Forerunner 945 - your opinions

You haven't mentioned what sport(s) you want to use this watch for. I'm a triathlete but do other activities like strength occasionally. Realistically speaking, this is the most versatile watch out there for multisport. It is not the best in everything, but instead of the average person having to have a swim-watch, a run-watch, a bike computer, a sleep monitor, an hr sensor etc, you get everything in one package. Think about this watch as the swiss army knife. And as such, nothing beats it (at ANY pricepoint). My 2 cents.

I realise that but I expected that it Will work as well as much older fenix 5s in the most basic options like ohr  or soft buttons

I am triathlete too but I also do karate and strenght training. 

Can you please check if your firmware is the latest? It should show Version 2.80.0.0.

Battery life: I turned off my pulseOX sensor because it doesn't work together with the OHR (as verified by some other people; I have the bundle and mine is in a bad batch for PulseOX sensor). It also impacted my battery life a lot. PulseOX is also very inaccurate, I talked to an ER physician who has access to the real sensors (the one they clip on your finger). She said that your blood oxygen level should always be above 95 otherwise it's a huge issue. At only being 90% accurate, you're much better off turning off your PulseOX.

Buttons: I'm with you. Not the best feeling buttons. Try putting on the button vibrate, so at least you'd know if you clicked it.

Karate: nice. What kind? I used to do shotokan 30 years ago.

I have the latest beta software.

I turned off pulseOX don't really need it where I live and wifi 

I have been training karate Kyokushin for more than 10 years now 

Osu!  

For the high cost I am in the same boat, pretty disappointed. OHR is essentially useless (for me), no matter what fit / position I try. Some bike commutes (tracking using my Edge) the OHR doesn't even pick up I am doing exercise. Battery life is nowhere near stated, and the GPS accuracy and consistency is markedly worse than my Forerunner 920XT. I use 1 seond recording and GPS+GLONASS, and using for biking and running mostly.

It's ok. Battery is fine for me. GPS is worse than the 235 I replaced. tried all settings and it is always long in distance compared with reality and everyone with a different watch. Look in Strava at a race. All the "long" ones are 945..

OHR is hopeless for me. Tried both wrists and different tightness. Was better on original firmware. It is fine when at rest, but for any running it has me +20 BHP or so. So stats are pointless. I use a HRM run now.

Let me start with saying the obvious. Buying a new Garmin everyone should expect to be the first 12 months on Beta software. That's my experience.

It is my 4th Garmin for me and the only the very basic FR10 worked as expected out of the box. For all of the following models FR620 and FR735XT it took approx 9-12 months of firmware updates to get to a fully functional watch and most annoying bugs addressed.

In my opinion hardware-wise 945 is very capable and well built. Software still needs refining.

What actually worries me the most that Garmin seems to shift to annual release cycles vs. historical 2-3 years. This is nightmare scenario from software updates perspective. 

Generally I am ok with the watch but I do always use an external HRM. The big thing that I am disappointed with given the cost of the device is the mushy buttons that I have and the fact that I don't know if they will be rectified if I have the device replaced. If Garmin can be clear about the replacements actually fixing the button problem then I'd be happy with the purchase of the 945. The battery whilst could be better doesn't really cause too much of a concern for me, charging typically doesn't take too long and my device lasts about 5 - 6 days with a workout everyday. 

Yes super not happy the way the mushy button problem has been handled by Garmin. 

Even the vague and unhelpful post by Garmn where it isn't stated its fixed. Just changes made. 

forums.garmin.com/.../is-the-button-issue-resolved-now

Unless I'm missing a setting somewhere - the screen is not as vibrant as all the images would have you believe. I don't think its possible to have the bright text on screen at the same time as a black background (and by black, I mean the same colour as the surrounding bezel)

Coming from a Fenix 3 - the weight and comfort of the 945 is exactly what I was looking for.