In 2016 when I was training for Ironman Louisville, I bought a Garmin Fenix 3. I was looking for two main features. The first was battery life, and the second was the look of the watch if I was going to be wearing it at the time. My other options were the Forerunner 735, which lacked battery life, and the Forerunner 920, which was ugly.
Now, five years later, I decided to upgrade, especially because I get a little jealous of everyone with their training load status and other statistics from the new watches. I’ve also scratched the screen pretty badly on my Fenix 3, and I just felt like it was time for an upgrade.
My decision process was pretty simple. I basically wanted the training status features and upgrades from the newer watches, and I wanted to be able to train for triathlon and race with it. I decided the new Fenix series was a little overkill for me, so I went with the latest high end multisport watch from Garmin, the Forerunner 945. I would have considered other brands, but Garmin is the most readily available to me, and all of my historic data is also with Garmin, so it made sense to stick with it.
My first impression when putting it on was that it is smaller and lighter than my Fenix was. I knew it had a slightly smaller face, but the weight was surprising. The band has also changed. It is narrower than the Fenix 3 band, and it feels a little bit more substantial, like it will hold up better, and the tab that holds the strap in place definitely has a much stronger hold than the one on the Fenix 3 did.
My first priority was to get a new watch face. Specifically I wanted to use a photo of one of my cats, so I was able to quickly set that up on my phone, then the next time I synced from Garmin Connect it was there.
My first workout after putting this on was actually an indoor bike ride, so I just use Zwift, my smart trainer, and my heart rate monitor for that. The feature I did like was that it would sync the activity to the watch, not just Garmin Connect, when I was done. I do a lot of indoor workouts, and I don’t wear it when I swim, so I think this is beneficial for the recovery advisor and training status on the watch.
I took it for a run the next morning, and thankfully I set my zones and changed the screen settings before the run. I like to have heart rate, heart rate zone, and time on my first screen for most of my training. I train by time when building up endurance, so I try to ignore distance. I do keep the current lap distance on the second screen along with pace, but I don’t use those metrics as often. It navigates very similar to the Fenix 3, so that made the transition easier for me.
Overall, my initial opinion of the watch is good. I still have some learning to do about other features, so I will definitely post a follow-up at some point, possibly as a part of my off-season training plan wrap-up, since getting the watch was right at the beginning of this new plan. There are a ton of features I have not used yet, so I know I’ll definitely have a lot more to say.