Looking for some advice from some seasoned Garmin runners please.
Currently running about 35/40 miles a week, compete in anything from 10k to the occasional marathon, may look at an ultra next year. Mostly road, no real interest in trail running. Odd cycle here and there but that's about. No swimming.
Have for the last year or so been using an Android Wear smartwatch linked to Strava for my runs but need to switch out due to the fact it's basic, the battery life is no longer sufficient (started cutting off runs etc) and I HATE the fact it's touchscreen, especially in the wet. I'm also just starting to get into reviewing and understanding various metric data available.
Therefore looking at a step up to a proper running watch to aid me with training. Had previously discounted Garmin's as I want something with internal music playback and those with that feature were too expensive, however saw the initial reviews for the Forerunner 245M were positive, and then that the price for the 645M has dropped as well. Have discounted Vivoactive 3 due to touchscreen.
My needs are primarily standalone music playback, battery life (which appears to favour the 245M), ability to have training runs on the watch (both), sleep tracking (both) and longevity with price ultimately coming into it as well.
From what I can tell, the 245M benefits from updated innards, improved sensors, and 3 extra FirstBeat metrics. The 645M has the barometric altimeter (which given I don't do huge variations in elevation maybe isn't important) and Garmin Pay (which despite criticisms of it I would actually use as I have a compatible bank account) as well as some other things that I don't care about.
It appears to me that the 245M is the more feature-rich watch training-wise, but given I've only just got into metrics I don't necessarily have an understanding of what some of those additions entail. Whereas on the 645M the addition of the barometric altimeter and Garmin Pay are tangible additions which I can quantify.
If both were the same price, I would likely go for the 245M, however I can currently pick up a 645M for about £260 (has been as low as £240 recently) against circa £285 for the 245M.
Does anyone have any real world thoughts/advice? Will the training additions on the 245M outweigh the tangible benefits of the altimeter and Garmin Pay? One of the things that did concern me was the battery life on the 645M as some of the reviews criticised it quite heavily (although I note it still states 14 hours with GPS and I'm NEVER going to run for over 14 hours).
Any comments gratefully received.
