 ATM
GPS	GPS, GLONASS, Galileo	GPS, GLONASS, Galileo
Heart rate tracking	Yes	Yes
Heart sensor	Garmin Elevate	Garmin Elevate
Abnormal heart rate alerts	Yes	Yes
Average heart rate	Yes	Yes
Battery life (Smartwatch mode)	23 days	15 days
Battery life (GPS mode)	31 hours	42 hours
Ultratrac mode	34 hours	80 hours
Multi-frequency positioning sensor	Yes	Yes
Device storage	32 GB	32 GB
Wireless connectivity	Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ANT+	Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ANT+
Incident detection	Yes	Yes
PulseOx blood oxygenation tracking	Yes	Yes
Gyroscope	Yes	Yes
Accelerometer	Yes	Yes
Sleep tracking	Yes	Yes
Sleep score	Yes	Yes
Health dashboard	Yes	Yes
Women’s Health	Yes	Yes
Body battery energy levels	Yes	Yes
Cardio workout	Yes	No
NFC app	Garmin Pay	Garmin Pay

Closing thoughts

Forerunner 965 costs $100 more than the Forerunner 955. The additional cost will get you the Forerunner 965 with an AMOLED display. The display performance of the Forerunner 965 is ahead of the Forerunner 955.

If you are reasonably happy with an MIP screen, the Forerunner 955 will do all that the Forerunner 955 does.

So, buy the Forerunner 965 for its AMOLED screen and improved display metrics and performance. That is the biggest gain you make in spending the additional money on the Forerunner 965 smartwatch.

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