Are you on the search for a highly reliable, accurate and feature-rich fitness watch? If so, then you’ll definitely want to check out our Garmin Instinct Crossover vs Forerunner 955 comparison. Both are top-notch watches for athletes of any level, offering an array of features that make them great options for anyone looking to seriously track and monitor their training sessions. In this article, we will be comparing these two exceptionally well-made performance watches from Garmin and see which one is better when it comes to accuracy, reliability and overall versatility in training. So if you’re curious about which model offers more bang for your buck keep reading!
Garmin Instinct Crossover
Released on 8th Nov 2022, Garmin Instinct Crossover is a hybrid smartwatch and an upgrade over other Instinct watches.
A slick combination of analog watch hands and digital display makes it a classic watch with modern functionality.
It welcomes the addition of RevoDrive technology that calibrates the analog watch hands after receiving a brutal whack.
Another addition is Super-Luminova coating, enabling the analog hands and hour markers to be visible in the pitch dark.
Encompassing a military-grade toughness and available in Solar and Tactical versions, this smartwatch is designed specifically for adventure.
An excellent battery life, especially solar charging, ensures it will never run out of juice on your next big hike.
Garmin Forerunner 955
Released on 30th June 2022, Garmin Forerunner 955 is an arguably cheaper but better smartwatch than other Garmin devices like Fenix 7 and Epix 2. It looks chunky with a large battery but is actually lightweight, clocking at just 52 grams.
Equipped with new Training readiness functionality, it gives you a readiness score based on your health on a given day.
Another new feature includes a Morning Report that provides an outlook on your workout plans, HRV, and sleep as soon as you wake up.
Brimming with full maps, a responsive touch screen, and decent battery life, this is a premium runner’s watch. Besides, it comes in both solar and non-solar variants.
Garmin Instinct Crossover vs Forerunner 955: Design and Display
Garmin Instinct Crossover
Featuring a 0.9in screen, Power Glass lens, and MIP transflective display, Garmin Instinct Crossover offers vibrant visibility while conserving energy.
A dual-layered bezel and MIL-STD-810G design make it ideal for intense outdoor recreation.
It comes with Revo-Drive technology to calibrate analog hands automatically if the watch receives a fall. It is also thermal and shockproof.
A Super-LumiNova coating makes the hour markers and analog hands luminescent in the dark. The smartwatch also allows you to download or customize watch faces.
Moreover, when using the menu, the watch hours will get out of the way, allowing you to toggle the menu smoothly.
This watch offers the highest 10ATM water rating in smartwatches, enabling you to wear it in up to 100 meters of water.
Forerunner 955
Featuring a 1.3in touch screen, a transflective 64-color display, and a Corning Gorilla Glass-protected lens, Forerunner 955 has a sturdy look and feel.
But unlike its chunky design, it clocks at 52 grams and is actually lightweight to wear, attuning perfectly to your body.
Equipped with five traditional buttons, it allows you to toggle the menu in case you find the touchscreen less precise due to rain or sweaty hands. You can also assign quick buttons for fast and easy access to various features.
The watch face is customizable, so you can choose from tons of built-in watch faces and customize them.
Or better, make your own watch faces with your photos. Also, you can download watch faces from the Garmin Connect IQ store.
Garmin Instinct Crossover vs Forerunner 955: Smart Features
Garmin Instinct Crossover
The Instinct Crossover comes equipped with smart features like a built-in GPS covering five satellites for improved accuracy. It also offers Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity.
An Incident Detection function auto-sends live location to your loved ones, while a TracBack feature will provide breadcrumb and turn-by-turn navigation. A Reference Point also allows you to track a known location.
It includes support for Garmin Pay, Connect app, smartphone notifications, email, texts, and music controls. A sleep tracking feature monitors REM cycles while a Body Battery function measures your energy levels all day.
Other smart features encompass heart rate, blood sugar and oxygen monitoring, and fitness tracking. Additionally, the Tactical Edition comes with a kill switch to delete user data for security purposes and a night vision functionality for reading the watch face through goggles.
A Stealth mode allows you to switch off the wireless connection when you want to go dark, while a Jumpstarter mode measures high-altitude release points when navigating.
Additional sensors offer an altimeter, barometer, and compass to measure location and altitude and give weather forecasts.
Forerunner 955
The Forerunner 955 is chock full of smart features. It comes with a pulse oximeter, heart rate sensor, altimeter, barometer, and compass to monitor your health, altitude, and weather during outdoor activities.
A sleep tracking feature tracks your sleep cycles, while an HRV status gives you valuable insight into your health, training, and recovery time while you sleep. You can also check the history of your recent workouts.
Other smart features include phone notifications, NFC payments, music storage, and Spotify Premium account support.
You can also download widgets from the Garmin Connect app to customize them to your liking. A 5ATM swim proof rating makes it wearable in up to 50 meters of water.
Multi-GNSS support offers increased outdoor activity tracking, and full-colored maps allow you to set routes. It also provides Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity. Furthermore, a clever ClimbPro feature highlights climbs and descents in your route.
Garmin Instinct Crossover vs Forerunner 955: Sports Features
Garmin Instinct Crossover
The Garmin Instinct Crossover is laden with multisport features like high-intensity workouts, including AMRAP, EMOM, and Tabata.
Other popular sports it boasts include strength training, yoga, golf, MTB cycling, running, etc. A Grit and Flow feature will measure trail difficulties while hiking or mountain biking.
If you feel exhausted from a workout, a recovery function will let you know when you will be ready for the next activity. The Crossover boasts an HRM-Pro function that calculates your running power during running activity.
You can also create your own custom sports modes and track intensity minutes for your workout.
Nonetheless, the Crossover can give you detailed information about your daily workouts depending on your fitness level.
Forerunner 955
The Forerunner 955 is laden with sports and activity-tracking functions. It offers comprehensive stats for multisport modes, including triathlon. Or you can create your own custom sports profile.
A Training Readiness functionality gives you a readiness score based on your health, sleep quality, and training load. So you can determine whether you are ready for strenuous activity.
In addition, a Morning Report provides an overview of your training, recovery, and sleep outlook as soon as you wake up. This feature also allows you to customize the report per your viewing requirement.
You can view your entire week of daily suggested workouts that change every day to match your performance.
Additionally, a Race Widget allows you to set a date for your next activity, plus adjust daily workout suggestions and predict weather around that date. It also offers insightful training tips.
A Garmin Coach feature provides free training for marathon programs and expert guidance from renowned coaches. You can view both your running power and get stamina measurements in real-time.
An HRM-Pro Plus Monitor measures your running dynamics, while a VO2 Max metric counts changes in performance based on heat or elevation.
This smartwatch also comes with a Body Battery function that scores energy levels based on stress, recovery time, training load, HRV, and sleep.
A PacePro feature also guides you to retain your pace throughout the activity based on elevation. While grade adjustment allows you to set your pace so you won’t exhaust before the activity is over.
Garmin Instinct Crossover vs Forerunner 955: Battery Performance
Garmin Instinct Crossover
The battery life of Instinct Crossover is outstanding, with the watch lasting for 28 days in smartwatch mode and with solar charging for 71 days.
In battery save mode with solar charging, you can expect the battery to last for an infinite time. The battery life is 25 hours in GPS mode, and with solar charging, it can extend to 31 hours.
Forerunner 955
The battery performance of the Forerunner 955 is decent. It offers 15 days of battery life in battery save mode, and in Expedition GPS mode, it can last up to 40 hours.
The solar version of this watch provides 20 days of battery life in smartwatch mode, and in GPS mode, it will last for 49 hours.
Garmin Instinct Crossover vs Forerunner 955: Pricing
Garmin Instinct Crossover
The Instinct Solar charging variant is available in Tactical and Standard Editions. You can get the Tactical Edition for $599.99 and the Standard Edition for $549.99. The Non-Solar Edition is available for $499.99.
Forerunner 955
The Forerunner 955 Solar version with HRM-Pro Plus is available for $729.98, and without HRM-Pro Plus, you can get it at $599.99.
But the non-solar version of this watch doesn’t include HRM-Pro Plus and is available at $499.99.
Garmin Instinct Crossover vs Forerunner 955: Which one to buy?
So here was our comparison for both Garmin smartwatches. Do you find it helpful?
Unlike the Instinct Crossover, which supports rugged adventures, Forerunner 955 is made for running. So, you’ll find its features specifically designed around marathons, and the GPS and health monitoring lacking a bit in precision.
Moreover, its 64-colored display lacks vibrancy and is nowhere near the Crossover’s MIP bright and energy-saving display. A 5ATM water-resistant rating also falls short of Crossover’s 10ATM rating.
The Forerunner 955’s Solar version without HRM-Pro Plus offers the same price as the Instinct Crossover’s Tactical Edition with HRM-Pro and solar charging.
However, with Crossover, you also get a longer battery life of 71 days, HIIT and MTB tracking, safety, advanced health features, and breadcrumb navigation.
Therefore, Garmin Instinct Crossover is the best Garmin device you can get your hands on. From the time of its release, it has been a hit in the target market for adventure smartwatches.
If you love to wear their smartwatch while on an adventure, you’ll definitely enjoy this smartwatch’s night vision, kill switch, jumpstarter, and stealth features.
If you are looking for more comparisons, do check SmartwatchRepublic for the latest comparisons.
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