Garmin has launched a trio of Forerunner running watches in India. The line-up includes the top-shelf Forerunner 965 and relatively mid-range Forerunner 265 and 265S. The last two are virtually the same watches with different sizes. Forerunner 265 series price in India is set at Rs 50,490 while the Forerunner 965 will set buyers back by Rs 67,490.
The Forerunner 965, 265 and 265S are built around the same design template and have the same key USP— they are Garmin’s first running watches with an AMOLED display. You don’t usually associate AMOLED screens with specialised multiband GPS running watches like these so, in a way, Garmin is breaking the status quo here, at least as far as hardware-readiness is concerned.
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The watches, being Garmin, naturally have plenty to offer from a feature standpoint. Every metric under the sun, from vertical oscillation, cadence, stride length, ground contact time and running power, are covered in explicit detail. The 965, being the more powerful of the lot, also gets you advanced mapping in addition to a slightly more premium design with titanium bezel.
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The 265S has a 1.1-inch display centred around a 42mm dial and uses 18mm quick release-type silicone bands. The 265 comes with a 1.3-inch screen around a 46mm dial and uses 22mm bands. The 965 is even bigger with a 1.4-inch screen and has Corning Gorilla Glass DX protection (the 265 and 265S cap out at Gorilla Glass 3).
Garmin is pitching these watches at “triathletes, passionate & elite runners” with the 965 being rated for up to 23 days of use in smartwatch mode and up to 31 hours using GPS. The company goes so far as to say that the 965 holds the record for having “the world’s longest battery life for a running watch with an AMOLED display.” The 265 and 265S are also not very far behind. The 265 series is rated for up to 13 days of use in smartwatch mode and up to 20 hours in GPS mode.
Garmin Forerunner 965, 265 and 265S availability
Garmin says all the three watches will be available across offline and online channels. Offline, they will be available at Garmin Brand Store and Garmin Shopping Shop, Croma, Vijay Sales, Helios, Just-In-Time, Zimson Watch, Kamal Watch Co., Ruswic Stores, Mastermind, Vishal Trading, Cyclofit, Decathlon (Bengaluru), and General Trade while Amazon, Flipkart, Tata Cliq, Tata Luxury, Synergizer.com, Bhawar.com, and Nykaa.com will be the online partners.