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This is what you need to do if you want to have a good chance of being one of the first people to get a Garmin Forerunner 945 on your wrists in May 2019.
SPECS FURTHER BELOW
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Announcement Date
It’s live! All the info here
Garmin Forerunner 945 Specs Comparison to 935 + MARQ Athlete Preview Opinion
In-Stock Dates
I don’t know these exact dates, but many retailers will receive SOME stock within a couple of weeks ie by end of week 2 in May.
Pre-Orders
You can already place orders now. Quite a few sites have been offering pre-orders for a week or so. However this all changed last week when
Pre-Order USA
PRE-ORDERS NOW LIVE FROM PMC
In the USA, dealers have together placed larger orders on Garmin than Garmin are able to initially fulfill for the Forerunner 945. As a result, some, and perhaps all, retailers will NOT be receiving their full allocation immediately.
So your best option is to use your ‘trusted dealer’, whoever that might be, and hope your order is high enough up the list to get fulfillment from the first batch they receive.

Obviously I’m biased but my suggestion is to use PowerMeterCity. The price will likely be the same wherever you go. PowerMeterCity have placed a large order and have been promised that they will receive ‘partial early stock’ – this means a few tens of units.
If you place the code ‘THE5KRUNNER10’ in the order notes field, then I have an agreement with Josh @PowerMeterCity that these orders will ALL BE SHIPPED FIRST before his other customers, even if that means the entire initial allocation.
Of course there are other retailers who have probably placed larger orders and will probably get a bit more stock. But they will probably also experience greater demand. You can do the maths/economics, I’m sure.
Pre-Order UK
My suggested strategy for the UK is different.
Wiggle.co.uk are based in Portsmouth and Garmin are close-by in Southampton. I’m guessing that Wiggle/ChainReaction is the dominant UK customer of Garmin and will get a good chunk of stock.
ADDED BONUS: If you use the code NEWGB and if you are a new customer to Wiggle then you will get free delivery and a discount. Yep, even off a new 945. Well, at least I did with the Edges last week.
Pre-Order EU
I don’t know what’s the best thing for you to do here. Wiggle do actively service European markets (and the US too) but I don’t know how quickly you’ll get an order from Wiggle elsewhere in the EU.
Pre-Order General
This single link should work in ANY country, it knows what country you are in and should go through to a local retailer. In the USA, UK and EU it will go through to the exact same links as above for Wiggle and PowerMeterCity
Link: https://geni.us/GarminForerunner945
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Pre-Leaked Summary Specs, Below
Source: via @Chris/KV, all images here link to my original source will mean that they will disappear if the source is taken down. I think the true source is one of the online retailers trying to get a head start on pre-orders.
Garmin Forerunner 945
Garmin Forerunner 945 Premium Running Watch with Music $599 & $749 (tri bundle)
You’re an athlete, and this is your watch. The Forerunner®945 running watch lets you sync with premium music services to put your songs on your wrist when paired with a compatible smartphone(may require premium subscription). It also offers our most advanced physiological features, including training load balance and more. Also enjoy the convenience of quick, contactless payments solution (available for supported cards from participating banks)from the wrist with Garmin Pay™. With full-color, onboard maps to guide you on your run, you’ll never get lost during a workout. Wherever you go, built-in safety and tracking features —such as incident detection (during select activities), which sends you send your real-time location to emergency contacts through your paired compatible smartphone.
Product Features:
- Premium GPS running/triathlon smartwatch with music
- Sync music from select premium streaming services when paired with a compatible smartphone (may require premium subscription), or store up to 1,000 songs on your watch, and connect with headphones (sold separately) enabled with BLUETOOTH®technology for phone-free listening
- Performance monitoring features include VO2 max and training status with adjustments for heat, altitude acclimation status, training load focus, recovery time, and aerobic and anaerobic training effects
- Garmin Pay™ contactless payment solution (available for supported cards from participating banks) lets you make convenient payments with your watch so you can leave your cash and cards at home
- Full-color, onboard maps guide you on your run so you never get lost during your workout
- Safety and tracking features include incident detection (during select activities) which sends your real-time location to emergency contacts through your paired compatible smartphone
- Battery life: up to 2 weeks in smartwatch mode, 10 hours in GPS mode with music or up to 60 hours in UltraTrac™ mode
Note: this battery life note seems worrying and I would have hoped to have a GPS figure as well and for that figure to exceed 20 hours.
What’s in the Box:
- 945: Forerunner 945, Power/Data Cable, Documentation
- 945 Bundle: Forerunner 945, 1 set black bands, HRM-Tri™, HRM-Swim™, Quick Release Kit, Power/Data Cable, Documentation
Garmin Forerunner 945 Specs:
- Water rating: 5 ATM
- Unit dimensions: 1.9” (47 mm)
- Weight: 1.8 oz (50 g)
Garmin Forerunner 945 Imagery – Firstbeat Commentary
The images below show some new Firstbeat functions and I think they are all on the MARQ from memory, these are:
- Training Status with Elevation/Heat factored into the calcs
- Training effect summary screen with numerical Training Load
- VO2 Max trend screen
- 4 week “load focus” screen
Garmin Forerunner 945 Imagery: