yes... gps (or gps+glonnas or gps+galileo or whatever) is very poor in MY 945. My old 405 performs better or the 920 also. I did (and actually) train in the SAME place for 15 years so i know the feelings, the field (NO builidings NO big trees, only open fields with 500 meteres wide and 10kms long) and the 945 is giving only headaches about pace. Full effort, 165bpm must be in my body about 3:40 min/km.... the 945?? 5:20... suddenly and very very late it shows the 3:45...3:50. Useless piece of technology to do structured workouts like 2x500, 4x400. A shame.
Instant pace of the FR945 was discussed in a lot of threads in this forum. It's a common finding that instant pace of the FR945 is much smoothed. For example today I run with two watches, the FR610, the FR945, and a footpod Runscribe (viewable with the CIQ app "footpod pace"). Instant pace of the footpod was the fastest to react in changes in instant pace. The FR610 was not so fast, but it catched up very quickly. The Fr945 was very slow to react , and, as you say, it takes about 10 seconds or more to react to the change of pace. When the pace is steady, all the three instant pace were very similar.
Other users noticed in other threads that instant pace of the FR945 has sometimes strange drops of about 20 seconds/km even if the real pace is steady. This occurs even if the gps track of the FR945 is perfect.
The smoothness of instant pace of the FR945 could be so by design, and some people could note that this thing is not ideal in fast intervals of 400 meters, but maybe it's an advantage in long steady runs or in long intervals of 2-3 km (we could name it not a instant pace but a 30 seconds rolling pace).
Nevertheless, I would be happy like you if Garmin makes the instant pace of the FR945 a bit less smoothed and if takes care of the strange drops that occur sometimes.
That said, for intervals I use a footpod so for me it is not of vital importance if Garmin changes the smoothing factor of instant pace. For the long runs, I will test on Sunday in a race and I will see if I will be happy with the instant pace of the FR945 or if prefer to look at the instant pace of the footpod. Maybe during races a rolling pace is useful. For example even with a footpod, the app Runpower or Gaitcoach can set a "30 seconds average pace". In my opinion the instant pace of the FR945 is a "30 seconds rolling average", I repeat it's very useful in long runs, less so in short intervals.
I have had the same problem with mine from day one, delays up to a minute and a half to show the actual pace. Garmin replaced my first watch but the new one did the same. I started using my Stryd Powermeter as my speed source and haven't had the issue as bad. Now I am just dealng with HR issues.
