Bought my first sports / smart watch. Been eyeing them for quite a while… looking at Suunto, FitBit, Pebble, Apple Watch. Finally decided to reward myself with a purchase last Jul.
I bought the Garmin 645M via iShopChangi. I had more or less decided on a Garmin watch, but could not quite decide which one I needed. I was also considering the Forerunner 935 or the Fenix 5 / 5S / 5X. Both the FR935 and the Fenix 5 were quite expensive and beyond what I was prepared to pay. I was also considering going for the older FR735, VivoActive series, or Fitbit Ionic.
In early 18, the Garmin 645 was released. FR645 Review (Link to dcrainmaker.com) The key differences are
- 30-40% cheaper than the FR935 or Fenix 5
- Smaller, lighter
- Music storage and playback
- Garmin Pay
Music
I thought the music storage and playback would be convenient for me as I enjoy jogging with my wireless earbuds. With this, I no longer need my phone when jogging. But adding music to the watch is not that convenient. It cannot be done from the phone, and instead of allow the app to randomly select the songs, I now need to select my own music to transfer.
You can also subscribe to a streaming service. Only KKBox was supported initally, but this has since expanded to include Spotify. You can then subscribe to a playlist and the watch will sync the playlist automatically (via wifi). As of today, I have not jogged with any music playing from my FR645M.
Garmin Pay
I did not expect to use this. I could not find information on the technology used online. The competing players is this area then were (and still are) Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay. I was concerned about storing my credit card information on the watch and with Garmin or some unknown provider.
The “pin” also seemed clunky and cumbersome to enter on the watch. It seemed like you had to enter the pin everytiime you wanted to pay with the watch, which made it a lot more inconvenient compared to using my phone.
However, I decided to put a credit card on my watch recently as a back-up in case I lose my wallet and phone. It worked very well. There was the usual tokenisation security, and the pin only had to be entered once as long as the watch remains on the wrist. It seems only OCBC supports Garmin Pay, and the transactions are not listed on the Garmin app.
Specifications
General
| Lens Material | chemically strengthened glass |
| Bezel Material | stainless steel |
| Quick Release Bands | (20 mm, Industry standard) |
| Strap material | silicone |
| Physical size | 42.5 x 42.5 x 13.5 mm Fits wrists with a circumference of 127-204 mm |
| Weight | 42.2 g |
| Water rating | 5 ATM |
| Display type | sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) |
| Display size | 1.2″ (30.4 mm) diameter |
| Display resolution | 240 x 240 pixels |
| Color display | Y |
| Battery life | Smartwatch Mode: Up to 7 days
GPS mode with music: Up to 5 hours |
| Memory/History | 200 hours of activity data |
Clock Features
| Time/date | Y |
| GPS Time Sync | Y |
| Automatic daylight saving time | Y |
| Alarm clock | Y |
| Timer | Y |
| Stopwatch | Y |
| Sunrise/sunset times | Y |
| Face Itâ„¢ watch face creator | Y |
Sensors
| GPS | Y |
| GLONASS | Y |
| Garmin Elevateâ„¢ wrist heart rate monitor | Y |
| Barometric altimeter | Y |
| Compass | Y |
| Gyroscope | Y |
| Accelerometer | Y |
| Thermometer | Y |
Daily Smart Features
| Connectivity | Bluetooth®, ANT+®, Wi-Fi® |
| Connect IQâ„¢ (downloadable watch faces, data fields, widgets and apps) | Y |
| Smart notifications | Y |
| Text response/reject phone call with text (Androidâ„¢ only) | Y |
| Calendar | Y |
| Weather | Y |
| Controls smartphone music | Y |
| Find My Phone | Y |
| Find My Watch | Y |
| VIRB® remote | Y |
| Smartphone compatibility | iPhone® and Android™ |
| Compatible with Garmin Connectâ„¢ Mobile | Y |
| Garmin Payâ„¢ | Y |
Activity Tracking Features
| Step counter | Y |
| Move bar (displays on device after a period of inactivity; walk for a couple of minutes to reset it) | Y |
| Auto goal (learns your activity level and assigns a daily step goal) | Y |
| Sleep monitoring (monitors total sleep and periods of movement or restful sleep) | Y |
| Calories burned | Y |
| Floors climbed | Y |
| Distance traveled | Y |
| Intensity minutes | Y |
| TrueUpâ„¢ | Y |
| Move IQâ„¢ | Y |
| Fitness Age | (in app) |
Fitness Equipment/Gym
| Preloaded gym activity profiles | Strength Training, Cardio Training, Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Floor Climbing, Indoor Rowing and Yoga |
| Cardio workouts | Y |
| Strength workouts | Y |
| Automatic rep counting | Y |
Training, Planning and Analysis Features
| GPS speed and distance | Y |
| Customizable data pages | Y |
| Customizable activity profiles | Y |
| Auto Pause® | Y |
| Interval training | Y |
| Advanced workouts | Y |
| Downloadable training plans | Y |
| Auto Lap® | Y |
| Manual lap | Y |
| Virtual Partner | Y |
| Configurable lap alerts | Y |
| V02 max | Y |
| Training Status (lets you see if you’re training effectively by tracking your training history and fitness level trend.) | Y |
| Training Load (your total training load for the last 7 days calculated from estimated EPOC) | Y |
| Training Effect (aerobic) | Y |
| Training Effect (anaerobic) | Y |
| Customizable alerts | Y |
| Audio prompts | Y |
| Finish time | Y |
| Race an Activity | Y |
| Course guidance | Y |
| Segments (Live, Garmin) | Y |
| Strava features (Beacon, live segments) | Y |
| LiveTrack | Y |
| Touch and/or button lock | Y |
| Auto scroll | Y |
| Activity history on watch | Y |
Heart Rate Features
| HR zones | Y |
| HR alerts | Y |
| HR calories | Y |
| % HR max | Y |
| % HRR | Y |
| Recovery time | Y |
| Auto max HR | Y |
| HR Broadcast (broadcasts HR data over ANT+â„¢ to paired devices) | Y |
Running Features
| Preloaded run profiles | Running, Treadmill Running, Indoor Track |
| GPS-based distance, time and pace | Y |
| Running dynamics | Y |
| Cadence (provides real-time number of steps per minute) | Y |
| Performance condition (after running 6–20 minutes, compares your real-time condition to your average fitness level) | Y |
| Run workouts | Y |
| Race predictor | Y |
| Foot pod capable | Y |
Outdoor Recreation Features
| Preloaded outdoor recreation profiles | Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Skiing, Stand up Paddleboarding, Rowing |
| Point-to-point navigation | Y |
| Bread crumb trail in real time | Y |
| Back to start | Y |
| TracBack® | Y |
| UltraTrac mode | Y |
| Elevation profile | Y |
| Distance to destination | Y |
| Vertical speed | Y |
| Total ascent/descent | Y |
| GPS coordinates | Y |
Cycling Features
| Preloaded cycling profiles | Biking, Indoor Biking |
| Courses | Y |
| Race an activity | Y |
| Time/distance alerts (triggers alarm when you reach goal) | Y |
| Compatible with Varia Visionâ„¢ (head-mounted display) | Y |
| Compatible with Variaâ„¢ radar (rear-facing radar) | Y |
| Compatible with Variaâ„¢ lights | Y |
| Speed and cadence sensor support (with sensor) | (ANT+® and Bluetooth® Smart) |
Swimming Features
| Preloaded swim profiles | Pool Swimming |
| Pool swim metrics (lengths, distance, pace, stroke count/rate, calories) | Y |
| Stroke type detection (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly) | Y |
| Swim efficiency (SWOLF) | Y |
| Drill logging | Y |
| Pool swim workouts | Y |
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