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Anyone else regret going with the 645?

Stephenrunning
over 4 years ago

First off let me explain that the 645 is only my 2nd running watch so I’ve not got a lot to compare it to but my previous 235 had very flaws that I noticed. Yes it lacked some features and looks which led me to the 645 but for my basic needs I couldn’t really fault it. I think in the year I had it I only remember once having some obvious gps errors.

Now on to the 645. I must admit I’m not one to test things in as much detail as some on here but day to day using the watch and analysing post run data I never expected to have so many issues from what should be Garmins premium run only watch. Firstly live pace, while I understand it will never be 100% too frequently it’s completely out, today for example on two occasions it had my pace anywhere between 10:00-15:00kpm yet I know I was around 5:05-5:15 those type of things aren’t a one either doing 6 runs most weeks I would say it happens in at least 3 of those each week. 

The altimeter has been discussed numerous times on here I see so I won’t moan on for too long but you can guarantee any time I run hill repeats or a particularly undulating course I will need to auto correct the data post run. It could very well be off on my flatter runs as well I just don’t particularly look into the plot to check on those. 

My final annoyance is the constant bugginess of the watch in general. While this doesn’t affect my data which is important it’s the icing on the cake of why I hate this thing. First I had an issue where it would crash any time I tired to start a planned workout and I’d have to reset until it worked then when that was fixed and things seemed ok for a while we now have the issue which according to these forums at least is affecting a lot of people where after saving a run the watch freezes and has to be restarted again. 

Sorry I know I’ve not really added anything constructive here and mostly just gone over old ground which I’ve seen covered numerous times but I felt the need to get it off my chest and just see if others hate this watch as much as I do?

Right now I’m not really in a position to just go out and get a new watch and when I am I will probably end up going down the Garmin route again as I think on the whole they make good products but the 645 to me at least and maybe others was a failure.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    It has been a great watch for more than a year, but Garmin screwed up the firmware since 6.2, so I am experiencing regular lockups now. I have had a similar experience with my previous VA HR. It worked fine at first, but also there, crappy firmware made the watch worse over time. Maybe this is a way for Garmin to push people to buy a new watch sooner?

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to robm

    With you on these.  I used SUP and renamed it open water swim. No swim stats but I just cared about distance. Worked well!

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    The 645 actually does many things fantastically well with great functions and add-ons etc, except to be a uhm a proper GPS sports watch first and foremost (by my definition and requirements  : acceptable GPS tracking for running and reliable ext HR monitoring).

    Not even mentioning the possible capabilities of power measurement and multi-sport which is surely possible via software implementations, but alas.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Despite all the faults, I still love my 645m.  I'm on my third one. The first had to be returned because of a faulty battery, the second because of a faulty altimeter. Garmin support was good though. 

    The software bugs are also annoying.  And I agree with others that Garmin either take ages to fix them or when try they introduce more, the most recent being the crash on saving after an activity. In some ways, I'm amazed that such a complex and feature rich product has so few bugs but on the other hand I think Garmin make it unnecessarily difficult for themselves by introducing far too many products which they haven't a hope of supporting properly. I feel sorry for their software programmers who are probably being asked to do daily heroics by management who grew up in a hardware-centric world and have no idea what DevOps is. 

    That apart though, it works well enough most of the time and I love the freedom of being able to go on a run and have music or a podcast without having to take the phone with me.  I love the stats that it produces and I've linked up the Tempe and the HRM-Run. I was already an ok runner before buying the watch but VO2 max has improved by over 20% since then and I am regularly now beating my personal bests. I previously thought that running a marathon was way beyond my abilities but can relatively comfortably do over 20 miles now. The new Garmin virtual coach is a great feature, especially as its free and I'm 12 weeks through a 16 week course.

    Occasionally, I use the watch for cycling and that it has a barometer comes in to its own then for measuring ascent so that rules out a 245 for me. Ditto for skiing which I try to do at least once a year.  I don't need the multi-sport features of the 945 as I have no ambition to go trail running or do triathlons. 

    I also love the always on feature.  I don't see the need a complex smart watch but I do find it really convenient to have phone calls and texts silently vibrating on my wrist, which means I don't miss calls when in noisy places or disturb business meetings because I have my phone on silent all the time now. Battery anguish is a thing of the past with the 645 and I laughed yesterday when I read about the new Apple watch with a new 'always on' feature that lasts 'up to' 18 hours. 

    Finally, on looks, I like the metal band of the 645.  It's not ridiculously expensive like the Fenix but is still a bit more classy than the all-plastic 245 and 945.  I've got the 'gun metal' version which looks fabulous in bright sunlight yet demur enough to be comfortable with a business suit. I also think it looks better than an Apple watch, because I think the round shape is intrinsically more attractive than the mini mobile phone shape of the Apple. I've got a friend with the Galaxy watch but again the battery life and touch screen really makes it unsuitable for an all day and night companion or a serious sports watch. 

    So IMHO the 645 is not perfect by any means but it's still lovely overall and way better than the competition. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    https://youtu.be/E4Y1Au8SEPY

    Sad to see that FR645/645M is obsolete to Garmin... In their new series talking about Forerunner lineup they don’t ever cite the 645...  All we can do is wait for 655 to return to be the “top runner watch” (as 945 is focus on triathlon)

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to DrGabrielSilva

    same for me, Sad to see that FR645M is obsolete to Garmin... so i will buy the venu

    all garmin's sensors are in it so i hope it will be fine for me

    fenix 6 pro is too much expensive for me

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to George

    +1 to most of what you wrote. The 645 is still a step up from the 245 for me. I appreciate the barometer for cycling, hiking, and trail running. It also brings running power to the watch when paired with an appropriate chest strap. A guided lactate threshold heart rate test and automatic LTHR detection make this the more advanced running watch IMO.

    I want to point out that the 645 is just as capable as the 945 for trail running. The 645 lacked a trail running app upon initial release, but it was soon added. In addition to passing the correct activity type to Garmin Connect, the trail running app has the benefit that it doesn't influence VO2max estimation, which is a good thing for most people who primarily road run. Even apart from elevation, the technical aspects of the trail cause you to slow down. But the smaller watch size limits battery life, so you're a bit limited when it comes to ultras, though it should handle up to 50 miles unless you're very slow (or up to 100K if you're moderately fast).

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I have no regrets. The 645 is still the best watch for me given my budget (or willingness to spend on a luxury device), though maps and temperature-corrected VO2max would be nice to have, and eventually I'll want open water swim and multisport/triathlon.

    I don't consider GPS or GNSS in general to be suitable for accurate running pace, given the limitations (±5m or more). Because my local terrain is rolling, I leave pace off my data screens, favoring HR and RPE. When I do concern myself with pace, I pair a Stryd Live, which beats any GPS watch under typical conditions. (I also rely on it for more accurate distance when trail running.) But even with GPS, I've never seen my pace so far off as yours, OP. I would consider contacting support for a replacement. But a workaround might be to use more smoothing. There are numerous Connect IQ apps that let you choose 5s pace, 10s pace, etc.

    My experience with the altimeter has generally been good, though perhaps I'm not as discerning. Temperature changes have an impact, though the only time I've noticed it really going out is when fording a river or going underground. My watch and my girlfriend's Vivoactive HR disagree a bit when we run together, but not so much that I consider one of the watches broken. (However, her VAHR is the least accurate watch I've ever used w.r.t. GPS and heart rate.)

    Apparently I've been blessed in that the firmware updates have not introduced crashing to my 645. I remained on 4.20 until recently for fear of it, but I wanted to set up incident detection for cycling, so I upgraded to 6.20. After numerous activities, including saving within range of my Wi-Fi network, I've yet to experience a crash.

    UPDATE: I eventually experienced freezing while saving activities with 6.20, and crashes during activities with 6.36. I've reverted back to 4.20, and now I do regret going with the 645.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I'm reasonably happy with the watch, but then I've a stryd footpod to get a reasonable idea of pace & a Polar H10 strap for accurate HR readings! Would be nice if the elevation graphs produced for running activities weren't sawtooth like as I'm fairly sure the watch can handle it given cycling activities are fine. I tried to help Garmin support debug the problem by covering the exact same route running & cycling but eventually they just gave up & wanted to replace the watch (for the 2nd time!).

    Coincidentally they also wanted to replace the watch when I reported the freezing bug that showed up with after saving an activity! But using the back button has sorted out that issue for me. Who knows maybe they'll fix it in time.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I regret mine.  I'm currently waiting for my second replacement. The first went back with the backlight issue,  this one the sensor cracked so badly the middle was missing and then one side of the strap holder literally cracked off whilst I was hoovering (no I didn't hit anything).

    Due to being told I might have a wait of up to a month for a replacement I actually bought a FR45 to use in the short term and for what it is, its better value for money. 

    My 645M crashed a lot, especially when saving, live pace was poor in wooded areas (my primary terrain is trails), music would crash for no reason and the only way to get it back was to pause session,  force a shut down and reboot, then resume session. It got to the point I would reboot before a long run to try and prevent issues but that wasn't always successful. 

    I hadn't even considered when I bought it that I might want to get more than 5.5 hrs with gps and music at once so often I can't use the music to get enough battery life for gps (with bluetooth off too so emergency options useless).

    Vo2max is only measured under "run" and not "trail run" which I use most frequently. Yes, I could just use "run" but I had it all set up differently for road running over trails. I'll probably set up the new one differently however copying the "run" profile. 

    I found sleep tracking fairly spot on however.

    Let's set how no.3 goes...