Garmin Forerunner 735XT and Forerunner 745 compared
See all the new features on the FR745
With the introduction of the Forerunner 745 Garmin seems to have started integrating their ‘life’ tracking features we know of the vívoactives into the Forerunners along with some features we’ve seen on the Edge product line. There are a couple of new features in the Forerunner 745 compared to the Forerunner 735XT and I’ll list them out in this post, going in to detail to help you decide which of the two is the best choice for you. Both watches computers can be found on my productwatch, where you’ll also find more reviews, videos, images and the lowest prices scanned on 15 different stores.
Forerunner 745 Productwatch
Forerunner 735XT Productwatch
Looks, Size and Specs
Putting the watches side-by-side you can see the new Forerunner 745 has taken some more room to pack more in. It’s roughly the same size on your wrist, but it’s a bit thicker, but we’re talking about a mere 0.055″ (1,4mm). But hey, it’s there.
| 735XT | 745 | |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 215×180px | 240×240px |
| Weight | 1,41 ounce (40.2gr) | 1.65 ounce (47gr) |
| Smartwatch Battery life | 11 days | 7 days |
| GPS mode Battery life | 14 hrs | 16 hrs |
| GPS + Music Battery life | n/a | 6 hrs |
| Ultra Trac Battery life | 24 hr (without HR) | 21 hrs. |
| Workout Data | 80 hrs | 200 hrs |
The new Forerunner 745 comes in two new colours too. ‘Magma Red’ and ‘Whitestone’. The Frost Blue is now called ‘Neo Tropic’ (see these in the headline image)
Life Tracking
The real differences on the FR745 start to show in what I like to call ‘life tracking’ features. You may have seen these on other watch brands and vívoactive and some other Garmin wathes too and they are finally coming to the Forerunners. It’s quite a list so I’ll present it to you in a list with brief explanations:
- Track Breathing – Count your breathing rate.
- Abnormal HR alerts – you can give limits when it alerts
- PulseOx – spot / 24/7 or sleep. It’s quite the battery drain.
- Fitness age
- BodyBattery – I love this feature!
- Stress tracking
- Sleep Score and insights – soon to be released
- Hydration
- Stair count – and goal
With all this extra data the Forerunner 745 can help suggest a Daily Workout for you when you use this feature. It takes all this in account for your the suggested workout (even a menstrual cycle) along with previous performance, which in itself is a first for a wrist based Garmin device.
Workout Tracking
After the life tracking features you obviously really buy this watch to work out with. If you look at the 745, it’s very close to the Forerunner 945 except for the maps feature of the latter, but in comparison to the 735XT you get:
- Recovery time now also takes in your daily activity, stress, and sleep
- Support for Garmin Running Power – with accessory
- New LiveTrack so your Family & Friends can see where you are and what your route is.
- Track Running Recognition – even for what lane you are in.
- Improved HR sensor – the ELEVATE as seen on FR945
- Added PacePro and ClimbPro
- Advanced Vector support
- Added Incident Detection – automatically alert listed people on crash detection (phone required)
- Manual trigger the Incident Assistance.
- Heat & Altitude acclimation – used for recovery&effort estimation.
Swimming
I’m listing the swimming feature improvements separately as there are multiple.
- Auto-pause on swimming
- Time and distance warnings
- pace warnings – pool only
- critical swim speed
and finally: - Wrist HR! – so you don’t need a strap (probably also why there are no bundles)
Technical
- Sony GPS chipset – adds Galileo
- Barometric Altimeter (for accuracy)
- Training load
- VO2 max takes in heat & altitude acclimation
- Improved HR sensor (the ELEVATE as seen on FR945)
- Gyroscope
- Thermometer
Day to day features
- Music – up to 500 songs from Spotify, Amazon, etc.
- Garmin Pay – contactless/NFC Payments
Prices
The Forerunner 735XT is available in Bundles, where (currently) the new Forerunner 745 is not. But I’ve listed all options and what’s in the bundles so you can decide whether the bundle option is something for you.
In short the contents of the Bundles:
Run Bundle: Comes with the HRM-Run hear rate monitor
Tri Bundle: Comes with the HRM-Tri and HRM-Swim heart rate monitors
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