In-depth Review of the Garmin Forerunner 55

The Garmin Forerunner 55 is an entry-level running watch designed for fitness enthusiasts looking for an affordable yet feature-rich companion for their workouts. It is a follow-up to the Garmin Forerunner 45, and though the Forerunner 55 retains the simplicity of its predecessor, it introduces several new features that make it a standout in its category. Whether you're a beginner runner or someone looking for an affordable GPS running watch with plenty of functionalities, the Forerunner 55 strikes a perfect balance between ease of use, advanced tracking, and value for money.

In this in-depth review, we'll cover the design, key features, performance, and how the Garmin Forerunner 55 stacks up against its competitors, as well as its overall value.

Design and Build Quality

The Garmin Forerunner 55 carries the same lightweight and minimalist design as the Forerunner 45. The watch has a simple, round face with a 1.04-inch transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) display, which is ideal for outdoor readability in bright sunlight. This always-on display ensures that you can see the time and workout metrics without needing to wake the watch.

The watch casing is made of durable plastic, and the silicone strap is soft yet strong, ensuring comfort during long runs or workouts. Weighing just 37 grams, it’s easy to forget you're even wearing the Forerunner 55, which makes it ideal for everyday wear as well as intense workout sessions.

Though the design is simple, it remains highly functional. With five physical buttons surrounding the display, the Forerunner 55 can be operated easily even in rainy weather or sweaty conditions. Garmin has avoided touchscreens on most of its running watches, including this one, which helps prevent accidental swipes or commands during a workout.

The watch is available in three color options: Black, White, and Aqua, so users can pick the one that best fits their style.

• Lightweight (37g) and comfortable for daily wear.
• Durable plastic casing with a silicone strap.
• 1.04-inch MIP display for excellent outdoor visibility.
• Water resistance rating of 5 ATM (up to 50 meters).

Display and Interface

The 208 x 208-pixel resolution of the Garmin Forerunner 55's MIP display might not be as crisp as an AMOLED screen found on more premium models, but it excels in practicality. The screen is easy to read in various lighting conditions, including direct sunlight, which is essential for outdoor activities like running and cycling. Additionally, the always-on nature of the display means you don't have to press a button or raise your wrist to view essential stats like pace, heart rate, or time.

The user interface is straightforward and clean, especially for a Garmin watch, known for its detailed data-heavy interfaces. Navigation through the menus is done via the five buttons, and while the lack of a touchscreen might feel like a downside for some users, it actually enhances usability during activities.

The watch face is customizable, allowing users to choose from several pre-installed watch faces or download new ones from Garmin's Connect IQ store. You can also choose which data fields are shown during your workouts, making it easy to see metrics that are most important to you, such as pace, distance, heart rate, or calories burned.

• Always-on MIP display that’s readable in sunlight.
• Customizable watch face and workout data fields.
• Simple navigation using five physical buttons.

Core Features and Tracking

Despite its budget-friendly price, the Garmin Forerunner 55 comes with an impressive set of features that cater not only to runners but also to users interested in other sports and fitness activities. It’s more than just a running watch, making it suitable for a variety of workouts, from swimming to cycling and yoga.

GPS Tracking

The Forerunner 55 comes with built-in GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo satellite systems for accurate outdoor tracking. Whether you're running, cycling, or hiking, the GPS is fast to acquire and highly reliable. During testing, GPS accuracy remained consistently strong, even in wooded areas or around tall buildings. This ensures that distance, pace, and route information is precise, an essential factor for anyone serious about improving their running performance.

Heart Rate Monitoring

The wrist-based heart rate monitor in the Garmin Forerunner 55 tracks your heart rate 24/7, providing insights into your daily resting heart rate as well as in-workout heart rate zones. This is critical for runners looking to train effectively, whether by keeping within a certain zone for fat burning or pushing their limits in a high-intensity interval session.

The accuracy of the heart rate monitor during exercise is comparable to Garmin’s more expensive models, making it a fantastic addition for those who want reliable health metrics.

Fitness Age and Body Battery

One of the standout features introduced in the Forerunner 55 is Fitness Age, which estimates your body’s age based on your activity levels, resting heart rate, and BMI. While this feature was previously available only on Garmin’s premium models, it now helps entry-level users understand how their fitness compares to the average population.

Body Battery is another insightful tool, designed to measure your energy reserves throughout the day. By analyzing heart rate variability, stress, and sleep data, the Forerunner 55 gives you a daily energy score that helps you gauge whether you’re ready for a tough workout or need to rest.

Suggested Workouts

Garmin has made the Forerunner 55 more runner-focused by including suggested daily workouts. Based on your fitness level and previous workouts, the watch can recommend a run, recovery day, or other activity to optimize your progress. The personalized guidance makes this feature feel like having a coach on your wrist, helping you to improve your performance without risking overtraining.

PacePro and Virtual Running Coach

Another feature that will appeal to runners is PacePro, which provides guidance on maintaining a steady pace during your runs. The watch breaks down your route by sections and gives real-time updates, ensuring you stay on track with your pacing goals. The Virtual Running Coach offers insight into how you can improve your performance by showing what pace or effort level you should aim for in future runs.

Race Predictor and Recovery Time

The Race Predictor feature provides estimated times for common race distances (5K, 10K, half-marathon, marathon), based on your recent performance and overall fitness level. After each run, the Forerunner 55 will also provide a recommended recovery time before your next tough workout, helping users manage their training load.

Sleep Tracking

Like most Garmin watches, the Forerunner 55 offers detailed sleep tracking, including monitoring your sleep stages (light, deep, and REM) and providing a sleep score each morning. Sleep is a key factor in recovery, and the Forerunner 55 provides data that can help you better understand your sleeping patterns and how they affect your performance.

Stress Tracking

Throughout the day, the Forerunner 55 will keep an eye on your stress levels by measuring heart rate variability. If it detects that you are feeling stressed, it may suggest breathing exercises to help you calm down and manage stress.

Key Points:

• Built-in GPS with strong accuracy.
• Heart rate monitoring and heart rate zones.
• Fitness Age, Body Battery, and stress tracking.
• Suggested workouts based on fitness levels.
• PacePro for pacing strategy and race predictions.

Battery Life

One of the standout features of the Forerunner 55 is its excellent battery life. Garmin claims that the watch can last up to 14 days in smartwatch mode and up to 20 hours in GPS mode, which is impressive for an entry-level GPS running watch.

During testing, real-world battery performance closely matched these claims. A week of moderate use, including several GPS-tracked runs, showed that the watch could comfortably last around 10-12 days on a single charge. In GPS mode, even after a 3-hour run, the battery still had plenty of life left, making it a reliable choice for long-distance runners or those who don’t want to charge their watch frequently.

• Up to 14 days of battery life in smartwatch mode.
• Up to 20 hours of battery life in GPS mode.
• Fast charging time.

Smartwatch Features

Although the Garmin Forerunner 55 is primarily a fitness watch, it includes several smartwatch functionalities. It can receive smartphone notifications for calls, texts, and app alerts. You can also control music playback on your phone, but note that the Forerunner 55 doesn’t have built-in music storage, unlike some of Garmin’s more premium watches.

The lack of NFC for Garmin Pay or third-party app support (beyond watch faces) may be a limitation for those looking for more advanced smartwatch features, but for a fitness-first device, the Forerunner 55 handles the essentials well.

• Smartphone notifications (calls, texts, apps).
• Music control (no internal storage).
• No Garmin Pay or NFC.

Competitors and Comparison

When compared to its competitors, such as the Polar Ignite 2 and Coros Pace 2, the Garmin Forerunner 55 stands out due to its comprehensive fitness tracking features and affordable price. While the Polar Ignite 2 offers better sleep and recovery tracking, and the Coros Pace 2 has more advanced metrics for serious athletes, the Forerunner 55 strikes the best balance for beginner and intermediate runners looking for a no-nonsense fitness watch.

• Polar Ignite 2: Known for its advanced sleep and recovery metrics, the Polar Ignite 2 excels in sleep tracking and provides detailed insights into nightly recovery. However, its GPS accuracy and battery life don’t quite match the Forerunner 55, especially for long-distance runners. It is also more expensive, which may be a downside for those on a tighter budget.
• Coros Pace 2: This watch is tailored more for serious athletes and triathletes, offering extremely detailed metrics like running power, cadence, and advanced training load metrics. However, it comes with a steeper learning curve and might be overkill for someone just starting their running journey. The Coros Pace 2 is slightly more expensive, though its battery life (up to 30 hours in GPS mode) is one of the best in its class.

Ultimately, the Garmin Forerunner 55 competes well by offering a wide range of features—especially its fitness tracking, ease of use, and affordable price—making it a great all-around GPS running watch for both beginners and fitness enthusiasts looking to improve their performance without being overwhelmed by advanced, niche metrics.

• Affordable price with excellent GPS accuracy.
• Comprehensive fitness and health tracking.
• Competitors offer specific features, but Forerunner 55 is

Performance in Real-World Usage

In real-world usage, the Garmin Forerunner 55 delivers on its promise as a capable and reliable fitness tracker. It’s extremely quick to pick up a GPS signal, even in challenging environments like city streets with tall buildings or wooded areas. The accuracy of the pace, distance, and heart rate tracking stands up to more expensive models, making it ideal for training, races, or everyday activities.

The addition of the suggested workouts feature is particularly useful for those who aren’t working with a coach but want structured guidance. The watch takes into account your previous workouts and suggests appropriate intensity levels for each day, ensuring you’re training effectively without risking burnout.

On the health monitoring side, continuous heart rate tracking provides valuable insights into your daily activity, stress levels, and sleep quality. Features like Body Battery and Fitness Age help you manage your energy levels and track long-term improvements in your fitness, even if you're not focused solely on running. The combination of these tools and Garmin's comprehensive Garmin Connect app allows you to see patterns in your health and fitness over time, which is a huge advantage for those looking to improve not only their running performance but their overall wellness.

The battery life exceeded expectations during daily use. Even with several workouts per week, including GPS usage, the watch easily lasted over 10 days, which is more than adequate for most users. The watch also charges quickly, which means that even if you forget to top it off before a long run, you can quickly get enough juice to last a full session.

For casual users or those using it for more general fitness, the smartwatch features—like smartphone notifications and music controls—are enough to cover basic needs without complicating the user experience. However, more advanced smartwatch features, like NFC payments or music storage, are absent, so users who need a more comprehensive smartwatch experience might feel limited.

• Quick and reliable GPS signal acquisition.
• Highly accurate tracking for distance, pace, and heart rate.
• Suggested workouts and adaptive training plans.
• Long-lasting battery life, even with frequent GPS use.
• Basic smartwatch features but no NFC or onboard music storage.

Garmin Connect and Data Syncing

The Garmin Forerunner 55 is tightly integrated with the Garmin Connect ecosystem, which is one of the most comprehensive fitness platforms available. Through the Garmin Connect app, users can track their workouts, view in-depth metrics, analyze trends, and set goals. Garmin Connect is compatible with both iOS and Android, and data syncing between the watch and the app is seamless.

One of the standout features of Garmin Connect is the community aspect. You can join challenges, connect with friends, and share your achievements, which is a great way to stay motivated. Garmin’s Coach feature also helps beginner runners train for specific events (like 5Ks or half-marathons) by providing adaptive training plans that adjust based on your progress.

The data provided in Garmin Connect is extensive, covering everything from basic activity tracking (steps, calories, distance) to more advanced metrics like VO2 max, training load, and recovery times. This makes Garmin Connect a valuable tool for tracking performance and improving over time.

For those who prefer other fitness platforms, Garmin allows you to sync your data to apps like Strava, MyFitnessPal, and Apple Health, which means you’re not locked into using only Garmin’s ecosystem.

• Seamless integration with Garmin Connect.
• Extensive metrics and insights available in the app.
• Syncing with third-party apps like Strava and MyFitnessPal.
• Community challenges and Garmin Coach for personalized training.

Value for Money

At its price point, the Garmin Forerunner 55 offers exceptional value for money. It is packed with features that will cater to both beginner and intermediate runners, and even though it lacks some of the bells and whistles of higher-end models (like music storage or NFC payments), it covers all the essential bases extremely well.

Given its GPS accuracy, excellent battery life, and robust health and fitness tracking features, it is one of the best options available for anyone looking to buy a dedicated running watch without breaking the bank. The Forerunner 55 strikes the perfect balance between price and performance, making it a fantastic investment for runners or fitness enthusiasts on a budget.

• Highly affordable for the features provided.
• Excellent GPS and health tracking capabilities.
• Best suited for beginner and intermediate runners.

Final Verdict

The Garmin Forerunner 55 is an outstanding GPS running watch for its price range. While it is geared primarily toward beginner runners, it has enough features to satisfy more experienced users as well. The combination of accurate GPS tracking, heart rate monitoring, advanced fitness metrics, and ease of use makes it an ideal companion for anyone looking to take their running or fitness to the next level.

The suggested workouts, adaptive training plans, and PacePro feature make it feel like a personal coach on your wrist, while the long battery life ensures that it will always be ready for your next workout. It’s a no-nonsense fitness tracker that delivers everything most runners need in an affordable, lightweight package.

Though it lacks some of the advanced features seen in higher-end Garmin models (like onboard music storage and NFC payments), it’s hard to argue with the value it offers at its price point. If you’re looking for a reliable, easy-to-use GPS running watch that doesn’t overwhelm you with excessive features, the Garmin Forerunner 55 is a top contender.

Pros:

• Lightweight and comfortable design.
• Accurate GPS and heart rate tracking.
• Long battery life.
• Suggested workouts and personalized training plans.
• Excellent value for the price.

Cons:

• No onboard music storage.
• Lacks NFC payments (Garmin Pay).
• Limited smartwatch functionality.

For beginner to intermediate runners or fitness enthusiasts, the Garmin Forerunner 55 is one of the best affordable GPS watches on the market, offering everything you need for tracking workouts and improving your performance without the complexity or price tag of more premium models.