Okay, so I’ve been meaning to upgrade my fitness tracker for a while now, and I finally decided to dive into the world of Garmin. I narrowed it down to two models: the Garmin vivoactive 5 and the Garmin Forerunner 255. Both seemed pretty solid, but I really wanted to see how they stacked up against each other, specs-wise.
First, I looked around online to get a feel for what others were saying about the guarantee and all that. Turns out, eBay’s got this money-back guarantee thing, which is cool. So, at least I know I can trust them if I decide to buy there, and they have some nice deals, too.
After that, I got down to business. I opened up the official Garmin website and started comparing the features of the vivoactive 5 and the Forerunner 255 side-by-side. It was a bit of a headache, to be honest. So many little details to consider!
My Rough Comparison Notes
- Display: Both have nice-looking displays, but the vivoactive 5 is AMOLED, which is supposed to be more vibrant. The Forerunner 255 has a transflective memory-in-pixel display. I’m not really a display expert, so I watched some YouTube videos to see the difference. The AMOLED does look a bit nicer, but the transflective one is easier to see in bright sunlight.
- Battery Life: This was a big one for me. The Forerunner 255 seems to have a longer battery life in smartwatch mode, like 14 days compared to 11 for the vivoactive 5. But in GPS mode, they’re closer, with the Forerunner 255 lasting up to 30 hours and the vivoactive 5 up to 21 hours.
- Sports Apps: Both have tons of built-in sports apps, but the Forerunner 255 has more running-specific features, like training status, training load, and race predictor. It’s definitely geared more towards serious runners.
- Health Features: They both track heart rate, sleep, stress, and all that good stuff. The vivoactive 5 has some extra stuff like Body Battery energy monitoring and women’s health tracking.
- Other Features: Both have Garmin Pay for contactless payments, music storage, and smart notifications. The Forerunner 255 has some extra navigation features, which I don’t really need.
I spent a good few hours just going back and forth, reading reviews, watching videos, and comparing the specs on the Garmin website. I even made a little spreadsheet to keep track of everything. It was a bit of a pain, but I wanted to make sure I was making the right decision.
In the end, it was a tough call. The Forerunner 255 is definitely the more feature-packed watch, especially for running. But the vivoactive 5 has that nicer display and some extra health features that I like. It’s more of an all-around smartwatch, while the Forerunner 255 is more specialized. If I had to choose at that moment, I’d probably go with the vivoactive 5, but I’m still thinking about it.