Late in cycle — a new model is likely coming
Best for: Regular runners who race 5K to marathon distances and want accurate GPS, detailed training load management, and long battery life. Multi-band GPS makes it particularly valuable for city runners or trail runners where single-band GPS loses accuracy.
Full details →Overdue for a refresh — no successor announced yet. Prices should be at their lowest
Best for: Android or iPhone users who want a balanced smartwatch with solid Fitbit health tracking, multi-day battery, and a clean square watch design — without the premium price of a Galaxy Watch or Apple Watch.
Full details →| Garmin Forerunner 265 | Fitbit Versa | |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | Sports GPS | Smartwatch |
| Platform | iOS & Android | iOS & Android |
| Battery | 13 days | 6 days |
| Always-on display | ❌ | ❌ |
| GPS | ✅ | ✅ |
| Cellular | ❌ | ❌ |
| Health sensors | hr, spo2, hrv, stress, body battery, training readiness | spo2, hr, hrv, eda stress |
| Released | Mar 1, 2023 | Sep 25, 2022 |
| Cycle length | 1188 days | 730 days |
| Cycle advice | bad | bad |
| Deals advice | good | good |
| Next model | — | — |
L1+L5 multi-band GPS reduces position drift in urban canyons and dense forest — a meaningful upgrade over single-band watches for competitive runners.
Daily score combining HRV status, sleep, acute load, and recovery time — tells you whether to train hard, easy, or rest on any given day.
Estimates your finish time for 5K, 10K, half-marathon, and marathon based on your current fitness — useful for pacing race-day strategy.
Rare for a smartwatch with real GPS and health sensors to work fully on both platforms — Versa 4 does.
Turn-by-turn navigation and NFC payments without needing your phone in hand.
Sleep stages, daily readiness score, Active Zone Minutes, and SpO2 — all on a 6-day charge.