Why The Garmin Forerunner Is The Best Smartwatch For Mountain Biking [Employee Review]

Words by Jared Erickson

Overview

I've been using the Garmin Forerunner 945 GPS smartwatch for about a year now, and I have to say it has truly opened my eyes in terms of the smartwatch world. In fact, I frequently tell my friends who are willing to listen how impressive it is in more ways than one. This watch is an all-in-one trail companion, offering navigation, health tracking, and connectivity features that make it an indispensable tool for any mountain biker, hiker, runner, or outdoor enthusiast of any kind.

First, its navigation capability is phenomenal. The Forerunner 945 boasts full-color maps, which are invaluable when you're deep in the backcountry or anywhere you aren't totally familiar with. The maps are detailed and accurate, providing topographical details, points of interest, and breadcrumb trails. One of my favorite details of the map feature is that it shows your next trail fork and the name of the trail. This can be extremely useful in places where you aren't 100% familiar with every trail in the area, and it certainly provides peace of mind. It's not just a GPS watch, it's your pocket guide for the wilderness.

In addition to tracking where I am, the Forerunner 945 tracks me, providing an array of health stats that are genuinely useful. The heart rate monitor is one of the most accurate I've used, especially during intense rides. The Pulse Ox feature, which measures blood oxygen saturation, is a valuable addition, especially when biking at high altitudes. The Body Battery feature provides insight into my energy levels throughout the day, helping me gauge when I'm ready for some serious training and when I need to take it easy. The more you look into the features this watch has, the more and more you learn about your fitness and your performance. 

Data screens showing Body Battery throughout the day on the left, and how having a few drinks can seriously impact your Sleep Score on the right.

The Forerunner 945 is also impressive when it comes to battery life. During a recent week-long biking trip, I only had to charge the watch once, which is about how often I typically need to charge it. It’s hard to overstate the convenience and peace of mind that this provides. Coming from an Apple watch that I had to charge every night and would frequently die before finishing longer activities, the battery life on the Garmin was truly an eye opener. It might sound ridiculous or corny, but knowing that your wearable will be along for the entire ride can push you to go even further. Long story short, when you frequently put in big rides and get out for longer activities, a long-lasting battery is an absolute necessity.

Another useful and convenient feature of the Garmin watch is its ability to sync with fitness apps such as Strava. Once you finish an activity, you sync the watch with your phone via the Garmin Connect app and all of the data from your activity will populate in the app, which will automatically upload to Strava. You can also go into the Garmin Connect app to further dissect your health data, change settings, create routes that you can download to your watch, follow your Garmin wearing friends, and more. 

One of the coolest features of the Forerunner and other Garmin watches is the Garmin Coach. You can set a goal that you wish to achieve, and once you let the coach know what your goal is, it will tell you what steps you need to take each day in order to reach your goal. For instance, if you wish to run a half marathon in under 2 hours in 4 months from now, it will tell you how much you need to run each day and at what pace you need to run in order to reach that goal, including what days you need to rest and what days you should push yourself. Not only is that incredibly cool, I've found that the Garmin coach is also quite accurate when it comes to predicting your abilities and what pace you should be able to maintain based on your fitness level. So if you are one of those people who needs direction or likes the idea of having your own virtual personal trainer, the Garmin Coach is extremely helpful.

Screens showing the Garmin Coach and the activity it's suggesting for me as my first activity for half marathon training.

Not just for riders and runners, the Garmin Forerunner has a myriad of activities that you can track from kayaking to snowboarding to yoga and everything in between. It will also track specific information relating to the activity you are tracking. With that said, all of your data fields are fully customizable, so you can really dial in your watch to show exactly the information you are interested in while you are performing that activity. One activity I do wish the Forerunner offered is a downhill mountain biking activity. Garmin already offers the snowboarding activity which I mentioned, which senses when you get on the chairlift, pauses the activity, and resumes when you start to go down the mountain again. It also counts the number of runs you are doing, all of which would be useful when riding a lift accessed bike park. In an effort to record a downhill biking activity with these features, I was taught a trick by Garmin Master Jeff Cayley - log my downhill mountain biking activity as a snowboarding activity, and then change the activity to a downhill biking activity once it was uploaded to Garmin Connect/Strava. This way, the Garmin also doesn't mistakenly log all of your chair lift riding as climbing trails on your bike, and will let you know how many runs you did as well as the total amount of descending that you did for the day - all useful information relating to the activity. Garmin does offer a watch with downhill biking as an activity, that particular activity is just not available on the Forerunner series yet.

Just a couple of Garmin Watch wearin' dudes.

Lastly, I'm impressed by its robustness and comfort. The Forerunner 945 has a sturdy, lightweight design that holds up against the elements and harsh outdoor conditions. The band is comfortable and doesn't chafe even after hours of riding, and is comfortable enough for me to sleep with it on and not even notice. The screen is scratch-resistant and remains clearly visible under bright sunlight, making it easy to check my stats on the fly. After multiple crashes and countless hits against rocks, doors and anything you might walk or run into, I can gladly say my watch is still looking like new.

Now, no product is perfect. The Forerunner 945 comes with a hefty price tag, and the setup can be a bit overwhelming, given its wealth of features. But in my experience, the benefits far outweigh these cons. With time and use, the device becomes intuitive, and the initial investment pays off in the wealth of data and functionality it offers. 

Final Thoughts

All things considered, the Garmin Forerunner 945 GPS smartwatch is the perfect smartwatch for mountain bikers. Its superior navigation features, comprehensive health monitoring, excellent battery life, and durable build make it more than just a watch. It's a true companion for riders who are interested in their health and riding data. I used to be the hold out with my Apple watch, listening to Jeff and others tell me how great the Garmin was and how it's truly built for athletes and it's not just an iPhone for your wrist. Now I'm the guy with the Garmin watch telling others the same. Whether you are a recreational rider or aspiring World Cup racer, the Forerunner 945 might just be the best investment you can make for your mountain biking adventures.