Garmin Forerunner 965 Review ❌ all the cr*p bits ❌ did I just waste my money?

74 thoughts on “Garmin Forerunner 965 Review ❌ all the cr*p bits ❌ did I just waste my money?”

1. Just a little question? How do you use humon hex data field. With my epix I must use Garmin native datafield but it’s not as complete as humon one. I found another one similar to the official humon one but the official is not compatible with new devices. It’s not been updated.

   1. find Humon’s two .PRG files and copy them to the 965/Epix Garmin/Apps folder. restart for good measure
      that’s side loading. it can brick a device i suppose…so…

      1. Thanks a lot. I have to dind those .prgs first.

2. Interesting to see what you regard as a grownup watch face. For me, a watch face with a gazillion things on it is designed for a 7 year old. I know some people love to have their heartrate visible 24/7. I try to convince them as long as they can look at the watch they still have a heartrate, and yes, your heartrate increases when you take the stairs. No need for a watch to confirm. Others even want to see their vo2max 24/7. as if that’s going to change during the day.

   I do value your reviews! They are more opinions than the sum up of the features the other guy does (which are very thoroughly and well made. Just less interesting)

   1. ty for your kind words

      i think “less interesting” pays more.

      yes my view on what looks nice is purely aimed at the aesthetics and visual appeal rather than the visual utility

   2. I couldn’t agree with your sentiment more. My current watch face is the time, date, and outdoor temp. Would love to have a few more faces that are very simple like this rather than jammed with data fields and graphics. As you noted, I to have been baffled by people who need to see their training status or v02 repeatedly.

      1. i like the simple screen too. But the ones provided seem to be carry-overs from earlier MIPS screens and don’t make good aesthetic use of the new, high resolutions. IMO

         I’ve got a photo of the dog on one of the watch faces…obviously, that comes out quite well in higher definition but it might shred any remaining personal credibility I have 😉

3. Hi! What about heart rate measurment forswimmers inside the water? Is it accurate now?

   1. i think oHR inaccuracy is personal not systemic. (Personally i suffer it too from garmin in several cases)

4. Thanks for the quick feedback.

   I ordered/cancelled twice the day it came out, and feeling good about holding out for whatever comes next.

5. That title but I suppose it was designed to “attract some attention” (I won’t use the generic description for such a title !) but all in all no big surprise. Good to know that the proportions are back to “standard” FR style, FR935 was the best, large but thin. The 955 was pushing that a bit and getting close to Fenix/Epix territory.
   I’m a runner and cyclist not a triathlete so after selling my FR955 due to its poor screen, silly metrics (HRV, TR, etc…) I gladly went back to my sparkling Venu 2 (Body Battery, VO2Max, Recovery on Runalyze) and Edge 530 (Training Load, Recovery) combo and don’t see a reason to try the FR965. I will likely get the Edge 840 though !

   1. Jeez! What more do you want. Show me another review that highlights 20-odd negative points. There probably is one somewhere…but not many 🙂

      1. Wait what ?! It’s obvious to anyone with a brain that the “Garmin Forerunner 965 – all the cr*p bits, did I just waste my money?” title does NOT reflect your opinion of the watch as it should.

      2. @webvan.

         I now own a forerunner 935 and are very tempted to buy a 965 (when it will ever be available in the Netherlands) but I’m sure I will have the ‘did I just waste my money feeling”

         Sure, the bigger screen is nice and the bluetooth connection would probably be better due to a newer bluetooth version, but otherwise?

         Yes, it has maps, but the breadcrumb navigation of my 935 always let to the desired end point.
         Yes, it has a gazillion extra data, like body battery and training readiness, which are very close to how you already feel accoording to dcrainmaker. I know my body, I don’t need a watch to confirm.
         But it still has the same wobble charge connector.
         It still has the buggy garmin firmware. And the very very very stupid situation that the development team for the foreunner series is separate from the development team of other series. So features differ in function, differ in way they look, differ if or when you get them.

         My forerunner 935 does all I need, but the battery is aging. Have to charge every 4 or 5 days and cannot go on a long run when battery is below 30% (or below 40% for a decent bike ride)

         I plan to do as long as possible with my watch, so I buy a watch with the largest battery so I still have okayish battery life after a few years.

         But 650 euro is f***ing much money and the 965 isn’t perfect. Most probably the best there is at the moment but there are many easy fixes that garmin isn’t interested in fixing. So I keep the ‘I waste my money’ feeling.
         And I’m glad there are reviewers who speak out there opinions. Others claim independence, but are not really because their income depends on people who buy new watches every year, because those read reviews more often. Telling them their old watch is still fine is telling them not to come to their website for news and watching adds.

      3. Having watched your site over the years, it’s pretty interesting to see your ebbs and flows of you try to position yourself. Initially in DCRainmaker style (for a while literally posting your own version of anything he did), then trying to “one up” him, then switching to being a Suunto/Polar “insider”, consolidating all rumors and being sly about what site you got them from, and now your going the hyper sensationalism/negativity route. Also, the editing of previous articles to better reflect things as you get updates has always been confusing.

         Overall, I still find myself coming back to check out your site because you do have some interesting info, but I’m really getting tired of the forced “edgy”-ness. Sigh. Cheers.

         1. hi
            I don’t especially like being called sly. I mean, if I came into your house without knowing you and started making negative assertions about your personality, I don’t think you’d be happy.

            anyway.

            1. yes i try various different positioning angles. I understand some of the ones that kinda workin with the constraints i place on the site. I also understand some of the things that i should do but don’t.
            2. yes i did once try the detailed review approach that dcr does (well, like he used to). it didn’t work. i have to find some way to recoup the cost of my time.
            3. ‘hyper sensationalism’ – hmm, no I’m not trying to do that on this article. i don’t see what’s wrong with any of this article or its title. I’ll stick by it 100%.
            4. editing of previously posted articles. – yes, it’s a problem. what’s the alternative? I can’t make millions of posts pointing out every new bit of info and highlighting every edit would make articles unreadable. dcr does it too fwiw.
            5. the essential problem i have to deal with is domain authority. google ranks content too highly from well-known sites (not referring to dcr here) when the content per se doesn’t warrant its position on google search. it just gets ranked higher as the domain has a wider level of overall trust based on its massive traffic levels eg cnet or the verge.

            as of yesterday dcr’s site ranked one above mine for some 965 related stuff. fair enough maybe his review is better than this short opinion piece. ultimately his opinions and mine are very similar about the tech in a broad sense (mainly because i think the opinions are broadly right, i don’t ever especially try to agree with him). don’t you think it would help an intelligent person if they could read two different perspectives on a £600 purchase they were about to make? ie the negative points in this article. As an intelligent person, they could make up their own mind and come to an informed decision.

      4. Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but sly to me isn’t quite as pejorative as it sounds like you interpreted it. Perhaps “coy” would have been a better word. I think my critiques were fair and not particularly personal – I don’t think your writing style or iterations of the site are a reflection of how you are as a person (I frankly don’t know you at all, really) and despite all of my feedback, appreciate that you dedicate the time and energy to doing this site.

         There have been multiple times over the years where you didn’t reveal your public source (until it was pointed out what website/retailer it came from) or you partially misled on where you got your info. Maybe this is a thing of the past, but it has happened.

         Regarding the hyper sensationalism, maybe “clickbait style” is more accurate? The title of this article is a prime example. I mean, it gets traffic and clicks so it works. Just don’t enjoy that angle personally, but to each their own.

         The updating old articles conundrum. There are sort of two different things going on. 1) I think the bigger annoyance I have is that you’ve used old articles about leaks to then change to review or other leaks that are completely different. I’m sure it’s for SEO/google domain reasons, but it’s weird from a reader perspective. 2) Overall, it would be awesome if at the bottom of reviews/articles you updated with new info, you added like dates and notes of what was added. I actually wish Ray would do that as well, as it’s hard when you go back to a review 6 months later to know what is new and what isn’t. (Note: it’s reallyyyy easy for me to wish things happened that uses other peoples time, and I recognize that. I just wanted to share it’s hard to follow sometimes).

         Overall, this is tough space and my critiques are from someone who hasn’t managed to make a successful gadget blog website. They are just a reader’s perspective and take that for what you will. Cheers.

         1. Matt
            thank you for your comments. I appreciate your comments and visits to the site over the past weeks and months as well

            that said,

            You should think carefully before commenting about people, especially those you have never met. I try to apply that principle whenever i comment elsewhere. it’s up to you what you do i guess.

            If you want to slate my content…fill your boots. I’m happy with that as long as the language is reasonable (I delete sweary stuff or edit it out)

            sources:

            1. as i have pointed out several times on this site, ‘investigative journalists’ (ahem!) never reveal their sources. Do you really want to get someone sacked? and/or to stop other information from that source type in the future? just think about it for a minute.
            2. I DO tend to link back to other web sources eg i link back to dcr many multiples of time, Q: why would i link back to one of my bigger competitors? A: because he was the source. Sometimes i forget and i am happy to add in such backlinks. I’m just a human writing a blog and not trying to be the next New York Times. Your comment also assumes that I only got the information from the sites you saw and that is a false assumption on many occasions; I often wait before publishing material that i have been passed until it appears at least in part elsewhere (less so in recent months). so, the sources you think are the sources may well not be.
            3. clickbait and hyper-sensationalism. really? no i don’t accept it. the article is entitled “all the cr@p bits” and that’s precisely what I’ve written about. as i said somewhere else, nobody else has given so many negative views on the 965 or developed a post with a slant toward that viewpoint. at least not that I’m aware of.
            4. updating old articles –
            -point 1, yes for SEO reasons i have done that. yes i appreciate it may look odd. that’s my call.
            -point 2, that just isn’t going to happen. what i already do takes a vast amount of time, that would add way too much time to it. plsu, in any case, it would make the article unreadable. jeez, even the BBC changes content in its time sensitive content. It’s just mostly me here, i don’t have the resources.

            “from someone who hasn’t managed to make a successful gadget blog website” – i presume you are self-referring there?? this month is one of my best ever both in terms of revenue and traffic. Yay! 🙂

6. Thanks for the initial review, it’s the bigger screen that attracts me over my 945 due to eyes that don’t work with me as well as they used.

7. Hi – thanks for the review! How did you go about trading in your 955 for the 965? I’m considering doing the same but bought it from a different retailer (sportsshoes)

   1. the screen was scratched so it was refunded.
      but a scratch is not a normal warranty item.
      wiggle were nice to me
      Wiggle dealt with me as ‘a random Platinum customer’ rather than as the writer of a blog. ie they didn’t know i ran this site

8. If the screen is like on Venu 2, don’t believe that clarity in sun bullshit. If you don’t make silly gestures and have polarized sunglasses on, in case of Fenix/previous Forerunners you could actually see better. Here you can’t see shit. These watches are great for everyday use indoors but do require gestures during activity and I hate waving my arm all the time on a bike or during a run/hike.

   1. the polarised sunglasses is a good point.
      otherwise I’m just stating my usage in the UK in march, sometimes in fairly bright, direct sunlight

9. Wrist based power on 955 and 965 are at odds with the best running power device on the market, the stryd footpod. You can disable wrist based power completely, and lose out on post activity power graphs, and possibly also get worse training load/training readiness calculation (speculation). Or you leave it enabled and it will overwrite the data from stryd.

   Garmin and stryd need to get their act together and make it so that garmin has a option to take the power from a external source, similar to how a polar h10 heart-rate strap can also give the HR data (superior to wrist HR), and this data is integrated into the activity HR plots and the training load & readiness calculations.

   1. Actually the power is not overwritten, it is just the various platforms (strava/trainingpeaks etc.) show the garmin power and the stryd power seems gone.

      Checking the fitfile, there exists a “power” and a “Power” column, the lower case power is garmin wrist based power (or cycling power-meter power in rides with a power-meter), the upper-case Power is Stryd running power.

      You can even see both powers in Garmin Connect when looking at the full detail plots.

   2. Garmin Running Power is proprietary just like every other watch brand. There is no Running Power ANT+ profile. There is no running power standard.
      The nuance is that Stryd writes a CIQ power field (developer field) and then various other sports data platforms may or may not accept that as the primary source of running power. I think from memory that garmin writes a developer power field too.

      Sadly Garmin and Stryd seem unlikely to get their mutual acts together. Actually, I think it is Garmin that doesn’t want to do this. Try this for some more ideas why: https://the5krunner.com/2022/10/27/garmin-running-power-footpod/
      it IS similar to the polar environment eg if your stryd battery dies mid-run then polar starts to record its wrist based power instead which corrupts all your power stats.

      1. I thought Running Power did go on ANT+ now (even though the actual calculations aren’t agreed upon by vendors)? When pairing the HRM-Pro Plus with the Single binded connection on the 955 it connects over ANT+.

         Also to Lars comment, do we actually know if Garmin uses their wrist dynamics/power in calculations for Load/Recovery? I would venture to guess that is still all Heart Rate driven.

         1. hi ryan
            its confusing i know
            stryd can and does transmit its data over ant+ and Bluetooth
            the running power metric calculations are (probably) kinda agreed in the sense that there are two proven ways of calculating power (both give wholly different results tho). so agreed in the sense that its one of those two!
            it’s the ant+ profile that isn’t agreed. When it’s agreed it will appear here with the rest of them: https://www.thisisant.com/developer/ant-plus/device-profiles

      2. Thanks for the clarifications!

10. How does the readability in bright sunlight compare with the Suunto 7? I can read my S7 but it’s pretty washed out even on max brightness. I much prefer the MIP screen on my 255

11. I am not a runner. I do indoor spin bike and weekend hiking. I am considering this watch to replace my fenix 6pro. It’s more about the screen and aesthetic look. My 6pro has been a trooper so far. I appreciate your feedback good, bad, and all.

    1. ty!
       Epix would present a more rugged alternative for your weekend hikes, albeit with a slightly smaller screen.
       I reckon a larger Epix (2x or 3x) will be with us this year at some point. So, waiting is an option

       https://the5krunner.com/2023/03/22/garmin-fenix-8-2023/

12. Hago triatlon y tengo un fénix 5 ,busco buena pantalla ya que de cerca veo mal
    estoy pensando entre este y el epix , cual compro para reloj para todo ?

13. Hi
    I Was wondering if someone could help after reading the review i see the comment of it being one of the best watches out there, nothing is perfect right. Anyway I am looking to buy my husband a new watch it will be replacing a forerunner 920XT that is still going well so why change something that’s not broke ?! Help is this the watch for him or should I being looking at something different thanks

    1. 920xt was a great tri watch in its day. it was perhaps the best in its day
       this is the best now and getting a garmin will mean his learning curve will be shallow and his training history data will continue with the new watch,.
       this is the one to get if yo can afford it

       only downside might be the circular face rather than the rectangular one he has now,

       1. Lovely thank you

14. Coming from the original 945 I can get the 955 solar for 180 euros less than the 965. Not many of the negative points you describe concern me, but is the 965 that much better than the 955?

    1. just the screen and the menus really. they are better
       but all the other stuff is effectively identical

    2. I think the only and main advantage for the 965 is the screen, larger and sharper mainly and OLED which can be a positive or negative depending on the user… It’s not always on, uses more battery and will be harder to read in sunny/outside circumstances. Inside it will be better though but yeah, that’s all more personal preference.

       The 955 (solar) on the opposite side mainly has the better battery life as a big plus. This combined with the always on screen that is… I often glance at my watch to see the time, or while running to see pace/heartrate, so no special arm movement needed.

       I am most likely going to give the 965 a try (currently own the 955 solar) but mainly for the sharper/bigger display and only if I can get it through a very good deal. But to be honest, I have large doubts if I’ll like the oled display.

       1. Oh, I also really dislike the menus/watchfaces on the 965… Makes it look very cheap and tacky but that’s also personal preference of course.

15. Why can’t I hold all the clicks this title baited?

16. As for someone who has a 935 and is thinking about replacing for a 955 Solar or wait for 965 stabilize after solving initial bugs, what is your opinion on Garmin Firmware? Hearing lots of criticizm about the 955 never being bug-free (at least the major problems, since Garmin watches always have some kind of a FW problem).

    My 935 is still running, but without the barometer/altimeter, who is definetly broken. Fear to change and have to deal with all those FWs issues, while my actual watch is bug free.

    1. i didn’t experience that many bugs on the 955 over several months but check out the Garmin forums and they clearly exist.

17. I am very jealous of your point that the VO2max has increased a few times.. My 955 is suffering, like many on the forums’ with an inability mark any changes to VO2max or LTHR. My last LTHR autodetection was in June 22, and now race predictor is miles off for things like a 5k (prediction is 21:50, I’m running within a few secs of 20flat at the moment, and did 2x5k with 90sec recovery recently, both at sub 21:00. The watch just rudely shrugs at me!)
    If they cant fix the 955 firmware, I could be tempted by the 965.. but battery life for long events (24hr) worries me. I would likely need to carry a charger anyway on these events, so not a major issue, but I dont want to be charging twice, or every other day in training.
    How much battery %/hour does the 965 chew through when navigating a course? and when listening to music, and when doing both (all with basic GPS to save battery)? Some real world battery tests would be great. The headline numbers from Garmin generally dont include nav.

    1. i might have a look at that.

       LTHR: i have had a problem with my lthr setting on garmin for over 2 years. 1) it doesn’t autodetect correctly 2) if i set an approximate mnaul value its ok 3) if i delete the manual value and/or wait for it to be exceeded nothing happens! ie at point 3 it breaks
       vo2 – yep mine definitely changes. whether or not its right as of now I’ve no idea

18. The 965 appeared in one of the local sports shops yesterday so given they give me a 5% discount & I had a few vouchers from last year I picked one up. The screen is really nice although I’m going to have to get used to that wrist turn gesture to wake it up when not in an activity. Haven’t used it for a run yet, that will happen this evening.

    I did notice its predicted race times have changed vs the 945 to something more reasonable for me, in fact to times I think I could just sneak under on a good day.

19. Was considering changing out my Elemnt Rival to the 965 but after reading this will hold off for the time being. Great write up. Thanks ????

20. Thanks for review, still no answer from Garmin on 955 FTP auto detection as well plus 1040 doesn’t FTP auto detect ????. Do I need the 965 ????

21. Hi! How did you sideload CIQ fields to the 965? I tried transfering some from my 955, but I can’t find the apps in the GARMIN\apps folder of the 955 when connecting to a PC.

    1. you’ll need an older device than the 955 i think

22. Thanks for the short concise feedback. I much preferred this to the alternative multi page and video review.

    I am struggling between the sapphire crystal of the Epix 2 and the Gorilla of the 965, given they are so very similar, but cant find any negative feedback on Gorilla

    1. my gorilla scratched on the 955
       but the 965 is tougher gorilla iirc.

       there’s your negative feedback 😉

       if you can afford it always get the tougher glass *OR* insurance. these kinds of watches are not cheap

23. Does the 965 fit the 22mm bike adapter kit?

    1. IDK. probably as it should be a standard size case and strap lug
       however here there is no compatibility stated:https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/p/886725#accessories

       1. Thx 🙂

24. Just returned my 965. It started flaking out. It powered off twice in 24 hours for no reason. I did have a MTB session prior and it got rained on. I wouldnt think that would cause any issues. However it seemd to have affected it. I had it for almost a month. I am now going to try the 955. Hope its more durable.

25. Just got a 965 and, like yourself, not a fan of the watch faces or UI in general tbh, someone summed it perfectly saying just because you’ve got thousands of colours on an OLED screen, doesn’t mean you need to use ALL the colours. All at once.
    Would you be able to suggest some links to hack this device, I’d even be happy just with changing the system font at this point.
    Thanks

    1. if you explore the file structure on the device you should find various background images that can be changed. i cant recall the locations without looking
       the next getn epix seems to have better watchfaces. wait til those become more widely available

26. Give me one good reason to upgrade from the 945.

    I said good. So not the screen, nothing to do with data crap I wont use. Just actual watch performance that will make any difference at all for long runs, tris etc. I dont see it being worth upgrading.

    1. sounds like you need a 935 😉

27. hi, best honest review of this watch I have found, most other reviewers get lost in the nitty gritty or don’t understand the basics of what real world runners and cyclists need etc. Im a trail runner, I don’t care if you can zoom in to recordings and can show a micro deviation around a corner with trees on it lol. sheesh. We don’t all run in the flatlands of Holland lol. I care more about the fact the charger is still useless, that the Garmin pace display algorithm is borderline useless on every model I’ve ever had, at least for trail runs where it fluctuates constantly and is wildly inaccurate. (Compare this to even the Suunto 7 that nails pace through fused track, making it a useful metric to display) I care that the Garmin optical HR still cadence locks after every update, seems to take several runs to relearn how to ignore cadence after updates?. Garmin and Apple get a free ride too often because reviewers are scared about being frozen out, causing self censorship. How could anyone ever possibly recumbent an Apple Watch for running when you cannot even display metrics you want in decent size fonts? It’s a fatal flaw totally overlooked by the the nitty gritty crowd. Who cares if it’s the most accurate if you cannot even read the numbers you run by lol? Anyway keep up this style of review, refreshing cheers Ralph

    1. thanks Ralph

28. Hello.

    I was wondering which watchface is it that you’re using on the picture where you put the 935 next to the 965 and is it available on the connect Iq

    1. try these: https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/search?keyword=crystal&device=&deviceLimit=&appType=&sort=&start=0&count=30

29. Oh no, it sounds like the Garmin Forerunner 965 may not have lived up to your expectations, it’s always disappointing when you feel like you’ve wasted your hard-earned money on something.

30. Sounds like to 965 is far to much for you.
    Perhaps you should try an apple watch.

    1. I have a few Apple Watches. they dont support workout control and multiple, complex sensors but they are nevertheless pretty good for things like Stryd

31. After 20 months of using my 955 I got extreme blistering and reddish skin at my wrist with the original Garmin silicone strap. Also the backside of the watch was affected. I cleaned my 955 regularly with soapy water.

    It took 3-4 weeks for my skin to recover.

    Garmin offered me 2 new straps for free or a full refund, which used.

    How bad was the blistering for you? When was it gone? Came it back?

    I’m still thinking what to get next? Really wanting to have ECG.
    FR 965, waiting for 975 ?

    1. sounds similar to you.
       i now have it periodically return. I NEVER previosuly had it with over 15 (?) years of wearing numerous watches.

32. I am on the verge of pursuing an exchange of my 965, bought at lunch last April.

    With the most recent FW change, my battery usage has elevated to a level never before seen and I’m barely getting 2 days of charge, 3 at the most depending on the type of usage. I have AOD on, but at a lower dim level. I do receive notifications on the watch, which I’m sure impacts battery life, but that doesn’t explain why battery average previously was fine/okay and now it’s not acceptable.

    I’ve even turned off Wifi to see if it would help (didn’t).

    Before latest FW – about .4-.5% per hour on average.
    Since latest FW – about 1.25-1.5% per hour on average.

    Last night, in sleep mode (screen OFF) I averaged .95% per hour.

    Wish I knew something I could do but I guess I need to exchange and hope I just got a lemon that didn’t become a lemon until recently.

    1. try crystal tesla watch face. thats a custom one that doesnt support AOD. so it will default to the garmin screen saver mode. see what that does. you drain must be due to non sports usage and screen is biggest culprit.
       turn of spo2 which is a waste of space at the best of times

       1. Thanks yeah spo2 has always been off. I used to use Crystal on my 945 and switched away because it seemed like non-Garmin CIQ watch faces tended to be bad battery hogs. I’m using a standard 965 one now for that reason but will give Crystal a try on the new watch.

33. FYI – I wish I could get to the bottom of this, the watch went from 21% to 4% overnight while sleeping (with screen off in sleep mode). This was after a soft reboot of the watch yesterday hoping that would reset things. Frustrating to think I am probably going to need to exchange when it was fine in earlier FW versions.

34. I totally relate to the love-hate relationship with the Forerunner 965! It’s frustrating when it doesn’t live up to the hype, but I find it hard to part with mine too. The features I do love keep me coming back, even with the quirks. Has anyone found a workaround for the battery life issue?

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