Garmin Forerunner Smartwatches
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Dear Runners and Athletes – elevate your running experience up to the next level
Garmin Forerunner Smartwatches offer advanced running, training and fitness tracking features at an accessible price point. These smart watches include smartphone notifications, weather forecasts and Garmin Pay.
Running Dynamics provides running dynamics analysis, visual race predictions, VO2 Max estimates and training insights as well as daily suggested workouts. They even offer a Morning Report feature which tracks your body’s readiness to train.
Garmin Forerunner 35 Series
For those who don’t want to spend as much money, the Garmin 35 is a great choice. It packs all of the features that people have come to love from Garmin’s higher end models into a more affordable package. For example, the 35 tracks sleep, moves (steps and distance with a move bar goal), calories burned and intensity minutes all day long, while also offering key safety features like incident detection and assistance.
Garmin Forerunner Smartwatches 35 GPS fitness tracker is an excellent entry-level choice for anyone looking to start tracking their workouts with quality technology. Light and comfortable to wear, this device keeps tabs on workouts, calorie burn and other metrics with ease while tracking them effortlessly. Upgrades such as connecting it to a chest strap heart rate monitor (for more accurate training sessions) a foot pod which records distance, pace and stride length information or bike speed and cadence sensors can easily be made via bluetooth connection.
The Forerunner 235
The Forerunner 235 offers an upgraded version of the 35, with more features, making it suitable for more experienced runners, cyclists, or athletes. Its improved display, more accurate GPS, exercise analytics like VO2 Max tracking will help break through training plateaus while its advanced app integration enables easy viewing of workout stats and information on one screen.
With the Forerunner 235 you also gain more advanced features like a digital music player, stopwatch, and advanced GPS tracking which automatically pauses at red lights to prevent skewing your workout data. In addition, this model will monitor sleep quality as well as intensity minutes, calorie burn rates and stress levels as well as blood oxygen saturation levels.
Garmin have done an exceptional job of keeping their device as straightforward and user-friendly as possible without sacrificing any useful functionality. It contains four buttons – two on each side of the case – which are all recessed so as to be touch friendly for effortless interaction; starting/stopping activities via top button while lower left can act as back button or, by long pressing, menu button to access settings.
This model is compatible with both Android and iOS smartphones and can be used to receive notifications, control music playback, locate your phone and manage fitness goals through Garmin Connect app. In smartwatch mode it offers up to 9 days battery life; its soft silicone strap fits wrist sizes 140 – 200mm; various colors are also available.
The 45 Series
They have the basic features that most runners will want. That includes GPS tracking of distance, time and pace during runs along with a variety of other data such as cadence, elevation changes, VO2 max, all-day stress tracker and Body Battery energy monitoring. It also records data during activities such as cycling, indoor track and elliptical training or even yoga.
Garmin’s Forerunner 45 GPS running watch is designed for runners and triathletes seeking a fully featured, high performance running watch with advanced features like workout monitoring, live tracking and Garmin Pay (only on 945 until now).
The Forerunner 45 stands apart from its predecessor, the Forerunner 35, by offering advanced safety and fitness tracking features. You can use Bluetooth Smart connectivity to send activity data back to Garmin Connect where it will then be accessible for tracking progress against friends/family and even sharing it with 3rd-party sites/healthcare providers if desired.
Their Fitness and Safety Features
As well as its fitness and safety features, the Forerunner 45 also comes equipped with audio prompts to display your running stats if you wear compatible headphones – this includes pace, heart rate and lap time information along with how many calories have been burned during your workout.
Key Advantages – track structured workouts
One of the key advantages of Garmin Connect/Garmin Connect Mobile in tracking structured workouts, which differentiates it from Apple or Samsung devices at this price point, is the Forerunner 45’s ability to do just that. You can record all your data directly onto it, view and analyse your workouts later and plan for improvement next time around.
For serious athletes, the Forerunner 45 provides guidance from expert coaches and free training plans, while also suggesting workouts tailored specifically to your current fitness level. You can access these workouts through Garmin Connect app or ANT+ connection.
The Forerunner 45 doesn’t come equipped with built-in music capabilities, so if you want to listen to tunes while running you will need to bring along your smartphone – however it does support wireless music control so you can play, pause, or change songs without taking your phone out of its pocket or bag!
Extra Feature during sleep
The Forerunner 45 also includes an extra feature that monitors blood oxygen saturation during sleep for a more complete view of wellness. In addition, the Forerunner 45 can prompt you to move when it detects that your resting pulse rate is too slow – an indication of poor health or illness. Furthermore, its built-in safety feature can notify a contact of your whereabouts if necessary. To activate, simply press the LIGHT button for 5 seconds until it vibrates three times, which will enable it to determine your exact location and send an SMS/email with livetrack link to anyone you have added in Garmin Connect – making this feature ideal for runners who find themselves in potentially hazardous or need help during their run.
The 55 Series
Garmin Forerunner Smartwatches 55 takes many of the features found on higher-end running watches and packages them into an easier, more budget-friendly package. Garmin Connect and an optical heart rate sensor make this watch an invaluable companion for runners. Features such as VO2 max estimates, customizable data pages and automatic uploads to Garmin Connect make this an invaluable running partner.
The device also comes equipped with popular connected features, including notifications for text messages, social media posts and emails; music controls built-in specifically to control compatible smartphones’ music libraries are also provided. Additional useful fitness and wellness tracking features include sleep monitoring, daily Morning Reports that feature activity levels such as heart-rate variability and battery energy status as well as women’s health tracking with menstrual cycle and pregnancy notifications, and women’s health tracking with period and gestation tracking features.
GPS and Incident Detection
The Forerunner 55 offers solid GPS performance. It quickly establishes a lock and provides accurate distance and pace data, while also featuring advanced training insights that let you monitor workouts to understand their effect on performance. Furthermore, Incident Detection automatically or manually notifies an emergency contact should an incident occur such as falling.
Other useful features include a smartwatch-style rotating bezel that can mark target running times, and its premium design featuring a Sapphire crystal lens and grade 5 titanium case. Furthermore, this device supports various external ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart sensors – heart rate sensors, cycling cadence sensors and speed/cadence combo sensors among them – with decent battery life to track multiple activities simultaneously.
For advanced runners looking to fine-tune their form, the Garmin FR945 LTE model offers everything you need: digital dial that displays laps, auto-record splits and pace; providing GPS accuracy that matches that of its non-LTE version; automatically download/store activities onto Garmin Connect; customizable watch faces/apps/data fields from Connect IQ Store – it has it all.
This running watch from Garmin offers all of the advanced features runner could want but won’t exceed $300 when purchasing new. The Forerunner 55 features all of the same basic run tracking features, such as an optical heart rate sensor, advanced training metrics and VO2 max estimates; but with LTE connectivity to smartphones as well as several useful Garmin apps. Garmin Pay allows for instant purchases using your watch, while it also features barometric altimeter, thermometer and stopwatch functionality. There are two activity profiles – one dedicated specifically for swimming activities such as HIIT or breathwork exercises.
The 65 Series
Garmin Forerunner Smartwatches 65 series is a favorite among runners and triathletes of all levels because of its dependable performance and a variety of features. With a price tag of around $199, the Forerunner 65 is also among the most affordable Garmin running watches. If you’re looking for a more premium watch in this range, consider the fenix 7 Pro Series or epix Pro 2.
The most noticeable change is that the Forerunner 165 now has Garmin’s Elevate V4 heart rate sensor. This sensor measures both heart rate and blood oxygen (SpO2), giving you a much more comprehensive overview of your fitness level. It can help you figure out how well you’ve slept, how hard you’ve trained and if you might be overtraining. It also offers a morning report, giving you an overview of how your day might unfold.
Another addition is the ability to navigate with downloadable courses and routes, which was previously only available on higher-end Garmin devices. This allows you to plan your route before the race and follow it on your Forerunner.
As for what can be improved, the Forerunner 165 still lacks a few features that are standard on higher-end Garmin watches. These include ECG, which monitors the heart rhythm to detect atrial fibrillation; an altimeter for tracking elevation metrics and acclimatization; and more premium health and performance metrics like training load and VO2 max.