Forerunner 55, GPS Running Watch with Daily Suggested Workouts, Up to 2 Weeks of Battery Life, Black - 010-02562-00

The Garmin Forerunner 55 is an excellent entry-level GPS running watch that punches well above its price point. Designed for beginner to intermediate runners, it offers accurate GPS tracking, heart rate monitoring, and essential training features without overwhelming users with complexity. Key Features: Built-in GPS: Fast and accurate tracking of pace, distance, and route. Daily Suggested Workouts: Personalized training guidance based on your fitness level. Heart Rate Monitoring: Tracks 24/7, even during sleep. Battery Life: Up to 2 weeks in smartwatch mode and 20 hours in GPS mode—fantastic for long training weeks. Lightweight Design: Comfortable enough for all-day wear. Pros: User-friendly interface, great for beginners. Impressive battery life. Great value for the features included. Offers safety tracking (like LiveTrack) for peace of mind. Cons: No music storage or contactless payments. Limited advanced metrics for elite athletes. Verdict: If you're new to running or want a reliable, no-fuss GPS watch, the Forerunner 55 is a standout choice. It delivers just what you need—accuracy, motivation, and ease of use—at a budget-friendly price.

Been using this for a year. Still use it. Great for marathons, walks or anything in between.

The battery life on this thing is amazing. Easy to navigate and accurate!

This watch excels in all the things we need it to do. Its GPS tracking means we can track hikes and walks in the neighborhood and see stats such as altitude gain, heart rate and pace. The app on the phone lets you see your track superimposed on a good map. Its battery lasts several days even when using GPS for a walk in the neighborhood. Screen is easy to read. It can show incoming calls and texts and the weather while in bluetooth connection with the phone. It's not too big and clunky.

I've had this watch for 10 months, and I'm ready for a better watch. This watch isn't all bad though. If you're looking for a cheaper option for running watches this is a pretty good choice, as long as your milage is reasonable. Obviously of you're running more mileage you're charging your watch more often. If I don't use the watch for anything but "being a watch" and heart rate monitoring I could get a couple weeks between charges. The gps seems pretty accurate, I have routes that I usually run and the watch is pretty close in marking miles in about the same spot, I'd say within .05 of a mile, worse case. I'd say this watch is more geared towards cardio workouts, I use the "other" while I'm weight lifting and it's not quite the right option, but theres no other options for this watch. It also does not have the ability to do elevation. Any elevation in your run is gps based i think. The watch itself is very durable, I only have the tiniest chip in the top of the screen, I wear this watch all the time, except while showering. The screen has minimal scratching. I've bought the screen covers for this watch before, but no brand I've ever bought was the exact correct size and there was always a small edge pulled up that would get dirt under it and it would eventually fall off. I really like that the screen is NOT touch screen and only the buttons control it. I don't have to worry about accidentally bumping something during a work out. I'm not sure how accurate the HR is, I caveat that I wear my watch on the inside of my wrist and I have dark tattooing there that could cause some problems. But I've also worn it on the opposite side of my wrist and had similar readings. You also can't wear this watch tight against the skin, then it won't read a HR at all. I've seen this happen in work outs where there a missing HR chunks of time. The sleep monitoring is NOT reliable. Like at all. Basically all it knows it that your heart rate is lowering and it's night time. I can be sitting still reading before bed and it counts all that time as sleep. So where I might have actually slept midnight to 630, my watch started counting sleep at 10. So I says I've gotten more sleep. Therefore effecting your "body battery" rate. The charger is weird. It takes a special charger, which I've bought another one for my travel bag. And if the watch charging interface gets dirty it makes charging finicky. The phone finder is really useful and I do like the period tracker.

I had two of the old gray and orange Forerunners, but since things don't last forever, they both finally failed. I was dreading shopping for a replacement because I don't want all the fancy stuff that most watches have these days. I just want the basics (time, distance, average pace), and I want ease of operation. I have been very pleased with this watch. It's not much more complicated than the old one, and it's much lighter. The charge lasts much longer, too. I do half marathons, and I can easity get three runs before it needs to be recharged.

*** I've been using this watch for 3-years (& 1-month) now. It still works great and I still have zero regrets! I even got one of my sons to buy the same model. *** ------------------------------- Original 11-month review: Thanks to this watch, I was able to drop the 20+ pounds I put on during my post-covid depression. It got me moving again and whereas the original daunting number of 10k steps in a day made me nervous, I now walk around 23k steps daily without even thinking about it. The challenges on the app have helped me move from my former weight loss goals to my present toning ones and suffice it to say, all of this has helped tremendously with my mental health as well. As for the watch features, I was looking at all sorts of brands and all kinds of models and settled on this one and never looked back. I needed a time teller, a pedometer and a heart rate monitor, in no specific order. I received all of those and more with this wrist decor. Not only does the watch look nice and feel weightless on my skin when adjusted correctly, but it works so well at everything it was made to. The heart rate monitor is very accurate when compared with other heart rate monitoring devices. The watch is simple to clean although I was afraid of damaging something whilst attempting to clear out the 'gunk' around the plug-in site. I didn't purchase the watch for the sleep related feature but it is an interesting bonus. After roughly 9-10 months of continuous 24-hour use, I finally started noticing it act up during my treadmill workouts. My heart rate would drop to 0 and at one point I saw it jump to 248. Since I wasn't dead or dying during any of these times, I thought I'd start turning it off at night and I haven't noticed the issue since. It could have just been an error that required an update but like I said, I didn't buy for the sleep feature anyhow. The battery life is pretty good I'd say. When I told my husband one day that I should 'charge my watch tonight because it's been a couple weeks' he was really surprised. I keep track on my exercise calendar whenever I feel the need to plug in, which I do during the night so it doesn't interrupt my steps during the day. I normally charge once it hits somewhere in the 10-19 percentile. This takes (me specifically) about two weeks to accomplish, with roughly an hour and a half, minimum, of recorded activities at least five days a week and the watch otherwise just being turned on consistently. Of course, there are extra outings that warrant using the start button once in a while and yet I still find my charge schedule to remain the same. You can choose from a variety of watch faces that come standard but I definitely have enjoyed looking through the Garmin store at other options. The background I've used for quite some time now shows the moon in its current phase and as a lifetime star gazer, this is a face I was more than happy to throw money at. I spent just a few dollars and received something around 10 different looks, several animated such as plants or flowers that grow or open as you complete your steps for the day- amazing, if you like that sort of thing, turns out I do. Overall, I love my watch and I hope it lasts me a good, long time but if and when it finally dies from time cancer, I'll be sure to replace it with another Garmin!

I use the basic functions on this, its nice for tracking your distance without having to carry a phone with you. Honestly its a little complex for my needs though, its a bit hard to navigate all the menus. There should be a home button or something to reset it to being just a watch, instead it seems like a long route to get back to that.