Forerunner 955 discontinued?

The Forerunner 955/solar is no longer listed on the official Garmin website. You can still find and buy one, but you need to use the search and it will appear in the "Previous Models" section. Unfortunately, it looks like the MIP displays for the Forerunners are reaching the finish line. Only remained "active" model with MIP display is 745.

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  • That doesn't necessarily mean that this post is "fake" / spam, it could also mean that the same (legit) person (not a bot) posted the same content on two different platforms. When I look at OP's recent history, they've been active here for over a year.

  • Didn't say they were spammers. Just saying it's also on reddit for more answers. Otherwise, would have already banned them

  • just couldn't switch back to 955 after this AMOLED.

    But anyways, might also wait 975 and then decide Fenix or Forerunner, but don't think I'm getting MIP watch anymore.

    I def see all the practical (and social status-conferring) advantages of AMOLED over MIP. Having used an Apple Watch, the display (and overall UX) is much nicer than any MIP Garmin.

    However, one of my main use cases for a MIP Garmin is to be able quickly glance at the watch during a hard running workout and see my stats (especially lap / instant pace). I don't like the fact that AMOLED dims during an activity, and a gesture or button press is required to bring it back to full brightness. It's an extra physical action, as well as a tiny bit of extra time to wait for the display to light up.

    It doesn't help that Garmin's gesture detection doesn't seem to be as good as Apple's (I've seen others complain about it.) It doesn't bother me with MIP because I don't need the gesture during the day, and for outdoor night activities I just leave the backlight on for the whole activity.

    I also like truly always-on watchfaces (for seconds and instant HR), but I could live without them.

    If Garmin would adopt Polar's AMOLED behavior -- as an option -- where they keep the display at full brightness for the whole activity (at the expense of battery life), I'd probably be ok with getting a Garmin AMOLED running watch.

    But I realize my use case is obviously not very important. Lots of ppl say they don't even look at their watch while they run, and I don't blame em.

    Anyway, I know some pretty fast people who still use a 920 or a 235 (which are 9-10 years old). I know someone who recently won a 5 miler who was running with a 235 until very recently. (He upgraded to a 255 instead of a 265, on my advice, after I told him about the tradeoffs with AMOLED. He said he didn't want to be forced to change up his workout routine, by the wrist gesture thing.)

    There's no reason we can't keep our MIP Forerunners for the next 10 years (except for possible embarassment and/or the slight possibility that Garmin Connect may not be around in 2034, but switching to an AMOLED Garmin wouldn't help if the latter thing happened.)

    But someone who's new to running probably has almost 0 chance of caring about any "advantages" of MIP (except possibly battery life). Same as many new runners since 2015 have been very happy to run with an Apple Watch (and I know several casual runners who've switched from Garmin to AW.)

  • Got it. My bad for jumping to conclusions. It definitely has been the case that bots / spammers have copy-pasted content from reddit here in the past (often editing it after the fact to add a spam link), but this didn't seem to be one of those cases to me.

  • because its still listed on garmins sites doesnt mean it hasnt been discontinued, it just means theres stock, they may have stopped making 955's when they released the 965, the naming convention indicates the 965 is replacing the 955, otherwise they wouldnt have given if the 9xx designation.. when they release the 965 that cuts into 955 sales , all the people who want the latest model now by the new model...   so 955 stock will last longer... the OLED screens have a lot of appeal to a lot of people, it was a big selling point, because there werent any new features in the 965 other than the screen, and that was enough to convince people to buy it over the 955.. .eventually they specialed the 955, which would have sped up the depletion of stock... 

  • I would prefer a new 975 with the same LCD screen quality as their new EDGE 1050, brighter for outdoor activity without AMOLED 'issues' such as burn-in, gesture and battery consumption.

  • the naming convention indicates the 965 is replacing the 955

    yeah but a few ppl have been in denial about that, preferring to believe that 255/955 and 265/965 being sold at the same time meant that MIP and AMOLED Forerunners would co-exist side by side in the future.

    I would prefer a new 975 with the same LCD screen quality as their new EDGE 1050, brighter for outdoor activity without AMOLED 'issues' such as burn-in, gesture and battery consumption.

    Clearly Edge 1050 has LCD instead of AMOLED bc a bike computer is an edge case (haha get it) where the user can't use a gesture to light up the screen and can't/won't press a button to do the same (bc it's inconvenient or dangerous). Even DCR admitted that one use case where an AMOLED watch isn't great is for cycling. Apparently, it was specifically for cycling that Polar implemented truly always on (always bright) mode for AMOLED during activities.

    Garmin has already established AMOLED as *the* screen for Forerunners (and most of their watches). I doubt they will ever move to LCD, which would be seen as a step backwards. Doesn't matter if it's "better", it will be impossible to market it that way.

    As far as Garmin's use of display tech goes, I still think the only thing to look forward to is microLED Garmin watches (at some point in the far future.) I hear even Apple abandoned short-term plans to put microLED in Apple Watches.

  • MicroLED is too expensive, even TVs prefer now MiniLED which is amazing (I'll let you check out the brand new Bravia 9 from Sony).

    In my opinion MiniLed is a good temporary solution for our outdoor watch.

    But YES it seems Garmin will change to AMOLED only Disappointed

  • yeah but a few ppl have been in denial about that, preferring to believe that 255/955 and 265/965 being sold at the same time meant that MIP and AMOLED Forerunners would co-exist side by side in the future.

    Well, at first after the - to me surprising - release of FR 265/965 I was also like
    "Those watches are technically identical, it is just a different display - why didn't they name those "FR 255/955 AMOLED"?"
    But yes, soon after it was clear - because every NEW Forerunner will have AMOLED, that is why.
    Now, everybody should be clear about that by now, even the "low end" Forerunners and Fitness watches from Garmin ALL get AMOLED displays.

    Clearly Edge 1050 has LCD instead of AMOLED bc a bike computer is an edge case (haha get it) where the user can't use a gesture to light up the screen and can't/won't press a button to do the same (bc it's inconvenient or dangerous). Even DCR admitted that one use case where an AMOLED watch isn't great is for cycling.

    Exactly!
    And that is really one of the reasons, I wanted to have a 955, NOT a 965 (it was already available when I bought my 955)!
    Because I don't use an Edge, but use my FR 955 for everything, also as a biking headunit.

    And yeah, it has all metrics and stuff, but it would be REALLY annoying, if I had to touch or press button to activate it, while having it fixed to the handebars...

    Apparently, it was specifically for cycling that Polar implemented truly always on (always bright) mode for AMOLED during activities.

    Makes sense, but this is also a *** solution in my opinion for a problem, that you don't even have, if you use MIP.

    Well, personally I will wait what benefits the new Fenix 8 (MIP-version, if it really exists) bring and then I will decide if I will stay some more years with my FR 955, change to a Fenix 8 MIP or get a Fenix 7 Pro when it is on sale.
    I will definitely stay with MIP for some more years.

    I doubt they will ever move to LCD

    Yes, I also doubt that. Seems to be a special case for Edge problems, just like you described.

  • It doesn't help that Garmin's gesture detection doesn't seem to be as good as Apple's

    No idea of Apples, but I agree, I have been somewhat annoyed that gestures doesn't work. Also then waking up display by tapping goes to hey, save this location if you were in the map screen. Which is also annoying. There's much to do better here, but these don't have enough weight in my comparison to turn the tables.

    When I look watch it's most often to see the map. Not doing training so much where I need to keep constant look at my pace or HR or something like that. If I would need to it might be different situation. I'm not saying AMOLED is better for all and every use case, it clearly isn't, but in my common use cases, it's winner.

    Also most people are pretty simple and stupid. They look watches and see the bland colors in MIP screen and just don't buy it. Like people wanting to have AMOLED Fenix and not realizing that well, Epix is that. Reasons for the changes coming.