Does 245 still have GPS issues, not measuring distance properly?

I have not seen any difference in GPS performance with the 245 from any of the numerous other Forerunner models I have owned.

Thank you very much:) 

I've found it to be fairly accurate in forests.

Have noticed recently though that I'm seeing it showing the correct distance but the route is showing from part way through, usually missing the first 1km or so.

You have to enter the activity, but wait 30 seconds before you start to run, until you get a beep and the watch displays that it's got a PS fix. Then you start the activity.

I always do that. It had vibrated and showed it had locked on before I started the activity. Still missed out the first km or so. Really odd.

I also wish I could run 1km in 30 seconds!

I remember there is a setting (but I don't remember if I saw it in Garmin app or in Strava) that as a way to "protect" your privacy they don't shouw the 1st and last part of the GPS data in the public profile - so supposedly  bad guys don't see where you live. Maybe you turned that on accidentaly?

I do have it on but it doesn't affect what I see only what others see.

For the parts of a route that are private it displays then as another color but they are visible.

Indeed, it's as good as any other sports watch. They even say it's better than the metal enclosed Fenix series.

In my experience, it can't say on which side of the road I am running, but I should do some trails for your use case. Trees and buildings stand in the way of low-power gps devices.

I do see which side of the road I ran.