Review on 🎵 Garmin Forerunner 645 Music: GPS Running Watch with Garmin Pay, Heart Rate Monitoring, Music, Rose Gold by Guillo Tilden

I love listening to music while logging my runs and a few years ago I got my Garmin Forerunner 305 paired with replaced an MP3 player with a smartphone. I really hate carrying my phone while running and was looking for a solution to leave it at home, so I was very excited to see this watch on paper. When I first started reading reviews and trawling the forums I was very skeptical. Many have pointed out issues with music skipping, clock freezing/rebooting, and general firmware issues. However, the promise to leave my phone at home was too high, so I pulled the trigger and bought a watch. I am very happy to report that after three weeks the watch is very close to my expectations. There are some big issues with the firmware, music jumps and the lack of integration with real streaming services is a big problem. However, most of them are not so bad that they negate all the amazing benefits of the watch. Music is the main reason I bought this watch, so I was very concerned about people reporting bluetooth connection issues and skipping music. To ensure I had the best possible experience I purchased a pair of JBL Mini headphones that are on the Garmin Approved List. Pairing was instant, and I almost never have audio dropouts when I'm running. However, I can cause a problem by moving my watch behind my back and I notice this when I stretch before/after my run. But it's not that bad and it doesn't happen when I actually walk, so I can live with that. The lack of music streaming capabilities is disappointing, although I knew that beforehand. I still have a lot of old MP3s, so it wasn't a big problem for me. However, I pay for Pandora and really hope Garmin will be able to bring them in as a partner one day. Downloading MP3s to my Macbook was easy and hassle-free, I didn't have any of the problems other people reported. There are definitely some issues with the watch's firmware/software, but mostly related to the firmware update. The most disappointing moment I had was one night when I looked down and my own watch face was gone and the standard watch face was loaded. I connected the watch to my computer to set it up and update the firmware and for the next 2 hours I couldn't do either. Every time I tried to update they went through all the steps before the watch finally told me the update failed. Eventually I downloaded and set up my watch face again and oddly the firmware magically updated two days later and I haven't had this problem since. Under normal conditions, the watch works normally. But firmware loading or debugging issues, if they occur, are a real concern. Running with the watch is fantastic. It fixes to GPS quickly and is very accurate. I haven't experienced the "triangle of death" that others seem to experience when the clock is mysteriously reset while running. I've used it maybe 10-12 times, some with music, some without, and it's going well so far. The physical buttons are a big plus, I didn't want a watch with a touchscreen but that's a personal preference. Everyday features like step counters and heart rate monitoring are also very useful. I wear the watch all day, every day and love the feedback and ideas it gives. Battery life is about what I expected, dropping by about 20% per day with normal use, and running with GPS + music drains it faster. I charge it about every fourth night to make sure I always have enough battery for my runs. I really like the look of the watch, it's not too bulky or heavy (great contrast to the Forerunner 305) and fits my wrist well. There are some issues at the end, but overall they work so well that they can be forgiven. With the issues ironed out and hopefully they find their music streaming partners, I could easily see this review climb to five stars. Alternatively, if problems accumulate and the music selection doesn't expand, I can downgrade this by a few stars. Time will tell, but for now I'm very happy with it.