The Garmin Forerunner 265 is our favorite running watch and it just hit its lowest price ever for Black Friday

I’ve tested almost every Garmin watch and when people ask me which one they should get, I usually suggest the Garmin Forerunner 265. It’s a lightweight, attractive AMOLED watch that’s ideal for runners in particular, offering most of Garmin’s key tracking and training analysis features at a price that’s much lower than the likes of the Forerunner 965 or Fenix 8.

That price is even lower right now — the Garmin Forerunner 265 is just $349 at Amazon, a $100 saving and the lowest price I’ve ever seen the watch, which is the newest model in its line. It’s our top pick in our round-up of the best running watches, and also suits triathletes thanks to its multisport mode.

The Forerunner 265 sits in the middle of Garmin’s range and is the best Garmin watch for most people, especially runners and triathletes. Our Garmin Forerunner 265 review (4.5/5 stars) shows that it offers reliable and detailed sports tracking and training analysis, plus useful smarts like music storage and NFC payments — all in a lightweight and attractive watch with a bright AMOLED screen. This deal at Amazon takes it down to its lowest ever price and the discount is available on the 42mm and 46mm watches.

I’ve been wearing the Garmin Forerunner 265 for the last few weeks and even as a very keen runner in the middle of marathon training, it does everything I need. The GPS tracking is reliably accurate; the screen is bright and clear in all conditions, it’s easy to program workouts into the watch to follow; and the training analysis is useful without throwing too much information at you.

I had been wearing the Forerunner 965 and Garmin Fenix 8 before the 265 and while those watches have some useful extra features, notably offline maps and longer battery life, the Forerunner 265 has its own advantage in being a smaller, lighter watch. That’s especially true of the Forerunner 265S, which has a 42mm case and is included in the sale along with the standard 46mm Forerunner 265.

It’s a great all-rounder that will suit the majority of sportspeople very well. If you do want a high-end Garmin model with a metal case and longer battery life, I’d look at the Garmin Epix 2 in the sales - you can get the Epix 2 for $399 at Walmart. At the other end of the range you can get the Garmin Forerunner 165 for $199 at Amazon, which is the cheapest Garmin’s entry-level AMOLED running watch has ever been.

Nick Harris-Fry is an experienced health and fitness journalist, writing professionally since 2012. He spent nine years working on the Coach magazine and website before moving to the fitness team at Tom’s Guide in 2024. Nick is a keen runner and also the founder of YouTube channel The Run Testers, which specialises in reviewing running shoes, watches, headphones and other gear.

Nick ran his first marathon in 2016 and became obsessed with the sport. He now has PBs of 2hr 25min for the marathon and 15min 30sec for 5K. Nick is also a qualified Run Leader in the UK.

Nick is an established expert in the fitness area and along with writing for many publications, including Live Science, Expert Reviews, Wareable, Coach and Get Sweat Go, he has been quoted on The Guardian and The Independent.