Garmin Descent G1 vs Garmin Forerunner 745
🗓️ Release Year
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: 2022
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: 2020
🏃 Activity
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Garmin Descent G1 is a robust dive computer and outdoor GPS smartwatch designed for recreational divers and active individuals, built for durability and reliable tracking. It offers precise tracking for dive-specific metrics, alongside comprehensive tracking for steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes. Its activity profiles cater to both underwater and topside sports, providing essential data for monitoring performance in various environments.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: The Garmin Forerunner 745 is a purpose-built GPS smartwatch for runners and triathletes, offering detailed tracking of steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes with daily goals. It provides advanced running dynamics and performance monitoring tools essential for serious training.
❤️ Health Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: This device provides continuous wrist-based heart rate monitoring, stress tracking, and detailed sleep analysis for insights into daily well-being and recovery. The integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for blood oxygen saturation monitoring, useful for assessing acclimatization at altitude and contributing to dive planning and safety.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: This device features continuous heart rate monitoring, advanced physiological metrics including VO2 max estimation, training status, and training load focus. It also tracks respiration rate, providing a comprehensive view of an athlete's health and recovery.
🔋 Battery Life
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Descent G1 offers strong battery life, providing up to 25 hours in dive mode and up to 14 days in smartwatch mode, ensuring sufficient power for multiple dives and consistent daily tracking without frequent recharging.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: The Forerunner 745 offers up to 1 week of battery life in smartwatch mode. For GPS-intensive activities, it provides up to 16 hours of tracking, which is sufficient for most races and training sessions.
😴 Sleep Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: Sleep tracking on the Descent G1 monitors sleep stages and provides valuable insights into sleep quality, contributing to a better understanding of recovery essential for both athletic performance and dive readiness.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: Advanced sleep monitoring is included, analyzing sleep stages (light, deep, and REM) and incorporating a Pulse Ox sensor to monitor blood oxygen levels during sleep, offering valuable data for assessing recovery and overall well-being.
📍 GPS Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: Equipped with built-in GPS, the Descent G1 provides accurate outdoor activity tracking and basic mapping capabilities on the surface. This GPS functionality is also integrated into dive logging for recording entry and exit points, enhancing the utility for documenting dive locations.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: Equipped with built-in GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo, the Forerunner 745 provides highly accurate outdoor activity tracking without needing a paired smartphone. It delivers precise pace, distance, and route data critical for accurate training logs and race performance analysis.
🏋️ Workout Modes
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Descent G1 supports a variety of multisport and individual workout modes, including dedicated profiles for diving (single-gas, multi-gas, freediving), swimming, running, biking, hiking, and strength training, providing relevant metrics for each activity.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: The Forerunner 745 supports a wide range of workout modes tailored for running, biking, swimming, triathlon, and more, with real-time statistics displayed during activities and advanced metrics for post-workout analysis.
💫 Exercise Recognition
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The device includes automatic exercise detection for common activities such as swimming, running, and cycling through its Move IQ feature, ensuring these basic movements are captured in your activity log alongside detailed dive data.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: The device includes automatic exercise detection for common activities like walking and running through its Move IQ feature, ensuring seamless recording of these basic movements within the overall training log.
🍎 Compatibility
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Descent G1 is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, connecting via Bluetooth for seamless data synchronization, dive log management, and smart notifications.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: The Forerunner 745 is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, connecting via Bluetooth for seamless data synchronization and smart notifications.
📲 App Support
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: Synchronization with the comprehensive Garmin Connect app is central for topside activity and health tracking, while the Garmin Dive app is specifically designed for detailed dive log management, analysis, and sharing, providing a complete ecosystem for both fitness and diving data.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: Synchronization with the robust Garmin Connect app is fundamental, providing detailed analysis of training data, performance metrics, and health statistics. The app allows for creating and downloading workouts, accessing training plans, and connecting with the Garmin community.
💡 Smart Features
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: Beyond its primary focus on diving and sports, the Descent G1 includes practical smart functionalities such as on-wrist notifications for calls, texts, and calendar alerts. It also features essential utilities like a compass, barometric altimeter, and thermometer, valuable for outdoor navigation and environmental awareness.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: Beyond its primary focus on sports, the Forerunner 745 includes practical smart features such as on-wrist notifications for calls, texts, and calendar alerts. It supports Garmin Pay for contactless payments and allows for on-device music storage with support for streaming services, enabling phone-free training with music.
💦 Water Resistance
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: With a robust water resistance rating to 100 meters (10 ATM) and built-in dive computer functionality, the Descent G1 is specifically designed for scuba diving, freediving, and other underwater activities, providing essential dive data and safety features for recreational use.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: With a water resistance rating of 50 meters (5 ATM), the Forerunner 745 is suitable for swimming and showering, making it a reliable device for triathletes and swimmers to track their aquatic training segments.
⌚ Display Quality
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Descent G1 features a sunlight-readable, monochrome display with good contrast, optimized for visibility in various lighting conditions, including underwater and bright sunlight. While not a color screen, it provides clear and easy-to-read data.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: The Forerunner 745 features a sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) color display. While not as vibrant as AMOLED, this display technology offers excellent readability in direct sunlight and is highly power-efficient.
👌 Ease of Use
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The device utilizes a user-friendly interface with a combination of buttons, designed for easy navigation and access to features both on land and underwater, prioritizing reliable operation in challenging conditions over touchscreen complexity.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: The device utilizes a five-button interface, which is preferred by many athletes for reliable operation during intense workouts or in various weather conditions. The user interface is designed for quick and easy access to training data and key features.
✨ Design and Comfort
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Descent G1 features a rugged and durable design built for the demands of outdoor activities and diving. It maintains a comfortable fit for all-day wear and dives, balancing robust construction with practical wearability.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: The Forerunner 745 features a compact and durable design with a comfortable silicone band, optimized for a secure fit during intense training sessions and suitable for all-day wear.
🩸 SpO2 Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: An integrated Pulse Ox sensor is a key feature, allowing for monitoring blood oxygen saturation levels during sleep and at altitude, providing crucial data for assessing physiological status and contributing to dive safety considerations.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: An integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for monitoring blood oxygen saturation levels during sleep and spot-checks throughout the day, providing valuable data related to acclimatization and recovery.
💖 ECG Functionality
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: It is important to note that the Garmin Descent G1 does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: It is important to note that the Garmin Forerunner 745 does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
🧘 Stress Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Descent G1 tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help users manage stress, contributing to overall well-being and focus, important for both athletic and diving performance.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: The Forerunner 745 tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help users manage stress and promote recovery.
🩹 Recovery Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: The Body Battery energy monitoring feature provides insights into the body's energy reserves based on activity, stress, and sleep data, helping users understand their physiological readiness for training or the need for rest. This is a key feature for optimizing recovery, essential for demanding sports and diving activities.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: The device provides advanced recovery insights, including recovery time advisor, training status, and training load focus, helping athletes understand the impact of their training and optimize their recovery strategies to prevent overtraining.
💳 Subscription
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: A significant benefit of the Garmin platform is that all core features and data tracked by the Descent G1, including its dive computer functionalities and access to the Garmin Connect and Garmin Dive apps, are available without an additional subscription fee, providing comprehensive value for a capable and rugged dive-focused smartwatch.
2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: A significant benefit of the Garmin platform is that all features and data tracked by the Forerunner 745 are accessible through the free Garmin Connect app, requiring no additional subscription fees for core functionality or advanced training analysis.
🏷️️ Price
1️⃣ Garmin Descent G1: $799.99
Check Garmin Descent G1 Price *2️⃣ Garmin Forerunner 745: $499.99
Check Garmin Forerunner 745 Price ** If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you