Forgotten/undocumented features of the Forerunner 45:
1- it always works in Smart Mode, which means that during any activity it won't record data unless there are changes in direction, speed, heart rate or elevation. Notice the difference between 'record' and 'read'; in other words: the watch will read all information every second, but it will only record data if it detects any change between each reading;
2- if during an activity you want to change its data screens or any activity setting or even access the main menu, you just need to hold 'UP' button (middle right) for a while and you'll see a different main menu, where the first item is the current activity settings where you can change anything you want, including data screens;
3- it's possible to enable auto-pause for any activity that uses GPS, so data won't be recorded when the device detects you're not moving. This can be useful if, for instance, you want to have your moving average speed on Strava, instead of your total average speed. To do that, press 'START||STOP' button (top right), choose an activity, select 'Auto Pause' and select 'When Stopped';
4- it's possible to change GPS network settings to work in combination with default (American) and other networks, like GLONASS (Russian) and Galileo (European). This can speed up GPS locking and potentially GPS accuracy. To do that, press 'START||STOP' button (top right), choose an activity, select 'GPS' and choose the network you want. Notice that Garmin has done more tests on 'GPS + GLONASS', so that's probably the better option;
5- it's possible to record activities without GPS. This can be useful if you want to climb stairs, run on treadmills or any indoor activity that doesn't need your location. To do that choose an indoor activity from the activity list; to see more indoor activities, go to Garmin Connect app or website. Notice that you can have up to 6 activities enabled in your watch;
6- each activity has its own independent data screen settings, however after adding/removing an activity (see item 5 above), all data screens will be reset to the default setting. This sounds like a bug, but at the moment the current firmware (3.10) hasn't fixed it. UPDATED: after firmware 3.20 this was fixed;
7- it's possible to get your VO2MAX after running for at least 10 minutes. However, this won't work for cycling, since it requires a power meter to provide such information. Also, some indoor activities can show your VO2MAX, like treadmill, but others can't, like stair stepper;
8- you don't have to open Garmin Connect to upload an activity. Either you wait until the process runs automatically or sync from inside the watch, which can be way faster. To do that make sure you have finished the activity and that the watch is on the watch face, then hold 'LIGHT' (top left) and select 'Sync';
9- there's no way to have a widget running indefinitely; they all have a timeout of just a few seconds. This can be very annoying, especially if you just want to see your heart rate for a while. At least you can get around the heart rate widget limitation. To do that hold 'UP' button (middle right), select 'Wrist Heart Rate' and finally 'Broadcast Heart Rate'. Notice that this may drain your battery a bit faster;
10- by default backlight is enabled by gesture during an activity. Since most people do activities during the day, chances are that they won't notice the backlight turning on every time they move their arms to see something on the watch. Since the backlight can drain battery life a bit faster, you may want to disable it if you don't do activities during the night. To do that hold 'UP' button (middle right), select 'System', select 'Backlight', select 'During Activity', scroll down to 'Gesture' and turn it off;
11- you can not only add/remove widgets that will show when you press 'UP' or 'DOWN', but also the order they'll appear. To do that hold 'UP' button (middle right), select 'Widgets', select the activity you want to add/remove/reorder;
12- it seems the incident detection is too sensitive, especially when cycling. However, from my experience it seems to learn after you cancel it for many times;
13- you don't need to wait for the GPS signal to lock on before starting an activity. You can simply press 'START||STOP' button (top right) when you see 'Wait for GPS'. Notice that and it will start recording with speed equals to zero until the GPS signal is OK, which means the beginning of your activity will have wrong data;
14- it's possible to make screenshots of the current watch screen. To do that, press and hold 'BACK' button (bottom right) and at the same time press 'LIGHT' button (top left) once. You should see a message saying that the screenshot was saved under GARMIN\ScreenShot folder. To retrieve the screenshot you need to plug the watch on your computer via USB cable;
15- if you want to start saving an activity a bit quicker than usual, you don't have to wait for the save screen to appear after pressing 'START||STOP'. To do that, just after pressing 'START||STOP' go and press 'BACK' to quick show the save screen and then select 'save';
If you have any suggestions, please feel free to help improving this topic. :)
