Garmin has quietly announced an upgrade to its Forerunner 45 GPS running watch, with a couple of interesting feature additions.
The Forerunner 45 is the company’s entry level running watch, offering basic GPS tracking in a really, slim and lightweight package.
We’ve been big fans ever since our initial review, thanks to the Forerunner 45’s super-slim design and no-nonsense feature set, while still offering decent insights on VO2 Max.
And that’s where the company has looked to improve the Forerunner 45 Plus.
The only differences over the Forerunner 45 seems to be the addition of some specialist metrics including Race Predictor and Recovery Time Advisor.
Both of these metrics are based on heart rate data and are derived from Firstbeat’s heart rate variability algorithms.
Those paying attention will know that Garmin recently bought Firstbeat, so this could be the start of those metrics filtering onto entry level devices.
Elsewhere, the Forerunner 45 has the same slim 42mm case, heart rate monitor, 5ATM water resistance, pace, distance and time metrics, 7 day battery life with smart notifications and 13 hours of continuous GPS tracking.
What’s not certain is whether the Forerunner 45 Plus will replace or augment the existing Forerunner 45.
It’s been listed at UK retailers for £139.99 (around $150), which is about the same as the existing Forerunner 45. It’s a fantastic price, and means we could see the ordinary Forerunner 45 drop to the mark for the Holidays, which would make it a smash hit we’re sure.
We’ve only seen the device via the Garmin EMEA YouTube account so far, so there’s no word on whether it will make it to the US.
While there's an official page in Europe, the US site only links to a joint manual for the Forerunner 45/45 Plus, so we’re assuming that it will. We’re pushing for more information, so watch this space.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.