This review of the Garmin Forerunner 245 will confirm what many runners already believe: this is an excellent mid-range running watch. The Forerunner 245 straddles the razor-thin line between being reasonably priced and not making too many compromises, making it one of the best running watches for the money.
The Garmin Forerunner 245 delivers many features for the money, catering to serious athletes and casual runners. Beginner runners will find the Garmin Coach compatibility helpful and value the improved Elevate heart rate sensor and the fast GPS chip. The VO2 max levels & training status can both be estimated by the Forerunner 245 as well.
At £249.99 / $299.99, the Garmin Forerunner 245 costs £50 less than its predecessor did when it was first introduced four years ago. It is currently available in the UK, US, and Australia.
Another multisport watch with long battery life is the Coros Apex (£300), and another good alternative is the Polar Vantage M, whose price frequently falls below £200 rather than above £300. Both will be more useful to triathletes than the Forerunner 245, which has modes designed explicitly for open-water swimming or triathlons, but none has music.
There is competition from watches for under $200, depending on what you require from your wearable. Even if the Forerunner 45 from Garmin doesn’t offer music or the full complement of sophisticated tracking functions found on the Forerunner 245, many runners will still find it satisfactory. Finally, the Polar Ignite is a fantastic all-around sports watch with some features unique recovery features.
Compared to the Forerunner 235, the Forerunner 245 features a softer, more elegant design. Notably, it has softer lines and a less boxy appearance. With a few minor adjustments here and there, the 245 maintains the five-button layout typical of many of Garmin’s running watches. With the addition of a red ring surrounding it and a red hash mark on the watch bezel, the Start/Stop button in the upper right corner now stands out slightly more.
The Forerunner 245 features a case 42mm smaller than its predecessor’s, yet it has an almost identical screen, measuring 30.4mm. Its resolution is more significant (240 x 240), but more importantly, it doesn’t have a flat-tire appearance. Simply said, the display appears more brilliant and vibrant.
The Forerunner 245’s silicone band can be exchanged for any other 20mm quick-release band by Garmin. The design is subtle enough that you may wear it anyplace without worrying that it will attract unwelcome attention, even though this and the watch’s plastic bezel plainly distinguish it as a sports watch.
The Forerunner 245’s screen now boasts a 240 × 240 resolution rather than the 215 x 180 resolution of the Forerunner 235, which adds a pleasant touch of sharpness & better detail that wasn’t available in the 235. The 1.2-inch screen is also a reasonable size, providing you with the information you require without overwhelming you.
If you are familiar with Garmin products, you will know that the company does not achieve display brightness via a backlit AMOLED screen, as with many other smartwatches. Instead, it uses transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) technology, which depends on outside lights to illuminate the screen and the displayed content.
There is no touchscreen present, but that is on purpose. In addition to improving performance for various physical activities, particularly those performed in the water, it also preserves vital battery life. This button layout requires some getting used to if you’re unfamiliar with Garmin’s products. However, after a short while, it will all make sense.
The Garmin Forerunner 245 is fully customizable, just like all other Garmin smartwatches: you may change the watch face, the activities list, the widget arrangement, the controls, the sensors, or anything else you can think of.
The Garmin Forerunner 245 contains many capabilities, even though it may not be the most feature-rich Garmin watch. Access to the most crucial features will save you time, especially if you’re trying to work out. By pressing a button, you may quickly access all the essential features, such as music, notifications, and more, from the quick access menu.
Garmin keeps things simple when navigating all the menus. You can change watch faces, widgets, and sensor settings by holding the middle button on the left side while pressing and holding the button. However, because of all the functions on the watch, there are so many options and submenus that it’s easy to get lost. The home screen will finally appear after pressing the Back button.
Start the Forerunner 245’s running mode, and you can configure it to display any combination of various stats throughout a run, with up to 4 data fields per screen. A unique Navigation screen that displays a straight black line on a white track of your run can be added in addition to the dedicated Music Controls panel. Garmin’s Running Dynamics screen, which displays data such as your ground-contact time to help you fine-tune your running style, is also available if you have a compatible footpod.
The Forerunner 245 also has a virtual companion screen that serves as a pace-setter. The Forerunner 245 will display you how far ahead or behind that pace you are currently running at any given time. You set the speed you want your virtual running partner to maintain. The watch also has a helpful Race Pacer mode that lets you set your desired finish time for a specific distance, and the device will assist you to stay on track to meet your objective—or let you know how far you’re falling behind.
Other features more geared toward runners include the opportunity to race one of your past runs. When you combine the watch with a running dynamics pod, you can get extra information like your stride length, ground contact duration, and amount of step bounce.
Additionally, you can instantly connect the Forerunner 245 to Wi-Fi networks to enable automatic syncing without launching the Garmin app on your smartphone.
If you want to use your smartwatch as a music player while working out, you can purchase the more expensive Garmin Forerunner 245 Music model.
With the additional payment, the smartwatch will have enough space for about “500 songs” worth of local song downloads. Despite having WiFi, this model requires you to manually download the songs using the dedicated Garmin Express PC app, plug in the smartwatch, and use WiFi.
According to Garmin, you can use Garmin Forerunner 245 continuously for seven days or continuously track GPS for twenty-four hours. While the 245’s total battery life is less than its predecessor’s, the GPS battery life has grown significantly to 24 hours from 11 hours in typical GPS mode.
Four days of constant use, including tracking sleep and five different sports/activities, results in a 47 percent battery depletion, which is better than Garmin’s seven days of continuous use.
If you were curious about charging times, the Garmin Forerunner 245 could go from absolutely dead to fully charge in under an hour.
In light of the Forerunner 245’s significant upgrades since the launch of its predecessor, the answer is definitely yes. The Garmin Forerunner 245 is the must-have running watch for runners in 2022, replacing the Forerunner 235, which is still a good running watch.
The Forerunner 245 will also display notifications from your smartphone. However, unlike a true smartwatch like the Apple Watch or the Samsung Galaxy Watch, it does not allow you to reply to messages, make phone calls, or use voice assistants like Siri.
The Garmin Forerunner 245 is a fantastic option for runners of all skill levels because of its low price, an abundance of features for both casual and serious runners, and cutting-edge technology. It will fit comfortably even on smaller, bonier wrists because of its compact and light hardware, and its under-40 gram weight won’t strain anyone’s arm. 240 by 240-pixel screen only offers three data fields on the screen, so if you need more real-time info when you run, choose a larger model like the Forerunner 945 or even the Fenix 6. The tiny form factor does come with inevitable trade-offs.
Beginner runners who are about to switch from a fitness tracker or fitness smartwatch to a dedicated running watch might consider the Garmin Forerunner 245. These runners can train for their first longer race by using the Garmin Coach function and advanced running stats to run faster and more effectively.
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