Garmin Forerunner 245 GPS Running Watch

• Evaluates your current training status to indicate if you’re undertraining or overdoing it; offers additional performance monitoring features
• Get free adaptive training plans from Garmin Coach, or create your own custom workouts on our Garmin Connect™ online fitness community
• Provides advanced running dynamics¹, including ground contact time balance, stride length, vertical ratio and more
• Safety and tracking features², such as built-in incident detection, make it easy to share your location
• Customize with free watch faces, apps and more from our Connect IQ™ Store
• Battery life: up to 7 days in smartwatch mode; up to 24 hours in GPS mode

You do the running. Forerunner 245 does the thinking. This GPS smartwatch doesn’t just tell you where you ran. It tracks your stats, crunches the numbers and gets to know all about your performance, your running form, your training history and even your goals. All you need to focus on is putting one foot in front of the other.

Advanced Performance Analytics

What amount of training is right for you? Forerunner 245 offers personalized training and recovery insight for smarter training decisions, helping you prepare for your next race. It keeps tabs on your VO2 max and understands how heat and altitude impact your performance. And the higher your VO2 max, the higher you can expect to perform, which is exactly what is shown by the performance condition metric. 

Training status evaluates your recent exercise history and performance indicators to let you know if you’re training productively, peaking or overreaching. See how your workouts influence the development of endurance, speed and power with aerobic and anaerobic training effect feedback. Recovery time helps you maximize the benefit of your efforts by predicting when you will be ready for your next tough challenge. You can even view your overall training load, which measures your exercise volume from the last 7 days and compares it to the optimal range for your fitness and recent training history.

More Ways to Work Out

Running is what you do, so train smarter with the tools available from our Garmin Connect online fitness community. Create your own custom workouts, or download free ones that sync right to your watch. Or, if you’ve got a specific goal in mind for your next 5K, check out Garmin Coach. Featuring guidance from expert coaches and free training plans that adapt to you and your goals, it’s a foolproof way to get to the finish line. As part of your training plan, it can even help you predict your race time. What about when you want to switch it up? Forerunner 245 also has activity profiles for cycling, pool swimming, indoor rowing and even for using the elliptical or stair-stepper.

Analyze Your Running Form

The Forerunner 245 GPS smartwatch also has the tools you need to improve your running form. The watch measures crucial running metrics such as cadence, stride length, ground contact time and balance, vertical oscillation and vertical ratio. These measurements are the key to understanding your form, so you can bring your best on every run and at every race. Your Forerunner 245 can start tracking these metrics with the addition of a compatible heart rate strap or the compact Running Dynamics Pod, which clips right onto your waistband.

More Ways to Customize

Check out our Connect IQ Store, where you can add personality to Forerunner 245 by downloading apps, widgets, watch faces and more. It’s easy and — even better — it’s free. New apps are added every day, so you can keep tabs on when your Uber will arrive, turn on your lights at home with the SmartThings app, and even use the AccuWeather MinuteCast app to find out when the rain will start. 

Stay Connected on the Run

Forerunner 245 makes it easy to run without leaving important smart features behind. Once paired with your compatible smartphone, you’ll be able to receive text messages and see social media updates, emails and more right on your wrist. And new safety and tracking features make it easy to share your location with chosen contacts in case you need assistance — manually, or automatically with built-in incident detection², if needed. So, lace up your shoes, and head out with a little extra peace of mind.

Share and Compete

Syncing your activities to Garmin Connect is for more than just storing your data. Garmin Connect is a thriving online community where people on the go can connect and compete by joining challenges, encourage each other’s successes and even share their triumphs via social media. Garmin Connect is free and available on the web or on your smartphone.

Wellness and Advanced Sleep Monitoring

The Forerunner 245 smartwatch has tools to help keep tabs on your overall well-being and the sleep³ you’re getting at night. These tools provide crucial insight you can use to maximize your training. For example, it’s our first running watch to include a Pulse Ox sensor⁴. This wrist-based sensor estimates your body’s blood oxygen saturation, which can help gauge how your body is absorbing oxygen — especially while you sleep. And to help you optimize your body’s energy, Body Battery™ energy monitoring uses collected data to gauge your energy reserves at any moment, so you can plan your day to optimize times for activity and rest.

Track Your Cycle

Coming soon, you'll get a better understanding of your body using the Garmin Connect menstrual cycle tracking feature. Use it to track cycle details, log physical and emotional symptoms and record personal notes for regular, irregular and menopause transition cycle types. You’ll get education about training and nutrition during each phase of your current cycle, too. With the Connect IQ app⁵, you’ll get cycle updates — such as period reminders, cycle details and symptoms logged for the day — delivered to your wrist.

¹When used with Running Dynamics Pod or HRM-Run™ or HRM-Tri™ monitors (sold separately)
²When paired with a  compatible smartphone. See  safety and tracking features requirements and limitations
³Activity tracking accuracy
⁴This is not a medical device and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or monitoring of any medical condition; see Garmin.com/ataccuracy. Pulse Ox not available in all countries
⁵Compatible devices: Forerunner® 645 Music, vívoactive® 3, vívoactive 3 Music and fēnix 5 Plus Series. Compatible devices coming soon:  fēnix® 5 Series, fēnix Chronos, Forerunner 935, Forerunner 945, Forerunner 645, Forerunner 245 and Forerunner 245 Music.

SPECS

General

• Lens Material - Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3
• Bezel Material - fiber-reinforced polymer
• Quick Release Bands yes (20 mm, Industry standard)
• Strap material - silicone
• Physical size 42.3 x 42.3 x 12.2 (mm)
• Fits wrists with a circumference of 127-204 mm
• Display size 1.2" (30.4 mm) diameter
• Display resolution 240 x 240 pixels
• Display type sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP)
• Weight 38.5 g
• Battery life Smartwatch Mode: Up to 7 days
• GPS mode: Up to 24 hours
• Water rating Swim, 5 ATM
• Colour display
• Memory/History 200 hours of activity data

Clock Features

• Time/date
• GPS Time Sync
• Automatic daylight saving time
• Alarm clock
• Timer
• Stopwatch
• Sunrise/sunset times

Sensors

• GPS
• GLONASS
• Galileo
• Garmin Elevate™ wrist heart rate monitor
• Compass
• Accelerometer
• Pulse Ox

Daily Smart Features

• Connectivity Bluetooth®, ANT+®
• Connect IQ™ (downloadable watch faces, data fields, widgets and apps)
• Smart notifications
• Text response/reject phone call with text (Android™ only)
• Calendar
• Weather
• Controls smartphone music
• Find My Phone
• Find My Watch
• VIRB® Camera Remote
• Smartphone compatibility iPhone® and Android™
• Compatible with Garmin Connect™ Mobile

Safety and Tracking Features

• Incident Detection during select activities yes (Smartphone Required)
• Assistance yes (Smartphone Required)
• LiveTrack
• Live Event Sharing Android™ Only

Activity Tracking Features

• Step counter
• Move bar (displays on device after a period of inactivity; walk for a couple of minutes to reset it)
• Auto goal (learns your activity level and assigns a daily step goal)
• Sleep monitoring (monitors total sleep and periods of movement or restful sleep)
• Calories burned
• Distance traveled
• Intensity minutes
• TrueUp™
• Move IQ™
• Fitness Age yes (in app)
• Body Battery™ Energy Monitor
• All-day Stress Tracking

Gym & Fitness Equipment

• Available gym activity profiles Strength, Cardio and Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Indoor Rowing and Yoga
• Cardio workouts
• Strength workouts
• Automatic rep counting

Training, Planning and Analysis Features

• GPS speed and distance
• Customizable data pages
• Customizable activity profiles
• Auto Pause®
• Interval training
• Advanced workouts
• Downloadable training plans
• Auto Lap®
• Manual lap
• Configurable lap alerts
• V02 max
• Training Status (lets you see if you’re training effectively by tracking your training history and fitness level trend.)
• Training Load (your total training load for the last 7 days calculated from estimated EPOC)
• Training Effect (aerobic)
• Training Effect (anaerobic)
• Customizable alerts
• Audio prompts
• Finish time
• Virtual Partner
• Race an Activity
• Course guidance
• Touch and/or button lock
• Auto scroll
• Activity history on watch
• Physio TrueUp

Heart Rate Features

• HR zones
• HR alerts
• HR calories
• % HR max
• % HRR
• Recovery time
• Auto max HR
• HR Broadcast (broadcasts HR data over ANT+™ to paired devices)

Running Features

• Available run profiles - Running, Treadmill Running, Indoor Track Running, Trail Running
• GPS-based distance, time and pace
• Running dynamics yes (with compatible accessory)
• Vertical oscillation and ratio (the degree of 'bounce' in your running motion and the cost-benefit ratio with stride length) yes (with compatible accessory)
• Ground contact time and balance (shows how much time, in the running motion, your foot is on the ground rather than in flight and lets you check your running symmetry) yes (with compatible accessory)
• Stride length (real time) yes (with compatible accessory)
• Cadence (provides real-time number of steps per minute)
• Performance condition (after running 6–20 minutes, compares your real-time condition to your average fitness level)
• Run workouts
• Race predictor
• Foot pod capable

Outdoor Recreation Features

• Point-to-point navigation
• Bread crumb trail in real time
• Back to start
• TracBack®
• UltraTrac mode
• Distance to destination
• GPS coordinates

Cycling Features

• Available cycling profiles - Biking, Indoor Biking
• Courses
• Race an activity
• Time/distance alerts (triggers alarm when you reach goal)
• Compatible with Varia Vision™ (head-mounted display)
• Compatible with Varia™ radar (rear-facing radar)
• Compatible with Varia™ lights
• Speed and cadence sensor support (with sensor) yes

Swimming Features

• Available swim profiles - Pool Swimming
• Pool swim metrics (lengths, distance, pace, stroke count/rate, calories)
• Stroke type detection (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly)
• Swim efficiency (SWOLF)
• Drill logging
• Pool swim workouts

Connectivity

• Smartphone compatibility iPhone® and Android™

In the Box

• Forerunner 245
• Charge/data cable
• Documentation