Normally, I’d hesitate to suggest jumping on any Garmin deals at this point of the year, with Amazon Prime’s Big Deal Days and Black Friday fast approaching. Both sale events are certain to feature discounts on the best sports watches.
However, this isn’t a normal deal. This is the cheapest we’ve ever seen the Garmin Forerunner 945, which might be an older watch, but it remains one of the best options for runners and triathletes. The temptation to bag it now for $300 is strong.
The Garmin Forerunner 945 has now been superseded by the Forerunner 955 and Forerunner 965 in Garmin’s range, and doesn’t have features you get on those watches. Some of the updates you miss out on are big, like multi-band GPS, Garmin’s useful training readiness feature and heart rate variability tracking, as well as the bright AMOLED display of the Forerunner 965. You can dig into the differences with this Garmin Forerunner 955 vs Garmin Forerunner 945 comparison.
However, none of the upgrades you get are essential, and the Forerunner 945 is still packed with brilliant features. It has music storage, maps and offers lots of analysis to help guide your training. While the GPS modes it has are not as accurate as multi-band GPS, the 945 proved reliable during my testing.
The watch also offers longer battery life than the Forerunner 955 and 965, partly because it doesn’t have some of the power-intensive features on the newer models. During my testing, the Forerunner 945 lasted 10 to 14 days—even when running almost every day.
You won’t be getting new software updates from Garmin with the Forerunner 945 because it’s an older device, though it already has everything you need. I hope and expect to see the Garmin Forerunner 955 feature in sales this Black Friday, but thus far it’s never dropped below $400 on Amazon so, even if it’s discounted, it’s unlikely to drop as low as this deal on the 945.
