Garmin’s Forerunner 170 is a solid running watch that brings great performance and smart features, all in a light and small package, and I particularly loved the Music version for phoneless short runs and activities. The watch was even found to be very accurate, according to my colleague Matt Evans’ testing.
At AU$479 (or AU$549 for the Music version), however, it isn’t the most affordable as far as fitness smartwatches go — so when I found the older (but higher-tier) Forerunner 265 discounted by 38% on Amazon, I knew this was a deal too tempting to pass up.
Featuring a more accurate dual-band GPS technology, 13 days of battery life, more size options and on-watch music storage, the Forerunner 265 is hard to beat for just AU$498.
This discount takes what our reviewer called the best running watch for most people in 2023 to its all-time low price on Amazon, which is about AU$50 cheaper than during recent sale events like EOFY and Prime Day. The smaller 42mm Forerunner 265S is also available for the same price and in more colours.View Deal
The Garmin Forerunner 265 was the first small Forerunner model with a touchscreen AMOLED display, replacing its predecessor’s monochrome memory-in-pixel display, to make it look and feel similar to something like an Apple Watch or a Samsung Galaxy Watch.
It also features dual-band or multi-frequency GPS for high-precision tracking in dense cities or heavy tree cover, which is technically superior to the Forerunner 170’s single-frequency multi-GNSS tracking.
The 170 is only available in the single 43mm size, while the 265 comes in 46mm and the smaller 265S is 42mm, providing more options for different wrist sizes.
The biggest criticism from our reviewer is the Forerunner 265’s price hike over its predecessor, and slightly worse battery life, which can be credited to the switch to an AMOLED display, but this discount takes care of the former in spades.
Interested in other Garmin products? Check out the latest Garmin Australia coupons here.
