The Garmin Forerunner 55 turns your daily run into a walk in the park

Sports fitness devices are more complicated than ever but there’s still a case to be made for a dedicated running wearable. The Garmin Forerunner 55 is that wearable, launched this year in time for Global Running Day. More than just a step-counter, the Forerunner 55 offers tracking of walks and runs, covering everything from time to distance to speed, pace and heart rate.

But its tracking skills go deeper than these surface essentials. The Forerunner 55 also suggests daily workouts that will improve your form, provides more extensive data than competitors and integrates with other apps to give you a broader overview of your command of human motion.

Sensor-tive type

There’s a massive whack of tech built into Garmin’s dedicated running wearable. There’s onboard GPS and wrist-based heart rate tracking as well as the standard accelerometer metrics like steps, calories and sleep. No matter what your skill level, the Forerunner 55 will supply you with the data you need to elevate your time on the road.

The wrist-based sensor complement is supported by Garmin’s software. Supporting workouts are suggested based on your running history, fitness level and recovery time, so you’re always improving. Garmin Coach will also train you through 5K, 10K and half-marathon milestones. Plus, there’s a new location tracking feature you can send to specific contacts, sharing where you are. You know, just in case that cramp proves to be too much to overcome this time.

Running in front

There are also more advanced features to look forward to, like PacePro which lets you improve your performance over a set course or distance. Estimated finishing times will help you boost yourself during a challenging run and there’s also a built-in cadence alert that’ll keep you within your target range. And, if you’re doing some supporting workouts, the Forerunner 55 has profiles for swimming, Pilates and HIIT, in addition to running options. Once you’ve done with one of these sessions, it’ll also give you recovery recommendations, so you know when to rest and when to get back at it.

That’s not all the Forerunner 55 does. There’s stress and energy tracking the latter with Garmin’s Body Battery monitor, while women can track both pregnancy and menstrual cycles and receive exercise and nutrition advice for those times, via the Garmin Connect app.

Add to that more mundane, but still essential features, like on-wrist notifications covering social media, SMS, emails and more, the aforementioned location-sharing (which needn’t be reserved for when a run has turned out to be too large of a hill to climb), up to two weeks of battery life (20 hours in GPS mode) and the ability to choose a custom digital face for the Garmin Forerunner 55, and you’ve got one heck of a versatile (but still dedicated) wearable. Get yours today in either Black, White or Aqua, at the low price of just R3 999,00. Visit https://buy.garmin.com/ more details and to purchase yours today.