The Garmin Forerunner 255: 3 New Health Features That You’ll Love
Garmin have just released their next generation fitness tracker, the Forerunner 255. This new watch has many of the same features as the Forerunner 245, but with three new health features that are bound to make your workouts even more effective. If you’re looking for a fitness tracker that can help you reach your health goals, then the Forerunner 255 is definitely worth considering.
The New Garmin Forerunner 255 is absolutely stacked with new features, Upon my research I counted close to a whopping 60 new features. All though only 3 new health features, it really does give a nice balance of health metrics for you to look at.
11 Health Features Have Carried Over to The New Garmin Forerunner 255
Yes that is correct, all of the health features in the Garmin Forerunner 245 have been carried over to the next generation watch. The Garmin Forerunner 255. Considering the least, the health features in the Forerunner 245 wasn’t too bad.
The Forerunner series was a watch that tracked performance, recovery and training feedback primarily. When it came to health tracking, it did okay. It wasn’t at the same level as it’s rivals Apple watch’s, Fitbit or Samsung Galaxy Watch’s. But like I say, it did okay.
What I mean is, it did enough to warrant your attention, and it’s really up to you to act upon this information. Garmin has made it very clear that the Forerunner 255 should not be used as a device to provide a cure.
But instead used as a device that provides insight to your health and well being. Anyway here is a list of health features that have been retained for the new Forerunner 255
- Wrist based heart rate (constant every second).
- Daily resting heart rate
- Abnormal heart rate alerts (yes high or low)
- Pulse oxygen blood saturation (occasional spot checks and optionally during sleep)
- Fitness Age
- Body Battery
- All day stress
- Relaxation breathing timer
- Sleep
- Hydration
- Women’s Health
As you can see the features cover a wide range of health aspects. It covers mostly training recovery, holistic health and personal health for women. However the Forerunner 245 was primarily designed for runners. Which is why the health features are geared mostly around training recovery.
Then again, the Forerunner 255 has had a major change. The Forerunner 255 is designed to cover multisport, so the heath features now have to cover a wide range of activities.
3 New Health Features Will Be Helpful To Your Progress
Yes, the 3 new health features are not exactly brand new. They are actually health features that are usually part of Garmin’s flagship watch’s. Im talking about the Garmin Fenix, Epix or instinct series. It’s actually quite nice to see these features being used in the middle of the range priced watch’s.
Without further a due here are the 3 new health features added to the Forerunner 255.
- Respiration rate (24/7)
- Sleep score insights
- Health snapshot
The 3 new health features are a welcomed addition to the Forerunner series. As I said before, the health features in the Forerunner 245 was good. But it was lacking compared to it’s rivals.
With the addition of these three new health features, the Forerunner 255 is now a very good fitness tracker when it comes to tracking your overall health and progress.
What is Respiration Rate, and its Benefits
If you are not familiar what respiration rate is, it’s basically the number of breaths you take per minute. Respiration rate is a good indicator of your fitness level. A higher respiration rate means that your body is working harder to supply oxygen to your muscles.
And a lower respiration rate means that your body is more efficient at supplying oxygen to your muscles. Respiration rate can also be an indicator of how hard you are working out. A higher respiration rate during exercise means that you are working harder.
The Garmin Forerunner 255 is able to track your respiration rate 24/hours a day, even when you are not exercising. This is possible because the Forerunner 255 has an optical heart rate sensor.
The optical heart rate sensor is able to detect tiny changes in the blood flow in your wrist. From this information, the Forerunner 255 is able to calculate your respiration rate.
The benefits of tracking your respiration rate are that you are able to see how your body is adapting to exercise. You are also able to see how your body is recovering from exercise. And lastly, you are able to see how your fitness level is improving over time.
What is Sleep Score Insights and What Are The Benefits
Sleep score insights is a feature that was first introduced in the Garmin Vivoactive HR back in 2016. It’s a feature that uses heart rate and movement data to give you an idea of how well you slept. The sleep score insights feature in the Forerunner 255 is very similar to the one in the Vivoactive HR.
The benefits of tracking your sleep with the Forerunner 255 are that you are able to see how well you slept and what factors affected your sleep. You are also able to see how your sleep patterns are changing over time. And lastly, you are able to see how well you are recovering from exercise.
The Sleep Score insights feature in the Forerunner 255 is reasonably accurate and it’s a great way to track your sleep progress.
What is Health Snap Shot and What are it’s Benefits
Another unique health feature by Garmin. The Health snap shot is a quick and easy way to get an overview of your current health status. It’s a great feature for those who want to track their health or fitness progress over time.
All is required, is to do a quick 2 minute test and the Garmin Forerunner 255 will then provide you with a health score.
Essentially it will capture some valuable insight to you in nice readable dashboard on your watch. Those key metrics are
- Heart rate
- Heart rate variability
- Respiration rate
- Pulse Ox
- Stress
Once it takes all of these key metrics into account. The Garmin Forerunner 255 will provide a snap shot of your cardiovascular status. A valuable insight that will help you better understand your health and fitness.
Final Conclusion
I would say that the Garmin Forerunner 255 health features are very good. The addition of the respiration rate, sleep score insights and health snap shot features make the Forerunner 255 a very good fitness tracker when it comes to tracking your overall health and progress.
What’s really nice is that Garmin have stayed true to their promise and really went heavy on the features. In regards to health features it’s reasonably good, but still stays with it’s initial intention. That is it’s built for multi sport athletes.
With 14 health features at your disposal, I would say that Garmin wanted to deliver a product that provides a great user experience. Did Garmin hit the Mark this time? I think yes, but I’ll let you be the judge.
It really comes down to your fitness goals and if you are looking for a fitness tracker with good health features, then the Garmin Forerunner 255 is a great option.
