Garmin Forerunner 45 review

Step forward the Garmin Forerunner 45, which, though being Garmin’s budget-friendly wearable, is still priced well into the triple figures. Does it justify that kind of spend? Perhaps committed trainers are better off coughing up even more for higher-end trackers like the Fitbit Versa and Ticwatch Pro 3?

Read on for our expert, in-depth review of the Garmin Forerunner 45. And for our complete run-down of A-grade affordable wearables, don’t miss our best budget smartwatch list.

Jump to:

• What is Garmin Forerunner 45?
• How much is Garmin Forerunner 45?
• Design
• Features
• Garmin Forerunner 45 set-up
• Our verdict
• Where to buy

Garmin Forerunner 45 review: summary

With its old-school look and fitness-focused metrics, the Forerunner 45 is an excellent smartwatch for those who want to incorporate a wearable into their training plan – but don't want to break the bank either. Yes, you'll find far cheaper fitness trackers out there, but they don't come with winning features like the Garmin Coach function or – crucially, for most runners – built-in GPS.

The Forerunner 45 is available to buy from a number of retailers, including Amazon, John Lewis, Currys and the UK Garmin Store. You'll find the best deals listed below.

What is the Garmin Forerunner 45?

As the name suggests, this is a smartwatch from Garmin aimed first and foremost at runners. It’s a successor to the Forerunner 35 but comes with a circular face (and is all the better for it, we'd say). Better still, it comes with a far larger workout memory – though interestingly has a two-day shorter maximum battery life than its predecessor.

The Forerunner 45 is available with both a 39mm display and a 42mm display, but they're both priced equally.

What does the Garmin Forerunner 45 do?

You can expect the following features from the Forerunner 45:

• Heartrate, estimated VO5 and sleep tracking
• Six different sports modes, with another six in the app (you can move them back and forth from the app to the watch as you please)
• A Body Battery meter that gauges your energy levels based on the other logged data, such as heart rate and sleep levels
• Built-in GPS for wayfinding and journey recording
• Via the Garmin Connect app, you can use the Garmin Coach to set up personalised training plans
• Music control (though it doesn't offer any music storage, sadly, so your phone will need to provide the soundtrack to your run)

How much is the Garmin Forerunner 45?

The Forerunner 45 currently has a listed RRP of £159 at the Garmin UK store, but we’re seeing prices substantially beneath that across a number of retailers.

Is the Garmin Forerunner 45 good value for money?

Yes, and all the more so at those reduced prices that we mentioned. Total newcomers to fitness tracking don’t have to worry about spending any more than £50. But if you’ve signed up to a marathon, or half-marathon, or simply find that working towards solid goals is the best way of improving your fitness, we do think that the Forerunner 45 is worth the triple-digit spend.

Garmin Forerunner 45 design

The Forerunner’s old-school design is, without a doubt, the thing that is most likely to polarise people.

There’s an argument to be made that a smartwatch that – at a cursory glance at least – wouldn’t look out of place on the wrist of somebody from 25 years ago doesn't exactly scream cutting-edge. More to the point, a smartwatch that retails at £159.99 that doesn’t have a touchscreen UI is contentious at the very least.

But we’re of the mind that, for sheer self-belief, if nothing else, Garmin should be commended for sticking to a time-held design and isn’t chasing fads. Many fitness trackers of today look pretty interchangeable: most feature a touchscreen display, most have anywhere between zero and two buttons, and most use some derivation of Apple’s three-ring metric infographic. A Forerunner wearable, by contrast, very much looks like a Forerunner wearable.

This might boil down to generational preferences. If you’ve grown up in a world where swiping across high-res touchscreens is the norm, then operating a smartwatch with five separate push buttons might feel like attempting arithmetic with an abacus. But if you remember the days of hitting the light button on your Casio watch to tell the time at night (which, yes, you can do here), the Forerunner should make for a reliable and easy-to-use companion.

Outside of the UI, there’s definitely a solid feel to the Forerunner 45, and we certainly appreciated the larger 42mm display of our test sample. And even better: unlike the tourniquet-like grip of cheaper trackers from other brands, the Forerunner 45 was a genuinely comfortable fit on our wrist.

Garmin Forerunner 45 features

We were pleased to find the no-nonsense aesthetic of the Forerunner is backed up by a mostly reliable set of tracking functions and metrics. We encountered no issues with the heart rate tracker or the VO5 measure for that matter (though the latter is estimated around heart BPM data: you’ll find more sophisticated versions on much more expensive devices). The sleep tracker was a little more fallible: the app tracked a sleeping period in the early evening when we were, in fact, watching TV - admittedly supine on the couch.

Behind most successful fitness trackers is a well-designed app, and this is certainly the case with Garmin Connect. It’s a distinctly goal-oriented app, with a calendar where you can log your training sessions and enter a steps-based challenge with other app users. There's nothing like a bit of healthy competition to incentivise you, after all.

The undeniable highlight of the Connect app, though, is Garmin Coach. This handy, app-based feature will generate a training plan for you: think Garmin’s take on the hugely popular Couch To 5K programme, except you have a choice of 5K, 10K and half-marathon. These plans are tailored to your current fitness levels, based on the health information when you set up the app.

What is the Garmin Forerunner 45 battery like?

Garmin advertises a maximum seven-day length of battery life from the Forerunner 45 when set to smartwatch mode. It’s in GPS mode that it really starts to consume power – you can expect up to 13 hours.

That’s obviously a pretty serious climb-down from that week-long life in standard mode – but being honest, you’ll need to be a pretty ambitious athlete to require GPS mode for that long in a single session. All the same, it’s worth bearing in mind: sustained use will require a daily or near-daily charge.

From our side, a mixture of both smartwatch and GPS modes had the battery down to 60% within the space of 48 hours.

Garmin Forerunner 45 set-up: how easy is it to use?

The Garmin Forerunner 45 comes in a compact, sporty-looking grey box – one that looks squarely marketed around fitness rather than lifestyle.

We received a test sample that was partially charged, so we can’t account for how much juice comes in shop-bought models. But we successfully paired it with our smartphone without a hitch. Downloading and entering our personal details (age, height, weight) into the Garmin Connect app was simple and straightforward.

Overall, the box-to-wrist process took around 15 minutes.

Our verdict: should you buy the Garmin Forerunner 45?

If you’re already committed workout routine, the Forerunner 45 is, we think, the most credible budget option out there. Perhaps you’ll want to spend more on the Fitbit Versa, but this wearable delivers a solidly reliable level of metrics for a lower cost.

As its name more or less states explicitly, the Forerunner 45 is best for those who love running, though its sport modes do extend to activities like biking, cardio and yoga. And if you’re trying to convince yourself you love running? It’s a wise purchase too.

Review scores:

• Design: 4/5
• Features (average): 3.5/5
  • Functions: 4/5
  • Battery: 3.5/5
• Value for money: 4/5
• Ease of set-up: 5/5

Overall star rating: 4/5

Where to buy the Garmin Forerunner 45 watch

The Forerunner 45 is available to buy retailers including Amazon, John Lewis, Currys and the UK Garmin Store. We've listed the best deals on this smartwatch below.

Still on the hunt for your perfect wearable? Don’t miss our pick of the best smartwatch deals.