Charge Clip ..... WHY?

Because ... Garmin :)

But to be serious, not only is the clip charge cable different from F5 but more importantly although it *looks* the same as the cable for the FR235, it actually isn't! From what I read at DCR, you can use an old FR235 clip cable to charge the FR645M but you cannot transfer any music. And I quote:

"Another random geeky note – the cable for the FR645 Music is identical looking to that of the FR630. Except internally it’s not. The older cable (for the FR30/35/230/235/630/735XT) they found was causing some issues when transferring music, and thus had to be redesigned for a higher current. If you plug in the watch with an older cable it’ll charge just fine, but it won’t enumerate on your computer for transfers (of any type). You’ll get an error message on the watch."

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/03/garmin-forerunner-645-music-gps-watch-in-depth-review.html

I will refrain from adding any superlatives here :)

Couple of things, is that the clamp style has a bit of a history with the forerunners, as it's what's used on the 23x/630/735 (the 935 and f5 family are basically the same, so the "new" style is used on it). On at least one of the f5 specialized devices - the Descent Mk1 I believe - a different style is used.

Some of it may be "what fits best" with the HW layout, or in the case of the Descent, maybe for waterproofing reasons.

Personally, I prefer the clamp, as it makes it possible to "charge on the go" without taking off the watch, and for regular charging, you can leave it face up while charging.

In the non wearables space pretty much everyone, except a company in Cupertino, uses micro USB or USB C for charging / syncing. The real issue is that there is no reliable industry standard for a waterproof connector. From a logistics perspective, it would be much easier on Garmin if all of their watches used the same cable. They obviously feel that the value of having different cables for different watches if worth the additional expense to them.

Anyway, my two cents for what it worth....

Ok. So it seems the only benefit is charging on the go. Not something I will ever use but appreciate that some will find useful.

The downside for me is that a remix 5 style charger costs £3 and a 645 one costs £18 Inc postage. However if the 235 one fits that would be fine as I don't have the music version.

I aksed a question and got a much more useful response, the 235 charger is £4. Excellent

Thanks all

I aksed a question and got a much more useful response, the 235 charger is £4. Excellent

Glad I could help!

Ok. So it seems the only benefit is charging on the go. Not something I will ever use but appreciate that some will find useful.

The downside for me is that a remix 5 style charger costs £3 and a 645 one costs £18 Inc postage. However if the 235 one fits that would be fine as I don't have the music version.

I aksed a question and got a much more useful response, the 235 charger is £4. Excellent

Thanks all

Glad I saw this thread as a 235 charger arrived from Amazon today for my PC at work, the fact that it doesn't do data transfer doesn't matter in the least to me.

Glad I saw this thread as a 235 charger arrived from Amazon today for my PC at work, the fact that it doesn't do data transfer doesn't matter in the least to me.

Did you get one of the cheap ones with the oversized clip. If so, is it easy to charge with as some reviews on Amazon say it's tricky.

Yes the cheapest I could find :) It does have a much larger clip than the cable which came with the watch but not exactly hard to attach it so the pins are aligned. My PC at work run Linux and the watch appeared as a USB drive so guess some form of data transfer works.

Excellent, I have ordered one