Forerunner 645. Garmin Forerunner 645 Music Review 2019-12-20

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music Review

Something that may throw general users is the lack of any touch controls. The battery life is also longer with Garmin. With the Garmin Forerunner 645 Music, you now have the freedom to without having to take your ipod or phone. This watch is perfect for those style conscious early adopters, who have money to spend on the latest fitness gadget. The feature offers an estimate of how long it should take you to complete 5km, 10km, half marathon and marathon runs. In terms of price they are both equally matched and considered a premium purchase. The lack of support for subscription services is a shame, as once you manage to actually transfer files, the music player works a treat.

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music Review

The Forerunner 645 Music is the first wearable from Garmin to offer users local music playback. Related: Why buy the Garmin Forerunner 645 Music? Scrolling through activity pages, you can dig into your specific lap times, set goals and track long-term progress. Its biochemical metrics can measure stride length, ground contact time, balance, rhythm, stroke count, distance, pace, tempo and more across a number of sports such as running, cycling, indoor swimming, skiing and even snowboarding! Unlike some competing trackers, there were no sudden blips that threw my training data out of whack. The combination of factors are a useful incentive to stick to a training regime without overdoing it. This is helped by it weighing only 42. Workouts included a mix of indoor cycling plus three 5km runs each week. This is one of the preinstalled sub-menus on the watch.

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music

The Apple watch can only download data via Bluetooth, whereas the. And when you want to inject a little personality, you can download some apps, widgets, watch faces and photos or try out a different interchangeable band. Attempting to transfer files to the Garmin via the app came to a halt mid-transfer every other time I attempted to add music. What the Apple lacks in benefits, it more than makes up for with its consistent performance whereas the Garmin Forerunner 645 Music is still in its infancy and therefore prone to a few technical hiccups. The biggest of these is the lack of support for any third-party music-streaming services. As it stands, the only other wearables to offer such a feature are more focused on being smartwatches — the , for example. The figures are, apparently, an average based on your recent runs, but in general I found them to be slightly optimistic.

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music

Its integrated music storage can hold up to 500 songs, which can be downloaded offline from apps such as iHeartRadio and Deezer - however please note that Spotify, Apple and Pandora are not yet supported. Related: Some may feel the lack of other significant changes makes the 645 Music feel a little on the dull side, but I remain a big of the unassuming design and feature set. As it stands, the 645 Music is limited to local playback, although Deezer support has been confirmed in the near future. In it together Whether you want to give yourself something to aim for or need some added motivation, with the Garmin Forerunner 645 Music, you can download the and share your successes with others via social media. Brightness levels are decent, which means the screen remains visible even outdoors. TomTom used to serve those needs, but has discontinued many of its watches that included local music playback.

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music Review

So for those times when we still need to keep up with our busy lifestyles and stay connected, , and once paired with a compatible smartphone, can allow you to view and respond to emails, text messages and social network notifications. The lack of a touchscreen takes a while to get used to, but following a week with the device, I can vouch for the fact that the physical buttons work fine. As a result, more casual gym-goers who rely on streaming services such as Spotify would do better to consider a smartwatch such as the instead. . Like the regular 645, the only obvious design flourish is the metallic, stainless steel bezel running round the 1. Although the app remains one of the least intuitive around, the data on offer is excellent.

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music Review

Comparison to the competition is probably the most comparable to the Garmin Forerunner 645 Music, based on the fact they both combine music functions and running features. Their music-playback features are also significantly more developed, offering support for streaming services such as Spotify. Regardless, I found myself regularly working harder mid-run to ensure I at least came close to meeting the estimate. Like other Forerunner devices, the 645 is wonderfully comfortable to wear. Regular use entails taking advantage of its smartwatch features throughout the day, using the watch to control my music on the morning and evening commute, and tracking my 30-minute morning workouts.

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music Review

Train to the beat Studies have found that music reduces your perception of how hard you are training, increases concentration, provides motivation and generally leaves you feeling upbeat. The main advantages that the Garmin Forerunner 645 Music has over the Apple Series 3 watch are the number of data transfer options available. But this is mainly because the fitness market is starved of decent trackers offering local storage. In terms of training functions, the Garmin Forerunner 645 Music outruns Apple thanks to its advanced features such as the race predictor and recovery adviser. However, if you are more of a swimmer than a runner, then the Apple Series 3 may be more suitable as it can be used for open water training as well as recording your underwater heart rate. It features the same circular main body, and the colour remains identical too. The 645 survived an accidental encounter with a free weight during a gym session crack-free.

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music

It is the ideal upgrade from previous Garmin Forerunners 630 and 620 and is the perfect training buddy to assist you across a variety of sporting activities. Weight 42g 85g 40g Track your training If you think you are on track to be the next Carl Lewis, Lance Armstrong or Michael Phelps, and recovery. Other nifty features include helping you find your phone and letting your friends keeps tabs on your runs. Adding local music playback into the mix that figure went up, and on one 10km run I completed with both features active the watch lost close to a third of its charge. The menu system takes some getting used to, but once you do it will be suitably intuitive for most people. In general, the watch managed somewhere between three and five days before dying. Who should buy the Garmin Forerunner 645 Music? Training load is a more useful metric, which gathers data from all your recent activities to provide a rough estimate of your level of activity over the last 7 days.

Garmin Forerunner 645 Music Review

These include contactless payments and integrated music, so you can leave your phone at home and head out into the wilderness with everything you could possible need on hand. Battery life The Garmin Forerunner 645 Music has been marketed with a battery life of five days, which sounds mighty impressive for a lightweight watch packed full of features. This is an independent fan website, designed to showcase the amazing range of running watches. The chroma screen is easy to read and navigate using physical buttons - perfect if you are all fingers and thumbs or training hard in the pool. It's not owned or operated by Garmin. It looks stylish not to mention expensive and the fact that you can work out to music phone-free is its winning combination. Notifications are also just as good as ever.