Garmin Forerunner 165 Review: A Previous Model at $199.99, With the Altimeter the Forerunner 70 Drops

Black Garmin Forerunner 165 GPS running watch with a slate gray silicone band, shown at an angle on a white background with its round AMOLED screen displaying 10:10

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In this guide

THE SHORT VERSION

Garmin put the Forerunner 70 and Forerunner 170 on sale in May 2026 at $249.99 and $299.99, and the 165 is still on the US store at its 2024 launch price of $249.99 in two colors, shipping in one to three business days. What changed is where Garmin keeps it: the watch's own page now runs Sports & Fitness > Running > Previous Models. Amazon itself listed the black 165 at $199.99 against that $249.99 list on 2026-09-27, and the Whitestone at $209.99, so the older watch now costs $50 less than the new Forerunner 70.

The 165 answers the phone-free part of the question directly. It has satellites of its own, a 43 mm case at 39 g, and a spec sheet that keeps the barometric altimeter, compass, thermometer and Garmin Pay that the Forerunner 70 does not list. The manual then draws a second line: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth sensors belong to the music model only, so everything that moves between this watch and the internet moves through a phone.

Our verdict

Buy it at $199.99 on Amazon if you run or ride phone-free and want the altimeter, contactless payments and 4 GB that Garmin's newer $249.99 Forerunner 70 leaves off its sheet. Skip it if Training Readiness and the 70's longer battery are the point.

A good fit for: Runners and cyclists who leave the phone at home and want pace, distance, elevation and floors from the watch itself, plus wrist payments on the way back.
We would skip it if: You only want notifications and sleep, or you want Training Readiness, Sleep Coach and the 23-hour GPS-only figure the Forerunner 70 lists for $50 more.

Reasons to consider it

GPS, GLONASS and Galileo sit on the sensor list, and Garmin rates the watch at up to 19 hours in GPS-only mode and up to 17 hours with all systems on
The 165 sheet carries a barometric altimeter, compass, thermometer and Garmin Pay, none of which appear on the $249.99 Forerunner 70, and 4 GB of storage against the 70's 512 MB
20 mm industry-standard quick-release bands and a 5 ATM rating, so a worn strap is an off-the-shelf 20 mm part and both pool and open-water swim profiles are on board

The compromises

The manual restricts Wi-Fi and Bluetooth sensors to the music model, so this watch uploads and updates through a paired phone or a USB cable into Garmin Express, and external sensors must speak ANT+
Garmin's own page files it under Running > Previous Models and still charges $249.99 for both US colors; the $199.99 Amazon price was checked on one day and Garmin.com did not match it
Charging runs on a Garmin proprietary plug, the one-year warranty excludes damage from cables Garmin did not supply, and you pay shipping to the service center

What we have not verified: The 11-day smartwatch figure assumes activity tracking, phone notifications and wrist heart rate all running, with no published figure for what an always-on AMOLED takes off that. Garmin publishes no support horizon for a watch it has moved into Previous Models, which is the main thing a buyer cannot check. Stock, colors and the $249.99 price can also change as Garmin clears the remaining units. Garmin sells this watch in the US in two colors with no music variant, so the phone-free music question has no current 165 price to weigh against the $349.99 Forerunner 170 Music. The $199.99 and $209.99 Amazon prices are one day's reading.

The things in this guide

A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.

The phone-free GPS watch that keeps what the newer, pricier Forerunner 70 drops

Forerunner 165, Black/Slate Gray

$199.99 on Amazon buys GPS, GLONASS and Galileo with up to 19 hours in GPS-only mode, a barometric altimeter for elevation and floors, Garmin Pay and 4 GB of storage in a 43 mm, 39 g case, on standard 20 mm quick-release bands.

Before you buy: No Wi-Fi and no Bluetooth sensor support on this model, a proprietary charging plug, 11 days in smartwatch mode against the Forerunner 70's 13, and no Training Readiness, Training Status or Sleep Coach rows on its sheet.

$199.99 at Amazon $249.99 at Garmin

Price checked September 27, 2026. Retailer prices can change.

What the watch records with the phone at home

The sensor list on the 165's page names GPS, GLONASS and Galileo alongside the Elevate wrist heart rate monitor, Pulse Ox, barometric altimeter, compass, accelerometer, thermometer and ambient light sensor. Pace, distance and elevation therefore come from the watch itself. Garmin rates battery at up to 19 hours in GPS-only mode, up to 17 hours with all satellite systems on, and up to 25 hours in UltraTrac, which records track points less often. Smartwatch mode is up to 11 days, or up to 20 with the battery saver.

The running side is on the sheet rather than in an app subscription: GPS-based distance, time and pace, VO2 max for running and trail running, training effect including the anaerobic side, recovery time, HRV status, race predictor, PacePro pacing strategies, wrist-based running power and cadence, stride length and ground contact time. Two gaps: the sheet lists ground contact time but not ground contact balance, and respiration rate during exercise is limited to yoga and breathwork. A 400 m track run and a treadmill session have their own profiles, so the phone-free case covers indoor work as well.

A previous model, priced under its replacement

The 165 page carries a Running > Previous Models breadcrumb, and both US colors show $249.99 with one to three business days, the same suggested retail price from Garmin's February 2024 announcement. Amazon is where the price moved: $199.99 for the black watch and $209.99 for Whitestone, Amazon.com selling both. The watch that occupies that slot in the current line is the Forerunner 70, also $249.99 today in six colors, and the 170 sits above it at $299.99. Above them the ladder is $449.99 for the 265 and $549.99 for the 570.

Read the 165 and 70 sheets against each other and the older watch is not simply the worse buy. The 70 wins on runtime, up to 13 days in smartwatch mode and 23 hours in GPS-only against 11 days and 19 hours, and it adds Training Readiness, Training Status and Sleep Coach. The 165 wins on hardware the 70 sheet does not carry: a barometric altimeter, a compass, a thermometer, Garmin Pay, open-water swim metrics and 4 GB of storage where the 70 lists 512 MB. Floors climbed is on the 165 list and not on the 70's. The Forerunner 170 at $299.99 puts that hardware back: its sheet lists the barometric altimeter, compass, thermometer, Garmin Pay and 4 GB, with up to 10 days in smartwatch mode and 20 hours GPS-only, for $100 more than the 165 on Amazon.

Where the phone comes back into it

Connected features require pairing through the Garmin Connect app, and the manual's list of them is specific: glances, the controls menu, notifications, safety and tracking features, and anything that comes from the phone apps. Weather and calendar data arrive from the phone. Courses and custom interval workouts are built in Garmin Connect and sent to the watch, which then runs them without the phone in hand; the manual also walks through setting up a PacePro plan on the watch itself from a course already loaded. Wind-adjusted running power uses wind data from the phone combined with the watch's own barometer, heading and speed, so the metric degrades to no-wind on a phone-free run.

The two restrictions that separate this watch from the music version are stated plainly in the manual: Wi-Fi is available only on the Forerunner music watch, and Bluetooth sensors are available only with a music watch. So activity uploads, software updates and downloaded training plans travel over a paired phone rather than a network of its own, and external speed, cadence or heart rate straps have to speak ANT+. Safety features have the same dependency with a sharper edge: Assistance and incident detection send your location through a paired phone that has a data plan and coverage, and Garmin states that the app does not contact emergency services for you.

Bands, a proprietary plug, and twelve months

The case is 43 by 43 by 11.6 mm and 39 g on a silicone strap, over a wrist range Garmin gives as 126 to 203 mm, with a chemically strengthened glass lens and a fiber-reinforced polymer bezel. Bands are 20 mm quick-release with a spring bar, which the manual shows swapping by hand and which the spec calls an industry standard, so a worn-out strap is an off-the-shelf part rather than a model-specific order. Water rating is 5 ATM, described as withstanding pressure to 50 m, and pool and open-water swim profiles are listed.

Charging is the weaker half of the accessory story: the spec lists a Garmin proprietary plug charger, and a fully depleted battery takes up to two hours. The Consumer Limited Warranty covers non-aviation products for one year from purchase, with the customer paying transportation and Garmin choosing repair, replacement or refund; a repaired or replaced unit then carries 90 days or the rest of the original year. Two exclusions connect to that plug. Damage from products connected to cables not supplied by Garmin is excluded, as is cosmetic wear, and in the US coverage applies only to units bought from Garmin or an authorized reseller.

Skip it if the phone is coming with you

If the run keeps the phone in a pocket, the 165 is more watch than the task needs. Garmin's own vívosmart 5 lists GPS speed and distance as connected GPS at $149.99, which is a band that borrows the phone's fix rather than a training computer, and that is the exact case this watch exists for. The Fitbit Charge 6 does keep built-in GPS on its own page at a $159.95 list price, so a runner happy with a band shape saves $40 against the 165's Amazon price and gives up the barometric altimeter, floors climbed and the training screens above.

Within Garmin the two hard skips are also clear. Runners after the newest coaching metrics belong on the Forerunner 70 at $249.99, $50 over the 165 on Amazon, which lists Training Readiness, Training Status and Sleep Coach and runs 23 hours in GPS-only mode; the 165 sheet carries no row for any of the three. And a runner wanting music on the wrist with no phone at all has nothing to buy here: the page lists two colors and no music variant, and the next watch up the line that lists music storage is the Forerunner 170 Music at $349.99, $150 above the 165's Amazon price.

How we put this together

Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.

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