The Garmin Forerunner 245 running watches (x2) have arrived and represent very interesting additions to Garmin's 2019 range, for now, let's take a long look at the Garmin 245 Specs and compare to the old Forerunner 235 and higher-end 645. Return to the main Garmin 245 Review [wp-review id="39891"] Where Are We? The earlier, Garmin Forerunner 235 from 2015 was a sporty-looking, mid-market running watch. It did all the right running things for broadly the right price and added some of the 'smarts' that became more prevalent around that time. Fast forward almost 4 years to the Forerunner 245 (Music) and the older 235 still holds its own as a running watch in my eyes. However tech has moved on and you, the consumer, have moved on in what you might expect these devices to do. Garmin understands that and has significantly revamped and extended their offering as well as re-packaging it into more of a 'regular watch' format rather than the plastic, yet sporty, look and feel of the older 235. What Is The Forerunner 245? What's New? It's an entry-level performance running watch. It's perfectly fine for beginners and seasoned runners alike but it adds a little more flexibility and tech over an above the lower end models like the 2019 Forerunner 45 (forty-five). The new Forerunner 245 entirely replaces the position in Garmin range held by the 235. This makes it more of a benchmark device. If you are looking around for a new running watch then it's a good idea to compare whatever you are thinking of buying to the 245. What's New - Hardware Base The Forerunner 245, when compared to the 235, is basically a totally different bit of kit. The shell has obviously changed as the watch looks different, yet pretty much everything else on the inside has changed too: ELEVATE HR/SpO2 sensor; GNSS/GPS/GLONASS/GALILEO Chip (Sony); battery; screen; all of it. Even compatibility and connectivity has been extended to more sensor types (not PMs), BLE sports sensors and WiFi (245M). What's New - Music The Forerunner 245 MUSIC stores music onboard and plays it back over Bluetooth earbuds as you run or to speakers at home. You can copy your personal music collection or sync from your SPOTIFY account, there are other ways too, but just realise that the Garmin Forerunner 245 doesn't stream live over a cellular connection. What's New - Firmware There are a few differences here. What we are seeing is that features what were once the preserve of Garmin's top-of-range tri watches are now making their way on the Forerunner 245. We're talking here mostly of Running Dynamics and Firstbeat Physiology but there is also some peripheral stuff shown in the comparison specs at the end. What's New - Physiology by Firstbeat Even if you are a casual runner it is useful to know that your training is having a positive effect. But it's relatively difficult to properly quantify that. Firstbeat provide Garmin with clever physiology algorithms that are mostly based on your age/sex/height/weight/heart rate and performances. And they are generally correct enough to be useful for most levels of runner. There are 14 in total but I suspect these will strike the most interest to most people VO2max - when looked at over an extended period of time, this quantifies your increased fitness Training Effect - tells you much your workout has had a positive effect on both your anaerobic (speed) or aerobic (fat burning) body 'engines'. Training Status - shows you the cumulative effect of all your training on your level of tiredness and fitness today. All-day stress & recovery There are others too like 'calories' and 'all day stress & recovery'. You can read about them in more detail on Fristbeat's site. What's New - Running Dynamics When used in conjunction with either an RD-POD or GRM-RUN/HRM-TRI/HRM-DUAL chest strap, you will get Garmin's extra running metrics which still give you good-old cadence but also which add measures that tell you how long your feet stay on the ground and how much you bounce when running. You probably want to make both of those measures lower to get faster but just how you do that is a complex question usually solved by 'more training'. Thus these metrics are interesting but largely unactionable. The lack of a barometric altimeter further means that you cannot use the Forerunner 245 for Garmin Running Power, though STRYD works. What's New in the Garmin 245 Specs - Personalisation & Protection The physiology stuff is clearly personalised to you but higher spec Garmin watches, like the Forerunner 245, now offer you the ability to make big changes to your Forerunner device through Garmin's app store (called CIQ apps) The quality of the CIQ apps is another matter entirely and, like other app stores, the apps range from awesome to 'meh'. They are almost all entirely free and have a vast scope covering things like support for 3rd party sensors like STRYD; complex screens that can display more than 4 data fields; and support for maps via a connected smartphone. Oh, you can probably also find a Mickey Mouse watch face if you look hard enough! - the watch faces tend to be a bit garish and let down the overall aesthetic a little due to the relatively poor resolution of the screen but I guess most are passable. For those of you worried about running in remote locations there is also a new assistance & incident detection features which send your location to selected emergency contacts via your smartphone. What's New - Garmin Coach Well, it's not new-new, but it is a nice addition to the 245 which makes the overall offering more complete and it's worth mentioning here. Garmin Coach offers "adaptive running plans"; this sounds great but these are a little let down in the execution. Nevertheless, they are great for beginner-to-intermediate level runners (>21 min/5k). This aspect of Garmin's overall offering has been improved and now covers adaptive 10k and HM plans as well. BUT don't forget there are MANY OTHER FREE non-adaptive plans that will work with the 245 that you can download via GARMIN CONNECT. Basic Garmin 245 Specs More complete specs are shown at the end with a comparison to the old Forerunner 235 and the current, higher-spec Forerunner 645. Here are the headlines and I'd say the specs are pretty good. Dimentions: 1.7” x 1.7” x 0.5” (42.3 mm x 42.3 mm x 12.2 mm) and at 38g it's VERY light. Battery life: up to 7 days in smartwatch mode; up to 24 hours in GPS mode (6 hours with music+GPS) Gorilla Glass (scratch resistant) screen Waterproof 5 ATM (you can swim with it) It's NOT touchscreen and the colour resolution is only 240x240px Price, Discounts & Availability I would suggest REI in the USA who now have stock and they give members 10% off (link to: rei.com). Definitely use Wiggle in the UK where you can get a new Customer Discount with the code NEWGB at this link (here) with platinum discounts of in-stock products up to 17% in boost periods. They will also get stock earlier than most other retailers. Wiggle is also pretty good on the whole throughout the Eu I'm just not sure of the in-stock status for May 2019 for non-UK markets. Forerunner 245 - $299, £249, Eu299 Forerunner 245 Music - $349, £299, Eu349 Garmin 245 Specs, Comparison to Forerunner 235 and 645 Specifications These are the detailed differences (Source: garmin.com) Forerunner® 245 Music Forerunner® 645 Music Forerunner® 235 $349.99 USD $449.99 USD $249.99 USD GPS running smartwatch with advanced training features and music GPS running watch with Garmin Pay™ contactless payments, wrist-based heart rate and music GPS running watch with color display and wrist-based heart rate General Lens Material Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 chemically strengthened glass Bezel Material fiber-reinforced polymer stainless steel Quick Release Bands yes (20 mm, Industry standard) yes (20 mm, Industry standard) Strap material silicone silicone silicone Physical size 42.3 x 42.3 x 12.2 (mm) 42.5 x 42.5 x 13.5 mm 45 x 45 x 11.7 mm Fits wrists with a circumference of 127-204 mm Fits wrists with a circumference of 127-204 mm Display size 1.2" (30.4 mm) diameter 1.2" (30.4 mm) diameter 1.23" (31.1 mm) diameter Display resolution 240 x 240 pixels 240 x 240 pixels 215 x 180 pixels Display type sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) Weight 38.5 g 42.2 g 42 g Battery life Smartwatch Mode: Up to 7 days Smartwatch Mode: Up to 7 days Smartwatch Mode: Up to 9 days GPS mode with music: Up to 6 hours GPS mode with music: Up to 5 hours GPS mode: Up to 11 hours GPS mode without music: Up to 24 hours GPS mode without music: Up to 14 hours Water rating Swim, 5 ATM 5 ATM 5 ATM Color display Memory/History 200 hours of activity data 200 hours of activity data 200 hours of activity data Clock Features Time/date Yes Yes Yes GPS Time Sync Yes Yes Yes Automatic daylight saving time Yes Yes Yes Alarm clock Yes Yes Yes Timer Yes Yes No Stopwatch Yes Yes Yes Sunrise/sunset times Yes Yes No Sensors GPS Yes Yes Yes GLONASS Yes Yes Yes Galileo Yes No No Garmin Elevate™ wrist heart rate monitor Yes Yes Yes Barometric altimeter No Yes No Compass Yes Yes No Gyroscope No Yes No Accelerometer Yes Yes Yes Thermometer No Yes No Pulse Ox Yes No No Connectivity Connectivity Bluetooth®, ANT+®, Wi-Fi® Bluetooth®, ANT+®, Wi-Fi® ANT+ Connect IQ™ (downloadable watch faces, data fields, widgets and apps) Yes Yes Yes Smart notifications Yes Yes Yes Text response/reject phone call with text (Android™ only) Yes Yes No Calendar Yes Yes Yes Weather Yes Yes Yes Controls smartphone music Yes Yes Yes Plays and controls watch music Yes Yes No Music Storage up to 500 songs up to 500 songs No Find My Phone Yes Yes Yes Find My Watch Yes Yes No VIRB® Camera Remote Yes Yes Yes Smartphone compatibility iPhone® and Android™ iPhone® and Android™ iPhone®, Android™ Compatible with Garmin Connect™ Mobile Yes Yes Yes Garmin Pay™ No Yes No Safety and Tracking Features Incident Detection during select activities yes (Smartphone Required) No No Assistance yes (Smartphone Required) No No LiveTrack Yes Yes Yes Live Event Sharing Android™ Only No No Activity Tracking Features Step counter Yes Yes Yes Move bar (displays on device after a period of inactivity; walk for a couple of minutes to reset it) Yes Yes Yes Auto goal (learns your activity level and assigns a daily step goal) Yes Yes Yes Sleep monitoring (monitors total sleep and periods of movement or restful sleep) Yes Yes Yes Calories burned Yes Yes Yes Floors climbed Yes Yes Yes Distance travelled Yes Yes Yes Intensity minutes Yes Yes Yes TrueUp™ Yes Yes Yes Move IQ™ Yes Yes No Fitness Age yes (in app) yes (in app) No Body Battery™ Energy Monitor Yes No No All-day Stress Tracking Yes Yes No Gym & Fitness Equipment Available gym activity profiles Strength, Cardio and Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Indoor Rowing and Yoga Strength, Cardio and Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Floor Climbing, Indoor Rowing and Yoga Cardio workouts Yes Yes Strength workouts Yes Yes Automatic rep counting Yes Yes Training, Planning and Analysis Features GPS speed and distance Yes Yes Yes Customizable data pages Yes Yes Yes Customizable activity profiles Yes Yes Yes Auto Pause® Yes Yes Yes Interval training Yes Yes Yes Advanced workouts Yes Yes Yes Downloadable training plans Yes Yes Yes Auto Lap® Yes Yes Yes Manual lap Yes Yes Yes Configurable lap alerts Yes Yes Yes V02 max Yes Yes Yes Training Status (lets you see if you’re training effectively by tracking your training history and fitness level trend.) Yes Yes No Training Load (your total training load for the last 7 days calculated from estimated EPOC) Yes Yes No Training Effect (aerobic) Yes Yes No Training Effect (anaerobic) Yes Yes No Customizable alerts Yes Yes No Audio prompts Yes Yes No Finish time Yes Yes No Virtual Partner Yes Yes No Race an Activity Yes Yes No Course guidance Yes Yes No Segments (Live, Garmin) Yes Yes No Strava features (Beacon, live segments) Yes Yes No Touch and/or button lock Yes Yes Yes Auto scroll Yes Yes Yes Activity history on watch Yes Yes Yes Physio TrueUp Yes Yes No Heart Rate Features HR zones Yes Yes Yes HR alerts Yes Yes Yes HR calories Yes Yes Yes % HR max Yes Yes No % HRR Yes Yes No Recovery time Yes Yes Yes Auto max HR Yes Yes No HR Broadcast (broadcasts HR data over ANT+™ to paired devices) Yes Yes Yes Running Features Available run profiles Running, Treadmill Running, Indoor Track Running, Trail Running Running, Treadmill Running, Indoor Track, Trail Running yes GPS-based distance, time and pace Yes Yes Yes Running dynamics yes (with compatible accessory) yes (with compatible accessory) Vertical oscillation and ratio (the degree of 'bounce' in your running motion and the cost-benefit ratio with stride length) yes (with compatible accessory) Ground contact time and balance (shows how much time, in the running motion, your foot is on the ground rather than in flight and lets you check your running symmetry) yes (with compatible accessory) Stride length (real time) yes (with compatible accessory) Cadence (provides real-time number of steps per minute) Yes Yes Yes Performance condition (after running 6–20 minutes, compares your real-time condition to your average fitness level) Yes Yes No Run workouts Yes Yes Yes Race predictor Yes Yes Yes Foot pod capable Yes Yes Yes Outdoor Recreation Features Available outdoor recreation profiles Yes Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Skiing, Stand up Paddleboarding, Rowing Point-to-point navigation Yes Yes No Bread crumb trail in real time Yes Yes No Back to start Yes Yes Yes TracBack® Yes Yes No UltraTrac mode Yes Yes No Elevation profile No Yes No Distance to destination Yes Yes yes (for back to start) Vertical speed No Yes No Total ascent/descent No Yes No GPS coordinates Yes Yes No Cycling Features Available cycling profiles Biking, Indoor Biking Biking, Indoor Biking yes Courses Yes Yes No Race an activity Yes Yes No Time/distance alerts (triggers alarm when you reach goal) Yes Yes Yes Compatible with Varia Vision™ (head-mounted display) Yes Yes No Compatible with Varia™ radar (rear-facing radar) Yes Yes No Compatible with Varia™ lights Yes Yes No Speed and cadence sensor support (with sensor) Yes yes (ANT+® and Bluetooth® Smart sensors) yes Swimming Features Available swim profiles Pool Swimming Pool Swimming No Pool swim metrics (lengths, distance, pace, stroke count/rate, calories) Yes Yes No Stroke type detection (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly) Yes Yes No Swim efficiency (SWOLF) Yes Yes No Drill logging Yes Yes No Pool swim workouts Yes Yes No Return to the main Garmin 245 Review [caption id="attachment_38326" align="alignright" width="2048"] Automatically clicks to your local geographic store[/caption]
