Garmin 945 LTE
IN OUR MAY issue we talked about the safety features available on the Apple Watch – now, Garmin has added LTE connectivity to its premium triathlon smartwatch, the Forerunner 945, which means triathletes can to stay connected to their friends and family while they’re out on long training runs to improve safety. While the LTE features do require a subscription plan, they are certainly worth the extra step.
The Forerunner 945 LTE lets athletes send for help if they need to and stay connected to loved ones — no phone needed. If an athlete feels unsafe, or if the smartwatch senses an incident occurred, assistance and incident detection features will send a message with their location to chosen emergency contacts. The watch can also automatically send the runner’s name and location to Garmin IERCC, a professional 24/7 global monitoring and response centre, that will then contact and coordinate with local emergency services. The Garmin IERCC will stay in contact with the athlete until the situation is resolved.
The LiveTrack feature allows friends and family to follow along with you on your workout in real time, and even see your entire preplanned course. You can also send pace and mileage updates to your friends and family during a race.
This new functionality is added to the already triathlon-friendly features that make the 945 the top dog in the triathlon smartwatch category. This super-watch weighs just 49 g and is a bit smaller than the original 945 at 44.4 x 44.4 x 13.9 mm. This lightweight wonder can sync to your power meter, track your pace or speed or altitude or, well, think of any metric you want and this watch will handle it. In addition to the multiple built-in sport apps that make it easy to track your swim, bike, run, triathlon or brick workouts (not to mention numerous other activities), the watch will offer run and ride recommendations based on your training load and training status, can sync training plans from TrainingPeaks and other platforms, provides insights on the training effect and recovery time from workouts. The watch provides updates on your VO2 Max, running dynamics, tracks your sleep, includes menstrual cycle and pregnancy tracking for women, and even has a Pulse OX sensor to monitor blood oxygen saturation levels and altitude acclimation. There are also extensive map capabilities to keep you on track during workouts, and the watch can also store up to 1,000 songs and can receive smart notifications, among several other features. Once you’ve finished a workout the 945 LTE will upload your activities to Garmin Connect and from there to your preferred training platform or social media.
The Forerunner 945 LTE features up to two weeks of battery life in smartwatch mode and up to seven hours in GPS mode with music and LTE LiveTrack. Available in whitestone or black, the Forerunner 945 LTE has a suggested retail price of $850.—WITH