# Garmon Instinct vs Forerunner 245



## run-tmc

Hello WUS members. I’m hoping to hear some opinions on the two watches above and how they compare for a running watch from anyone that has tried one or both. The FR245 seems more fit for purpose for running, but something about the instinct calls me. I would love to see some screenshots of the watches tracking various data during a run from any of the members that have ran with one or the other. Thanks!


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## Worker

Check out the thread on the Instinct in the Digital/ABC Forum.

https://www.watchuseek.com/f296/garmin-instinct-light-powerful-4824981.html


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## run-tmc

Thanks worker, was hoping for a more efficient navigation path than going through all 1200 responses to that thread. I will dig into it though.


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## Rocket1991

Forerunner is more sports watch while Instinct is more of outdoor oriented watch and difference in soft and screen. 
There is very slim chance of someone having both of them. 
get what calls you. Unless you really going to do running than choose dedicated watch.


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## kramer5150

Des (DesFit) is one of the best fitness watch reviewers on YT. Here are his reviews of the Instinct and 245. You may have to bounce back and forth from one video to the next. He doesn't have a direct comparison review though.


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## run-tmc

Right on, thanks Kramer!


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## kramer5150

Sure no prob... DCrainmaker is also a good reviewer, might want to check his channel out too.


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## PilotRuss

I have the Instinct and love it. I tried quite a few different smart watches including the Garmin FENIX 5X and Venu and ended up returning them. I wanted something that I could beat up while working around the house and chasing my kids, was easy to read at a glance/had an always on screen, would track the rare workout or bike ride with a heart rate monitor, and give me smart notifications... I also wanted something that provided sleep tracking. I wasn't worried about a touch screen or extremely in depth fitness tracking. Basically I was looking for a smart Gshock and I think that's what this watch is.

I haven't tried the Forerunner so I'm not sure about it but with the Fenix, which I think shares some similarities with the Forerunner, I could never get over how dull and washed out the color screen looked. I know a lot of the fitness crowd will tell you that it's not meant to be a fancy watch with a nice screen and you can't have battery life and all the features of the Fenix with a decent screen... but honestly it's their top of the line mass produced model for $700+. I think they could have made a watch that was easy to read even when you weren't in perfect lighting conditions. The FENIX is great if you're a big outdoor fitness buff and you love all the data that goes into it but it wasn't really what I was looking for.










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## run-tmc

Thank you all for adding your thoughts to the thread. I went ahead and got the FR245 Music in spite of thinking the Instinct was far cooler looking. I almost pulled the trigger on a used Instinct but decided that bringing a playlist along on the watch for running was a compelling feature of the FR245 Music. I also began thinking that I'd likely not use the majority of the activity profiles loaded on the Instinct as I only seem to fit runs in and nothing much else.

Having had it for 8 weeks now, I could only be happier if it looked as cool as the Instinct.

I adjusted the screen to look a little less polished than the stock watch face to try to tick that box and was impressed with all the different screens that have been developed. Picture is pretty bad below but gives you a look at the screen.










The two other features I'm impressed with that distinguish the FR245 Music from the Instinct are the ability to store a playlist and Garmin Coach widget.

You can either download songs from your computer to the watch, or save a cached playlist or album from Spotify. I've only done the latter, which takes a while and burns through the battery, but once loaded works well and running without a phone in hand or pocket while blasting mid-90s hip hop and keeping my cadence consistently high is pure magic. It's surprising how freeing it is to not be lugging the big battery of a phone around during a run. It consistently retains the Bluetooth connection to my headphones on urban runs too.

The Garmin coach half marathon plan seems well designed, giving you a choice of a few different coaches, pace or time goals, race date, days per week you want to train and a few other parameters before it tailors an adaptive plan to help you achieve your target. The variety of runs each week keeps solo training fresh and engaging rather than monotonous, and the ~3 video clips per week from Coach on staying motivated, avoiding injury, running form, goal of individual training sessions, etc are great for staying focused. If you start skipping runs or slacking off the pace, Coach's confidence level in you achieving your goal starts to suffer - it is nice to have that push. My only complaint with Garmin coach is that there's no full marathon plan.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the FR245 Music and would recommend it to anyone that wants to elevate their running.

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## Spyne

Glad you like the FR245 run-tmc. How do you find the battery?
The Instinct is a pretty well-known watch, with a very extensive thread on these forums, with plenty of users documenting the quite amazing battery life.
But like you, I'd also appreciate the ability to listen to music via a watch, rather than also needing to carry my phone.


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## run-tmc

You definitely don’t get the battery life that folks achieve with the Instinct. I’m averaging 4-5 days between charges, but that includes at least 2-3 runs per charge where the playlist is playing and all my metrics are being tracked including GPS location. Seems like each run chews through 15-25% of the battery life depending on distance. 


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## Pesti13nce

The only thing i disliked about the instinct was the band. I bought a weird color (blue) that was on sale at my local brick and moarter and couldn't find a band that matched, but the stock one gave me a ton of irritation and a rash (of which i'd never seen before as i'm and AVID garmin user). That was the only weird thing for me, but otherwise i loved the watch, gave it to my step son and he still uses it daily doing silly stuff.


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## phant0omx

I too am looking at a Instinct solar. Some good info and links here. Thanks!


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## lvt

Is the solar keeping up with the charging task?


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