Looks like the cheapest it's been, paid $420 for mine a couple months ago (non-music) and I'm still happy with it at that price
Aqua also for $249.99
https://www.pushys.com.au/garmin-forerunner-245-music-gps-sm…
Black is also available for $30 more here:
https://www.pushys.com.au/garmin-forerunner-245-music-gps-sm…
It's over $99 so there's free delivery
If I remember correctly the only difference is that music has a couple GB storage to store music, so you can connect BT headphones and listen to music without your phone nearby. I think music also gets wifi, but it's only used for loading music.
There was no performance or battery life differences as far as I could see
Hmm weird the non music is still much more expensive
Yeah that's weird, I'd definitely take the music at the same price.
There was also slightly different colours, non-music only has 1 colour with a grey band and grey highlights, the black music has a black band and red highlights.
From the owner's manual:
I bought the Music version a little while ago (from Qantas, using points), and although I don't care to use music when I run (I hate having headphones in/on - my head gets too hot ;) ), I love how fast the post-workout sync is over WiFi :)
Get music if you're a runner and use Spotify. Basically allows you to store music on the device and listen to it without your phone.
You can also use Amazon Music or Deezer
Music - Download Spotify Playlists
Non Music- Control Music on the Phone and control volume on your watch.
paid $420 for mine a couple months ago
why so much?
Missed this one and apart from that $400 was the cheapest it had been, $420 seemed reasonable at the time and I didn't want to wait months.
Aqua also same price as white
This or the Samsung Watch Active 2?
this
I prefer Samsung watches because of wireless charging. There were issues with charging every other smartwatch that I had. I got tired of cleaning contacts with alcohol, endlessly readjusting watch on the charging base, waking up to find that the watch did not charge overnight, hoping that the new charger would solve the issue and finally discarding perfectly functional watches because I could not charge them reliably. I've never owned Garmin, so can't comment on this watch, but when I see these charging pins on the back, it's an instant no-no for me.
I’ve only owned plenty of Garmins and it’s never been an issue
The current Garmin charging port is notorious for having issues. Luckily you can buy good 'dock' style chargers cheaply.
My 2 year old Vivoactive 3 Music has the same charge connector, no problems, YMMV.
same here. this is an awesome deal half tempted to upgrade
Refer to this link on which Garmin's have onboard storage for music
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/general/which-garmin-smart…
Will JB price match this?
Thanks OP, I have been waiting for my Amazfit Stratos 3 I ordered through Gearbest, back in October 2020, and now they have cancelled the order. Was looking for a watch with tracking, sleep and heart rate monitor and on board music and bam!!! Thanks again, great find
Make sure you read reviews on the sleep tracking if that's important to you, I find its pretty trigger happy with what it considers to be the start of the sleep so it tends to overestimate, sometimes by hours.
Yeah, I've been using this watch for the last few months and the sleep tracking is virtually worthless. I can be awake for 2 hours in the middle of the night and it'll register maybe 1 minute of awake time at the start and finish but solid REM in between. Last week I had an awful night's sleep after kiddo woke me a couple of times. I awoke feeling terrible. My Garmin told me "That's what a great night's sleep looks like!".
The pulse oximeter ain't great either. I have found the HR reading surprisingly accurate though. I did a sleep study while wearing it and the techs were also surprised by its accuracy.
Despite its deficiencies I've been happy with the watch overall though. Bought primarily for running while listening to podcasts phone-free.
Concur on the sleep tracking, I don't bother anymore. And pulse ox is basically worthless data anyway across the board, unless you have a condition or are climbing a proper mountain.
no garmin pay.. can anyone confirm this?
looking for a forerunner as the fenix series are quite heavier (albeit moot in the bigger scheme of things)
645 is over $400 and appears to be discontinued
745 is still exxy
945 moreso
Yep I have this watch, no Garmin pay which is a shame, still great at this price imo though
Used to run with phone, now watch. Best decision ever.
Got one after chrissy for $289 (black) and its been so good adding workouts and tracking them on the watch. Hated having an armband for a massive phone.
Great price this one.
Are there any decent YouTube review channels for smartwatches? How sturdy are these type of watches for doing activities like gardening?
Not sure about YouTube but DC rainmaker has thorough reviews.
The forerunnner series focuses on running.
DC rainmaker. Cuts through the crap fantastically, and great for accuracy comparisons etc.
Which is the cheapest model that has both Garmin Music and Garmin Pay?
If you want a Forerunner, Pay starts at the 745 model (no historic deals, MSRP $850). If you just want a watch, the Vivoactive/Venu lines are the cheapest. The Vivoactive 4/S has come below $400 a few times with the cheapest being $350, and the Venu is usually a bit above that (OLED screen being the only difference between it and a 4).
They're much more of a smartwatch than fitness watch compared to the Forerunner series though, and have a quite a few software/tracking differences. If you're interested in the breakdown you're probably best checking the Garmin comparator.
I think 645/645 Music has Garmin Pay too, not cheap though and not a lot of places in stock.
This was the best option I could find with Garmin Pay and Music storage, https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/garmin-vivoactive-3-music-black…
I ended up getting the 245 Music from https://www.rebelsport.com.au/p/garmin-forerunner-245-music-… -They Price Matched Pushys last week for anyone that wants a physical store.
The Venu has music and Garmin Pay.
I bought Venu via Amazon UK with some concerns if garmin pay would work, it does work but only with one of my 3 cards. Latitude 28deg was fine but Qantas Amex no go. The other card is a citibank mastercard but that never worked with google pay nfc on the phone so cant blame the garmin for that.
go the vivoactive 4 if you can find a good deal
Anyone know if these have cardio, strength etc in apps? Has no mention on the Garmin website >.>
Just checked the Garmin app, my available activity types are Bike, treadmill, bike indoor, pool swim, run, walk, indoor track, virtual run, trail run, row indoor, walk indoor, strength, cardio, yoga, Pilates, breathwork, elliptical, stair stepper, track run, other
I've never used strength and cardio so I can't tell how useful they are
Thanks based, I have a Fenix 6 Pro and have been wanting to get one for the wife- smaller size this will definitely be a buy.
Got mine for Chrissy, $266 after double shopback from the iconic. All has been going well, syncs Spotify playlist over wifi. I tried swimming while listening to music by attaching the watch to the back of my goggle strap. Worked well to start with but my JBL headphones starting going quiet and I was worried they weren't as waterproof as advertised so bailed on that operation. Would be great to pair with some Bluetooth headphones that you can swim with. ( Bluetooth doesn't work underwater so watch needs to be about 15cm from headphones)
Similar sitch for me. Got for $239 (black) after Shopback from rebel. Cashback isn’t redeemable yet. Should be next month - in a long queue of purchases 🤣 👍🏻
If anyone is after a detailed review of this watch check out the Review from DC Rainmaker. It's also got a good comparison to the Forerunner 645 & 235, Apple Watch 3, Samsung Galaxy Watch and the Polar Vantage M.
The white version is also on sale at Kogan for the same price (see here) in case someone prefers them over Pushys.
cheers,
I had about 90 dollars in kogan credit that I needed to get rid of.
Was $229 back in November at kogan.. Some people were able to get it for $199 with their extra $30 cash back through commbank
Got this watch. Its awesome! I don't have spotify and just ported loads of music onto the watch itself.
paid $420 for mine a couple months ago
?? have you been living under a rock? It's been under $280 for ages.
Only since November, a month after I bought mine
Not everyone has this (software version?…) but these things have a known issue that regularly pops up. That being, Bluetooth headphones have no volume control and it’s stuck on maximum with no workaround.
So if like me you come across this you either blast your ears off or go without the music feature. Apparently Garmin is “aware” and are “working on it”……… good watch otherwise but beware. Do a search and read for yourself.
Mine does have volume control in the spotify menu on the watch but I don’t commonly control volume from in watch as my earphones have that feature. But, it’s there.
From the reviews i have seen this is button operated only, no touch screen. How does that go?
I would have thought it seems a bit backwards after using everything touch operated now.
No issues, you get used to it in a couple of days and can use it blind folded.
They reason they are so sturdy and good build quality is because they don't offer touch screens.
It's better not to be touch screen as you are exercising… touch screen would be really annoying given sweat etc. Buttons are very easy and straightforward.
This is a running watch and the hard button interface is a massive benefit over touch screens.
Any the Forerunners good for cyclists? or would the Fenix be a better choice?
It's fine if you're casual, otherwise you'd want to get something dedicated for bike
okay thanks, might have to look at the details closer. I'm currently tracking VO2Max and HR through my Garmin Edge as the Vivosmart 4 isn't very accurate. Wanting something better (and not too heavy) when I don't have the Edge with me
This one won't pair with an ant+ power meter, but should pair with speed and cadence, I haven't actually tried that yet but was one of the reasons I picked it.
I think it can also do an ant+ hr strap
Ah I see. I've got a Stages PM which I think pairs through BT. As for HR, got both of Wahoo and Garmin. Looks like this could work. Thanks!
For anyone deciding on getting one of these - do it!
I had a Fenix 6S, but I sold it because I have tiny wrists and it was too heavy, I was still missing the Garmin eco-system and tracking so I picked up one of these Forerunners during a JB sale over Christmas, thought I would wear it just for exercise only but it hasn't come off my wrist since the purchase.
It is super light weight, excellent battery life (I turn on airplane mode and sync once a day, I don't like notifications on my watch) which lasts me 10 days+, no touch screen but very easy to manoeuvre with the side buttons once you get the hang of it. The body battery feature is next level (measures your HRV and gives you feedback on how you stand with energy etc), awesome choice of watch faces from Garmin IQ store, and heaps of widgets to scroll through.
I am a female and I work in an office environment and it looks great on my wrist, not too sporty as the pics would suggest.
Only downside is sleep tracking, but this is known across most of Garmin's range. The positive here is that Garmin have confirmed the 245 will be getting the firstbeat sleep metrics the same as the Fenix line - I believe it was already rolled out to 245 but Garmin pulled it due to some issues they needed to iron out. Once it has this sleep track back - it will be amazing.
This watch is worth it full price, let alone this deal now
I have a fenix 6X sapphire and the sleep tracking is not that great. Have stopped wearing the watch during sleep as not comfrtable. Otherwise a great watch.
My neighbour has a Fitbit and it has great sleep tracking.
I agree about the Fitbit - phenomenal sleep tracking! My Fenix 6s wasnt too bad actually, but I stopped wearing it because of the size and weight
Maybe one day Garmin will get their sleep game right
Does this sync well with Strava?
If I go for a run and sync it up afterwards will the run look the same with the map, splits, elevation, etc?
Or if I get one should I move over to the Garmin app? I'm not particularly enamoured with Strava, it's just what I started with and now has all my historical runs so I've just kept using it but I don't use the social aspect of it which is apparently it's best feature
Thanks!
Yes it syncs well, you set it up to auto sync with garmin.
You should probably research more about Garmin->Strava integration and what's included or not included as the issues aren't usually specific to this product…
There should be more data in Garmin itself before Strava cause Strava is a paid service and limited on the free account.
It syncs flawlessly with Strava and will be on your Strava account before it's finished loading in Garmin Connect. It even supports the Strava live tracking feature if you run with a phone/mobile data access. It syncs with heaps of other services such as Runanalyze.
Thanks! :)
Can someone tell me a price in which i should pull the trigger on a garmin fenix 6 pro? or if anyone knows any current good deals can you link them.
Anywhere around the $600 mark, they were $650 or so just before Christmas.
Was after a white one for my partner. The price was $249.99 "Until 14 Jan" when I went to the Pushys website today
In the time it took to register, the price was pumped back up to $289.99 for black, blue and white ones.
Still a bargain but not when you know you could have gotten it $40 less
Still $259 on this website with free shipping https://www.ja-gps.com.au/Garmin/forerunner-245-music-black/
cant stand these proprietary charging ports. why dont they just adopt usb c.
Music and non music, what's the difference?