new version

So I have a 645 music the 965 looks great but I'm guessing a 975 will have the new version of heart rate monitor and ecg like other new models recently released which I'd hold out for. Its such a dilemma eh would be easier if the 965 was not just about a year old 

What do you expect from an upgrade?

I consider switching from my old 935 to my new 965 a downgrade. Specially the gesture which is needed to wake the screen doesn’t work very well, battery life isn’t as good as my 935 was when it was new and I experience a lot more bugs in the 965 firmware than I ever experienced with the 935.

But your usage may differ

If you don't like the gesture (as I) then consider 955. Though even an AMOLED screen device can be ok if your favorite watchface supports AOD

Why do you want to upgrade? Depending on the answer I would say there are at least 2 strategies:

1. Use your current watch until it won't work any more and then upgrade

2. Upgrade ASAP to the latest device available at the time (don't wait for next version)

flocsy🤠 That the gesture doesn’t work very well you only find out after to bought it. Unfortunate garmin doesn’t have any intent to look for improvements.

Your reason 1, is what I do.

Reason 2 I don’t understand very well. Just update because there is a new version?

But I do have to say, my main usage is running. I’m not into data collecting, gps was already good enough on my old 935 and I didn’t expect the heartrate sensor of the 965 to be good enough to ditch my cheststrap. The battery life of the 935 with gps became less that 7 or 8 hours, which ment all day hikes where out. But, with aod the 965 is hardly any better. So aod is no option.

So 955 is the winner

Get an Epix; the 965 is plagued iwth bugs and Garmin are so slow to fix anything

There will surely be new watches released, but they will be expensive and not easily available in all the locations just after launch :-) And just after you buy a new Forerunner a new Epix or Venu will be released soon after, with all new features you will want to have as well :-) The good news is that some of those features will likely get backported to your Forerunner (even 955 was getting 965 features at the time of launch), but there is no guarantee either (we still don't have jet lag advisor on 965, for example).

For hardware, from my experience and perspective what matters is the battery, screen and to some degree the materials (durability) and look. Maybe I am weird, but no wrist hart rate sensor I ever used seem to come close to a modern chest strap (I just love my HRM Dual). Oxygen and HRV measurement feel like useless gimmicks to me. Breath rate is mostly useless. Elevation/barometer seems confused most of the time. Temperature is aways off, neither good for your body temperature nor environment temperature. And who really needs compass these days? Oh, I also own a Venu and could not care less about ECG ;-) OK, you want a reasonably precise GPS and accelerometer to simply measure your activity, and some wrist HR for things like resting HR, but I feel that anything not too ancient will do these days.

So I, similarly to others, would recommend buying the currently available watch that fulfils your requirements. If there is more than one, ignore the retail price and positioning and get what gives you the biggest bang for your buck.

I haven't seen any rumor on 975 coming in 2024 at this point.