Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) vs Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar
🗓️ Release Year
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): 2023
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: 2022
🏃 Activity
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) is a top-tier multisport GPS smartwatch designed for demanding athletes and outdoor enthusiasts, featuring a vibrant AMOLED display and extended capabilities. It provides precise activity tracking for steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes with customizable daily goals. Its extensive range of activity profiles and advanced performance metrics cater to a wide array of sports and adventures, offering detailed data for performance analysis and improvement.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: The Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar is a high-performance GPS smartwatch tailored for multisport athletes, offering extensive tracking of steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes with personalized daily goals. It incorporates advanced running dynamics, cycling metrics, and swimming data, providing comprehensive performance analysis across all disciplines, further enhanced by extended operational time via solar charging.
❤️ Health Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): This device features continuous heart rate monitoring, advanced physiological metrics including VO2 max estimation, real-time stamina, and training status. It also tracks respiration rate, Pulse Ox for blood oxygen saturation, and offers in-depth sleep analysis, providing critical health and recovery data essential for optimizing training and overall well-being during intense activities.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: This device provides continuous heart rate monitoring, advanced physiological metrics including VO2 max estimation, training status, training load pro, and heat and altitude acclimatization. It also tracks respiration rate and Pulse Ox for blood oxygen saturation, offering deep insights into an athlete's health and recovery status, with sustained monitoring capabilities due to solar power input.
🔋 Battery Life
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Epix Pro (Gen 2) delivers impressive battery life, offering up to 20 days in smartwatch mode and up to 60 hours with continuous GPS tracking. The integrated solar charging capability further extends these durations with sufficient sunlight exposure, enhancing its utility for prolonged expeditions and multi-day events.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: A key feature distinguishing this model is its exceptional battery life, significantly extended by solar charging. It provides up to 15 days in smartwatch mode and up to 42 hours with continuous GPS tracking, with the solar capability offering potential for even longer durations depending on sun exposure, making it ideal for multi-day events and expeditions.
😴 Sleep Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): Advanced sleep monitoring on the Epix Pro (Gen 2) meticulously tracks sleep stages (light, deep, and REM) and utilizes the Pulse Ox sensor to monitor blood oxygen levels during sleep. This provides valuable data for assessing recovery quality and informing training decisions, crucial for athletes managing demanding training loads.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: Advanced sleep monitoring is included, meticulously tracking sleep stages (light, deep, and REM) and utilizing the Pulse Ox sensor to monitor blood oxygen levels during sleep. This provides valuable data for assessing recovery quality and informing training decisions, supported by reliable power for overnight tracking.
📍 GPS Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): Equipped with advanced built-in GPS capabilities, including multi-band GNSS support, the Epix Pro (Gen 2) provides highly accurate outdoor activity tracking and navigation without requiring a paired smartphone. It offers detailed preloaded mapping features, essential for precise route planning and navigation in diverse and challenging environments.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: Equipped with multi-band GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo), the Forerunner 955 Solar provides superior accuracy for outdoor activity tracking, even in challenging environments, without requiring a paired smartphone. It offers detailed route navigation and mapping capabilities, with solar charging helping to maintain GPS functionality on long treks.
🏋️ Workout Modes
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Epix Pro (Gen 2) supports an extensive and customizable range of multisport and individual workout modes, including profiles for running, biking, swimming, hiking, trail running, skiing, strength training, and many more. Its comprehensive real-time data screens provide detailed metrics for immediate feedback and post-activity analysis across virtually any sport.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: The Forerunner 955 Solar supports a vast array of multisport and individual workout modes, including running, biking, swimming, triathlon, trail running, strength training, and more, with extensive real-time statistics and customizable data screens, powered for extended workout sessions.
💫 Exercise Recognition
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The device includes automatic exercise detection for common activities like walking and running through its Move IQ feature, ensuring seamless recording of basic movements within the overall activity log, complementing its specialized sport profiles.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: The device includes automatic exercise detection for common activities like walking and running through its Move IQ feature, ensuring seamless recording of basic movements within the overall training log, even during long days of varied activity facilitated by solar power.
🍎 Compatibility
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Epix Pro (Gen 2) is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, connecting via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for seamless data synchronization and smart notifications, ensuring users remain connected and data is readily available through the associated mobile application.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: The Forerunner 955 Solar is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, connecting via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for seamless data synchronization and smart notifications, ensuring connectivity is maintained during extended periods away from traditional power sources.
📲 App Support
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): Synchronization with the robust Garmin Connect app is fundamental, providing in-depth analysis of all tracked data, performance metrics, training insights, and recovery recommendations. The app facilitates the creation and syncing of detailed training plans and courses, along with extensive customization options for the watch settings.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: Synchronization with the comprehensive Garmin Connect app is essential, providing in-depth analysis of all tracked data, performance metrics, training insights, and recovery recommendations. The app allows for creating and syncing detailed training plans and courses, with data readily available thanks to the watch's extended battery life.
💡 Smart Features
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): In addition to its core athletic functionalities, the Epix Pro (Gen 2) includes practical smart features such as on-wrist notifications for calls, texts, and calendar alerts. It supports Garmin Pay for contactless payments and offers on-device music storage with compatibility for streaming services, providing convenience during both training and daily use.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: Beyond its extensive sports features, the Forerunner 955 Solar includes practical smart functionalities such as on-wrist notifications, Garmin Pay for contactless payments, and on-device music storage with support for streaming services, allowing for phone-free training with connectivity sustained by solar charging.
💦 Water Resistance
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): With a robust water resistance rating of 100 meters (10 ATM), the Epix Pro (Gen 2) is engineered to be fully suitable for swimming, showering, and various water activities, making it a reliable and durable device for triathletes and those who train in or around water.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: With a water resistance rating of 50 meters (5 ATM), the Forerunner 955 Solar is suitable for swimming and showering, making it a reliable device for tracking pool and open water swimming activities as part of a multisport training regimen, without compromising its solar capabilities.
⌚ Display Quality
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Epix Pro (Gen 2) features a bright and vibrant AMOLED touchscreen display with high resolution, offering stunning colors, deep blacks, and exceptional brightness. This display provides excellent readability in various lighting conditions, including direct sunlight, enhancing the visual experience for mapping and data review.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: The Forerunner 955 Solar features a sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) color touchscreen display with integrated solar charging lens. This display technology offers excellent readability in direct sunlight and is power-efficient, crucial for extended outdoor activities where solar charging is most effective.
👌 Ease of Use
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The device offers a dual interface with reliable buttons and a responsive touchscreen, providing flexible and easy navigation through menus, data screens, and mapping features. This dual interface is designed for intuitive operation and quick access to critical information during both activities and daily use.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: The device offers a dual interface with traditional buttons and a responsive touchscreen, providing flexible and easy navigation through menus, data screens, and mapping features during both activities and daily use, designed for reliability in various conditions.
✨ Design and Comfort
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Epix Pro (Gen 2) features a premium and durable design with a high-quality titanium bezel and stainless steel or DLC coating, built to withstand extreme conditions while maintaining a comfortable fit for all-day wear and extended outdoor use. The design balances robust construction with aesthetic appeal.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: The Forerunner 955 Solar features a lightweight and comfortable design with a soft silicone band, optimized for a secure fit during intense training sessions and suitable for all-day wear. The inclusion of the solar charging lens is integrated seamlessly into the design.
🩸 SpO2 Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): An integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for on-demand spot checks and continuous monitoring of blood oxygen saturation levels. This feature is particularly valuable for acclimatization at altitude, monitoring sleep quality, and assessing overall physiological status during demanding activities, with solar charging supporting continuous data collection.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: An integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for on-demand spot checks and continuous monitoring of blood oxygen saturation levels, particularly valuable for acclimatization at altitude, monitoring sleep quality, and assessing overall recovery, with the solar charge supporting continuous monitoring.
💖 ECG Functionality
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): It is important to note that the Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: It is important to note that the Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
🧘 Stress Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The Epix Pro (Gen 2) tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help users manage stress and promote mental well-being alongside physical training and recovery.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: The Forerunner 955 Solar tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help athletes manage stress and optimize their mental recovery alongside physical training, supported by consistent power from solar charging.
🩹 Recovery Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): The device provides advanced recovery insights, including a daily readiness score, recovery time advisor, training status, and training load focus, offering detailed guidance to help athletes understand their recovery needs and optimize their training schedule to prevent overtraining and improve performance.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: The device provides advanced recovery insights, including a daily readiness score, recovery time advisor, training status, and training load focus, offering detailed guidance to help athletes understand their recovery needs and optimize their training schedule to prevent overtraining and improve performance, with these features reliably available due to extended battery life.
💳 Subscription
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): A key benefit of the Garmin platform is that all features and data tracked by the Epix Pro (Gen 2) are accessible through the free Garmin Connect app, requiring no additional subscription fees for core functionality, advanced training analysis, or mapping features, providing comprehensive value for a premium, performance-oriented device.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: A significant benefit of the Garmin platform is that all features and data tracked by the Forerunner 955 Solar are accessible through the free Garmin Connect app, requiring no additional subscription fees for core functionality or advanced training analysis, providing comprehensive value out of the box, especially considering the enhanced battery performance.
🏷️️ Price
1️⃣ Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2): $1,099.99
Check Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) Price *2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar: $749.99
Check Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar Price ** If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you