Refurb 935 or new 245

I've only used the the 935. but one reason I personally wouldn't want the 245 is lack of a barometer. So you lose floor counting and accurate elevation gain/loss during activities.

Here's a couple of less important differences (to me):

- 935 has "hot keys" and 245 doesn't. One of the hotkey functions you can set up is to look at widgets during an activity. With the 245, I think the only way to look at widgets during an activity is to disable the use of the BACK button for taking laps.

- 935 has the guided lactate threshold test and 245 doesn't. (You do need a chest strap HR for this.)

- I don't listen to music when I run, but if you do, the 245 Music might be a much better choice than a 935.

- You might also like the fact that the case size of the 245 is smaller than the 935. (The 935 is a little big.)

- If you care about Garmin's Running Power feature (which requires you to buy their HRM-RUN strap or running dynamics pod), it's not available on 245. (I think it needs a watch with a baro.)

Other than that, as a runner I probably wouldn't care either way.

As a cyclist you might care that 245 doesn't support bike power meters.

If you care about data, IIRC 245 has like 4 data pages max (each of which can have up to 4 fields), whereas with 935 the limit is something like 12.

TBH nobody needs that much data during their run, but sometimes it's nice to be able to have a couple of less-used metrics at your fingertips (like time in zone or performance condition). When I had a 630 (limit of 4 pages IIRC), sometimes I wished I had just 1 extra page so I could see 1 or 2 extra fields during a run.

This is also a consideration if you want to use 1 or 2 full-screen Connect IQ data field apps, each of which would take up a whole page (leaving you with 2-3 pages for native fields).

A 935 has a multisport mode for triatlons, where you can easily switch from swimming to biking to running and still have 1 activity.

A 935 has longer battery life. When it was new. I don't now about a referb one, but my 4 your old 935 battery is rather degenerated. Battery life is not just how long 1 activity can be, but also how often you have to charge, or reduce the change you first have to charge before you can go out. 

Barometer isn't very reliable for some users. Mine doesn't work that wel. I see jumps in air pressure that are quite impossible. Resulting in stormwarnings on a clear day. Stairs counting doesn't work. It misses stairs I climb, and on my bike in flat country it counts stairs like crazy. I just use gps for altitude. That's good enough for me.

Music on a 245 is convenient if you have spotify. Syncing with other sources is more of a hassle. 

A 245 looks a bit more plastic (in my opinion). I think my 935 looks fine for daily wear.

A 935 has a gyroscope and compass. That's convenient if you use the navigation (both don't have maps, but follow the line type navigation, which is just fine). When you stand still the display of the 935 is north oriented, on a 245 it can be rotated sometimes. I use navigation a lot for trailrunning, hiking and also biking. It's not perfect but very doable.

For your use, I don't think you will notice so much differences. Personally, I think I choose the 935 if price isn't that different. 

I forgot about the compass -- for me that's another "nice-to-have" but not a dealbreaker. I've used courses a lot during long runs (without my phone), and it's nice to have a compass which works while you're standing still. (The GPS compass feature requires you to be moving.)

One minor feature I really like on the 935 is Wi-Fi syncing. I normally leave bluetooth off to save battery, and it's nice to be able to sync without turning it on for both my watch and phone. It's also a lot faster (when it works).

The non-music 245 doesn't have Wi-Fi syncing, but the 245 Music does.

Also, 935 supports Strava Live Segments and 245 doesn't.

Thanks good points I do not use music so that is not an issue I am a little concerned about size as I have small wrists just so many good features on the 935 seems hard to not go for it.

As a none Garmin user I am not sure I follow but do like data :)

Yea the 935 refurb is less than a new 245. I am very tempted by having what is basically future proofing if I get a power meter or something. I don't need music so thats not an issue for me. Thanks for your thoughts

1293641 said:

As a none Garmin user I am not sure I follow but do like data :)

Haha sorry I tend to geek out about data. When you start an activity like running or cycling, the watch shows you a bunch of screens or “data pages” relating to your activity. Each page can have from 1 to 4 “data fields”, each of which typically displays 1 metric relating to your activity, like pace, cadence, HR, elapsed time, calories or elevation. 

When you factor in various forms of each metric like instant pace, avg pace, last lap avg pace, and lap avg pace, there are a ton of different metrics you might want to have available for a given activity. (You can’t realistically look at all of them during a hard workout, but some of them might be fun to look at during a rest interval or while waiting for a red light) 

Adding to the complexity, you can install third party data fields from the Connect IQ store, some of which may take up a whole data page (in order to show lots of data or to show a graph or something.)

So the four page limit (I think) on the 245 sounds like a lot (16 metrics!) but if you install one or two third-party apps, then you’re down to 2 pages for built in data. When I had a watch with only 4 pages, I def had times when I wanted to display one or two extra metrics but there wasn’t room. Whereas with the 935, there’s basically no practical limit. (12 pages — or whatever the limit is — is more than enough).

I would recommend checking out DC Rainmaker’s in-depth reviews: 

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/03/garmin-forerunner-935-depth-review.html

www.dcrainmaker.com/.../garmin-forerunner-245-music-gps-watch-in-depth-review.html

Will do thanks that makes perfect sense. I am coming from fitbit which has been a POS. I am way too into data so the more the better. I will look at the reviews thanks