Garmin Forerunner 165 vs RingConn Gen 2
Dead heat — 84 vs 84. Your use case is the tiebreaker.
Both are strong — the call comes down to what you prioritise:
- Garmin Forerunner 165 — You coach runners or endurance clients and want Garmin's training data without the €500 tier.
- RingConn Gen 2 — Buy it if you want Oura-level sleep and recovery tracking without a monthly fee and value the best battery life on the market.
Garmin Forerunner 165
The best-value entry into Garmin's training ecosystem — bright AMOLED, ~11-day battery, and the metrics that matter, without the €500 price.
RingConn Gen 2
The RingConn Gen 2 is the strongest no-subscription answer to Oura: class-leading battery (up to 12 days plus a ~150-day charging case), a genuinely thin, light titanium build, solid sleep and heart-rate accuracy, and no monthly fee. The app is dense and less polished than Oura's, but for anyone who resents subscriptions, it's the smart ring to beat.
Compare side-by-side
| Garmin Forerunner 16584Scorefrom€249Review → | RingConn Gen 284Scorefrom€269Review → | |
|---|---|---|
| Form factor | Watch (running) | — |
| Battery life | ~11 days | — |
| Screen | AMOLED | — |
| Sleep tracking | Yes | — |
| Recovery / HRV | Body Battery | — |
| Subscription | None | — |
| Water resistance | 50 m (5 ATM) | — |
Prices are our researched reference points.
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