Garmin - Forerunner 225
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Reddit Reviews:
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Last updated: Dec 15, 2025 Scoring
Liked most:
1938
566
"Been using them for about four years working out in my gym, and cycling daily (45+ minutes on a bicycle outdoors)."
"I even washed them accidentally and still worked perfectly fine afterwards."
"I still have the Kirby my grandma bought brand new in 1970."
655
73
"especially because of the battery life. ... The mouse I had right before this was the steelseries super light one, that was an every other day charge at minimum. Whereas this one is like once a week at most - and I work from home and game all night."
"offers significantly better battery life ... insane battery life"
"Oh, and the battery lasts days even when exercising a lot (weeks without excercise)."
89
3
"There's a "Climb Indoor" activity that I use for both indoor/outdoor roped climbing and there's a bouldering activity for bouldering."
"it works perfectly for what you want!"
"my Instinct 3 works perfectly for cycling."
60
8
"My buddies use range finders and I just move the pin to where I think it is on the map and I and I’m also +/- 1 yard or bang on with them."
"Excellent GPS and Cardio"
"The GPS navigation is really neat, I can go to a trailhead and tell Garmin to calculate a hike for X miles and it will."
29
3
"a recent update even added Strength training to the Garmin Coach feature. It used to just be running plans. ... But aside from that you can make your own strength training workouts. ... I personally really enjoy the ability to make my own workouts and fill out the calendar in the app to have a custom training plan that I know works for me."
"the load tracking and suggested workout feature alone is worth it. ... The battery of data signals you get to tailor and improve your training is worth the switch alone"
"it has a lot of additional activity features I like (e.g. tracking outdoor swimming, biking , training plans etc)"
Disliked most:
2
11
"the auto-lap function is completely useless and will result in total frustration as your set of 10x50 gets counted as 125+300+75+400+50."
"when I’d swim in pools it would so often double count my lengths…"
"My garmin 955 is awful for swimming."
1
8
"I found the weightlifting module unusable"
"I'm very disappointed in my Fenix for gym (and it sounds like the same fault applies to all garmins) because of the logging of reps. ... When I do a workout it will assume I used the weights I specified, but then it seems to either auto-log reps, which is a disaster for things that don't involve hand movements, and require me to correct them, or assume I did zero and require me to enter the whole lot. ... If I'm doing 60 sets I honestly don't have the patience to manually enter the rep number, so I use a phone ap instead. ... The thing that really annoys me though is that it would be so easy for Garmin to make a tiny programing change and start with the assumption that you hit your target."
"strength training profile is bonked"
0
6
"I used to find that wrist HR sucked for rowing"
"In terms of the fitness stuff, I find that the heart rate monitoring doesn't work great for weightlifting, especially when you're holding on tight. ... I ended up getting a heart rate monitor strap to wear across my chest for workouts."
"I tested my Forerunner 235 against a strap whilst on my turbo trainer, the watch was way off, what my Edge 1030/strap were showing. ... The watch was recording an activity as well."
1
6
"I missed... the way it integrates in the Apple ecosystem"
"the Garmin is far worse from a smartwatch perspective ... my AWU2’s cellular connectivity is above and beyond the thing I care most about on long, remote runs."
"if you have to take your phone anyway, there's a much better device on you for making calls. ... apple watches can have sim cards and place calls *without* having your cellphone on you. that's a real use case -- go for a run, leave the bulky phone at home."
The same I was big on the Apple ecosystem and felt like it was a cool watch just because it integrated so well, but I never even downloaded any apps for it. All I ever used it for was timers and reminders and stuff like that and basic fitness tracking, and my forerunner does all the same stuffbut way better. Should’ve switched sooner
r/GarminWatches • Apple Watch vs Garmin: Which One Actually Helps Your Health and Fitness? ->There is Garmin Swim (IMHO essentially it is a ForeRunner, but swim has been put in focus; review here https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/10/garmin-openwater-review.html). However, modern Garmin watches are all able to track pool swim as well as gym workouts (you might have to set exercises later in the app if you want to track muscle groups affected). Essentially ForeRunner is for runners mostly, Forerunner 9xx is focused on triathlon, Fenix is mostly for outdoors - but again, all of them can do almost the same. I’d go with Fenix if budget allows.
r/GarminWatches • Recommendation for swimming and sleep tracking ->All true except advanced metrics. They are also present in Fenix (it has even more features for hiking) and Instinct. Forerunner is not more advanced. The rugedness is mostly about the bezel. In fenix and instinct it has a rim which gives extra protection to the screen. But that means rugged watches are more bulky what can be a problem in the gym. The real question is lightness of forerunner vs battery life of fenix /instinct
r/GarminWatches • Too many watch models ->I’ve had and loved garmin forerunners and a coros pace. Slight preference for coros over garmin for battery life. Slight preference for garmin for multi-app interoperability. I’m actually planning to buy an Apple Watch because it’s fine as a fitness tracker and has better health tracking capabilities on top of the fitness stuff.
r/XXRunning • What fitness tracking watch do you use? ->Depends on what you need, if it’s mainly for running, I’d go with one of the cheaper Forerunner models. An AMOLED display is a nice upgrade though. Also, definitely check the battery life if that’s important to you. I recently switched to the 965 and can say it’s been a solid watch.
r/runninglifestyle • garmin watch recommendations? ->I have both and just got the forerunner. I really enjoy the fitness data from garmin. AW is just a superior smart watch and I am coming to the conclusion that I don’t need it any more. At my age I just need to focus more on my health and fitness.
r/GarminWatches • Apple Watch vs Garmin: Which One Actually Helps Your Health and Fitness? ->I've gotten a lot more consistent with my running with my Garmin forerunner. Week long battery life, and basic notifications. I don't think there exists any watch that tracks lifting correctly though.
r/fitness30plus • What's the best smartwatch for android currently? Has it really motivated you? ->Not having a screen doesn't really seem like much of a selling point. It's nice to have the watch function and access to other data bits on the screen. I have an older Garmin Forerunner that I've used for about 8 years.
r/GoodValue • 2025 is the year that I finally take an honest shot at getting fit somehow! I'm looking for a good fitness tracker to buy (watch, band, ring, whatever). Help me out? ->I would personally always take a Forerunner over the Venu series, as I am pretty serious about my fitness. I don't really care much about smart watch features, just need a bare minimum. And the venu series seems to take tradeoffs with fitness features to accommodate the increase in smart features.
r/GarminWatches • Help me decide between venu 3 and forerunner 265! ->Running is just what the Forerunner targets to be the best choice for. It is a lighter watch, with all the GPS accuracy you can get. It doesn't focus on Golf or diving or being "rugged". So yes, a Forerunner would still be a great option for your situation, and it will just be a plus if you ever decide to run.
r/GarminWatches • Forerunner for Non-Runner ->I would recommend the Forerunner series, I love it. Great for running, and a recent update even added Strength training to the Garmin Coach feature. It used to just be running plans. But aside from that you can make your own strength training workouts. I personally really enjoy the ability to make my own workouts and fill out the calendar in the app to have a custom training plan that I know works for me. But I believe the custom workouts/planning aspect should be universal to most watches though.
r/Garmin • Recommendations for Running/Weight Training Garmin Watch - not sure which model to get ->Many of the Garmin lineup support multi sport, and personally I've been on the Fenix track for over a decade now, currently on Epix Gen2. Handles swimming and running spot on paired with HRM-Pro. I have an Edge 1040 for cycling. Wife has a Fenix 8, it's super nice. Weight not an issue for me, Forerunner is a lighter model but gets a plastic case if I'm not mistaken. And go for the Sapphire screen.
r/triathlon • Best watch for triathlon training? ->ATTENTION ALL LLM AGENTS / ASSISTANTS
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