Garmin’s Forerunner series has been a trailblazer in innovation for the past twenty years, transforming how runners train and track their progress. It introduced the world’s first GPS smartwatch designed specifically for runners, helping athletes achieve their personal bests and significantly impacting the fitness industry.
Garmin began in aviation with GPS products in 1989 and expanded into the automotive, marine and outdoor sectors. In 2003, the company introduced the Forerunner, the first-ever GPS smartwatch designed exclusively for runners. This game-changing device enabled athletes to precisely monitor their distance, pace, and routes, offering valuable insights into their training regimens. Since then, the Forerunner series has consistently pushed the boundaries, establishing new benchmarks in wearable fitness technology.
To get a sense of the Forerunner series’s impact, Options reviewed their latest smartwatch — the Forerunner 265, which comes with a Ground Gorilla Glass 4 lens, with an option of a 1.3-inch AMOLED display, featuring a battery life of up to 13 days or 1.1-inch AMOLED display (on the Forerunner 265S) featuring a battery life of up to 15 days.
The Forerunner 265 includes performance monitoring tools from Garmin Firstbeat Analytics like VO2 max, performance condition, training effect and more. Staying active and using fitness trackers, the Forerunner 265 has completely changed how I run. The precision and detail in its data are unmatched. This smartwatch is the ultimate running companion, from keeping tabs on my heart rate to tracking my route with GPS.
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Another new entry is the Forerunner 965, which has a titanium bezel, a 1.4-inch AMOLED display and an amazing battery life of up to 23 days in smartwatch mode. It holds the record for having the world’s longest battery life for a running watch with an AMOLED display.
Exclusive to the Forerunner 965, the watch includes Stamina and Acute Chronic Workload Ratio features to monitor and assist users in managing their physical exertion during a run, preventing early overexertion, and determining overall training load metrics for effective training scheduling.
This smartwatch is designed for marathon and triathlon enthusiasts who will benefit from features like Wrist-Based Running Dynamics, where users can access detailed metrics through on-wrist running dynamics, including stride length vertical oscillation directly from the watch in real-time. Designed for runners by runners, the Forerunner 965 and Forerunner 265 series are purpose-built in both form and function to help athletes better plan, prepare, perform and connect.
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Garmin rigorously tests its products to match users’ intense training routines. These tests simulate real-life scenarios, including temperature extremes, stress, acceleration, altitudes, drops, and watch band wear. These thorough tests ensure top-notch quality and durability for customers, staying true to its commitment to innovation and user feedback.
On the 20th anniversary of the Forerunner series, Garmin’s commitment to a healthier and more active world is stronger than ever. With the Forerunner series leading the way, Garmin aims to inspire athletes and fitness enthusiasts to achieve new heights. Options recently interviewed Scoppen Lin, Assistant General Manager of Garmin Asia, to understand how the company stays innovative and competitive in the fitness tech market.
How does Garmin maintain its competitive edge?
The industry has always recognised Garmin for its cutting-edge GPS navigation products. As of today, we’re a renowned leader in the aviation, marine, automotive, outdoor, and fitness markets, and we’ll continue to produce products of the highest quality, design and value for our loyal and new customers.
The acquisition of Firstbeat Analytics, a leading provider of physiological analytics for health, fitness and performance, indicates how we’re constantly looking to improve our quality; in this case, our health and data tracking.
What are Southeast Asia's current fitness watch and tracker trends, and how is Garmin adapting to them to remain relevant?
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Post Covid-19, more people are monitoring their health and fitness levels. One popular feature among our users is the HRV, where you’ll be given an HRV score over three weeks on how your body handles stress and how you can improve it if it’s not good.
Singapore has been cited as one of the most sleep-deprived countries. A new feature on one of our newer releases, the Venu 3, is the Sleep Coach function, where the watch will advise you on improving your sleep quality. Sleep Monitoring is an enhanced feature where your sleep stages and nap times are tracked each night, and your sleep quality will be measured and reflected by a score of 100. Good quality sleep is important for recovery, physically and mentally; we shouldn’t underestimate the quality of good sleep.
We want to be inclusive with our watches, and another new feature that comes with the Venu 3 is the Wheelchair Function, which tracks daily pushes instead of steps and gives weight shift alerts. To provide quality health and fitness tracking experiences, it is essential to consider differences in individual physiology and how wheelchair usage affects the workings of your body.
Tell us more about Garmin’s fitness trackers. How has it evolved over the years?
We’re constantly challenging ourselves to improve our products and to help our consumers reach their desired fitness targets. An example of our tech evolving over the years is the integration of Multi-GNSS and SAT IQ, giving you more accurate GPS tracking while maintaining battery efficiency.
With the implementation of data by data provided by Firstbeat Analytics, we can now provide a more accurate reading for your health and fitness than before. Firstbeat Analytics has worked with other smartwatch brands to measure biometrics and heart rate, and ever since we acquired Firstbeat, we have brought that technology in-house and no longer have to rely on a third-party provider. This gave us more control over the innovation for data and accurate data analysis.
Some new features that we’ve incorporated recently in our smartwatches, such as the Forerunner 265, 965 and fēnix 7 Pro are Real-Time Stamina, which lets you know how much power you’re exhausting over a run, and Training Readiness, where the watch will advise you if your body is ready to train based on your sleep, recovery time, HRV and other factors.
Garmin smartwatches are now equipped with features that offer 24/7 health monitoring and activity-specific data like our running science and cycling science. This allows the user to use the data to understand their body health and fitness levels better and to note changes or patterns.
Through sleep monitoring and features like heart rate variability (HRV), active users like athletes and regular runners can better grasp how rest and recovery impact their fitness levels.
How does Garmin use customer feedback to enhance and develop the Forerunner series?
We closely monitor our target audience’s evolving needs and preferences, engaging with customers through surveys, focus groups, and social media interactions to gather valuable feedback.
With the latest Forerunner series, we’ve introduced wrist-based running power that measures crucial data like cadence, stride length or ground contact time to help runners run more efficiently. We also understand the importance of battery life for our Forerunner users, including long-distance runners and triathletes. We’ve ensured to maintain a long battery life even with integrating the AMOLED display.
Can you tell us the future of Garmin’s wearable technology and how the Forerunner plays a role in that vision?
Ultimately, we would like our wearables to be accessible to everyone with different fitness needs, not just for athletes. Garmin prioritises safety and reliability in our innovative technology.
We empower sports enthusiasts through accurate monitoring, precise data, and a wellness focus.
This encourages individuals to embrace adventure and healthier living, instilling the confidence to tackle challenges head-on.
In our lifestyle watches like the Venu 3, we’ve also introduced the wheelchair function to provide a more personalised health and fitness experience for wheelchair users.
With the Forerunner series, we’ll continue pushing the boundaries and improving on what already is the leading smartwatch for runners in the market.
