Apple Watch Series 12 vs Garmin Forerunner 265
Same training tier and only $50 apart, but the Forerunner 265 wins clearly on substance: dual-band GPS, real offline maps, double the GPS battery life, and an established higher rating.
AppleApple Watch Series 12
GarminGarmin Forerunner 265
- •You're on iPhone and want one device for everything, apps, messages, and running
- •Full smartwatch convenience matters more to you than GPS precision or maps
- •You want dual-band GPS accuracy, real offline maps, and Android compatibility Apple can't offer
- •$50 more is an easy call given what you're actually getting for it
The Series 12 brings a new Health Sensing System that reads heart rate every five seconds and rolls it into a 0-10 daily Readiness score, plus a genuinely longer 10-hour outdoor workout battery, up 25% from the Series 11. GPS is still single-band, same as the Series 11, so it's solid on open roads but can drift under heavy tree cover or between tall buildings. If that matters, the Ultra 4's dual-band GPS is the upgrade.
The 265 pairs a bright touchscreen with real training-load and recovery metrics, without pushing into flagship pricing. It remains one of the most recommended running watches on the market for good reason: it just covers the bases extremely well.
*Estimated — this model's exact GPS battery life isn't published by the manufacturer. All figures are standard GPS mode, midsize case, no solar boost.
†Estimated — this model launched too recently to have an established customer rating yet.
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