Running is one of the best fat-burning exercises that require little to no equipment at all. However, if you’re looking for something that will help boost your performance and form, a fitness-centric wearable will serve you well. The Apple Watch sure has all the glitz and glamour but Garmin’s Forerunner smartwatches are primarily designed for runners and arm you with crucial running metrics.
As prices plummet to an all-time low this Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Amazon joins in the bandwagon and hacks the prices of Garmin’s Forerunner 645 smartwatches up to 45% off. Our review even notes that it’s a solid option for anyone looking to adopt an active lifestyle and would likewise make an awesome gift to any casual runner or budding marathon athlete.
A wearable that would bring out your sporty side, Garmin’s Forerunner 645 has a rugged and durable design with a stainless-steel bezel encasing a chemically strengthened glass crystal. The silicone band it’s attached to has plenty of notches that make for a comfortable and breathable fit. It may not be cut out for the board room but you might just be able to remedy that by switching it out for a leather band or any other compatible quick-release bands. As for the watch’s face, its 1.2-inch Garmin Chroma display along with its 240 x 240-pixel resolution proves to be readable in any light and large enough regardless of having big or small wrists. While it doesn’t have touchscreen functionality, you’ll easily be able to navigate through five physical buttons surrounding its screen.
Not only does it feature an untethered GPS, the Forerunner 645 also packs GLONASS (global navigation satellite system), gyroscope, accelerometer, thermometer, barometric altimeter, and Garmin’s own Elevate wrist heart rate monitor. For a company that was manufacturing fitness trackers way before the iPhone, Garmin has surely put in the time to perfect its running watch with specific activity profiles for running, cycling, swimming, paddle sports and strength training as well as the option to create your own workout. Needless to say, it is more than capable of tracking steps, calories burnt, speed, and distance.
To gauge the efficacy of your workouts, Garmin provides Training Status, a performance monitoring tool that automatically evaluates your recent exercise history and deciphers if you’re productive, peaking, or overreaching. Whereas biomechanical measurements such as cadence, stride length, ground contact time, vertical ratio, and balance would give you an idea on how to improve your form.
Real-time stats can be viewed on the dial while long-term progress tracking is possible through the Garmin Connect app which is also a portal to an online fitness community you can engage with through sharing milestones or joining challenges. Syncing the Forerunner 645 with your smartphone will also enable notifications for calls, text, and other app alerts. And if you choose to get the music version, you’ll have every reason to leave your phone behind with a capacity to store up to 500 songs that can be downloaded from either your computer or select streaming services.
Garmin’s Forerunner 645 also has an NFC chip that would allow you to make contactless payments, so you can run completely hand-free. Its battery is the edge it has over any Apple product as it can last up to seven days on smartwatch mode or up to 12 hours on GPS mode. Get the most out of your run without missing out on savings when you order from Amazon today.
Looking for more fitness deals? Browse through our curated deals page for more smartwatches, headphones for running, and more.
The OnePlus Buds Clip are a new pair of open-ear earbuds built around a simple convenience. They join Sony’s LinkBuds Clip in the growing ear-cuff category, but either OnePlus bud can go on either ear.
Sensors recognize how the earbuds are being worn and route the audio channels accordingly. There’s no label to check before putting them on, and the feature also works when only one bud is used.
We buy fitness bands and activity trackers to keep tabs on our exercise, but it is easy to forget to start tracking or switch modes when moving between different activities. For Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, that could soon become a lot less annoying, as Google is rolling out a major upgrade to automatic activity tracking that can recognize more than 100 types of exercise, up from just 10 before.
Google first showed off the improved tracking earlier this month alongside the Fitbit Edge. It is now coming to Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, and Google claims the added context behind the system makes workout detection nearly twice as accurate while cutting missed activities by more than half. Fitbit Edge will support it too.