It’s been more than five years since the launch of the Garmin Forerunner 945, and two watches have superseded it in Garmin’s range — the Forerunner 955 and Forerunner 965. However, with the Garmin Forerunner 945 is reduced to just $289 in the Walmart sale, it’s still worth buying ahead of a raft of newer watches.
I’ve been testing the best sports watches for several years and while the Forerunner 945 lacks some of the features you get from newer devices, it’s still an excellent sports tracker, and has features like offline maps you rarely see in watches that cost less than $300.
There’s a lot of upsides in getting the Forerunner 945, the main one being that outrageously cheap price — the Garmin Forerunner 955 will cost you $450 even in sales right now, while the Forerunner 965 is over $500. The 945's core sports tracking experience is still similar to the newer watches, and while it doesn’t have all of Garmin’s latest training analysis features, it still delivers useful insights to help you judge your workload.
There are undoubtedly some downsides to getting an older watch like the Forerunner 945. It doesn’t have an AMOLED display, dual-band GPS or the latest version of Garmin’s optical heart rate monitor. It’s also not getting regular software updates from Garmin, and is unlikely to get them in the future. However, as you'll see in our Garmin Forerunner 945 review, we called it "one of the best sports watches for endurance athletes."
When you look at the competition at the Forerunner 945’s reduced price of $289 you’re not going to find features like offline maps. This was once Garmin’s top Forerunner watch, and still stands out when compared to newer mid-range or entry-level watches. It’s an accurate and insightful triathlon watch with a lightweight design and week-long battery life even if you’re training heavily. It is, in short, an awful lot of watch to get for just $289.
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