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Garmin Forerunner 945 vs Garmin Vívoactive 4S

Garmin Forerunner 945

Garmin Forerunner 945

137 reviews

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Garmin Vívoactive 4S

Garmin Vívoactive 4S

136 reviews

View Product Details

#1 most mentioned

Reddit · r/garmin

Feature-Rich Sports Watch for Endurance Athletes

Switchback Travel · Best Sports Watches of 2022

#16 most mentioned

Reddit · r/smartwatch

#24 most mentioned

Reddit · r/garmin

Wirecutter · The 4 Best Fitness Trackers 2021

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

Tracks sleep out of the box

Supports Garmin Pay with Curve

Two different size options

Looks more like a "real" watch than sports equipment/smart watch

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 many third-party apps as Apple Watch Series 5

Voice command feature is unreliable

Screen is difficult to read in bright sunlight

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 Vívoactive 4S is a solid update from the Vivoactive 3 Music, offering two different size options and a range of features. It has longer battery life than the Apple Watch Series 5, and can track sleep out of the box. It also supports Garmin Pay with Curve, providing a digital card for payments. However, some users have found that the voice command feature is unreliable. Additionally, while it looks more like a "real" watch than sports equipment/smart watch, some users have found that the screen is difficult to read in bright sunlight.

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.

The alternatives to leaving Wear Os

I have left wear os for a couple of reasons, but main one is battery life. With 1.5-3hrs of activity tracking per day, 24/7 continous HR monitoring and sleep tracking, and having to reduce my morning get ready routine to under 30 mins, there just wasn't enough time to fully charge my Suunto 7, and was getting to the point where every 2-3 days would have to give up tracking for an hour to recharge, and was often worried about having enough battery life for a tracking session.

Positive

reddit.com/r/WearOS

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

nice watch, weak battery life, music sync didnt work, too complicated/clunky interface, 4s too small

I didn't realize that one hour of running with the GPS on and music on would kill two days of "smartwatch" mode, or that a few hours of use in gps tracking mode w/o music would do the same thing. So on average if you are using this the way it is intended you should really expect to have to charge it every 2-3 days minimum. If you're doing longer gps exercises or listening to music then you'll probably change every day. And charging isn't quick, it does charge up to 80% fairly fast but the next 20% seems to take forever

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

Garmin vívoactive 4/4S & Venu GPS Smartwatches Announced!

Skiing stand-up, paddleboarding rowing but you'll also get downhill, skiing and snowboarding, and both of those sport profiles actually utilize an alt...

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

An Amazing Smartwatch—But Beware of Updates and Garmin "Customer Service".

maybe not exactly. From the first quarter of 2021 through most of July, my device performed admirably. Sure, sometimes the GPS can take a while to connect, but overall, the watch did everything it was supposed to. It consistently did a good job

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

Works as described

As far as cost/value rationing, given accuracy, with bias as purchased prime day at a discount, it definitely for me was a winner without the chicken dinner.

Software Updates

**[Forerunner 945 New

Neutral

reddit.com/r/Garmin

Venu 2 Out Now?

So apps installed on the watch will see massive upgrades too when updated from developers. There will be called real apps and widgets are going to be widget glance like with the Fenix series. There is a new HR sensor generation, of course we have to wait and see there. It is not only battery life and display size

Positive

reddit.com/r/Garmin

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

Garmin Vivoactive 4 Review

The Vivoactive 4 gamifies fitness by giving you badges for certain achievements. When you earn a new badge, the watch will vibrate and a congratulatory message will pop up on the screen. To view all your badges, visit the Garmin Connect app, tap My Day at the bottom, then tap your photo or avatar at the top of the screen to open your profile.

Positive

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

Battery life or GPS? You can only pick one...

When I feel well rested, it shows that. Hearth rate & SpO2 also seems to be very accurate. Fit and comfort on my small wrist seems to be very good. Band fits me great, to the point I'm starting to think my wrist isn't as small as I thought it was

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

I only use these for music

This is pretty good for my use. I have several quartz and digital wristwatches; I only wear this smartwatch at work to listen to downloaded (not streamed) music. The fitness tracking and mobile app features are of no importance to me so I have given them 5 stars. As a timekeeping watch, it is pretty good

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.

Perfect for my mtb rides

The other day it triggered the alert feature when I did a steep drop then slowing down quickly as the drop rose back up. It thought I had fallen until I started back up. I didn't know it went off until the ride was over and I saw that it the alert didn't send. Nice to know someone would have gotten an alert if I had fallen! The only issues I've had with this device have been setting up the compass

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