Good afternoon everyone,
I wanted to post this message to share my experience going from Coros (Vertix 1) to Garmin (945LTE).
I am not new to Garmin at all. In the last 15 years I had at least a dozen of Garmin watches, the first one being a 305 the last one being a regular 945.
I live in Canada and do as much outside running as I can, including during the winter. Exactly a year ago, I sold my 945 and bought a Vertix. The main reasons were: 1/ I wanted to strap my watch on my jacket even in the coldest days and not have to worry about it (the Vertix has one of the best cold temperature ratings) and 2/ I wanted to try something new.
My 1 year rodeo with Coros was mostly very good. The quality of the hardware and the software is great, and the Vertix is beautiful, albeit being quite a large watch. I had lots of fun using the Vertix, and the constant improvements pushed by Coros are great + Coros has cascaded most of its new features to older watches at no cost for the users.
I really wanted to purchase the Vertix 2, but size and weight is a problem - very much like running with a Fenix 6/7X. In my opinion, these watches do not make much sense for a running purpose only.
Therefore, I decided to get back to the Forerunner family and bought the 945 LTE. It felt like the only possible option, 745 or 245 were respectively a bit of a downgrade and too old. The smaller form factor, new internals and lightweight were decision factors in purchasing the LTE. I got the watch 2 weeks ago and I was really surprised by how snappy and butter smooth it is when compared to the 945. There is a significant difference, particularly when navigating the maps. Buttons are still mostly ok, and battery life...well coming from a Vertix I knew it was going to be at least half of what I got. It's more like 1/3 of what I had, but I am ok with charging the watch once a week. The screen is much improved when compared to the 945, with deeper black and very good backlight. Readability is also excellent, but this is mostly due to the Gorilla glass which is less reflective than the sapphire lens on my Vertix.
The overall quality of the 945LTE is really good. It is not as rugged as the Vertix (which has sapphire and Ti bezel and back cover) but it is good enough to wear it at the office without any second thought.
At the end of the day, the 945LTE doesn't make me run faster, but I like the wellness features that Coros does not have and I also like being able to read my text notifications when I run. Coros only displays that a message arrived and who's the sender, but does not allow to enter and read the notification. We're expecting a baby, so reading notifications on the fly is very convenient.
Coros is a great brand and offers great products - I kept my Vertix - with everything a runner might want. The only thing that I did not like was that most of the watch faces are too outrageous for my tastes. There is 80 watch faces available - not customizable - and only 2 or 3 are classy.
Garmin is also a great brand and offers more non-sport related features. It also offers more customization than Coros.
At the end of the day, I am happy with my choice and I am looking forward to using my 945LTE in 2022.
Cheers from Ontario.
Remi.
