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Garmin Forerunner 945 vs Garmin Vivoactive 3

Garmin Forerunner 945

Garmin Forerunner 945

137 reviews

View Product Details

Garmin Vivoactive 3

Garmin Vivoactive 3

186 reviews

View Product Details

#1 most mentioned

Reddit · r/garmin

Feature-Rich Sports Watch for Endurance Athletes

Switchback Travel · Best Sports Watches of 2022

#7 most mentioned

Reddit · r/garmin

#24 most mentioned

Reddit · r/smartwatch

Great features such as music, an oximeter, and improved battery life compared to the 935

Journaling features are fantastic

Can charge it while it's on your wrist

Strap hog with plenty of options for straps

Compatible with other sports and activities

Great battery life

Attractive and durable design

Accurate heart rate monitoring

Versatile and customizable for tracking fitness and daily activities

Not living up to its potential in terms of battery life

GPS accuracy is not reliable when running under trees

High price tag

Not as user-friendly as some other smartwatches

Display could be better

Some users have reported issues with water sensitivity

Verdict

The Garmin Forerunner 945 is a feature-packed sports watch with a high price tag. It has great features such as music, an oximeter, and improved battery life compared to the 935. However, it does not live up to its potential in terms of battery life and GPS accuracy when running under trees.

Verdict

The Garmin Vivoactive 3 is a highly recommended wearable device that strikes a balance between fitness tracker and smartwatch functionality. It has a durable and attractive design, accurate heart rate monitoring, and good battery life. However, some users have reported issues with the display, user-friendliness, and water sensitivity. It is a good option for those who want a versatile and customizable device for tracking their fitness and daily activities.

Reviews by Topic

Our analysis shows how reviewers feel about different topics. Please note these are not full reviews.

Durability

It happened to me and I ended up regretting my purchase big time. Anyone claiming that the FR series is of equal durable to the Fenix series is performing some serious mental gymnastics. Get your hands on both and you'll understand what I mean.

youtube

Garmin Vivoactive 3 Smart Watch Review - 2020 - YouTube

So what exactly does the Garmin VivoActive 3 have to offer and is it a good option compared to all of the other smartwatches out there? Well let's tak...

Positive

Battery Life

Forerunner 935 is better

5 of those were with music) over about 4 days and was down to 14% battery. When new, my 935 would have gotten probably about double that. I don’t know if I got a defective model or something but my commute to and from work via bicycle is about 50 mins each way. Without music, it would drain 8-10% battery

Had enough of the Fitbit issues. Time to try Garmin.

I haven’t found a simpler and efficient (and clean) watch face thats good on battery life as this one.

Positive

reddit.com/r/Garmin

Activity Tracking

I haven’t used a sports watch before, and as well as using it for triathlon-specific training, I’d like to use it for the other sports which I usually partake in (football, tennis, weight training etc), and general day-to-day activities. Looking online, it appears the Garmin Forerunner 945 is my best bet.

Positive

reddit.com/r/triathlon

youtube

VivoActive 3 Review - Activities (EP3) Running, Cycling, Strength, Gym and more!

The V boxer 3 was actually shockingly accurate, but I did find it interesting that the Phoenix 5 X and vivoactive 3 calculated calories a little bit d...

Positive

Connectivity

For a $500 watch, I expected better.

to me. I decided to keep the Marq after experiencing both watches for over a month. First, the most annoying thing for me was the Forerunner often lagged a half second after each press of the buttons. It felt like it wasn’t responding so I would often press the buttons multiple times and then it caught up and jumped menus on me

Can not track basic data

You have to compromise your security by fully entering your credit card number, only to get a response saying the issuer isn't participating. The issuer of the credit card I tried is one of the largest in the US. If they're not participating, it's a good bet that not many are at all. I am unhappy that I had to share my full payment information in an app, in order to find this out

Price

ALMOST as good as it gets... almost...

excellent watch with crummy buttons. If I hadn’t caught it on sale, I think I would’ve regretted the purchase, as I would’ve just gone straight for the 955 (which is current right now). However, if you find this watch for a nice price (like I did), it’s worth it… crummy buttons and all

Running watch - Game Changer?

I wasn't sure how much I would personally benefit from one, so I didn't want to invest a lot but wanted a strong feature set. I went with the Garmin Vivoactive 3, and you can buy them for $130 but sometimes get them on sale for as low as $100-110. It's a great value for that price, and I would recommend it if you are unsure and want to try one and see if it is for you.

Positive

reddit.com/r/running

Software Updates

**[Forerunner 945 New

Neutral

reddit.com/r/Garmin

+8 Days Battery Life, Good Resting and Running HR

- If you turn the gesture on, sometimes it activates the backlight randomly even tough you don't gesture. I think it needs an software update to fix it.

Fit

I do like it though. I am glad I bought it. It talks to my cell phone which talk to my ear buds which is cool. i like having texts displayed

Running watches for the recreational runner - are they needed?

Mostly I like having a pedometer...just taking more steps in a day has been good for my health

Positive

reddit.com/r/running

Comfortability

Like it more than the Fenix 5s Plus

I had the Fenix 5s Plus, returned it and got this. It's much lighter, thinner, and the band is noticeably for comfortable (softer and more stretchy). The Fenix series are just bulky heavy and for some reason the bands are uncomfortable. That means the 945 is more comfortable to sleep with, run with, and wear throughout the day

Just got the Instinct Solar

The Instinct solar just dropped $200 at my local store so I am going to pick it up today, going off what most people have told me its perfect for my use case(and clearly yours too) I dont want fancy gadgets, I want something that tells me the time, date, weather, when someone texts me and when someone calls me, thats about it, everything else is just a bonus. I also did some maths and theoretically with my job, i should never have to charge this watch after the first time I charge it because of the solar efficiency, that prospect is super cool. Congrats on the purchase!

Negative

reddit.com/r/Garmin

Comfort

The Garmin Coach?

1 and anaerobic effect of 3.5. Translation? It was time to chill. Instead, I decided to go on a short 2

Simple, basic, no frills

I do not like wearing a chest strap so I choose to use a watch with a heart rate monitor. I started with a vivosmart and now I’m using this device to broadcast my heart rate to the edge computer. To be quite honest I only used the vivosmart monitor for that one and only purpose. I used an Apple Watch 3rd gen as my regular watch

Notifications

Good, not eveything I wanted, but most of it

Getting addresses into it should be easy. Instead I'm using a third party app to read notifications for turn by turn directions in Google on my phone. Admittedly not a must have.

It's like wearing a can of worms, or a beehive.

Meanwhile, on the cell phone, the Connect app keeps asking me for permissions to show me texts, phone, email information on my watch. I DON'T WANT TO! I already denied the permissions, and hours later it will ask me again to enable the permissions. I don't want this watch to show me texts, emails, etc. that's why I carry my cell phone

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