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

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. 💪⌚

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.

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 bought thus for my husband since he loves to run and is constantly walking at work. I have one as well but teal colored. I always get compliments on it. It's light and easy to control and syncs to my phone easily. Keeps track of steps and all exercises that I access on it.

I use my 265 for running and swimming and it has been outstanding. Great battery life and so many stats for my activities, can highly recommend it. I especially like the daily suggested workouts and training status features. The watch also has a lot customization options which is great to see

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.

I absolutely love my Garmin Forerunner 265s, especially because of its compact size, making it perfect for my petite wrist. After switching from an Apple Watch, I can confidently say this is a huge upgrade for my fitness tracking needs. What I Love: ✔ Perfect Fit for Smaller Wrists – Unlike bulkier fitness watches, the 265s has a sleek, lightweight design that feels comfortable all day long. It doesn’t look oversized or awkward on a smaller wrist, which is a big win! ✔ Amazing Battery Life – One of the biggest perks! I only need to charge it once every 10 days, even with daily workouts. That’s a major improvement over my previous smartwatch. ✔ Superior Fitness Tracking – The Garmin Coach programs, advanced running metrics, and heart rate tracking make this a fantastic tool for serious training. ✔ Bright AMOLED Display – The screen is crisp, colorful, and easy to read, even in bright sunlight. What Could Be Better: ➖ Limited Garmin Watch Band Options – I wish Garmin had more official band choices. While third-party options exist, it would be great to have more variety directly from Garmin. ➖ Pace Alarm in Garmin Coach – I really wish there was a way to turn off the pace alarm when using Garmin Coach programs. Sometimes I just want to run without constant alerts! Final Thoughts: The Garmin Forerunner 265s is an outstanding fitness watch, especially for those with smaller wrists who still want powerful tracking features. The battery life is incredible, and it’s a huge improvement over my previous Apple Watch. If Garmin could offer more watch band choices and customizable training alerts, it would be absolutely perfect. Highly recommend for runners, athletes, and anyone looking for a reliable fitness watch!

Great running watch. Used for 3 years now. GPS has always worked well. Battery life has always been good and lasts up to a week still, dependent on how much time I use tracking.