Venu vs Forerunner 245

So It looks like you are maybe similar runner like me. I started about 9 months ago, my first option was Amazfit BIP, now I have Venu from october. Venu is much better, but AS you can see here on the forum, there are still some bugs... Mainly battery and its management, my average comp is about 25 percent per day. Confirm that my runing skills increased during this 6 months. I used Garmin coach and Also strava. If Venu supports something like training effects It will be perfect choice. In my opinion Venu is watch for all day usage in decent design and size, with some sport oriented functions. There are not a lot of runing meteics, but for now is is enough for me. Only vo2max, tempo, cadence, lenght, speed, HR... You can improve your datafield with Max 2 additional connect iq datafield, like fat burner, runing index. Bonus is music and Garmin pay. So if your want something like Galaxy active 2 but less smart, better sport oriented watch is a good choice. But price is more expensive then forerunner 245. Forerunner 245 looks more cheapy and plastic, but if you preffer something for runing witm more meteics is it ok. Venu HRM it is not ideal like other watches so I bought HRM dual monitor and works perfect with Venu. At all your Choice is Amoled vs MIP, touchscreen with 2 buttons vs 5 buttons, 4-5 days battery life vs 7...

Yeah, I feel like at this point its whether or not I really want the Virtual Partner and Virtual Racer which the Venu does not have. I'm pretty ok with the battery life of the Venu even though its a couple days shorter than the Forerunner. What are some of the bugs the Venu has? Also, is the Venu known for having a worse HRM than the Forerunner 245?

I have no experience with forerunner, so I dont know how good or bad is. Or better or worse. I think It is different type because Venu has pulse ox also. And here are some bugs. Battery, with the same settings for the same period of tíme, the same conditions etc... Sometimes drains for example 10%, sometimes 30%. But Garmin says It is ok, because avarage is betwenn 3-5 days. HRM, sometimes during run when your effort is hard and the HR is high, the data of HR oscillates very very  quickly 20 -30 points higher during few seconds. The synch. Of the hydratation widget is bad. The sleep monitoring and accuracy Also, but this is Well known fact about All Garmin watch, because this option is not under firstbeat licence like other meteics for runing. Auto brightness, problems. If you use default watchface there is no problem with delay. But now everything is relatively ok, i can live with these bugs. Some other problems I resolved with Garmin pay and verification , music widget and earbuds. The bigest problem of Garmin watches is at alll Garmin itself. Venu is one of the newest model so there are more bugs or problems, It is due Garmin policy. The real testers are the customers. Forerunner is older maybe the firmware is less bugy. Or you can loooking for forerunner 645, It looks like this year will be the next generation, so the price could drop. This is my experience. For better picture look at this forum

The venu is more of a general purpose watch, while forerunners are more of a running orientated watch (it says runner in it's name).  You'll rind running related things on a forerunner that you won't find on a venu.

Also, some people prefer buttons over a touch screen (with can be a bit harder to use when running - accidental swipes, etc).  The last touch screen forerunner was the fr 630 and I'm not sure how popular it was but seems more people got the fr23x and 735, which all came out around the same time.  (the "semirounds")

I wasn't aware of the firstbeat features I hadn't found that anywhere before. Thanks for the info! That definitely helps to narrow it down for me. I think I'll be going with the Forerunner.

Hi, just curious which watch you went with? And are you happy with it?  I’m currently deciding between the two. 

I went with the 245. I've used it for running and rowing and I have to say I think it definitely will hold up better for working out versus the Venu. I think the Vunu is trying to compete with the apple watch (which is fine) but for someone who is serious about tracking their stats and even being able to switch between things while you're doing any type of workout, the buttons on the 245 make this incredibly easy, where as I think the touchscreen is going to be difficult while moving in particular.

Hexxer those links just take me to the Garmin product page.  I was interested in finding out more about which watches had which firstbeat features.  Where can I find that?