Last fall I spent a lot of $$ and went through many watches to find the 'best' GPS watch. At the time the Forerunner 745 was often mentioned to have the best GPS tracking of all the then current Garmin running watches. Besting the FR945 or Fenix 6 line. I settled on the 745 and the GPS was good, but not great. I still have the 745 and got the Epix 2 Sapphire and compared the two on different days. I run in the city and on tight roads and step hills and climb stairs at a stadium. I tested both watches at the same time. Epix w/ multi-band gps on the right wrist and 745 with GPS+GLONASS on the left (yes, I did set each side in the watch settings).
1/28/22 Running up the sections at Harvard Stadium in Boston with my FR745. Here is the Garmin Connect link: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/8196074569
745 Tracks are bad. I would run up each section, then move over to the left, down the stairs and then up to the next section. Several times it has me running on the field, over the edge of the stands. This didn't happen.
Below is the Epix 2 track using multi-band gps. You can see how it's tighter, almost 'square like.' It's not absolutely 100% perfect, but night and day compared to the same track from the 745. Also, a bit more difficult for any GPS as there is a football team practice 'bubble' they use on the field. And I'm in an enclosed space. A glorified pit. The zig-zag in a few sections was intentional. Here is the Garmin Connect link for Epix G2 run: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/8196074569
One last example is a section of a run last week doing hill repeats in the city. You can see the 745 below has me running through houses and on peoples front lawns. Uhh, no.
With the Epix, you can see how crisp the turns are, showing me mostly on the sidewalk. Particularly on the lower left. On the 745 it shows running on peoples lawns.
All in all, this watch has the best GPS I could dream of. But it may not be such a dramatic improvement for you. DC Rainmaker said ‘meh’ to multi-band on the Epix2/Finix7, but for me, it’s the real deal-especially in the city with tall-ish structures. I hope you have similar improvements. I’ve also seen an accurate representation of my altitude. The 745 was usually way off, every day. Love the watch, but It’s crazy it costs $1k. (My job is reimbursing me for the full cost of the watch as part of their fitness benefit :-)
Please update here what your GPS experience has been!
