• 

  Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional

  Samsung’s Professional wearable

  The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional improves upon the common variations of the wearable with a bigger display screen, longer battery and adventuring options. Consequently, it is Samsung’s priciest wearable so far.

  professionals

  • three-day battery
  • Premium look and design
  • Runs Put on OS, which means loads of apps

  Cons

  • No ANT+ assist
  • Questionable GPS monitoring
  • Just for bigger wrists

• 

  Supply: Garmin

  Garmin Forerunner 955

  The runner’s alternative

  The Forerunner 955 is Garmin’s top-of-the-range sports activities watch. What it lacks in smartwatch flexibility, it makes up for with health options that athletes will love.

  professionals

  • battery life for weeks
  • Good well being and health steerage
  • Very good train monitoring, expandable by way of ANT+

  Cons

  • Utilitarian design
  • Garmin OS is not very versatile
  • Restricted apps by way of Garmin IQ

With the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional, Samsung has gone all in on making probably the greatest Android smartwatches for outdoorsy varieties. And whereas it is undoubtedly a troublesome promote for these with small wrists, others will lap up the rugged design and longer battery life.

These enhancements seemingly put the Galaxy Watch into competitors with Garmin’s rugged and sporty choices. And beginning at $499, the Garmin Forerunner 955 is the obvious competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional, which begins at $449. So which is best for you? This is how the 2 evaluate in a number of key areas.

worth and availability

The Galaxy Watch 5 Professional is the most costly wearable in Samsung’s assortment, priced at $449 for those who’re pleased with simply Bluetooth connectivity, or $499 in order for you LTE — helpful for those who prefer to run with out your cellphone. The Garmin Forerunner 955, in the meantime, begins at $499 and does not have an LTE possibility on the time of writing.

But it surely does have its personal high-end model: the Forerunner 955 Photo voltaic. Because the title suggests, it has the facility to high up its built-in battery by way of the solar’s rays (although this is not supposed to switch a daily charger). It prices an additional $100 at $599.

design

Supply: Garmin

Whereas the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional and Garmin Forerunner 955 are very completely different trying, one factor they do have in frequent is heft. Neither is a watch designed with skinny wrists in thoughts, at 45.4mm or 46.5mm huge and weighing in at 46g and 52g, respectively.

However that is the place the similarities finish, and when it comes to pure fashion, it is a clear win for Samsung. As smartwatches go, it is a looker with a clear round design punctuated by two buttons on the right-hand aspect. The 1.4-inch AMOLED display screen is vibrant and vibrant with a 450×450 decision guaranteeing every thing feels impossibly sharp given its comparatively small display screen dimension. The one actual draw back is that Samsung has determined to retire the rotating bezel from the Galaxy Watch 4 Traditional. That is a pity, because it was each very satisfying to make use of and a superb various to inelegantly prodding a fiddly touchscreen.

The Garmin Forerunner 955, in the meantime, is extra utilitarian in design. Whereas it has a touchscreen, navigation is mainly managed by the 5 buttons surrounding the display screen. Mentioned display screen is a 1.3-inch 260 x 260px transflective MIP LCD — completely serviceable, however nowhere close to as eye-catching as Samsung’s providing.

It is also value flagging right here that whereas the Forerunner 255 will work with iOS or Android, Samsung has made the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional Android solely. Not solely that, however some options, akin to ECG and blood stress monitoring, require a Samsung smartphone, which feels unnecessarily awkward.

software program

That is the place the largest distinction between the 2 watches is. Crudely, the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional is a smartwatch that dabbles in sports activities, whereas the Forerunner 955 is a sports activities watch that dabbles in smarts. It’s kind of extra difficult than that, however that is a great way of prioritizing what’s essential to you.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional runs Google’s Put on OS, which signifies that you are spoiled for alternative when it comes to apps and customization choices. It additionally means loads of built-in Google providers, together with Maps, Gmail, and Google Assistant. It additionally permits you to use Google Pay or Samsung Pay for contactless funds from the wrist. The Forerunner 955 could make contactless funds, too, however solely by way of Garmin Pay, which fewer banks assist, particularly outdoors the USA.

The Forerunner 955’s software program is significantly much less versatile, laser targeted on well being and health as you’d count on. You possibly can change your watch face, and add further apps by way of the Garmin IQ retailer, however there aren’t an enormous quantity out there, and that does not seem like it is going to altering any time quickly. It will get notifications, however you’ll be able to’t reply to them out of your watch.

That mentioned, the Garmin Join app is likely one of the greatest round, with ridiculous quantities of train information to pore over. By comparability, Samsung Well being is significantly extra primary, and it nonetheless does not have an internet model, which means you need to do all your evaluation in your cellphone.

Well being and health

Supply: Garmin

What the Garmin Forerunner 955 lacks in fashion and versatile software program, it greater than makes up for when it comes to sports activities monitoring, which is second to none. In addition to monitoring every thing from Pickleball to Bouldering, the GPS is quick to attach and extremely dependable. Not left on GPS? The watch additionally helps GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDuo and QZSS, so you may get a lock on wherever you might be.

However that is solely scratching the floor of the Forerunner 955’s dedication to well being and health, with all types of options, together with stories to let you know how onerous to coach, based mostly in your sleep and power ranges. There’s additionally Stamina (which tells you the way a lot power you will have left throughout a given exercise), PacePro (which advises on tempo to match your elevation), and a race widget, which counts all the way down to a scheduled race together with your predicted efficiency based mostly in your coaching and physique metrics. It should even let you know what climate to count on on the large day.

Lastly, and most significantly to severe athletes, the Garmin Forerunner 955 helps ANT+ — a wi-fi protocol utilized in numerous train equipment like footpods and chest straps. In different phrases, the Forerunner 955 makes it simple for many who need much more information to get it.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional, then again (or wrist), does not assist ANT+, and is extra aimed toward adventurers than athletes. Whereas it tracks over 90 kinds of train, it seems like extra of an afterthought, and GPS readings are typically questionable.

Nonetheless, Samsung’s 3-in-1 BioActive sensor — which mixes coronary heart price, SpO2, physique composition and temperature — is not with out its charms for extra common wellness insights. You possibly can even use the watch to take an electrocardiogram or measure your blood stress — although the latter wants calibration by way of a devoted cuff, and each require a Samsung cellphone to make use of.

For the Professional mannequin, Samsung has launched GPX maps, however on the time of writing, this solely works for biking and mountaineering.

battery life

Since transferring away from its Tizen working system and onto Put on OS, battery life has been a little bit of an Achille’s heel of Samsung’s smartwatches. However the firm has corrected this with the Galaxy Watch 5 Professional, equipping it with a mammoth 590mAh cell. This provides you with as much as 80 hours of use, or 20 when you’ve got GPS enabled for all that point.

That is a good time for a Put on OS smartwatch, however the Forerunner 955 simply has it beat with a battery life that may be measured in days quite than hours. You possibly can count on as much as 15 days in smartwatch mode, or 42 hours of GPS exercise.

These figures are bumped to a mean of 20 and 49 hours for those who go for the photo voltaic mode (assuming first rate publicity to 50,000 lux mild).

Which is best for you?

Whereas when it comes to pricing and rugged branding, the Garmin Forerunner 955 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional seem like fairly comparable merchandise, they’re truly aimed toward completely different markets. One is a smartwatch that moonlights as a sports activities watch, whereas the opposite is a sports activities watch with some sensible performance. Devoted athletes will love how severely the Garmin Forerunner 955 treats health monitoring, each on the watch and within the Garmin Join app. However its seems are on the plain aspect, and it isn’t vastly versatile as wearables go, providing primary notifications and a restricted app retailer past its sporting core.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional, in the meantime, is an excellent smartwatch, however considerably much less convincing as a health tracker, each when it comes to accuracy and evaluation. But it surely’ll look fashionable whether or not working or within the workplace, and it provides loads of customization choices for those who wish to dig into Put on OS.

Each are on the expensive aspect, in fact, and it’s possible you’ll determine that cheaper merchandise from each corporations swimsuit you higher. The essential Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 begins at $280, whereas the Garmin Forerunner 255 is available in at $349. Each are fairly totally featured wearables, and it’s possible you’ll determine to save lots of a couple of bucks and go for certainly one of them as an alternative.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Professional improves upon the common variations of the wearable with a bigger display screen, longer battery and adventuring options. Consequently, it is Samsung’s priciest wearable so far.

Supply: Garmin

Garmin Forerunner 955

The Forerunner 955 is Garmin’s top-of-the-range sports activities watch. What it lacks in smartwatch flexibility, it makes up for with health options that athletes will love.