Garmin Forerunner 55 : Battery Life Is Very Good
As someone who has owned many Garmin devices, I can attest to their exceptional battery life. When it comes to brands that specialize in multi-sport, it’s essential to have a battery that can be relied upon for extended periods.
The Forerunner is a smartwatch that has an impressive battery life. According to the manufacturer’s claims, it can last up to 2 weeks. In my experience, this claim is solid. When I don’t use GPS tracking, I can get close to 16 days out of it. However, since I use GPS tracking almost every day, I’ve found that it lasts for at least 10 days.
In this article, I am going to go over the battery life of the Garmin Forerunner 55 based on my typical usage. Additionally, I will provide information on the GPS battery consumption rate per hour, which is something that is very useful to know, as GPS tracking is a major battery drainer.
As a final result I have given the Forerunner 55 a perfect score when it comes to battery life based on my typical usage. I will go over each category in detail, so here is a summary of my findings.
| Category | Rating |
| Speciality | Multi Sport |
| Battery Economy Without GPS Tracking | 5/5 |
| GPS Battery Consumption Rate Per Hour | 5/5 |
| Overall battery Economy | 5/5 |
| Final Score | 15/15 |
What is My Typical Usage
When I ever test watches for battery life, I always follow the same set of rules just to maintain some kind of consistency. At least that way each device I test is treated equally. I dont normally use the Bluetooth calling feature so that’s why I have left it out, and I dont use it during testing. However it would have made a big difference if I did.
I will be following through with this list, and treat GPS tracking as a completely different entity and you will see why at the end of the article
- All day heart rate tracking including sleep tracking
- AOD : 20-25 screen activations
- 50 minutes workout tracking
- 20 messages
- 1 hour of GPS tracking
Battery Economy Without GPS Tracking : 5/5
The battery economy is quite favorable based on my usage, and I sometimes neglect to charge the device because it can last for several days without needing to be recharged. Based on my typical usage without GPS tracking, I was able to achieve almost 16 days of battery life if I allowed it to run out, but I always end my test once 90% of the battery life is depleted.
It’s a practice that I use with all watches that I test because it allows me to compare how they perform against other smart watch brands. Here is the final results of my testing.
| Feature | Result |
| Battery Consumption Rate Without GPS Tracking (Per day) | 4% |
| No of days | 16 |
So Why Did I Give Forerunner 55, 5 Stars for Battery Economy
I have tested so many smart watch’s and I have developed a rating table. In my opinion it’s the best way to provide an unbiased view on a device. At least that way you can see how a device would rank against other smart watch brands.
Please note that this rating table is based off my typical usage. The 11% gap from a 5 star device versus a 1 star device is absolutely significant. I always end a test once 90% of battery is consumed so if we were to use this number in terms of number days then the 5 star device would put out 15 days versus a 1 star device would put out 5 days. Most devices that I test are around 3 or a 4 star economy.
| No Of Stars | Economy |
| 5 Stars | Up to 6% |
| 4 Stars | 7% – 10% |
| 3 Stars | 11% – 13% |
| 2 Stars | 14% – 16% |
| 1 Star | 17% and over |
How Does The Forerunner 55 Rank in The Market
Now please note that this ranking table is based off my typical usage. What you see before you is the economy rates for the most recent smart watches that I have tested. Multi sport devices all tend to do well when it comes to battery economy. So far the Forerunner 55 is ranked number one on my list.
| Rank | Brand | Series | Specialty | Economy | Stars |
| 1 | Garmin | Forerunner 55 | Multi Sport | 4% | 5 |
| 2 | Fitbit | Inspire 3 | Health | 9% | 4 |
| 3 | Huawei | Watch GT3 Pro | All round | 10% | 4 |
| 4 | Huawei | Watch Fit 2 | All round | 10% | 4 |
| 5 | Huawei | Band 7 | All round | 10% | 4 |
| 6 | Xiaomi | S1 Active | Smart Features | 14% | 2 |
| 7 | Fitbit | Versa 4 | Health | 15% | 2 |
| 8 | Fitbit | Charge 5 | Health | 15% | 2 |
| 9 | Samsung | Galaxy Watch 5 Pro | Smart Features | 17% | 1 |
| 10 | Huawei | Watch GT3 | All round | 18% | 1 |
| 11 | Polar | Ignite 3 | Fitness | 23% | 1 |
| 12 | Samsung | Galaxy Watch 5 | Smart Features | 25% | 1 |
| 13 | Samsung | Galaxy Watch 6 Classic | Smart Features | 30% | 1 |
GPS Battery Consumption Rate : 5/5
GPS battery consumption rate is a massive battery drainer, which is why I like to present this information to you so you can get a better idea how much battery life will drain after each GPS tracking workout.
As far as GPS battery consumption rate, the Forerunner 55 boast’s some impressive numbers. Please note that this is based off my typical usage.
| Feature | Result |
| GPS Battery Consumption Rate Per Hour | 5% |
Why is The GPS Battery Consumption a 5 Star Rating
I have tested many smart watches and fitness trackers with built in GPS capability and I kind of know which ones perform really well. Below is a rating table that I have created just to give my results some context to them.
The Forerunner 55 definitely sits well below the 7% threshold when it comes to GPS battery consumption.
| No of Stars | GPS Battery Consumption Rate |
| 5 | Up to 7% per hour |
| 4 | 8% to 12% per hour |
| 3 | 13 to 15% per hour |
| 2 | 16 to 19% per hour |
| 1 | 20 % or more |
How Does The Forerunner 55 Rank In The Market
When it comes to GPS battery consumption, the Forerunner 55 has some stiff competition. I will be added more watches to the table overtime. There is only a small number of brands that fit inside the 5 star category.
| No | Brand/Smart Watch | Consumption Rate | Star Rating |
| 1 | Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro | 5% | 5 |
| 2 | Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic | 5% | 5 |
| 3 | Garmin Forerunner 55 | 5% | 5 |
| 4 | Huawei Watch Fit 2 | 5% | 5 |
| 5 | Xiaomi S1 Active | 5% | 5 |
| 6 | Huawei Watch GT3 Pro | 6% | 5 |
| 7 | Huawei Watch GT3 (power saver mode) | 6% | 5 |
| 8 | Polar Ignite 3 | 6% | 5 |
| 9 | Fitbit Versa 4 | 7% | 4 |
| 10 | Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 & 4 | 9% | 4 |
| 11 | Huawei Watch GT3 (performance mode) | 13% | 3 |
| 12 | Fitbit Charge 5 | 20-22% | 1 |
Overall Battery Life Economy
I think the numbers speak for themselves. Especially if the device ranks in the top tier of the ranking system that I have created. Here is the overall result when both of my findings come together.
Battery Economy Results
| Feature | Result |
| Battery Consumption Rate Without GPS Tracking (Per day) | 4% |
| No of Days | 16 |
Battery Economy Results With 1 Hour of GPS Tracking Per Day
| Feature | Result |
| GPS Battery Consumption Rate Per Hour | 5% |
| Battery Consumption Rate | 4% |
| Overall (per day) | 9% |
| No of Days | 10 |
Final Conclusion
From experience the battery life of the Garmin Forerunner 55 is absolutely fantastic. It’s such a joy to just focus on your day to day activities and not have to worry about the watch running out of battery.
As a multisport device, it’s battery capacity can deliver on what’s required for running, cycling, or any activity that requires GPS tracking. The Forerunner 55 is on the lower end of the Forerunner series so I know if you are to invest in the Forerunner 255 or the Forerunner 955 the battery life will get even better.
In the end the Forerunner 55 is one of the market leaders in battery life economy and GPS battery consumption, so if battery life is important to you then the Forerunner 55 is a reliable choice if you are a very active person.
Multisport devices always have the best economy rates in terms of battery life and GPS battery consumption. Thank you for reading and I hope you have learnt a lot about the Forerunner 55 battery life.
