Garmin 010-02156-05 Forerunner 45, 42mm Easy-to-use GPS Running Watch with Coach Free Training Plan Support, Black

My usual fitness activities have been curtailed by the pandemic, so I started running again. I wanted a device with GPS tracking so I could figure out how far I was running and at what pace. The Forerunner 45 does everything I need, some things that are informative that I didn't know I wanted, and a whole bunch of stuff I don't actually care about. The watch does a great job of tracking distance and time. It continuously records heart rate and steps, so you can see how your pace and run cadence (steps per minute) change over the course of the run. The data is transferred to a mobile device over Bluetooth and then uploaded to the cloud, so you can sit at your computer afterward and see an interactive map of the route you took. This allows you to see if you're speeding up or slowing down at different points. (You can see stats like current pace and heart rate on the watch itself while you're running, but I prefer the after-action report approach.) Most of the data is more interesting than useful, but the important parts seem pretty solid. The watch itself is easy to use. Unlike most mobile devices, it's actually easier to read in bright sunlight. There's about a billion different things you can configure, but if you don't care about those things you can just ignore them. The Bluetooth connectivity works well with my low-end Motorola phone, often sending me notifications even when I'm upstairs and the phone is downstairs. (It's got a lot of "smart watch" features, showing incoming e-mail, text messages, etc.) The watch is waterproof, but the manual recommends rinsing it off if after a workout to prevent corrosion. The Garmin Connect software has all sorts of coaching and social media blah blah whatever. If you want to share or compete you can do so. You can specify the type of exercise you're doing, so I started tracking dog walks as well. Overall, after using it for a week, it seems to be a pretty good piece of gear.

This watch is perfect for my needs. I run but not marathons. I lift but I'm not a bodybuilder. There are options to track almost any kind of workout you can think of. It tracks steps and sleep and pulse automatically. The GPS is accurate and consistent. This is a great watch for people who take care of themselves but aren't fanatics about it andb especially if they like to charge things up. The watch can do much more than what I have listed below, but here's what stands out to me: Pros: -built IN HR monitor -workout mode: choose from run, treadmill, bike, walk, cardio, or add your own activity -the app allows you to add workouts you didn't track on the watch, e.g., yoga, etc. -Not too big, not too small -choose from different watch faces -choose which widgets the watch displays and in what order (weather, smart notifications, steps, etc.) -smart notifications from your phone (if you're into that) -you can calibrate it if you're using a treadmill (for example, you run 5 miles on the treadmill, but the watch estimates 3.8. Before you save the workout, you can adjust the distance to match the treadmill display. If you forget to do it before you save it on the watch, you can do it later in the app, though the data will not adjust and you'll end up with the correct distance but a big black spot at the end). This is a manual adjustment - you don't need any special Bluetooth enabled treadmill or anything like that. Cons: -face has somewhat small print, certain displays can be hard to read -body battery is inconsistent. It's just a made up thing anyway so not a big deal but doesn't seem to make sense. A good night of sleep should "charge your battery" but often the nights I feel most rested it tells me that my battery is very low. -watch battery doesn't seem to have a warning. I occasionally forget to charge it and don't remember until it's completely dead and the watch is off. Would be nice to get a low battery warning.

I have used tracking devices since 2008. Three garmins, 2 fibits and withings and xiaomi and amazfit. This one is still in the lead. It has the most accurate built in readiness score, the best stress measure with heart rate variability, and Vo2 max. It does everything. And the app is completely free and chock full of information. One the neatest features is having a place to track the shoes you are wearing and the miles you have in them. Because changing out your shoes protects you from pronating, heavy heel strike, and developing postural distortions and back pain. I keep a Fitbit premium membership for the meditations and coached workouts. Garmin app communicates with Fitbit transferring data using google health app. Touch screens are overrated. Buttons are fantastic. And this garmin also has fall protection and detection and will call for help if you are in a car wreck or fall down a mountainside. While you are unconscious your watch will call for help with your location. Trackers almost equivalent to this are Pixel 2 and Fitbit sensor 2.

Cons: Battery life. There is supposedly a setting to prevent constant updating by Bluetooth to increase battery life, but I can't find it. Features may be too limited for some tastes. Pros: Intuitive controls, durable, easy to read, has all the features necessary for a run watch and then some. I just wanted a watch to track my heart rate, with GPS to track my runs. After much study, I originally purchased a Fitbit. This was perfect for me until 30 days after the warranty ended, and firmware was automatically upgraded improperly. The watch stopped working. As I was out of warranty, no help available. In Feb 2024, I purchased the Garmin Forerunner 45. I was immediately struck by the much higher quality and ease of controls. This watch does what I need and more. I can easily track kilometers run, meters climbed, heart rate, and pace. Or you can change it to feet and miles, if you prefer. I can look at my watch to read texts and decide if they need an immediate answer (rarely!). In late May 2025 (2 months out of warranty), the tiny bracket that holds the band to the watch itself broke, and is unrepairable. Remembering the other brand, I was not happy. But I contacted Garmin, sent a picture of the damage, and received a no charge replacement. I...did not expect that. I expected to get nothing, but would have been very happy to get a 50% discount on a refurbished model. Nope. Free, and brand new, and Garmin even paid for shipping. As someone who has been dealing with warranties for decades as a consumer AND a service provider, I am ecstatic. Garmin has a customer for life!

It's a little pricey, but it's honestly held up the best! And has had the best accuracy for my pacing and time as well as location. I have had a couple fitbits in the past and they are not anywhere as good as this! I haven't needed to get it wet, but if it gets splashed or a little damp it doesn't seem to affect it. And it's held up very well under my sweatiness, especially while running! Has amazing battery life I only have to charge it like once a week, and the wrist band has held up very well! The app for it is easy to use and has a great dashboard layout as well as options for you to add in specific exercises and then it will tell you the specific muscle groups you are working. And it gives you an option for a coach to get you where you want to be with your running. Absolutely love this watch 🙌

I reviewed many watches and this one matched up well with my previous Forerunner 15 learning curve (15 no longer held a charge). The size is better for your wrist (6ft 150 lbs small wrists) and can easily be worn as an all day watch. There is a good bit to learn on setting it up but it does a good job from the get go; at least for a 35 year runner with a need to just get the info but not all the bells and whistles. It tracks perfectly with GPS in my area but I did have to find the right sat link spot in my yard to set it down and then let it link over a few minutes, sats are unblock located west/north for my area in SW Virginia. I love the roll arm light comes on feature and the face presentation is easy to program for what info you need on your run. Seems to hold a charge well and links well with my phone and my Garmin site online. No real complaints but will update in 6 mths if that changes. April 2021 8 months after I got the watch. The watch started to not hold a charge, with multiple tries to fix. Contacted customer service, they gave suggestions and that did not work and I was suggested to send it back, in 5 days I got a new one and it is working well now. Excellent service.

Update July 18: I've started wearing the 45s for sleep. It does indeed show REM. It doesn't offer pulse ox. The 45s works great with my Scosche Rhythm+ heart rate monitor. As is typical with wrist-based HRMs, I have to move the 45s higher on my arm and tighten it a bit during workouts where I'm swinging my arms. I find it easier to use the Rhythm+ during activity since I already owned it. Firmware update 2.60 didn't fix the notification issue I reported in my initial review, but Garmin support is working on it and will notify me when a fix is released. I do wish there were more band colors available for the 45s. I'm increasing my rating from 4 stars to 5. This is a great watch! Original review: I'm not a runner. I'm a walker with health issues, so I wanted something to track activity, training walks, sleep, etc. I left Fitbit (after owning almost every device since the original), as I got tired of not being able to share my Fitbit data with Apple Health and other health/fitness apps. Even though Fitbit advertises the ability to share data with Withings, One Drop, Cardiogram, etc., data doesn't import consistently, accurately or completely. Anyway, the Apple watch series 4 didn't work for me, as I had to charge it every night. So I started looking at the new Garmin devices. I did own a Forerunner 235 briefly a couple years ago, but it was so big on my small wrist and way overkill for my needs that I moved it along. I picked up the new Vivosmart 4, and it's a nice, small device that tracks steps accurately, but it has no GPS (or even connected GPS). It does have fantastic sleep tracking with an SpO2 sensor! Next I tried the Forerunner 45s. Unfortunately it doesn't use the SpO2 sensor, so there's no pulse ox. I've always preferred black or grey watches, so my choice of white or what looks like purple (in the pics) but is actually blue, was disappointing. I debated about getting the larger 45, but in the end I decided on white. It's nice looking, and the white silicone strap cleans up well in warm water and a mild facial cleanser. It's got everything I want except the SpO2 sensor that Vivosmart 4, Forerunner 245 and up have. Currently I'm wearing the Vivosmart 4 for sleep and the Forerunner 45s for daily wear and workouts. I was hesitant to buy the 45s after reading about connectivity issues. I had those issues too at first. It was extremely frustrating downloading the firmware update when the watch wouldn't stay connected to my phone. But once I got the firmware updated, the watch has stayed connected without issue (iPhone Xs). It's the original firmware that's the problem, not the watch! The one thing that does really bug me (and that Garmin will likely fix in future updates) is that even when I turn notifications off, I still get ALL notifications sent to my phone! The 45s has a choice of all notifications, calls and texts, calls or off. Further, notifications have to be cleared individually. I can find no "clear all" option. I finally got rid of notifications by removing the notifications widget. I would really like to get just calls and texts. I just updated to firmware 2.60 that installed quickly. Let's hope this fixes the notifications issue! I've done one walk, and the 45s worked great. I just paired my Rhythm+ heart rate monitor, so I'll try that on my next walk. I'll expand this review as I use the 45s.

I am not an olympic athlete. All I needed was something that would help me track mileage and heart rate and could be easily programmed. This watch fits the bill perfectly. While the display is not super fancy with 1000 different faces with neon bar graphs and dials, it does the job and it does it well. I use the watch mainly for running. The watch, along with the app, allows me to track all of the important data I need such as heart rate, pace, distance, stride, etc. I train using heart rate zones, and after setting your personal zones, each workout can be tailored to your heart rate. For instance, sometimes I do long easy runs in Zone 2 and sometimes I do intervals in zones 2 and 4 and sometimes I just do a short zone 3. All of these are easily programmed via the app and the watch will beep and vibrate when you are out of your target zone. The same alerts can be set for pace, distance, etc. The watch does have some other features like connecting to Spotify but I don't bother with those. I can verify that you can wear it in the pool. I foolishly decided to see if I could swim 100 meters and while my body couldn't handle it, the watch could. If you are looking for an affordable running watch, this is it.

El reloj es bastante bueno y preciso y junto con la app de Garmin un muy buen aliado para el running. cumple su función bastante bien, no se puede manejar spotify del reloj, pero los mensajes si se pueden visualizar. Muy buen producto, lo recomiendo ampliamente.

Firstly, Amazon Prime is great. This watch came in good time as a Father's Day from my sons to me. As for the product, it is great. Maybe I am a Garmin watch user all this while so I am quite used to the menu and the buttons. The GPS tracking is great. It can track within 10 seconds compared to the Forerunner 220 which can take several minutes. And this watch has the heart rate monitoring and steps counter. All in one. The clock faces also gave us a variety of choices to choose from. The bad thing is that the there are only two data fields for the custom data screen. Should provide 3.

I’ve waited for five months before writing a review on the Garmin Forerunner 45. I wanted to be sure of my views and that confidence could only emerge with repeated usage over time. Hence, after about more or less 500kms of running in the past five months, I am confident of my review accuracy. So I wanted a fitness watch, solely to monitor my runs, walks and physical activity. It took me some time but I homed on to the Forerunner 45 considering both my budget and specific purpose. The Forerunner 45 is not a smart watch with versatility and functions of the Apple Watch but it performs some useful smart functions of alerting you once a call or message is received. Leave that aside as my purpose was not a full-scale smart watch but a physical fitness smart watch. And I could not have been happier. The Forerunner 45 is beautifully crafted and ergonomically designed. I have a thin wrist and the watch size was perfect for me. I find it fits snugly and the watch band has excellent grip and sturdy latching mechanism. It is very accurate. I matched the iPhone measurements and based on my previous measured runs I found the watch to be consistent and correct in measurements. Plus, it’s a Garmin product, they produce GPS receivers that are fitted on aircraft and ships the world over. So accuracy is assured. Battery life is very good, I need to charge it every third day or preferably the second day, and the charging takes little time. I think about 30 minutes or so to full charge from half charge status. In all probability, if you don’t use the GPS, the battery life will be a week. The point is battery life is very good and charges fast. The push buttons for accessing the menu are intuitive and I never felt the need for a touch screen functionality. When your fingers are sweaty and you are doused in sweat, you need hard interfaces and the push buttons are ideal. At least I feel so. The menu navigation takes a little time to get used to but it’s not a worry at all. Be a little patient in the initial stages to learn the settings. There is some complexity in settings such as alerts every km or units or targets etc. I wonder how much of these can one gainfully use, but there are a number of user settings that can be done. I like the feature that when it’s dark and you are exercising, the dial lights up when the wrist is turned to your face for you to see the exercise status, and then switches off on its own. That saves battery too. Good engineering. Yes, you may have read that the GPS lock on takes some time and I too have noted that occasionally. But off late, after upgrading the software, I have not noticed any delay in locking on to the GPS. It takes less than a minute but I have had occasions that the lock on has taken up to 15 minutes. In a way, a few minutes to achieve lock on is good as I warm up and stretch during that time. So if it takes a little while, I am fine with it. But please ensure that you upgrade the software upon release of a new version. This should happen automatically on syncing the watch with the Garmin App on the phone. The mobile app is well designed and syncs well with the watch. The details of your walk, run, duration of exercises, VO2, calories, sleep activity are all updated and aggregated. For instance, it’s a good feeling to see the amount you’ve walked or run in a week or a month or a full year. And you do get motivated to exercise more if the data shows a declining trend. Your best effort is also highlighted from time to time. In all, the Garmin app is neat, well designed and presents the data in great detail. For example, you can access additional details of your run, your heart rate, body battery and also stress level. You can compare yourself with the rest of the population that is using Garmin app. Frankly, I have not accessed in great detail the data measured by the Watch, its quite a lot. But the watch is very sensitive. I was once running and a wire from a tree was hanging loose, I ran into it unknowingly and it stabbed me on my cheek bone...I stopped dead on my track and the watch started to vibrate wildly exclaiming a sudden stop and then went on to dial the emergency number. I was amazed. This could have actually been an emergency if the wire has impacted my eye. Hence, the watch is very sensitive to alert any fall or sudden stop. I can vouch for that. So for QUALITY, BUILD, ACCURACY, APP SUPPORT and BATTERY...the Forerunner 45 is a great fitness watch.

I purchased this watch to replace a Garmin Forerunner 35 that I had for years as it was on it's last legs. I found this watch to be easy to add to the Gamin Connect app so I could seamlessly keep using that for my workouts and other data. I especially like the GPS feature so I can just go for a run anywhere I want and I know how far I have gone. This eliminates the need to carry my phone or repeatedly run the same pre measured routes. This Forerunner 45 is about the least expensive sports watch I could find that had the built in GPS. I find the distance tracking to be quite accurate based on using it on known routes that had distance measured previously. The battery life is excellent and it can go for a number of days without recharging. However, one of the minor issues I have with this watch over the 35 is that I have to take it off to charge it as the charger plugs into the back. With the 35, the charger kind of clipped on the side so I could continue wearing it while charging. I typically charged it when working by simply plugging it into my laptop. The Forerunner 45 was also easy to pair with my phone and gives me notifications for emails, texts, incoming calls, etc. However, I do find the display on this watch a bit harder to read than the 35. There is more info to see and the text is smaller on this watch. But, I am on the older side, so any younger users with better eyesight may not have any issues with this. Overall, this is an excellent, basic, fitness and smart watch. And with the built in GPS at this price level, it can't be beat.

Great cheap Garmin - white strap is great, makes it look smarter and doesn’t get dirty. Easy to use with good battery life