Garmin Forerunner 945 LTE, Premium GPS Running/Triathlon Smartwatch with LTE Connectivity, Whitestone

10 reviews for Garmin Forerunner 945 LTE, Premium GPS Running/Triathlon Smartwatch with LTE Connectivity, Whitestone

1. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Matthew J MacKay – January 19, 2024

   “Babe Paley had only one fault,” commented her one-time friend Truman Capote. “She was perfect. Otherwise, she was perfect.”

   While the Garmin 945 LTE is not perfect, it is darn close.

   Here are my thoughts on running with the 945LTE for a month. Since we all have specific needs, I’ll briefly describe myself so you can determine if my review would have any merit for you. I’m a 67-year-old marathoner. I’m not a triathlete, so I cannot address the tri features of the watch. I don’t listen to music when I run but did test this feature as described below.

   I use Training Peaks, and the watch seamlessly integrates with TP. I don’t use Strava but assume Garmin works with a popular platform like Strava.

   My other running watches are a Suunto Peak 9 and a Coros Pace 2. The LTE will replace a Fenix 5X.

   The LTE version of the 945 is smaller than the original but retains the screen size. The screen is crisp and easy to read. It is not a touch screen, which I see as a positive feature on a running watch. Buttons always work, and I find touch screens duller than regular screens, and clumsy to work with when wearing mittens.

   My main interest in the LTE was the cellular safety features. These worked flawlessly. Tracking notifications went automatically to my selected contacts, and it was comforting to know that I could be found if needed. Fortunately, I did not have to test the emergency response feature. (I’m willing to take one for the team, but hey, there are limits!)

   To my mind, this is the best of both worlds. You have the safety running with a phone provides, without the nuisance of dragging a clunky phone. And the LTE does not bombard you with emails, texts and messages. We run to get away from the world, right? (I know you can turn notifications on and off, but I am constantly turning off notifications Sunday morning when I go to Church and discover they are still turned off next Thursday.)

   Do bear in mind that you pay a monthly fee to Garmin for this. It is $12 a month in Canada. The peace of mind is worth it to me. If you always carry your phone or have an Apple Watch cellular, this service has little point.

   The music feature worked as stated. I loaded up the entire Smiths’ catalogue and the watch easily paired to my headphones. The interface to control music is elegant and simple. I confess it was quite cool to go running with Morrissey. 🙂

   The metrics Garmin provides are beneficial and easily understood. I especially loved the climb pro feature-useful here on PEI, where you are either going up or down a hill. The body battery is interesting and much cheaper than a Whoop subscription. It is not something I will use, as I’ve been around long enough to know when I’m overtraining or had a bad night of sleep. (Which is all the time.)

   There are two areas where I’d love to see some changes. Both could be done via a firmware update, so fingers crossed. These may not matter to you and are not deal breakers. I use a Stryd footpad as running by power works best in the hilly, windy environment on the North shore of PEI. While the Garmin does integrate with the Stryd through a Connect IQ app, I wish it would work natively as the under $300 Coros Pace 2. Secondly-and this is because I’m an old guy with big hands and aging eyes-I wish Garmin would allow customizing the watch via a phone or web portal. I find that quicker and easier than pressing buttons and scrolling a tiny watch screen. Both Coros and Suunto have a phone/web interface. (Well, Coros will have a web interface at the start of 2022-I’m testing the beta now, and it is quite nice.)

   I mentioned the watch was not perfect. Perhaps a better statement would have been that the watch is not perfect for me. It might be for you. In the price range I think it is impossible to beat. Thanks for reading this, and I wish you all miles of smiles in 2022.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   DC – January 20, 2024

   Okay, Garmin is greedy, there I said it. I did everything in my power to get even a 10% discount from Garming. But they were not having it. They made me pay full price $650.00 and no discounts period!
   NOW THEN, believe it or not, the Garmin 945 LTE is ABSOLUTELY WORTH EVERY PENNY. This is my first Garmin watch and won’t be my last. I bought this watch because, I was training to run my first marathon. I needed a watch that could last 6 continuous hours playing music, providing GPS tracking accuracy, and provide cellular coverage for safety. Leave the bulky smartphone at home. Garmin exceeded my expectation.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Jared – February 4, 2024

   Love this watch. Simply due to the LTE emergency feature. I’ve owned various Garmin and Apple watches over the years, only reason I ever went to the Apple watch is I DON’T want to have to lug my phone along on every run. But want to feel I can still get help if I get hurt or need assistance while on a run. Apple battery life sucks compared to Garmin by a long shot.

   The 945 lte has music, great battery life, smart features (which I actually disable them all), and the ability to get help if needed phone free! For me, that’s all I need or want.

   Wished they’d add the LTE emergency feature to the Fenix line.

4. 

   Rated 1 out of 5

   Jason H – February 15, 2024

   I bought this watch back in February 2023, using it as both my running and everyday watch. Between the LTE connection and the ability to store music on the watch, I felt I had finally found a way to leave my phone behind and not have to worry about uncomfortable straps digging into my arm or hip.

   The enjoyment lasted until the end of May, when I noticed the watch became stuck in a reboot cycle. The Garmin logo would be displayed, there would be second where the screen said maps were being loaded, the screen would go black, and the cycle would repeat again.

   I reached out to Garmin and, to their credit, they issued me a free replacement. The replacement lasted less than 12 hours, as I woke up the day after setting up the new watch to find it stuck in the same reboot cycle.

   I’ve reached out to Garmin support again, but even if they send me yet another replacement, I’ll always be worried it will develop the same problem.

   UPDATE: My second replacement arrived yesterday. I woke up this morning to discover this watch ALSO stuck in a reboot cycle.

   Avoid this watch at all costs.

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   ArkAngel – February 20, 2024

   Great watch. I am still learning of all the cool features and feel like I am not even close to discovering everything. The one thing I wish this watch did was allow to text back.

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   DB Brown – February 27, 2024

   Bought for my wife. She wanted to listen to music on her earbuds while tracking her run without needing to carry her phone. We tried a galaxy watch 4 lte and it was terrible. The watch would overheat and shut down minutes into the run. This watch will last for a few days while running with music for an hour or so each day. Great watch. Takes a little getting used to without the touch screen but that is nothing new.

7. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   Alex Willis – February 29, 2024

   I love this watch: it tracks everything very accurately and explains how to use all the data, looks great, functions well as a day to day smart watch, etc. It seems very durable and I plan to use it as my daily driver for a long time.

   However, I can only give it two stars for 2 chief complaints. There is a bug with pool swim workouts that renders that feature unusable. You can still track pool swims but the on screen pool swim workouts breaks after one lap/interval. It seems like there are a few other bugs that other users are experiencing but this is the only one that I’ve encountered/affects me.

   The other complaint is that the sleep tracking is awful. It can barely tell me when I go to sleep and wake up, let alone accurately determine what state of sleep I’m in.

   The software support seems lazy for these reasons.

   I strongly recommend this watch but for a $650 product I can’t give it more than 3 stars until these things are addressed.

8. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Michael A. Tate – March 14, 2024

   As of December 2021 the software is still buggy. Most annoyingly is having to turn the watch off and on again after a workout. Otherwise the software keeps trying to connect to external sensors and drains the battery in less than a day. (Software version 4.16)

   I’d avoid this until Garmin comes out with some more stable software. Otherwise it’s a great watch.

9. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   CichlidFiend – April 3, 2024

   I purchased this watch for the battery life and LTE functionality, although it is only for use in emergency situations. If you want to make/receive texts and calls without your phone nearby, this may not be the watch for you. If you don’t care about full-fledged smartwatch functionality when you aren’t in bluetooth range of your phone, and want a fitness-centric device, it is worth the money. My Samsung watch 4 LTE has fantastic smartwatch capability when out of bluetooth range, but you pay the price in battery drain. When tracking a workout with music on my connected headphones, I’d be lucky to make it through a day. One other thing I love about the 945 LTE is the Garmin Coach running plans that are included through the Garmin Connect app. Just choose one and start completing activities, and it automatically adjusts your training based on your fitness level, and continues to adjust the activities throughout the program.

   Syncing albums from Spotify was a pain at first, but I joined Garmin’s Beta testing program and after a software update, it was easy peasy. I am extremely satisfied!

10. 

    Rated 5 out of 5

    Amazon Customer – April 3, 2024

    Its a great watch for fitness tracking but the cost of the LTE additions is too much for little enhanced value