Has connection robustness improved since the Forerunner 245?

Hi all,

I was considering upgrading my FR 245 Music to a FR 970, especially since the pairing and stability of the BT connection has greatly worsened over time (I assume due to Android updates doing things, it's been more noticable since I moved to a Pixel 10 Pro with Android 16).

This includes the BT connection randomly dropping and the phone/app forcing me to remove the watch and then needing to redo the whole pairing process (this seems to happen a lot after charging, particularly after charging on the computer - maybe something to do with Garmin Express connecting to the watch?) which is annoying to do every week.

Has anyone experienced similar things with their FR 970 or has this been improved? I assume the newer models are using a newer protocol/version of Bluetooth but I can't find any data on that on the spec sheets.

0 7557725 1 month ago

I'd also love to know about this.

0 tsofron 1 month ago

It worked really great for me and i'm using a Pixel 8; never experienced what you described above...

0 rwhillrunner 1 month ago

It's working perfectly fine with my Pixel 8 Pro but I've never had connectivity issues with any of the Forerunner/Pixel combinations I've had over the years so maybe I'm not the best test case.

0 Nighflame 1 month ago

Yeah my Forerunner 245 disconnects all the time and has to be re-paired every time. Its become unusable.

I get the same problems on Samsung A34 on Android 16 and Samsung A54 on Android 15. So not sure if the problem is Android, Samsung or Garmin.

0 IcantHear 1 month ago

After some more testing and deliberate charging only via the power socket I have yet to have any disconnects.

It seems when charging the phone via USB on the PC where Garmin Express is installed it kills the BT connection and needs to be re-paired in Garmin Connect.

Weird, I'm pretty sure it didn't do that before.

0 charper3 30 days ago

I have no issues like you are describing with a FR970 and Pixel 10.