The 945 is noticeably "snappier" than the 935, responding immediately to button presses with no perceived delay.
There are a tonne of cosmetic changes to the interface too - instead a straight "scroll up" transition between screens, it's more of a "wipe", at an angle, and screen contents "slide" or fade off instead of "jump cuts."
It wouldn't surprise me if there was a significantly faster CPU or graphic processor under the hood that enables the above, along with maps etc. It's not a stretch to think of the 945 as a "MARQ Athlete Lite," much like the 935 was often referred to as a "Fenix 5 Plastic."
The addition of a tonne of other creature comforts is welcome (like HOLD BACK to lock/unlock) though perhaps those are part every new model in the x45 line.
Now to wait for "Lap Key: OFF" to be added back in a future firmware update - even DCRainmaker was accidentally hitting it, multiple times, during his demo video.
Coming from the 935, I'm off to a running start with the 945 but there are a LOT of new features to unpack - I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of gee whiz functions I haven't done a deep-dive to find yet.
Garmin Connect seemed to do some interesting things with the 945 too - the device settings section is much more intuitive. With the 935, you have to tunnel down through menus to get to text responses. On the 945, it's at the top level of the device settings. Not sure if that's a Connect App design issue/update or if this will only be available on newer devices. (maybe tied to newer versions of CIQ?)
TL;DR: 945 shiny and fast. If cost is an issue, find a discount (GoodLife Fitness Canada members get 35% off Garmins via their partner discount site or try any one of a number of sites offering discounts for newsletter signup), instead of going with an older device that's laggy and won't grow with you.
