Garmin Forerunner 245 Easy to Use Lightweight GPS Running Smartwatch, Running and Training Guidance, Safety and Tracking Features included, Up to 7 days Battery Life, Slate

Only had the Garmin forerunner 245 for a few days and the battery is amazing! On 63% in 3 days and I've got heart rate on constantly and bluetooth to my phone. Not used for gym yet but walking and getting everything set up ready to start doing weights in the gym with rep counter and sets. Setting favourites so I can select it quick before the exercise to log it. Also be using cross trainer later and see how that is. To say the battery is only that us good cause its still evening out, I read the watch will use more for the first week till it settles down with my needs. It's bright enough, I first thought it wasn't but you get used to it. Using for work on 12 hours at a steelworks and it's fine. Got weather, temperature, heart rate, time, steps, date, battery percentage, miles walked all on one screen face. You can customise for free on the Garmin Qi app. Brilliant. Right down to the colour of each thing. I would advice getting a cover for the face of the watch and added warranty, I got 3 years for £15. The covers are on amazon for like £6 for 3. The only con is the strap, I think I'm allergic to the rubber abit as I got wrist burn abit when at work so ordered another stap that's nylon. No big deal. Love the watch, glad I got it. You can link your fitness pal app to it too. I use it for sleep to track and steps. Had a fitbit years back and the steps would mount up cause I was driving so that put me off. Not tried it under water yet as its waterproof upto 5 metres I bealive. I like the push buttons instead of touch screen. Light watch but tough also by how it's made. Messages and calls appear on the interface which is good so I can read the whole message on my watch instead of opening my phone and I can make my own short pre message to replay quick if I'm working out. Glad I went to Garmin instead of samsung. My sister has the samsung watch and she says every couple of days it's dead and it's new. Why should you have to disable features to save battery?? You want the most out of the watch. Sister is looking into getting one of these now, good all around and I'm not a runner but a gym guy that walks abut and wants to track sleep and respiration, heart rate. It's perfect. I'll update if my mind is changed.

I am new to running and have never used a sports watch in the past, so this review will not be a comparison so much as a personal experience with this particular watch. Firstly I will say that I would prefer to have the music version of this watch, however I got this one on sale and I couldn't justify the extra cost. I would say to go for the music version if price is not an issue for you. I was going to purchase this watch after I had already completed my couch to 5k program, however I saw that it was on sale so I bought it very early in to the program. I ended up finishing my c25k program a few weeeks early and that is a hundred percent down to having the feedback on my wrist on how far I'd travelled. Having such a small and accessible device which gives you useful information like your heartrate, your time running, your pace and your distance really helps you to push yourself that extra bit at the end of your run to round off your distance. I also enjoy the mapping features that the phone app offers, it's lovely to go on a jog with your c25k buddy, take a nice picture, then use the garmin app to put your stats over the picture to commemorate hitting the milestones. I love the training programs inbuilt in to the garmin app, they don't just give you a running program, they also tell you useful information about running, fatigue, posture and mindset along the way. I have found this useful as a new runner. This all comes for free with the app (I say this because I jog with someone who uses a fitbit, and they have to subscribe to have access to the content on the fitbit.) I have even been walking more since I got this watch, it gives you a nice summary each day of your exercise, your condition, sleep patterns etc. If you are someone who likes feedback I do think a Garmin watch is a great bit of kit to help you to train up to be a runner. All in all, I really like it. I would not have run my 10k by now had I not gotten my Garmin watch. I would recommend this or something like it to new runners.

Bought this to replace both my Garmin Forerunner 35 (which is a great first running watch, but more basic, and blocky in appearance) and my Fibit Charge 4 (which looks smart, but I find useless for running due to the small text and touch screen). Really pleased with the appearance, and how comfortable it is to wear all day. (I even wear it all night without noticing it, which lets me use the sleep analysis function too.) Loving it for running, as I can easily see all the stats I want, and control everything with good sized buttons. Lots of extra functionality that I’m still learning more about (eg recovery time), but also more basic functions easily visible that the Forerunner 35 seemed to lack (eg viewing and monitoring Heartrate all day, even when not triggering exercise modes). I have it hooked up to my Polaris arm strap to monitor heartrate during exercise, for better accuracy - which was simple to do. It also paired very easily with my Garmin connect phone app using Bluetooth (which links to Strava, showing mapping of runs from the device’s GPS data), and seems to be getting software updates from Garmin directly from Garmin Connect. (Another plus point, as my older Forerunner needed hard wiring to my PC to get software updates.) So far, I’m very impressed by the battery life, which seems far better than either device it’s replacing - despite it monitoring more things. All in all, a great, robust, watch for everyday wear as well as for running/exercising. (And I’m enjoying no longer feeling I have to constantly switch between 2 watches!)

I was looking for a smart watch with enough activities to suit my level which is practically an occasional biker/runner and walker. All these are catered for plus a few extras and there is enough data recording to satisfy what I want to see namely time/steps/route/heart rate. The Garmin app is a wonderful tool to delve deeper into the exercise if required. The watch does not have a touch screen but this does not bother me and I actually think works better without. Recommended for those who carry out moderate exercise and want to see a few more stats than the basic watches out there.

Sportwatch dedicato a chi ama correre, leggero, comodo al polso, non irrita la pelle ed è piacevole anche esteticamente. A differenza dei fratelli della gamma forerunner, il 245 ha un display a colori con un diametro di 30,4 mm. Il cinturino è da 20 mm, adatto per polsi femminili anche piccolini e va bene anche per gli uomini che preferiscono la comodità alle classiche "padelle" al polso. Le funzioni di monitoraggio sono molto precise ma ricordate sempre che l'orologio va regolato bene al polso e soprattutto che ci sarà sempre un margine di errore, seppur piccolo, perché chiaramente non avete un macchinario collegato direttamente al cuore ma pur sempre al polso. Quindi è possibile vedere frequenza cardiaca, spO2 (che può essere misurata quando lo decidete voi dall'orologio stesso oppure potete selezionare la modalità continua anche la notte. Il problema è che in base a come dormite, il valore non sarà preciso). L'orologio calcola anche lo stress quotidiano e tramite l'app è possibile vedere tutti i dettagli della giornata comprensivi degli attimi di riposo oltre che di sport. Altri parametri importanti VO2 max, la cronologia degli esercizi recenti e la qualità relativa a questi esercizi, i tempi di recupero consigliati e poi trovate tutta una serie di widget (sono davvero tantissimi) con le varie attività. Per cui non è presente solo la corsa, ma anche pesi, yoga, pilates ecc. Dall'app è possibile partecipare anche a delle sfide che vi permettono di migliorare sempre di più e di muovervi sempre di più. Ad esempio eseguire 300 mila passi in un mese, fare un record nella corsa oppure fare 1 ora di pesi ecc. Appena raggiungete l'obiettivo riceverete un badge. Per ogni bagde vengono assegnati dei punti e man mano che aumentano i punti passerete ai livelli di difficoltà maggiore. La vera svolta, soprattutto nel periodo di lockdown (utilizzo l'orologio da gennaio quindi lo utilizzo da nove mesi), è stata la scoperta di poter collegare l'orologio a Zwift. Zwift è un'app che potete scaricare da pc, smartphone e ipad e vi consente di correre in tempo reale insieme ad altri partecipando a gare virtuali. Idea geniale che mi ha tenuto compagnia quando eravamo in zona rossa. Quindi l'orologio si collega all'app mediante bluetooth, ovviamente dovete avere un tapis roulant in casa. Appena iniziate a correre, esattamente come avviene all'aperto, l'orologio inizierà il suo lavoro e sul display del vostro tablet o pc, vedrete l'avatar che corre al vostro ritmo insieme agli altri. È possibile scegliere persino dove correre, in quale città, ci sono tantissimi percorsi. Molto divertente. In questi mesi di utilizzo non ho avuto problemi, l'orologio funziona perfettamente, senza intoppi. La batteria ha una buona durata, riesco a fare 5 gg consecutivi eseguendo parecchie attività con gps.

This is a good training companion. Specially for runners. I have compared this product to Garmin forerunner 645. All sensor values match ok between the devices. It is a delay on the built in heart rate sensor. 1-2 minutes. But in a 5k run the average heart rate did more or less match my forerunner 645. So for running this product is good.

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I needed a watch to better measure my training (HR basically). After researching ended up buying the Forerunner 245. I thought I would not want to use it all day as I got used to not wearing a watch. However, it is super comfortable and fun to use. - I was really impressed with the Garmin Coach. I know about training and have to say this coaching for running is really good. You can set the watch up to prepare you for a race, with a particular goal in mind, and it'll set up all the workouts you need and within your available schedule. You just gear up, look at your watch and it will tell you what to do. No guessing. - Pretty accurate GPS. Seems better than my cycling computer so now I use the Forerunner to sync with Strava. - Very rugged and resistant. I have banged it and scratched it so many times and every time I look at it it looks brand new. - Body battery and stress parameters are pretty neat. It can help you motivate you to work out if you set up some "high intensity minutes /week" or if you want to raise your predicted VO2max. - I use the flashlight function sometimes to look for stuff in the dark. Nice. - I like the side buttons. I can lock them and do whatever workout and nothing will accidently turn on or off. Buttons work fine under water. Also the battery lasts a lot, a least a week, sometimes almost two weeks. Charges up in less than an hour. - The HR isn't very accurate. If I go on a run it can be off the mark (up or down) by quite a lot, then often eventually "find" the right values. Sometimes works OK. I know though that all watches are like this so I got the Garmin HRM-DUAL band right from the start and that works precisely. I waited a long time to write this review because I didn't want to give it 4 stars - since it doesn't track HR that well. Eventually decided to give it 5 stars and just accept that all watches (that I have tried from friends) have issues with HR. I am supper happy with my Garmin Forerunner 245. Definitely recommend Garmin over similarly priced brands that I have tested