Garmin Forerunner 945 Review

If running on roads and in cities is your primary goal, there is no better watch on the market than Garmin Forerunner 945.

Garmin Forerunner 945 Review

It’s easy to set up.

Even though the Garmin Forerunner 945 can do a lot, it’s easy to set up right out of the box. It comes partially charged, and you must download the Garmin Connect app, answer a few simple questions, and pair it with the watch to get started. This whole process takes less than 10 minutes.

Customizing the data fields within an activity like running, which was my top priority, is the only part of the setup that isn’t obvious. Even though the pre-set displays were fine, I wanted some metrics, like distance, pace, and average pace, to stand out more than others. As usual, YouTube helped me out, and after just a few minutes of watching and messing around, my running data fields were the way I like them.

Runners need a battery that lasts a long time.

The long battery life of the Garmin Forerunner 945 is a big plus. Garmin says it can be used for two weeks as a smartwatch (without GPS or music), up to 36 hours with GPS on, and up to 10 hours with GPS on and music playing. Even though I can’t confirm those exact numbers, I can say that the watch kept its charge well and never ran out of power when I wasn’t expecting it to. I like that I can run more than 300 miles with the GPS before charging it again. This is especially helpful on days when I tend to forget things.

It looks nice but for people with small wrists.

The Garmin Forerunner 945 is a good-looking watch. I think it’s about as stylish as a sports watch can get. It takes up a lot of space on my wrist, though. It doesn’t weigh nearly as much as it looks, but it needs a very tight strap to stay in place. The size isn’t a problem for easy runs, but it gets in the way for hard workouts like mile repeats or track intervals. Even worse, it’s not comfortable to sleep in, and I often found myself loosening it in the middle of the night, even though I knew that would probably mess up how well I slept.

The heart-rate monitor was wrong.

If you have a small wrist, but a big watch, tracking your heart rate while working out can be challenging. Even though I wore the strap tight enough to leave marks on my wrist, my heart rate readings were still wrong. People say my heart rate went up to over 190 beats per minute on easy runs. This is unlikely for anyone talking at an average pace, but it would also be higher than any max heart rate I’ve ever shown in a lab.

Conclusion

The Garmin Forerunner 945 is for serious runners and triathletes who want a lightweight device with advanced features. It has many features, like storing music and letting you pay for things wirelessly. It also has advanced health monitoring and Garmin Connect, the software platform with the most features. This is the model for you if you are an experienced athlete or want the lightest, newest, and best. When choosing this kind of design, you give up durability and the look of high-quality materials, but the weight savings are well worth it when time is of the essence.