I finally upgraded my Garmin from the original Vivoactive to the new 645 Music. My Vivoactive lasted me a good 4 years and definitely still has life to it, but with all the upgrades in Garmin, I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been thinking of getting a new one for over a year. When Garmin announced that this watch had music on it, I was sold.
My biggest advice when looking for a new running watch is to write down a list of things you want, or data points you feel necessary. Sometimes it can get overwhelming but knowing that you don’t need a watch for triathletes cuts down a large amount. Or, if you’re someone that doesn’t ever run with headphones, the added music feature probably isn’t for you. Or, if you are someone who likes to know training zones, there are plenty with that but some without!
What I like about the 645:
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▪️the DATA: I am a total data freak and obsessed with numbers. Numbers drive me. It has your norms of pace, distance, and all that but I like the more in depth:
For example: Vo2max, heart rate zones, training status’,and cadence to name a few I use daily. .
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▪️Obviously the music on my watch is freaking cool. & Garmin keeps rolling out watches with music. I love it. It still blows my mind that I don’t have my iPod or phone while I’m running and I still have music. My headphones sync super fast as well.
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▪️it’s super light. & perfect for my smaller wrist. (to compare I tried on a fenix 5 and could feel a major difference)
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▪️Customizable screens & NOT touch screen. My last watch was touch screen and I hated how it would switch screens or sweat would make it impossible to do anything. .
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▪️Workouts/intervals programmed on my watch!!
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▪️Garmin Pay. Honestly this is the future and how awesome I don’t have to carry money on my runs. .
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▪️Features that should be noted: strength & literally every activity is recordable. (Like skiing? Lol). Stopwatch, exceptionally quick to connect to gps, step counter,….you get the idea this watch does it all.
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Negatives:
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▪️battery life: I mean what do you expect when I run every day & use gps & play music & track my HR every hour of the day …etc. but I do find myself charging it quite a bit.
What running watch is on your dream list? What do you have and why do you like it?
(should be noted: Garmin did not pay me for my review)
runningthealley.com 
I recently got the Vivoactive 3 and I love it! It doesn’t have music on it but I couldn’t pass up the white and rose gold look. As a former Fitbit junkie, I’m excited to get running again so I can use it to its full potential! Did it feel weird at first running sans phone??