Garmin Forerunner 945 Review

From advanced health and performance monitoring and sleep tracking to GPS features and offline music streaming, the Garmin Forerunner 945 watch is made for dedicated athletes.

It’s packed with handy activity monitoring tools that help you keep track of your daily progress. This smartwatch also has an impressive battery life and a lightweight design that won’t slow you down.

If you’re thinking about buying the Garmin Forerunner 945, this guide will tell you everything you need to know about this smartwatch and whether it’s worth the money.

Design

Before we discuss what the Garmin Forerunner 945 can and can’t do, let’s take a look at its design. This multisport watch is durable yet lightweight, ideal for those who lead an active lifestyle.

The 1.20-inch-diameter screen is made from Corning Gorilla Glass DX, so you won’t have to worry about cracks or scratches. The bezel and the case are made from fiber-reinforced polymer, making them scratch-resistant as well. The silicone band is flexible and adjustable.

The display has 240 x 240 pixels, and it’s sunlight-visible. If you’re running in the dark with this watch, the screen will automatically light up when you raise your wrist.

The watch is thin and lightweight, so it won’t look bulky on your wrist, and it will fit comfortably as you run, cycle, or swim. More importantly, it won’t weigh or slow you down.

Battery Life

One of the most impressive features of the Garmin 945 is its super-long battery life. When it’s in Smartwatch Mode, it can last for up to two weeks without a charge.

You can use the GPS mode and listen to music for up to 10 hours, but if you’re only using the GPS, the battery can last for up to 36 hours.

What’s more, once the battery is empty, you won’t need more than 75 minutes to charge it fully. You can even turn on the battery-saving mode by pressing the “Back” button on the right side of the screen.

Basic and Smart Features

The Garmin Forerunner 945 is packed with a rich selection of advanced features. Before we talk about its more advanced activity features, let’s discuss the basic functionalities.

Some of the general features include a timer, stopwatch, compass, alarm clock, GPS time sync, Bluetooth connectivity, weather, thermometer, and calendar.

When it comes to smart features, the Garmin 945 allows for smart notifications, smartphone music control, music storage, text responses and phone call rejection. This smartwatch is compatible with iPhones and Android devices.

You can also install various apps, like Garmin IQ, Garmin Pay, Find My Phone, Find My Watch, etc. Once you get your Garmin Forerunner 945, you can link it with Garmin Connect, but we’ll get to that later.

This watch even has safety features, like Livetrack, Group Livetrack, live event sharing, incident detection, assistance, etc.

Activity and Health Tracking Features

The reason this smartwatch is so popular is that it’s packed with a lot of activity tracking and health monitoring apps. Aside from the standard features – like the step-counter, heart rate monitor, sleep tracker, distance measure tool, and calories burned tracker – this watch offers so much more.

Since this watch is primarily made for runners and dedicated athletes, it has various sports modes for almost every sport you can think of. For example, you can choose between running, gym and fitness, golfing, outdoor recreation, cycling, swimming, and more. It’s even possible to download workouts and create your own courses wherever you are.

When it comes to health monitoring features, the watch constantly measures your heart rate, and it can even send you abnormal heart rate alerts. The same goes for the respiration rate.

Like every activity tracker, the Garmin 945 can track your sleep and send your insights to the Garmin Connect smartphone app. Other useful health features include hydration alerts, women’s health monitoring, all-day stress, and a relaxation breathing timer.

Sensors

The Garmin Forerunner 945 has all the necessary sensors to keep you going. With the GPS, you have access to full-color mapping, the ClimbPro feature, turn-by-turn navigation, and round-trip routing.

Other sensors include Glonass, Galileo, barometric altimeter, gyroscope, accelerometer, thermometer, and more. It also includes the pulse and blood oxygen saturation monitor.

The GPS feature also makes running much easier since you’ll always know where you’re going with the preloaded detailed maps. More importantly, the GPS and the other sensors are accurate and reliable.

Music

The Garmin Forerunner 945 music apps include Spotify, Deezer, and Amazon Music. Once you download one of these apps, you can use this watch to listen to music offline.

What’s more, this Garmin watch lets you download up to 1,000 songs that are kept in its storage. Since the device is compatible with Bluetooth headphones, you can listen to music while you go running, jogging, or cycling.

Garmin Connect

Garmin Connect is a smartphone app that you can connect to your Garmin Forerunner 945 watch. After you finish a particular activity, you can view your progress on the smartphone app.

You can use the app to track running, monitor your heart rate, count the number of steps you take every day, set challenges, track your movements with GPS, create your personalized training plan, and more.

It’s even possible to connect with friends who also use the Garmin Connect app. Another useful feature is Garmin Coach, which lets you choose a real coach (Jeff Galloway, Coach Greg McMillan, or Amy Parkerson-Mitchell) to be your personal trainer.

Garmin Connect app is available on Google Play and the App Store.

Ease of Use

The Garmin Forerunner 945 interface is extremely easy to use. The font is large enough to read without having to squint or bring the watch closer. Note that the watch doesn’t have a touch screen.

Instead, you control it with the five buttons on the left and right sides of the round screen. The buttons are tactile and easy to press.

In addition, you can customize the interface using the Garmin IQ smartphone app. It won’t take you long to figure out how to use this smartwatch.

Final Verdict

The Garmin Forerunner 945 has everything you need to stay active and keep track of your progress. It’s the perfect smartwatch for athletes or anyone who likes to be physically active.

The watch offers plenty of advanced activity tracking and health monitoring features, as well as a lot of cool features, like the ability to listen to music offline and smart GPS. Combined with the possibility of two-week battery life, this watch will keep you going.

If you need other smartwatch options, you can read some of our other Garmin reviews to explore other available options.