The 965 is here ...finally

Thanks. I saw a video review that mentioned the 265S was taking about 1 minute, with the caveat by the reviewer it might just need some more updates.

i'll let other chime in, but certainly not close to a minute. i typically run at work and home and it's a very short distance between hitting Run and having it beep to say GPS is ready. it takes about 1 second for the HRM strap to connect and then i am guessing 4-5 seconds to go "green." certainly no more than 10 seconds. it's more than fast enough for my needs because i have my usual routine of when/where is i start running and it's much faster than that.

for the record, there was once, in the first week of ownership (June 2022) where it took forever to lock GPS (4-5 minutes) . you can probably find that post way back in history... it's never done that since. 

I'm expecting mine to arrive tomorrow (in Sweden) and I'm thinking about what would be the best approach to set it up...

Maybe just do a basic config without the phone, add wifi and run updates, then factory reset and install it properly with phone, Garmin Express etc?

I currently have an Epix, so it would be nice if as much as possible gets synced on the first day...

Lucky you. Mine has been delayed for a week (again :D) should originaly arrive by end of the week - as always since I ordered in march. 

S.M.R. so...have you made a decision? curious how it is overall after presumably several runs under your belt.

derek87 I have been using the 965 all the time for the past two weeks now.  

I really find the dimensions (especially the "thickness" being less) more comfortable than the 955. The screen to body ratio is also better. The stock band is much more comfortable (softer) to me than the one on the 955 and i havent changed it out yet.

My main bugbear is the screen in brighter conditions , especially the level of the AOD base when doing activities, more noticeable during intervals etc where one relies more heavily on visibility. I find that especially so when one is in the rest phase of an interval if the screen dims and one has to gesture agin to see the amount of rest left - as an example.

On the average run , in less than full bright sun (which is likely a lot of the time) it is ok and a gesture is not necessary as many times as an interval workout. Also when the auto lap goes it does go to bright so that helps.

I ran a 5k race this past Saturday and I wasn't conscious of the watch at all. But it was quite overcast.

For general use , I have decided to keep the AOD off and just gesture to see the time for the moment. Not trying co compare it with an Apple Watch as it is a different animal , but in AOD mode the AW is more legible outside and gesture is much slicker to my eye.

At night I use the sleep mode and if I nede to see I can just press a button.

On the firmware side I think its a bit behind the 955 , especially with the latest beta which has newer versions of most of the detail firmware (I checked mine to the list you posted) but I think we will be getting a beta soon as today there was a beta sign on available.

Lactate threshold has worked and I've had an update twice now.

Accepting the gesture issue, the screen is quite sharp and probably once one is used to it going back to a "dull" screen may be challenging. The colours of the graphs etc is very good.

Honestly there is no need to move from a 955 to a 965 really. The functionality is the same and the 955 is now what it should have been with all these latest updates.

I'll be staying with it. I will lean to live with the quirks. The 955 is on the wrist of an acquaintance who is enjoying it as a great upgrade to their older Garmin so its a win for them.

I think each use case is different. I saw some comments about its "non usability" in soem cases as the AOD goes dim and then one cant see when on is on a rower for example..which sounds like a pain!

Hopefully the gesture sensitivity and AOD brightness modulation improve over time!

Hope that helps!

thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts in a thorough way. it sounds like you had a good scenario where your acquaintance was able to get a huge upgrade and you can make the upgrade to the 965. (this is exactly what led me to go from the 945LTE to the 955 because a 1 year upgrade cycle is not my typical behavior)

your insights are helpful though as i keep in mind what may be coming down the road. i think it would be hard to go back to a MIPS after enjoying the crispness of the AMOLED. so it's probably good for me to have not yet played with a 965 in person. my 955 Solar is doing everything i need it to do so i will stick with it for now. based on your experience, the real selling point of the 965 is not really the AMOLED but the thinner profile and slightly larger screen. i'm hoping those "features" will carry over to the 975 of whatever comes next to the FR series.

this is helpful information even if it keeps temptation and FOMO alive for me :) 

how has battery life been for you with AOD in practice? even though it sounds like it's most efficient to use gesture mode, esp if things aren't very visible outdoors, i'm very much used to glancing at my MIPS display while indoors without any gesture and don't think i would ever resort to leaving it off. i wonder if there is significant battery savings in choosing a level 1 brightness for AOD, in the hopes that its plenty bright enough for indoors and then relying on  gesture for outdoors viewing.

what are people doing for screen protectors? it sounds like TPU solutions are the only current working ones? i'm hard on my watches and without one, i'm sure my 935, 945LTE, and 955 would have all had significant scratches without a protector.

I haven’t paid much attention to battery life TBH. I usually just charge when I shower. I had about 95% when I left my hotel for the race on Monday and have 46% now. I always use AOD because I like to be able to glance at my watch for the time. It works fine for me when I’m on the Peloton also. 

I’m not using a screen protector at the moment. I really don’t want a TPU protector and there don’t seem to be any glass options. I’m only doing road running – no trails – at the moment so I’ve been risking it. I’ll likely try to find something when I start doing more trail running this summer as that seems to be the time I’m most at risk for scratching. 

All in all, the watch seems like a nice advance of the 9xx series but for running in bright sunlight (and no LTE).