The Garmin Forerunner 965 is a multisports watch firmly aimed at runners, with an all-new AMOLED screen that gives Garmin something to better rival the likes of the Apple Watch Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.

It takes all of the good stuff from the Forerunner 955, like Garmin’s great multiband GPS mode, preloaded Topo maps and crucially, still promises to offer the kind of battery life that will get you comfortably through a marathon or a marathon cycling session.

Adding that AMOLED screen has seen Garmin bump up the price though, so does the Forerunner 965 deliver the goods? Here’s our take.

Design and display

• New titanium bezel
• New AMOLED screen
• No solar model available

While Garmin has introduced a more smartwatch-like AMOLED screen, the design language still screams sporty. That being said, Garmin does make some other tweaks that makes the 965 feel like a more refined sports watch compared to the 955.

It’s still a watch waterproof up to 50 metres but there’s now a larger 47mm case with a titanium bezel instead of a polymer one. The bezel, case and screen also merge as one to give the 965 a more polished look than its predecessor.

Garmin has stuck to the same style removable strap as the 955 but it’s good to see Garmin has added some colour. The yellow silicone band we had to strap on looked and felt great to wear.

There’s a pretty typical array of physical buttons with Garmin changing the main workout button design to make it stand out more from the other buttons. Those sit on a slimmer watch case with the same optical sensors around the back where you’ll also plug in the same proprietary charging cable.

Then we get to the screen, which is a touchscreen one like the 955, but grows to a 1.4-inch, 454 x 454 pixel resolution display. To put that into perspective, the Apple Watch Ultra has a 1.92-inch, Retina OLED and something like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has a 1.4-inch, 450 x 450 pixel resolution touchscreen.

What you get is a really good quality panel here that, along with Garmin’s tweaked interface, gives it more the look and feel of a smartwatch. Crucially, viewing the screen outside has been fine overall. It lacks the excellent visibility you get in bright outdoor light on Garmin’s transflective screens, but it doesn’t really struggle in the way we thought it might – plus you can adjust the screen brightness if you need to as well.

It is a display you can use in an always-on mode, if you want that screen on 24/7 and are happy to sacrifice more battery life in return.

Unlike the 955 though, there isn’t a 965 solar model right now, so if you liked the idea of having some additional sun-charged battery reserves, that isn’t being served up here.

Garmin Forerunner 965: Health and fitness

• Multiband GPS
• Plenty of sports profiles
• Preloaded Topo maps

The best way to look at the 965 is to think of it as the 955 with an AMOLED. A bit like the Garmin Epix is basically a Fenix with an AMOLED. That means you’re getting all of the same features here, that help to make it not only a run-tracking powerhouse, but a do-it-all, sports-tracking one too.

There are the same optical sensors, including one to track blood oxygen data, though using it continuously has a bigger drain on battery than continuous heart-rate monitoring. You’re getting the same satellite system support and that includes Garmin’s excellent multiband mode designed to improve outdoor tracking accuracy in deeply forested areas or around a lot of tall buildings.

There are sports modes aplenty, with running, cycling, swimming and golf as the core modes and the likes of hiking, rowing and skiing catered for as well. What separates this Forerunner from other Forerunners is that you’re getting access to pre-loaded Topographical maps, and with the added colour display, those maps are displayed more vibrantly and feel elevated by that AMOLED.

The core sports and run tracking experience is a lot like what we experienced on the 955. For runners, the GPS accuracy impresses in that top multiband mode and the subsequent metrics that go with it are strong on the accuracy front too. It’s a similar story for activities like swimming and indoor workouts, though heart rate accuracy can have its spotty moments during more high intensity workouts. Thankfully, like the 955, you can still pair up an external heart rate monitor to improve things.

Beyond sports tracking, you get all of the same health and wellness features here. So if you wanted something to double as a motivating activity tracker and monitor sleep and heart rate continuously in a generally reliable manner, the 965 offers that. It’s also not a big, bulky watch to take to bed either.

The training and analysis features are plentiful here too, whether you’re a beginner runner or a little more advanced. Features like daily suggested workouts and the new Morning Report help you decide what to do with your day from an exercise point of view. You still have the ability to create workouts and structure interval training and it works with Garmin’s Coach app to sync over training plans.

Training Readiness is one of the many training insights and takes metrics like sleep, workout history and heart rate variability to tell you essentially if you’re ready to train. It delivers that information in a really digestible way on the watch and while it should only be viewed as guidance, we found the advice was still pretty useful – it offered up similar advice as another Garmin watch and the Oura Ring Gen 3’s similar readiness feature.

The extras you’re getting over the 955 really are small here. There’s a cardio workout profile, some niche navigation modes and some advanced running dynamics that you can actually get on the 955 if you’re willing to invest in a separate accessory.

Garmin Forerunner 965: Smartwatch features

• New user interface
• Same smartwatch features as 955
• Slick and responsive OS

Like other Garmins, the Forerunner 965 is compatible with Android phones and iPhones and is all set up through Garmin’s Connect phone app. You can download apps to it, but it’s not exactly Apple or Wear OS-level apps and you need a separate Connect IQ Store app to get those apps onto the watch.

Again, you’re getting the same smartwatch features as the Forerunner 955, but that added AMOLED has seen Garmin tweak the user interface to better suit those more colourful surroundings. Things do generally still live in the same place, but it just looks much cleaner, sleeker and there’s no stuttering or lag to taint the experience either.

If you like using a watch to view notifications, then the 965 does a good job on that front. It’s a similar story for controlling music and using the onboard music player, which does offer good Spotify integration and works with Deezer and Amazon Music if you use those services instead.

As mentioned earlier, the Morning Report is a really nice feature to kickstart your day and things like weather forecasts and viewing calendar appointments are well suited to that more vibrant AMOLED display.

You do get Garmin Pay, but you don’t get the voice features included on the Garmin Venu 2 Plus. Unless you really like the idea of talking to your smart assistant or making Bluetooth calls from the wrist, we don’t think you’re really going to miss those voice smarts here.

Garmin Forerunner 965: Battery life

• 7 days battery in always-on mode
• Battery drop in GPS and multiband modes
• Includes some power manager modes

The good news is that going AMOLED for the Forerunner 965 hasn’t meant scrimping on good battery life. There are some drops in some scenarios, but if you’re looking for a watch that can handle a week of tracking and use of its smartwatch features, that’s what you can get here.

Garmin says you can get 23 days of battery life in smartwatch mode, up to 31 hours of GPS battery life and up to seven days when you use the screen in always-on mode. That is more battery than you’ll get from an Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy Watch when enabling similar always-on modes.

There’s also some included power manager features, that’ll let you set the features used for individual workout profiles to help preserve battery, and a battery saver mode to disable features that will have the biggest drain on the battery.

The main battery drops largely come with GPS battery life, when using the more accurate multiband tracking mode. Garmin’s UltraTrac mode can help here, but you’ll sacrifice tracking accuracy to prolong battery life.

Ultimately, if you want a sports watch that can survive a week comfortably and can go for another week between charges if you’re not tracking workouts or streaming music every single day, the 965 is capable of that. No it doesn’t match the 955 for battery, but it also doesn’t dramatically drop off because of that AMOLED.

Verdict

The Garmin Forerunner 965 is a fantastic sports watch that essentially takes everything we loved about the 955 and levels it up. The AMOLED screen is a fantastic addition, and makes it a much nicer, more attractive watch to wear.

Of course it will still give you that great sports tracking performance that we’ve come to expect from the Forerunner line, alongside useful smartwatch and training analysis insights – plus you don’t have to sacrifice a lot of battery life in the process either. We’ll have some of that.