Garmin Forerunner 165 vs WHOOP 4.0
🗓️ Release Year
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: 2024
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: 2021
🏃 Activity
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Garmin Forerunner 165 is an accessible GPS running watch designed for new and casual runners, offering essential activity tracking. It precisely records steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes, with a strong focus on core running metrics like pace, distance, and cadence using built-in GPS. It provides valuable data for monitoring and improving running performance.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: The WHOOP 4.0 is a unique health and fitness tracker focused on providing in-depth physiological insights rather than just activity counts. It continuously tracks key metrics like heart rate, calories burned, and activity duration. Instead of traditional workout modes, it measures "Strain" based on cardiovascular exertion, offering a personalized view of your daily physical load.
❤️ Health Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: This device provides continuous wrist-based heart rate monitoring, stress tracking, and sleep tracking for insights into daily well-being and recovery. It includes Pulse Ox for blood oxygen saturation monitoring, contributing to a more complete picture of overall health alongside its running features.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: This device excels in continuous physiological monitoring, capturing data on heart rate variability (HRV), resting heart rate, respiratory rate, and skin temperature. It uses this data to provide comprehensive insights into recovery, sleep quality, and overall health trends, going beyond basic tracking to offer a deeper understanding of your body.
🔋 Battery Life
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Forerunner 165 offers practical battery life for runners, providing up to 11 days in smartwatch mode and up to 19 hours with continuous GPS tracking. This ensures sufficient power for regular runs and daily wear without constant recharging.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: The WHOOP 4.0 features a battery life of up to 5 days on a single charge, designed for continuous wear. A convenient sliding battery pack allows for charging while wearing the device, minimizing downtime and ensuring uninterrupted data collection.
😴 Sleep Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: Detailed sleep tracking on the Forerunner 165 monitors sleep stages and provides insights into sleep quality and patterns, helping users understand their recovery for optimal training and daily performance.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: Advanced sleep tracking is a core strength of the WHOOP 4.0, meticulously analyzing sleep stages (light, deep, and REM sleep) and providing a detailed Sleep Score. It offers personalized sleep coaching based on your circadian rhythm and recovery needs, helping you optimize your sleep for performance.
📍 GPS Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: Equipped with built-in GPS, the Forerunner 165 provides accurate outdoor activity tracking for running, walking, and cycling without needing a paired smartphone. It delivers reliable pace, distance, and route data essential for runners.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: The WHOOP 4.0 does not have built-in GPS. It can utilize connected GPS via a paired smartphone to track outdoor activities and distance, but its primary focus is on physiological strain rather than precise location tracking during workouts.
🏋️ Workout Modes
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: While primarily a running watch, the Forerunner 165 supports additional activity profiles including cycling, pool swimming, HIIT, and cardio, providing relevant metrics for these exercises alongside its core running features.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: Instead of discrete workout modes, the WHOOP 4.0 tracks "Strain" across all activities, providing a single metric for daily exertion. You can log specific activities in the app for context, but the focus is on the overall physiological load rather than individual workout types.
💫 Exercise Recognition
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The device includes automatic exercise detection for common activities such as walking and running through its Move IQ feature, ensuring these basic movements are captured in your activity log seamlessly.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: The device automatically detects workouts based on increases in heart rate and physiological strain, logging them within the WHOOP app without requiring manual initiation. This seamless recognition contributes to an accurate measure of daily Strain.
🍎 Compatibility
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Forerunner 165 is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, connecting via Bluetooth for seamless data synchronization and smart notifications.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: The WHOOP 4.0 works with both iOS and Android devices, connecting via Bluetooth to the WHOOP app for data syncing and detailed analytics.
📲 App Support
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: Synchronization with the comprehensive Garmin Connect app is central to the Forerunner 165 experience, providing detailed analysis of running data, activity metrics, health statistics, and sleep insights. The app allows for setting goals, reviewing training history, and connecting with the Garmin community.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: The WHOOP app is the central interface for the WHOOP 4.0 experience, providing in-depth analysis of recovery, strain, and sleep data. It offers personalized insights, coaching recommendations, and community features, requiring a paid membership to access the full range of analytics and features.
💡 Smart Features
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: Beyond its running focus, the Forerunner 165 includes essential smart functionalities such as on-wrist notifications for calls, texts, and calendar alerts. It also supports Garmin Pay for contactless payments (on the Music version, if applicable, but the data for 167 is just Forerunner 165, so sticking to basics) and allows for controlling music on a paired smartphone.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: The WHOOP 4.0 is designed for continuous physiological monitoring and recovery analysis and does not include traditional smartwatch features such as notifications for calls, texts, or apps. Its functionality is entirely focused on health and performance data visible within the app.
💦 Water Resistance
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: With a water resistance rating of 50 meters (5 ATM), the Forerunner 165 is suitable for swimming and showering, making it a durable companion for triathletes and those who incorporate swimming into their fitness routine.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: With a water resistance rating of up to 10 meters, the WHOOP 4.0 is suitable for swimming and showering, designed for continuous wear throughout various activities and environments.
⌚ Display Quality
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Forerunner 165 features a sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) color display, offering good readability in various lighting conditions, especially bright sunlight, which is ideal for outdoor running. The display technology is also power-efficient.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: The WHOOP 4.0 has no display on the device itself. All health and performance data, insights, and analytics are viewed exclusively through the comprehensive WHOOP app on a paired smartphone.
👌 Ease of Use
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The device utilizes a five-button interface, which is reliable and easy to operate during runs or workouts. The user interface is designed for straightforward navigation and quick access to running data and essential features.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: The device is designed for minimal interaction on the wrist, with a simple, comfortable band for continuous wear. The user experience is centered around the intuitive and data-rich WHOOP app, making tracking effortless once set up.
✨ Design and Comfort
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Forerunner 165 features a lightweight and comfortable design with a soft silicone band, making it ideal for extended wear during training sessions and everyday activities, prioritizing a secure and comfortable fit for runners.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: The WHOOP 4.0 features a sleek and minimalistic design, worn as a lightweight band or integrated into apparel. Its focus is on comfort and discretion for continuous wear, utilizing durable materials for all-day and all-night tracking.
🩸 SpO2 Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: An integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for monitoring blood oxygen saturation levels during sleep and spot-checks, providing valuable data related to acclimatization and overall physiological well-being, complementing its health tracking suite.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: The WHOOP 4.0 includes an SpO2 sensor for monitoring blood oxygen saturation levels, primarily as part of its comprehensive sleep and recovery analysis. This data contributes to a more complete picture of physiological well-being.
💖 ECG Functionality
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: It is important to note that the Garmin Forerunner 165 does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: It is important to note that the WHOOP 4.0 does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
🧘 Stress Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Forerunner 165 tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help users manage stress and promote overall well-being.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: Stress is implicitly tracked and analyzed through the WHOOP 4.0's continuous monitoring of heart rate variability (HRV) and its impact on daily Strain and Recovery scores, providing insights into how daily stressors affect your physiological state.
🩹 Recovery Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: The Body Battery energy monitoring feature provides insights into the body's energy reserves based on activity, stress, and sleep data, helping users understand their physiological readiness for training or the need for rest, contributing to optimized recovery for runners.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: Recovery tracking is a core strength of the WHOOP 4.0. It provides a personalized daily Recovery score based on sleep quality, heart rate variability (HRV), resting heart rate, and respiratory rate, offering actionable insights to help users optimize rest and performance.
💳 Subscription
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: A significant benefit of the Garmin platform is that all core features and data tracked by the Forerunner 165 are accessible through the free Garmin Connect app, requiring no additional subscription fees for essential running metrics, activity tracking, or health insights, providing comprehensive value for an entry-level running watch.
2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: ✅ A mandatory paid WHOOP membership (subscription) is required to access the data, insights, and features within the WHOOP app. The membership fee covers access to the platform and analytics, as the device itself is typically included with the membership
🏷️️ Price
1️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 165: $349.00
Check Garmin Forerunner 165 Price *2️⃣ WHOOP 4.0: $30/month subscription for access to WHOOP’s health tracking, analytics, and personalized insights.
Check WHOOP 4.0 Price ** If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you