Customer reviews from Garmin
Garmin - Refurbished Excellent - Forerunner 45 GPS Smartwatch 42mm Fiber-Reinforced Polymer - Black - (2019)
Average customer rating
4.2
(373 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 373 reviews
5 Stars
227
4 Stars
74
3 Stars
28
2 Stars
11
1 Star
33
Customer Reviews for Garmin - Refurbished Excellent - Forerunner 45 GPS Smartwatch 42mm Fiber-Reinforced Polymer - Black - (2019)
Customer Rating
5
Great Watch!
on August 21, 2019
Posted by: YeezyKid101
This watch is perfect for the high school runner and does everything a running watch needs, with a little more. The watch is very easy to use once you get the hang of it, and has very good design. Plus, the watch looks nice and is very light weight.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
So easy to use!
on August 21, 2019
Posted by: EK44
Love it! Easy, accurate. So happy with my purchase!
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Good battery
on August 21, 2019
Posted by: Coach Fred
I like the charts that show your heart rate and pace. Also the elevation changes
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Big display lines......easy to read
on August 21, 2019
Posted by: vic740
Big display lines......easy to read love it for that.....no swimming app....excellent size for winter shirts
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Great product
on August 21, 2019
Posted by: AandW
Made the switch from a Fitbit Blaze to a Garmin Forerunner 45S.....so glad to have made the switch! The features and display are awesome and work well.Overall a great product.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
3
Having problems with GPS, battery life, autosave
on August 21, 2019
Posted by: shanbogen
First, the good: the watch is attractive and beautifully designed. The strap is incredibly comfortable - I love the material and in terms of being compact, sleek and comfortable this is a step above other Garmin models I have used. Also, I've been impressed with the wrist-based HR - it's quite accurate and updates quickly
Sooo many problems with the GPS. It takes several minutes for the GPS to kick in when I'm starting an activity, even if I'm starting it from the exact same location I ended the last one. When I travel and bring my watch to use it there, forget it. It can take 10, 15, or even 20 minutes or longer for the GPS to pick up my new location in the world. I've been using the Strava app on my phone INSTEAD of my expensive Garmin watch, because I don't have time to wait around. I've tried all of the different GPS modes, no avail. I wonder if it's some kind of software issue. My prior watch the Vivoactive HR had zero GPS issues in the same locations.
The battery life was touted as 13 hours when activity tracking or 2 weeks without. It hasn't come close to that. It has shorter battery life than my Vivoactive which usually topped out at around 8 hours long continuous activity. I usually have to charge the Forerunner again after 5 hours of activity or so. It would be nice to be able to see a percentage of the battery to help me figure out how low it actually is - percentage is not shown.
Thirdly, activities autosave after a rather short waiting period - maybe 15 minutes? And there's no way to turn it off. I do trail running and if I stop for a food break at an aid station etc my watch saves and closes the run and I have to start a new one and then concatenate them manually later. It's a huge pain. At least give us the option to disable this!
Overall I think this watch has some great features, and once you actually manage to get an activity stated with GPS engaged, it does very well with tracking pace, heart rate, mileage, etc. It has some somewhat significant usability problems though.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
2
Wish I would have returned it in time
on August 21, 2019
Posted by: ChristineD
I loved my 35, but it met an untimely death in the pool. So I figured the 45 was an upgrade to a great watch. It had nothing fancy but did all the things I needed. No distractions. But the 45 seems less customizable. The night time option can’t be kept permanently on and will turn back on at your normal set times, so if you wear it to sleep, it will wake you up if you plan to sleep in one day. There’s also no weekend settings. Do you can’t have the sleep function turn off later on Saturday and Sunday. I do like the intervals having a 15 second option, which is an improvement, so is a smaller size. But beyond that, I feel like I would have been better served to upgrade to a higher level watch than to stick with the no frills but flawed watch. I also miss that my 35 told me the mileage I covered through my daily steps. The 45 only tells you number of steps. Sometimes it loses connection and so did the 35. But there seems to be too many notable downsides to this watch for me to recommend it. I’d rather have replaced the 35 with another of the same than this. Buyer beware, this model seems ill-conceived.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Love it
on August 21, 2019
Posted by: asdf
Wear it 24/7 except when charging. Track my stats. Wish it had better integration with myfitnesspal
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin