16.6.2021 | 4 MIN
The Forerunner 55 launched on the same day as the Forerunner 945 LTE, which received most of the attention. It actually reminds me of my cousin, who was born on December 24th. His birth is also minor to the birth of Jesus Christ. However, even though this shorty was put in the corner, it has a lot to offer.
I'm quite surprised that the Forerunner 945 LTE got so much attention and the Foreruner 55 got almost none. Damn it, it's a bomb! Garmin took away everything I didn't like about the Forerunner 45. So now it will probably be the best inexpensive quality sports tester. Yes, there are still some cheaper brands line Xiaomi, Amazfit or Samsung, but let's be real, Garmin absolutely excels in sports. Plus, they're not entirely sports testers. But the Forerunner 55 definitely is. So let's introduce it.
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The previous model was offered in the Forerunner 45 and Forerunner 45S versions. The smaller version (diameter of 39 mm) fits beautifully on a thinner wrist and the larger version is for anyone else.
But now there is only one version with a diameter of 42 millimeters. First, I was worried, but then I realized that the strap of Forerunner 45 had some harder parts in the beggining. It was attached by screws and it didn't fit on the wrist correctly.
The fastening was solved with screws and the strap could not be bent at all up to 1 cm from the lugs.
Now, the Forerunner 55 is attached by quick release spring bars so the strap can be bent directly next to the lugs. The previous model could not do that.
The strap is attached with quick release spring bars and it rotates directly next to the lugs – it adapts better to the wrist. Source: Androidauthority
I wouldn't expect it in this price category, but the battery life really doubled. From the original week long battery life, the Forerunner 55 is now able to work for as long as 2 weeks. For receiving GPS signal it extended it's life from 13 hours to 20 hours.
That was something that actually bugged me. The original model could not be enriched by any new look, app or widget. The Forerunner 55 now fully supports the additional mobile application Connect IQ.
This type of menu was typical for higher models, but gradually it got into the lower ones too, so I was very pleased that we can now find this style in the Forerunner 55.
Source: DCRainmaker
Personally, I was pleased the most with the daily suggestions, where the watch recommends a suitable training every day when starting a specific sports activity.
Another tweak is the fitness age or the estimate of the VO2 Max value. New is also the feature Race Predictor for 5 km, 10 km, half marathon and marathon.
To let you know when to rest, the watch now, in addition to monitoring stress, sleep, heart rate, breathing and Body Battery, also has an estimate of the recovery time after training.
From the more specific features there is track monitoring, that was first seen in Forerunner 745, the PacePro feature, which can estimate an ideal pace according to the altitude profile of the route and also the Virtual Run feature, which allows you to pair the watch with your treadmill (e.g. Zwift) and share data about your heart rate etc. You will also be pleased with the pool swimming and HIIIT monitoring (which first appeared in Venus 2).
Little dissapointing is the absence of a new heart rate sensor, which can be found in Venu 2 or Forerunner 945 LTE. But that's fine, it can't be too perfect. :)
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I haven't had this watch in my hands yet so this is just a small introduction. But be sure to follow our magazine so that you can read a more detailed review soon.
