Forerunner series watches are designed to measure distance, speed, heart rate (optional), time, altitude, steps, and pace.

The new calorie consumption modelling in these devices was the result of Garmin's first collaboration with Finnish physiological analytics firm First beat.

[6][7] The 310XT was also the first watch of the Forerunner series to be waterproof, thus allowing its use for swimming and on all legs of a Triathlon, also thanks to extended battery life.

The releases included the addition of a touch-sensitive bezel on the 410, presumably, although heavily debated, allowing for easier scrolling and selection of functions.

New features introduced in this model are the inclusion of the Sifter iv chipset, a barometric altimeter, and improved swimming metrics using an accelerometer in the watch.

[11] A further addition to the series was the Forerunner 10, a simple watch offering just GPS tracking of activities and run metrics like distance, pace and calories burned.

At the end of 2013 the Forerunner 220 and 620 were introduced, with colour screens, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE; allowing connections to some smartphones), and, for the 620 only, a touchscreen, Wi-Fi (allowing automatic activity download) and enhanced "running dynamics" given by an updated Heart rate monitor.

The 15 is a development of the 10, adding activity tracking, increased battery life, footpad and heart rate monitor capability.

[17] In April 2017, Garmin announced the Forerunner 935, billing it as a watch for running and triathlons with features similar to the Fenix 5.

It has a 3rd generation optical heart rate monitor which features stress detection and Body Battery energy, along with earlier-generation OHR metrics.

The activity profiles include outdoor running, treadmill, walk, bike, and cardio, with the ability to configure more through Garmin Connect.

The 245 has Garmin Elevate with a 3rd generation optical heart rate monitor which features Pulse Ox, stress detection, Body Battery energy, along with earlier-generation OHR metrics.

Other new features of the 945 are heat and altitude acclimation, training load balance, mapping with Trendline popularity routing, respiration rate, Around me mode, Climber future elevation plot, cartography support and topographical maps, XERO location, and for the golfer, the 945 is preloaded with 41,000 courses.

The user can download a previously-travelled course/route to the Forerunner using Garmin's Communicator software together with the ANT+ technology, and then follow this course/route to "race" against this historical course/route.

However, the current version of the software has eliminated this option, requiring the user to acquire a newer model with a wireless connection in order to use this feature.