Features

Overview: The Garmin Forerunner 955 is a lightweight running and multi-sport watch with a high-sensitivity GPS receiver. It can accurately records the distance, time, speed, and location of your runs, or analyzes your swim, ski runs, or rounds of golf. It keeps track of your personal records, and lets you know when you have set new ones. The Forerunner 955 provides constant feedback, including the distance traveled, elapsed time, pace, lap time, and speed. The built-in barometer, altimeter, and electronic compass let you keep your bearings when your activities take you off the beaten path. While you work out, you can listen to your favorite music downloaded to your Forerunner 955. With Garmin's Elevate heart rate technology, you can continuously monitor your heart rate. After your run, you can upload your results to the Garmin Connect online community. The dimensions are:

• Watch: Width 1.897", Height 2.104", Depth 0.615"
• Watch Band: Width 0.852" (22mm), Length 10" (including buckle)
• Fits Wrists: with a circumference of 5-1/8" to 8-5/8"
• Weight: 1.85 ounces

Color LCD: The Forerunner 955 features a 1.3" diameter color LCD screen with a resolution of 260 x 260 pixels. The display has a backlight timer that can be adjusted to a preferred time period or to stay on. The backlight can be turned on manually, or with the touch of a key or when you receive an alert. The LCD is protected by a chemically-strengthened Corning Gorilla Glass DX lens.

Interchangeable Watch Bands: The Forerunner 955 comes with Garmin's standard 22mm silicone strap. Dozens of optional interchangeable straps are available directly from Garmin in silicone, leather, metal, and titanium.

Elevate™: On the back of the Forerunner 955 is an optical sensor with Garmin's Elevate™ heart rate technology that shines light onto your skin and measures the amount of light returned. The sensor detects slight changes on your skin as your heart pumps blood and determines your heart rate using a sophisticated algorithm. The back of the watch has a light seal to block out ambient light for accurate results. You can broadcast your heart rate data to other Garmin devices, such as an Edge cycling computer or a VIRB action camera.

Water Resistant: The Forerunner 955 has a 5 ATM water rating, which means it is resistant to moderate moisture contact. Not only can you run in the rain and wet weather, you can even swim or shower while wearing the device. The device also has a wide operating temperature range of -4° to 140°F.

Heart Rate Zones: Heart Rate Zones are used by many athletes to indicate the level of activity, and to measure their cardiovascular strength. You can let the Forerunner 955 set your heart rate zones based on your user profile, or manually enter heart rate values and ranges for each zone. The heart rate zones are expressed as a percentage of your maximum heart rate, and are expressed on the device's display: Zone 1 (50-60%), Zone 2 (60-70%), Zone 3 (70-80%), Zone 4 (80-90%) or Zone 5 (90-100%).

Advanced Monitoring: The Forerunner 955 continually monitors certain advanced performance measurements to help you track your training and race performances. These measurements include:

• VO2 Max: the maximum volume of oxygen you can consume per minute (in milliliters), based on your body weight (in kilograms), and at your maximum performance. The values are expressed as a number, description, and position on the color gauge: Poor 0-40% (Red), Fair 40% (Orange), Good 60% (Green), Excellent 80% (Blue), and Superior 95% (Purple).
• Predicted Race Times: Using the VO2 max estimate, and your training history, the device provides a target race time, based on your current state of fitness.
• HRV Stress Test: The device records your HRV (heart rate variability) while you are sleeping. It provides your overall stress level, based on a scale of 1 (low) to 100 (high).
• Performance Condition: Performance condition is a real-time assessment after 6 to 20 minutes of activity. It compares your real-time condition to your average fitness level.
• Functional Threshold Power (FTP): The device uses your user profile information from the initial setup to estimate your FTP. To get a more accurate rating, a guided test is required. The FTP estimate apears as a value, measured in watts per kilogram, your power output in watts, and a position on the color gauge: Superior (purple), Excellent (blue), Good (green), Fair (orange), and Untrained (red).
• Lactate Threshold: This test requires a Garmin chest heart rate monitor. Your lactate threshold is the point where your muscles start to rapidly fatigue. The device measures your lactate threshold level using heart rate data and pace.
• Training Effect: Training Effect measures the impact of an activity on your aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Training Effect accumulates during the activity and the value increases. The value is expressed in a number between 0 and 5:
  • From 0 to 0.9: No benefit to your aerobic or anaerobic fitness.
  • From 1.0 to 1.9: Minor benefit
  • From 2.0 to 2.9: Maintains your aerobic or anaerobic fitness
  • From 3.0 to 3.9: Impacts your aerobic or anaerobic fitness
  • From 4.0 to 4.9: Highly impacts your aerobic or anaerobic fitness
  • 5.0: Overreaching and potentially harmful without enough recovery time

Running Dynamics: The Forerunner device, when paired with the optional HRM-Pro heart rate monitor or other running dynamics accessory, can help analyze your running form. The accelerometer in the accessory can measure torso movement and calculate the following running metrics: Cadence (number of steps per minute), Vertical Oscillation (your bounce when running), Ground Contact Time (amount of time you spend on the ground while running), Ground Contact Time Balance (left-right balance of your ground contact time), Stride Length (measured from one footfall to the next), and Vertical Ratio (ratio of vertical oscillation to stride length). You can view your running metrics as a color gauge on the display, showing you how your running data compares to those of other runners.

Golf Features: Wearing the Forerunner 955 while playing golf gives you access to many features to help enhance your game. The device is preloaded with maps of over 42,000 golf courses worldwide. For each hole, the device displays the hole number, par for the hole, and distances to the front, middle, and back of the green, as well as the yardage to layups and doglegs. You can move the flag to the precise pin placement for the day in order to show accurate distances. After you play the hole you can enter your score on the digital scorecard. With the Garmin Golf app loaded on your smartphone, you can upload scorecards to the app. The built-in odometer can record the time, distance, and steps you travel as you play.

Swimming Metrics: You can wear the Forerunner 955 while swimming in a pool or in open water. It is not intended for use while scuba diving. The wrist-based heart rate is enabled for swim activities. The watch is also compatible with the optional HRM-Pro, HRM-Swim, and HRM-Tri chest-worn heart rate devices. When both wrist-based and chest-worn HRM devices are available, the watch will use the chest-worn data. In open water, the device records swim data including distance, pace, and stroke rate. For pool swimming, the watch measures and records distance by completed pool lengths. (You must enter the correct pool size before starting your activity.

Sleep Tracking: While you sleep, the Forerunner 955 automatically detects your sleep and monitors your movement during normal sleeping hours. Sleep statistics include total hours of sleep, sleep stages, sleep movement, and an overall sleep score. You can view your sleep statistics in your Garmin Connect account.

Women's Health Features: The Forerunner 955 has additional features specifically for women's health. Using the fitness watch and the Garmin Connect app, you can track your menstrual cycle or pregnancy. The app lets you log symptoms, and provide exercise and nutrition education, and view the details on your wrist.

High-Sensitivity GPS Receiver: The unit features a high-sensitivity GPS receiver which will stay locked onto satellites, even near tall buildings or under tree cover. By default, the device uses the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) to locate overhead satellites. When you're in locations with poor sky visibility, you can use a combination of GPS and GLONASS (Russian satellite system), or GPS and Galileo (European Union satellite system) to obtain a more accurate position. Using GPS and another satellite system together will reduce battery life more quickly than using GPS alone.

Accelerometer: The built-in accelerometer can accurately calculate your speed and distance when running indoors or on a treadmill, when the GPS can't be used. The accelerometer is self-calibrating, and the speed and distance accuracy improves after a few outdoor runs using GPS.

Music: The Forerunner 955 has dedicated a portion of its 32 GB built-in memory for music storage, enough for approximately 2000 songs. Music storage and playback enables you to download audio content to the device from your computer, or a 3rd party provider (such as Spotify or Deezer) so you can listen while you work out and your smartphone is not nearby. You can also control music stored on your connected smartphone using the fitness watch. In order to listen to the content, you must connect your device to Bluetooth headphones. Playback controls, such as volume, play, pause, skip forward, skip backward, repeat, and shuffle, are built into the Forerunner 955.

Rechargeable Battery: The Forerunner 955 has a built-in Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery. A 21" data/charging cradle is provided for charging the battery and uploading your training data. It takes approximately 2 hours to fully charge a depleted battery. The estimated battery life is as follows:

Bluetooth Connected Features: The Garmin Forerunner 955 features Bluetooth Smart wireless technology that allows you to pair the device to your smartphone or mobile device through the Garmin Connect Mobile app. When connected via Bluetooth, you can do the following: Phone notifications, LiveTrack, GroupTrack, software updates, workout and course downloads, Connect IQ, social media interactions, weather updates, music controls, audio prompts, Find My Phone, and Find My Watch.

Locating A Lost Phone/Watch: The Forerunner 955 can help you locate your phone if it is still paired and currently within range. As you search, the Find My Phone widget will display the Bluetooth signal strength and sound an audible alert to help you find your phone. Similarly, you can find your lost Forerunner using your phone when they are paired and within range.

Wi-Fi Features: In addition to Bluetooth, you can connect the Forerunner 955 to the internet via Wi-Fi. While connected, you can perform software updates, upload activity data to your Garmin Connect account, and search for and select workout and training plans to send to your device.

Connect IQ: Through Garmin's Connect IQ site, you can customize your Forerunner with watch faces, data fields, widgets, and apps. You can download Connect IQ features to your device when paired with your smartphone (Bluetooth) or connected to your computer (USB cable).

History: The Forerunner 955 has a small amount of memory for saving activity data. Your history displays the date, time of day, distance, run time, calories, average pace or speed, and heart rate zone data. When the memory is full, your oldest data is overwritten. History is not recorded while the timer is stopped or paused.

Watch Functions: When you're not working out, the Forerunner 955 can be used as a basic watch, displaying the time and date, along with an alarm, timer, and a stopwatch. The time is automatically set by the GPS receiver (or manually, if desired), and can be displayed in 12-hour or 24-hour format. You can download pre-loaded watch faces or create a customized watch face on the Garmin Connect IQ store.

Garmin Pay: The Garmin Forerunner 955 features the Garmin Pay contactless payment solution. Garmin Pay lets you pay for purchases quickly without your wallet or phone. It works almost anywhere you can make contactless payments. All you have to do is enter your passcode, select the credit card you want to use from your virtual wallet, and hold your wrist near the card reader. Your card number is not stored on your device, or passed to merchants when you pay, so it's private and secure. Garmin Pay works with many major credit and debit cards from major banks, including Visa and MasterCard.