Garmin Forerunner 955 & 255 reportedly to launch on June 1st, support for running power & more

It is rumours galore as the launch of the Forerunner 955 and 255 nears. The latest info comes via a Reddit thread from a person who claims he saw Garmin’s email to retailers when he visited a German store. If his info is accurate, the 955 and 255 will land on June 1st.

We know both the 955 and 255 are coming. That is pretty much definite as there have been a number of leaks now. These are the updated versions of very popular devices in the Forerunner line. Hence all the anticipation and interest.

There have been multiple sources of info around the 955 and the 255. Starting from the Garmin Australia website in January, to a Swedish retailer website and warranty information from an authorised Garmin local dealer. But this is the first time we are getting insight as to when these devices might actually launch.

The info comes from a German Redditor who claims he saw an email Garmin sent to retailers when he visited his local tech store. This reveals a few interesting things:

• There will be both a solar and non-solar version of Forerunner 955.
• The first will retail for €699 and the regular variant for €100 less. To remind, the 945 currently sells for €550 on Garmin’s website so this sort of pricing seems reasonable.
• Garmin is also planning a Forerunner 255 (with and without music). Interestingly, no mention of the 255s which we saw listed on warranty info.
• Forerunner 255 with music will retail for €400, without music for €350.
• All of these will launch on June 1st.

Additionally, both the 955 and 255 will feature running power. However, they’ll need an external device for it. What exactly this means remains unclear.

Garmin watches already support external devices for running power, such as Stryd. However, this support is not built into the system natively. Perhaps the company will offer deeper integration such as running alerts and integration with training plans. Who knows, maybe Garmin is even planning to unveil its own Stryd-type shoe pod.

Essential reading: Best fitness trackers and health gadgets

Running power is a popular metric. Its aim is to simplify your running effort. The value is typically expressed in Watts – and it shows in real-time how much energy you are using during a workout. This takes into account many things such as your speed, the terrain, your form and fatigue. The benefit is that you follow that single metric and adjust your effort accordingly.

If the new Forerunner watches get native power integration, it is reasonable to expect that the feature will trickle to other watches such as the Fenix 7 and Epix 2. That is pretty much a given. In any case, it seems that Garmin is not taking Polar’s route and offer running power from the wrist.

Also, both the 255 and 955 will have a barometric altimeter. At least, that is the claim by the Redditor.

The thread goes on to say that the Stamina Metric is also part of the feature-set. No surprise there.

More interestingly, something called a Morning Report is also mentioned. Apparently, this is a feature related to sleep tracking. On our wish list would be a metric that offered a more representative value on the state of your recovery than Body Battery.

Take the content of this article as what it is – an unconfirmed rumour. However, all of this info sounds very plausible to us. If we do, indeed, see a June 1st release date – expect more leaks and rumours to land in the weeks ahead!

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