The venerable Garmin Forerunner 245 is approaching its third anniversary, and is definitely due an upgrade as the company begins refreshing its lineup of sports watches – but do we really need it?
First, it's worth taking a moment to explore the current lineup of Forerunners. At the bottom, we have the entry-level 50 series. Above this, we have the 240 series. These are running watches for athletes who want to take their training to the next level, and perhaps start racing seriously.
Next, we move up to the Forerunner 740 range, which are designed with triathletes in mind and switch effortlessly between swim, cycle, and run tracking modes. Finally, at the top, we have the 940 line of devices, which is similar but also boasts super-long battery life for multi-day events.
Most of the current Forerunner range is at least two years old, if not three, and well due an update. Garmin began the process last year when it revealed the Forerunner 55, and we're expecting the rest of the series to follow in due course. Well, most of it, anyway.
The Forerunner 55 is an excellent watch; not only is its GPS tracking extremely accurate (which you'd expect from a company that made its name in satellite navigation systems), its heart rate monitoring is highly responsive, and it's packed with new training tools to help you structure your runs, and balance rest and recovery.
It's so good, in fact, that we just don't need a Forerunner 255. It might be beginner-friendly, but the 55 has everything that an intermediate runner needs as well.
Calling time on the 250 line
It wouldn't be the first time Garmin has phased out a Forerunner line. The Forerunner 100, 300, and 400 series have all been discontinued over the years as technology has advanced, and other watches in the range have filled the gaps.
The only feature we can see the Forerunner 255 potentially bringing to the party is the real-time stamina graphic introduced with the Garmin Fenix 7. This is a neat graph that shows how much energy you have left in the tank during runs and rides, so you can adapt your effort on the fly. No more running out of energy partway through a training run, or ending a race wishing you'd just pushed a little bit harder.
It's also possible that the Forerunner 255 could add music storage to the mix, but Garmin doesn't typically release a whole new watch model just for that. If that was a route it wanted to take, it would likely launch a Forerunner 55 Music edition instead, as it did with the Forerunner 245 and 245 Music.
Of course, we can only speculate at this point – and even if the company doesn't release a Forerunner 255 this year, it may pick up the name again at a much later date for a different device,
In late January the Garmin revealed not just the Fenix 7, but also the Epix - a very similar watch, with the addition of a bright AMOLED display. However, this shiny newcomer is officially the Epix (Gen 2).
The original Epix was a touchscreen sports watch released in 2015 that was somewhat ahead of its time. Although it worked well, it was a bit of a monster, and it was some time before technology caught up with its designers' intentions and its components could be packed into a more modestly sized case.
If a Forerunner 255 doesn't arrive this year or next, it may still appear in a revamped form at some point in the future. Only time will tell.
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