Forerunner 265 Running Smartwatch, Colorful AMOLED Display, Training Metrics and Recovery Insights, Aqua and Black

I absolutely love my Garmin watch! I play pickleball, do Pilates, and travel frequently, so I needed something reliable that could keep up with my active (and sometimes unpredictable) lifestyle. One of my favorite features is the Body Battery and recovery tracking. I have lupus and chronic fatigue, and this watch has truly helped me learn when to rest and when to push a little more. It’s not a medical device, but it gives you a great picture of your energy levels and recovery time, which makes a huge difference for people managing autoimmune conditions or simply trying to train smarter. It also tracks heart rate, stress, sleep, and workouts with impressive accuracy. The GPS is spot-on, and the interface is super easy to read, even in sunlight. Plus, it syncs quickly with the app and lasts several days on a single charge. Whether you’re an athlete, traveler, or just trying to balance health and recovery, this Garmin is absolutely worth it. 💪⌚

I’ve had the Garmin Forerunner 265 for about a week now, and I’m honestly blown away by how good it is. This watch is on another level. The amoled display is insanely sharp and bright, making it super easy to read during runs, even under direct sunlight. The build feels premium yet lightweight, which makes a huge difference for long training sessions. Setting it up was quick, and everything synced smoothly with the app. The GPS accuracy is excellent my routes are tracked perfectly without any weird glitches or jumps. I’ve already taken it on several runs, including a 15 km session, and the performance has been flawless. Heart rate, pace, VO₂ max estimates, and all the training metrics feel incredibly precise. Battery life is another big win. Even with daily workouts, notifications, and the bright screen, it still lasts impressively long. The watch also gives great insights into recovery, sleep, and overall readiness, which has helped me train smarter, not just harder. Overall, this is an exceptional watch for runners. It’s comfortable, accurate, feature packed, and genuinely motivating to use. Easily one of the best upgrades I’ve made for my training. Highly recommended.

I've been running for 40 years and finally bought a Garmin. I must be a Luddite, as for decades I was happy with my Timex Ironman watch. Then a family member gave me an Apple watch, and I really liked the functionality and GPS feature. The problem with the Apple watch is the battery life--a 20+ mile run really drains the battery (this may partially be due to the fact I've gotten really slow), so I finally purchased a Garmin. Readers of this review should note that I am not a "power user" and mainly use the GPS and timing functions. Having said all that, I really like the product! It is very easy to use and pretty intuitive. It is surprising how well it communicates with my iPhone--messages show up, Gmail notifications show up and the Garmin Connect app tracks activity. Plus there are the ancillary functions such as alarms, sleep tracking, etc. Best of all, I did a 22 mile run today and the battery was still 78% charged! Not sure why I waited so long to make the switch to Garmin. Highly recommended.

I don’t usually bother writing reviews, but this watch made such a difference in my daily running that I figured it deserved one. The best feature by far: the training plans. You pick an actual local race, set your pace goal, and the watch builds a flexible plan that adjusts if you miss a day. No guilt and no stress. Rest days count as part of training, which is honestly huge. Most apps push you to do more even when you shouldn’t. This one treats resting like a workout. It kept me consistent without burning me out. It also surprised me with how good the strength training is. The watch gives you bodyweight-only routines with little animations that show you how to do each move. No guessing and no digging around the internet for videos. As someone who normally skips strength work, this was actually useful. Music is another win. I love being able to run with Spotify offline and leave my heavy iPhone 16 Pro at home. No calls or texts bugging me. Just my watch and my headphones. The only downside is that checking pace is slightly more awkward on the watch than when I used to run with my phone strapped to my hand. Tilting the phone up was more natural than twisting my wrist. Small thing but worth mentioning. The overall vibe of the watch: it feels like it was built by people who actually run. The pace targets make sense, the GPS is accurate, and the whole setup removes the mental load of planning and tracking. You don’t have to read a bunch of articles or piece together your own plan. You just follow what it gives you and go run. A couple small annoyances: 1. When you finish a workout, there’s a weird delay before the save menu shows up. It makes you hesitate for a second. 2. During time-based workouts, it isn’t super obvious that you actually started the prescribed workout. The second time I did it, I messed up and started a generic run instead. The only clue was that the pace gauge was missing. None of these issues are deal breakers. Just things I hope Garmin improves. Bottom line: This thing took away the mental clutter of training and helped me stay consistent. If you want a watch that supports real running without trying to be a mini phone on your wrist, the 265S is awesome.

What you have on your wrist is a phenomenal computer with 100's of thousands of man hours in the writing of code and algorithms to take all the data from the sensors and turn it into a comprehensive health guide for physical fitness. And Garmin, along wth Polar and Apple and Suunto and all the other lesser known brands, have barely scratched the surface of the possibilities to harness computing power on your wrist. They haven't even begun to tie in AI to take the data and give you your own personal narrative for how to optimize your health and fitness. One could write a book on all the potential for this technology in this field. But as to the implementation...The menus need some work...Garmin Connect, where one can build an app and upload it to the watch to run weight lifting routines or HIIT exercises needs a very lot of work. It works but it's crude and basic. For instance, if you want to track HRR [Heart Rate Recovery] after an excercise you have to remember to hit stop immediately, hit the lower right button to gain access to a set of options and then scroll to track HRR over the next two minutes. All the while you are losing heart beats to count. Really? Why isn't that option in the GC app maker so you can add it to the app you are building? And why, when you do a repetitive set that has work-rest and you repeat that x number of times do they insist on ending with a rest period. The last period should be a work period. And why can't the tie their lame audio beeps to your phone where you can customize the sounds you want to hear when doing a HIIT routine, eg? But, for all my grousing, I love being able to track my sleep and quality of sleep, my HR, HRV, time to recover, quality of the workout, time in HR Zones, Anaerobic and Aerobic quality, Body Battery, Stress, Intensity minutes, Training Status, Training Readiness, etc. Too many things to mention. And I've just scratched the surface in learning how to use it over these last 5 months. I'm really excited about how they will integrate AI into this journey. I would love to have an AI bundled with the watch that I could talk to through my phone. Or have the Garmin Forerunner 256 be able to talk to me through Bluetooth to ear buds.

This is my first Garmin watch, and I’m very, very happy with it. I had a first generation Apple Watch many years ago and didn’t love it enough to repair or upgrade it when the crown malfunctioned. When I got a fitness tracker last year, it was a Fitbit which I really loved initially but eventually outgrew recently when I decided to focus a little bit more on running. I wanted better functionality for running, but I couldn’t foresee being able to adjust to the battery life of Apple Watch. I read many online reviews for Garmin watches, Fitbits, Apple Watch and Apple Watch Ultra. For my needs, I settled on the Forerunner 265S and have loved it. Priorities for me: easy to use for running, reasonably accurate GPS and heart rate tracking, battery life adequate for sleep tracking, watch face size appropriate for smaller wrists Pros: - love the user interface. Makes starting a run so easy. Touch screen is easy to use and the buttons are really functional. The display during a run is easy to read and intuitive. It used to drive me bananas when I glanced down at my wrist during a run to check my pace on my Fitbit Charge 6 and it would give me meaningless arrows of some vague significance or a symbols for my heart rate category, and all I wanted to see was actual run data at a glance. - love being able to choose or build workouts and have the watch give cues during the workout - love the metrics and data it gives (VO2 max, body battery, etc). Although I take them with a grain or salt, it’s fun and motivating to see - so easy to send my heart rate to my Peloton bike so I can see it on the screen. I set up one of the buttons on the watch to broadcast my heart rate, and it such a breeze now. - Battery life is great for my lifestyle. I usually throw it on a charger while I shower, but I know it can last days. - High quality materials. The watch feels substantial, and the silicone watch band is somehow better than other silicone watch bands I’ve worn. Cons: - Garmin doesn’t integrate well with Peloton, other than being able to send the heart rate over via ANT+. I knew this ahead of time and was ok with the limitation before buying the watch. My Peloton workouts don’t import into the Garmin Connect app. It seems like the options would be to add it manually as an activity or to use a 3rd party app. It’s not important enough to me since I’m focusing a bit more on outdoor running right now, but if my primary exercise regimen relied on the Peloton ecosystem on their workout machines, it would be probably a clunkier experience with Garmin. - Limited aesthetic options. I chose the Forerunner 265S for the functionality it offered (GPS, heart rate tracking) and the smaller watch face size, although I initially wanted a metallic casing. It was hard to justify the super high end Garmin models that have stainless or titanium casings for my needs, and the Venu and Vivoactive lines skewed more smartwatch than I was looking for in functionality, so I settled on the 265S, knowing it will always look like a sporty watch rather than have the versatility of looking a little bit more dressed up. - Doesn’t seem to have an option for the alarm to adjust to your sleep stage. I used to set my Fitbit alarm to wake me up during non-deep sleep, and I liked the idea of it. I don’t miss this feature though. I’m not sure how effective it was before anyway. Etc: for my needs, it does notifications and smartwatch functions just fine. I don’t need/want the watch to be a substitute for my phone (e.g., texting/calling). I don’t use the music function (wasn’t planning to) but could foresee the limitations in usability if I did since I mostly use Apple Music

Great, at the sale price of 350 it is a good value not sure at 450 there may be better options. Great watch for running, cycling, planning workouts and races. Garmin connect features are provided at no cost or annual fee (for now -- knock on wood) - compare to 80/yr for strava pro or similar services. Ok for trail running/hiking. If you are planning to use GPS to navigate a trail you need to set up a route ahead of time - but it works well, it will give you an arrow to find your way. Was able to navigate back to my car after getting off route due to a impassable stream crossing -- it's reliable. Garmin explore feature is not included - that is only for hiking specific models this is targeted specifically for runners. Need spotify premium for music/podcasts. Very comfortable, easy to use/read interface, ok size - fits fine on small wrist. Battery lasts a little less than a week for me. HR monitor is ok - I ended up buying the Garmin strap as it seems to be subjectively more accurate.

This watch is amazing! I was looking to replace my Fitbit and kept coming back to this watch. I’m so glad I did! Key things I love: Waterproof, step counter, sleep tracking, customizable, and it’s not bulky or heavy. In the photo it is on night mode where it’s dim and on do not disturb- you can customize that time span to fit your schedule. It can find my phone. It can send emergency texts to designated contacts. Play music. Track your activities walk, run, swim. Don’t hesitate to buy it! It’s one of my best purchases.