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Honest Review of Garmin Forrunner255 Music by anti-smartwatch person


Garmin Review

I was not a fan of smartwatches, but I finally made my smartwatch debut. It has been just under two months since I purchased the Garmin Forerunner 255 Music in September 2023. I have used it in my daily life, while running, while traveling, and at trail running competitions. I will share my impressions as a user of the watch after using it in various situations.


Before you start your Garmin review, consider the sunk cost bias.

50,000 yen is not a cheap purchase for most people. Since you spent 50,000 yen, you have no choice but to like it. There's no way you won't like it.

I'm sure every human being has had some experience of feeling this way.


In fact, this is a type of cognitive bias called " sunk cost bias ," which means that we think about the costs we have already spent and are unable to make rational decisions. In other words, it could be said to be a "mottainai" mentality.


There are plenty of examples: investing, not being able to stop watching a boring movie, or not being able to break up with someone you've been dating for years and it just isn't working out.


One thing to keep in mind when reading any review, not just this one, is that the person who wrote the review is likely to be influenced to some extent by "sunk cost bias."


I have tried to write this article as much as possible without being influenced by the "sunk cost bias," but please take this cognitive bias into consideration when reading.



About me when I bought Garmin

  • I run about 20km a week.

  • Each run is about 30 minutes long and no longer than 10km.

  • The purpose of running is to change your mood.

  • I have only participated in a marathon once, 10 years ago.


Motivation for buying Garmin

It would be nice to be able to check the map while hiking on my watch. That's a luxury. It's not motivated by the lack of a watch that would cause problems.

As I researched smartwatches that would let you check maps without a smartphone, I began to come up with the hypothesis that because the screen space on a watch is limited, the act of looking at a map on a watch might not be appealing to me.


After watching other review videos, I began to appreciate the newfound freedom of being able to run without a smartphone.


In the end, I decided to buy the Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, which allows me to download music to my phone via Spotify.


In other words, in my case, the fundamental motivation wasn't the necessity of not having a smartwatch, but the luxury of having one .



About the specs

basic

  • Garmin Forerunner 255 Music

  • Price: 52,800 yen (tax included)

  • Product description (*Excerpt): Forerunner 255 is a GPS running watch equipped with advanced training functions for all runners. It supports runners from everyday life to daily training and even races. The Music model is equipped with a music function, so you can enjoy running while listening to music stored on the watch.


For other basic specifications, please refer tothe official product page .


As for the battery, I have never had a problem with the battery running out. I take a shower in the morning and at night, and just putting it on the charger for about 10 minutes each time is enough.


Good points in the specs

It is button operated, not touch screen.

While many new models have touch screens, I chose the Forerunner 255, which does not have a touch screen. I decided that no matter how high performance a touch screen is, it is impossible to use it stress-free in rainy or snowy weather, or when wearing gloves. In the end, this decision turned out to be a great success.


Seamless sync with AirPods Pro 2

This might be something I should praise the AirPods Pro2 for, but even when I was running while listening to a podcast on my smartphone with Fruitooth connected to both my iPhone and Garmin, the sound from my smartphone continued uninterrupted and the AirPods2 played my average pace for each kilometer of my run.

The Bluetooth earphones I use are AirPods Pro2, so I'm not sure about other earphones.



Favorite Features

Body Battery

"Body Battery is a feature unique to Garmin. It analyzes your heart rate variability, stress levels, sleep, and daily activity levels to measure your remaining physical energy. The number is displayed as 5-100, and the higher the score, the more energy you have for that day's activities and exercise. Conversely, the lower the score, the more you need to conserve your energy and rest." (Excerpt from the official website)


Garmin allows you to track a variety of data such as sleep, stress levels, steps, and heart rate variability, but Body Battery uses all of this data to visualize your charge level. Why did this feature impact my lifestyle?


It is now possible to visualize the "battery" consumed through activities other than exercise.

I believe that physical and mental stress use the same battery . Even though I knew that, it didn't really make sense to me that my battery was draining after other activities, so I would often work late at night after strength training or a hard run, or I would do some hard exercise after work because I thought I must have plenty of energy because I hadn't been able to exercise at all during the day at work.


By making this visible, I was able to recognize the fact that my battery was being consumed by activities other than exercise. I also realized that fun things like live streaming and Zoom meetings where you just sit down consume more battery than expected.


Live Track

This feature allows you to share real-time activity information from your Garmin device with friends and family.

To use LiveTrack, you need the following:

  • Your Garmin device and smartphone are connected via Bluetooth

  • Your smartphone is connected to the Internet

  • Garmin Connect App is running in the background

  • Running an outdoor activity with a Garmin device


I participated in a trail running event in cold Poland in November. It was a 21.05km race, and my partner came with me to the venue to cheer me on. However, I felt bad for making him wait outside in the snow at -2 degrees. I couldn't even give a vague answer like "I'll be near the finish line for about 2 hours."


This feature was very useful at times like that. If you add an email address, your running progress will literally be shared live. Not only will your location be displayed on the map, but you can also see the fluctuations in your pace, so you can send encouraging messages in real time such as "You're going at a better pace than in practice! Do your best!" (The messages can be sent using other messaging apps such as LINE or Whatsapp.) In fact, I was encouraged by this message when I was in the tough part of the final stretch.



Garmin Pay

Although my expectations were low, I was able to use it with a 98% success rate in stores that accepted card payments in both Japan and Poland. Since I had to enter my PIN every time I took off my watch, I felt secure in terms of security.




Who is this recommended for?

People who are easily influenced by numbers

It's data-driven, and I felt it would be a very useful tool for improving lifestyle for people who like to see changes in numbers.

Before I started wearing Garmin, I believed that my sleep quality was not good and that was the reason for my low battery. However, when I started wearing the watch, I felt that my sleep was good because my score was good, and I felt lighter. However, the opposite was also true, so I have heard that people put more pressure on themselves than necessary when they continued to get bad scores, which in turn negatively affected their sleep.



Who is it not recommended for?

People who get stressed out over learning how gadgets work

Garmin has very useful functions, but you can't feel the value of it unless you understand and use these functions. If you have trouble looking up functions on the Internet yourself, you may start to dislike Garmin at that point.

If all you want is a smartwatch that can record your runs and track your sleep, there are plenty of cheaper smartwatches out there, so it might be a good idea to go for one of those.


If this is your first time using a smartwatch and you're still unable to make a decision after reading this blog, there are some decent smartwatches available for under 10,000 yen, so it would be a good idea to try one out first to see if it suits you.

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