In this article I will take a look at the Garmin Instict 1 vs the Garmin Forerunner 245. Spoiler alert: both these products are great outdoor/sport watches.
Quick overview
Let’s start with a quick overview where I will share my own conclusions.
In terms of price, both watches are within the same category and I would say that both are pretty budget friendly. Especially when we keep in mind all the features that are included. Finding a good GPS watch at this price range is pretty rare.
Forerunner 245
The biggest difference is that the forerunner 245 is more oriented towards runners because it’s lighter. Also, the forerunner is easier to use because it has a bigger screen with a better resolution.
Cheapest price can usually be found on amazon: Garmin forerunner 245
Garmin Instinct
On the other hand, the Garmin Instinct is better for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts who care less about the weight of the watch and more about the ruggedness and durability.
Cheapest price can usually be found on amazon: Garmin instinct
Okay, so hikers should buy the Garmin Instinct and runners should go with the Garmin Forerunner 245, easy enough right? Well, not exactly – every person is different and has different preferences. Also, for the trail runners among us, I would say the choice becomes a lot harder, once again, personal preferences will probably be the key factor here.
Weight
As I already mentioned, the Forerunner 245 is actually quite a bit lighter, coming in at 38.5g. This is a pretty nice weight for a runner’s watch.
The Garmin Instinct is more rugged, but this also comes at a price as it is quite a bit heavier, 52g to be precise. This means that the Instinct is 13.5g heavier. A number that can’t be ignored. However, certain runners just care more about the weight of their watch than others. The same goes for hikers, but most hikers do not really have a problem with the additional 13.5g, excluding the extreme ultralight hikers of course.
Display
When we take a look at the display, the Forerunner 245 once again comes out on top. The screen is 33% bigger than the screen size of the Garmin instinct (1.2″ vs 9″). Yes, even though the Garmin instinct is heavier and bulkier, the screen is still quite a bit smaller.
Also, the screen of the Forerunner is higher in resolution, 240 x 240px vs 128 x 128px.
So is this a big deal? I would say that this is more important for runners than for hikers or outdoor enthusiasts. Since runners would often want to quickly check something while they are running, whereas hikers would more often have time to take a good look at their watch.
Durability & ruggedness
Here is where things start to turn around. The Garmin instinct has been one of the best budget hiking watches ever and one of the key factors here is durability and ruggedness. Yes, the screen isn’t as good, the watch is pretty bulky and heavy, but this allowed Garmin to make the Instinct pretty bulletproof.
As a hiker, I know that a watch can easily get damaged during a hiking trip – at least, on one of my hiking trips. I like to do a bit of scrambling on my hikes and often visit the mountains… If you are the type of hiker that makes likes to make “easy” walks on meadows and such, you probably wouldn’t care too much about ruggedness.
As I keep saying, in the end it’s hard to say which watch is better because the decision is soo personal, we are all looking for different things in a watch.
Battery life
Important for long distance runners, but usually even more important for long distance hikers, the battery life. The Forerunner 245 lasts around 8 hours longer than the Garmin in GPS mode. The Garmin Instinct comes in at a 16 hours battery life while the Forerunner 245 lasts up to 24 hours. Once again, both watches last pretty long considering the on-board features and price range for a GPS watch.
The Forerunner might last longer in GPS mode, but when the GPS is turned off, the Garmin Instinct is a lot better when it comes to battery life. It will last up to 14 days when the GPS is turned off. This is twice as long as the Forerunner 245.
This is another argument why the Instinct is more suitable for hikers. Long distance hikers will only occasionally turn on the GPS, whereas runners have the luxury to keep the GPS mode on throughout the entire run.
Features
Next up, let’s compare the Garmin Instinct vs the Garmin Forerunner 245 in terms of features. Considering the price, both these watches actually come with a nice amount of features, but which one takes the cake?
GPS
We already covered the battery life of the GPS mode, the forerunner scores better and the larger screen will make it slightly easier to use the GPS. However, the quality of the GPS functionality itself is almost equal on both these watches.
Sensors
Both watches are pretty-well equipped with senors, both have a heart rate monitor, an accelerometer and a compass.
The main difference here is that the Insintct has a barometer on-board where the Forerunner 245 has an oximeter. By now, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Instinct comes with the sensor that most hikers are interested in and the Forerunner comes with the feature that a lot of runners are interested in.
Activity tracking
Both watches have all the regular activity tracking functionality on board:
- Distance
- Speed
- Activity reports
- Route tracking
- Burned calories
- Possibility to track goals
For most runners, hikers and other outdoor activities this is usually all you will need.
Garmin connect IQ
Another pretty important fact to consider is that the Garmin Instinct is not compatible with Garmin connect IQ where the Forerunner 245 is compatible.
If you do not now what Garmin Connect IQ is, here is a quote from an article that is dedicated to explaining Garmin Connect IQ.
“Garmin Connect IQ is the application development platform for newer Garmin wearables that enables individuals or companies to develop a number of different application and watch extensions. These extensions allow folks to significantly extend the features and functionality of your newfangled Garmin device.”
Basically this means that the Garmin Instinct is a lot more limited when it comes to installing custom applications. A lot of hikers claim that the Garmin Instinct would be the absolute best budget hiking watch ever if it was able to connect with this platform. A missed opportunity by Garmin? Or did they only want to target those who don’t care too much about custom applications and focus on the basics. Either way, this is a big win for the Forerunner in the Garmin Instinct vs Forerunner 245 competition.
Side note: in 2022 the Garmin Instinct 2 got released, this watch is compatible with Garmin connect IQ and it’s a nice upgrade in comparison with the Garmin instinct 1. That said, it also comes with a price increase.
Other features
- The Garmin Instinct does not connect with wifi (but it does have USB & Bluetooth)
- The Garmin Forerunner 245 does have wifi
- Both watches have an alarm feature (with vibration)
- Both watches have the ability to upload maps
- Both watches have a stopwatch
- Both watches can receive notifications
- Both watches come with a music control screen (you cannot download music directly on the watch but you can connect it with your phone and control it from your watch)
Verdict
The verdict is rather straightforward. Both watches are great!
As stated in the article, it depends on your personal needs and preferences, but we can conclude that the Forerunner 245 is more suited for runners and the Garmin instinct is more suited for hiking and similar activitiet.
If you really care about custom applications -as a hiker- (compatibility with Garmin connect IQ), you might want to consider another hiking watch (like the garmin instinct 2). However, finding a watch that is compatible, has a GPS, is good quality will often be pretty expensive. I recently wrote about the best Garmin watches for hikers, feel free to take a look at that article if you haven’t really found what you are looking for in the Instinct.
This was my take on “Garmin Instinct vs Garmin Forerunner 245”, do you agree with my verdict? Feel free to let me know in the comments below!