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Forerunner 45 - a good step between Vivosmart 4 and Vivoactive 4?

Hey all!

I've been asked to give a friend some advice on a fitness tracker or smartwatch.

A theory I'd like your input on:

The Forerunner 45 is a reasonable halfway step between a Vivosmart 4 and a Vivoactive 4.

You go from a narrow band and no built in GPS to a unit with GPS, and a variety of simple exercise profiles, for less than double the price. For someone happy with basic cardio activity tracking + a GPS and smart functions, the 45 seems like a stealthy best buy.

The 245 adds a lot but costs significantly more and it's probably overkill for someone looking at general fitness.

Thoughts?

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0 4221014 over 5 years ago

There's a good comparison between the 45 and the 245 here: www.youtube.com/watch

In my opinion, the advantages of the 245 doesn't worth the 50% extra price:

Activity battery life
45: 13 hours
245: 24 hours

Widget
45: only the built-ins
245: you can download extra widgets

Music:
45: controls available, but no storage available
245 full support

Swimming:
45: no support
245: full support

Maps:
45: no support
245: yes, but no turn-by-turn support

Screen:
45: 208p up to 3 fields data per page during an activity
245: 240p Gorilla Glass 3 up to 4 data fields per page during an activity

Advantages of the 45:
1- cheaper;
2- has a small version (45S) designed for small wrists;
3- lighter, especially the small version which weights just 32 grams;
4- a bit simpler to use, since it has less features;

For a more in-depth comparison I recommend reading DC Rainmaker reviews:
www.dcrainmaker.com/.../garmin-forerunner-45-45s-gps-watch-in-depth-review.html
www.dcrainmaker.com/.../garmin-forerunner-245-music-gps-watch-in-depth-review.html

0 Otto-Destruct over 5 years ago in reply to 4221014

I'm familiar with the 245; that wasn't the topic of my discussion.

0 jim_m_58 over 5 years ago in reply to Otto-Destruct

I think a variable here is what the person wants to use the watch for. The fr45 is more of a running watch than the va4, but the va4 may be more universal in what it can do without as much running specific functionality.

0 Otto-Destruct over 5 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Yeah, I totally see Garmin's marketing approach for these models.

I just find it interesting there seems to be some feature-set overlap with the Vivosmart 4.

Doing a price to feature comparison, making a jump from the Vivosmart 4 to the Forerunner 45 is easier to swallow than a jump to the Vivoactive 4 or Forerunner 245.