Suunto 9 Vs Garmin 945 – Which GPS Watch Is Better To Buy?

Are you confused about choosing between the Suunto 9 vs Garmin 945? Here, we will compare these sports watches to make an educated decision. Even though there are numerous options in the market, Suunto and Garmin are top-selling brands. Let us review both of them honestly!

These sports watches come with incredible features. Furthermore, the sports watches of Garmin and Suunto are popular worldwide because they provide accurate tracking results.

In our guide, we’ll compare the features of Garmin 945 and Suunto 9. Thus, you can easily choose one smartwatch that is ideal for your need.

It will be daunting if you haven’t bought any sports watch before. Moreover, you should buy a smartwatch that is convenient to use. Surely, your purchase will be worth it after reading this complete Suunto 9 vs Garmin 945 comparison.

About Suunto and Garmin

Indeed, Suunto and Garmin are the popular brands of smart GPS watches. These smartwatches are ideal for running triathletes because they monitor sports activities accurately. However, the Garmin smartwatches are expensive than the Suunto smartwatches.

Other than that, you can choose the smartwatch that fulfills your need. Without any further ado, let’s start Suunto 9 vs Garmin 945 comparison.

Garmin Smartwatch Brand

Garmin fitness smartwatches were introduced in the market in 1989. This company of smartwatches is American, and their journey started as a pronav. However, the Garmin company had an aim to make the smartwatch have GPS technology.

On the other side, Garmin tried to make their watches better than others by including other impressive features. Moreover, the Garminsmartwatches now have advanced features, and they have Suunto and Fitbit as their top competitors.

Best of all, the Garmin smartwatches monitor outdoor activities accurately. The Garmin smartwatches help you to maintain the fitness level. In addition, the Garmin smartwatches have comfortable strap material so you can wear them at night for monitoring the sleep quality.

And that’s not all; the Garmin smartwatches have indoor sports activities monitoring feature as well. You will know the steps while pushing the stroller. However, the Garmin smartwatches will monitor the steps according to the height and weight of the user.

Garmin smartwatches are popular worldwide, and they have convenient wearable technology. Several years back, Garmin was a small company, but now it is known everywhere. Various running triathletes prefer buying the Garmin 945 fitness smartwatch.

Best of all, the Garmin 945 fitness smartwatches come with an option to monitor the vehicle smartwatch. Additionally, they have a GPS diving feature as well. The Garmin 945 fitness smartwatch and other Garmin Vivo series are good options to buy.

And indeed, all these features make the Garmin forerunner 945 is the best triathlon watch.

Suunto Smartwatch Brand

The meaning of Suunto is direction. Best of all, the Suunto smartwatches monitors the heart rate accurately. Suunto’s watches comes with their application to download on the phone to check the daily workout status.

For instance, you will have a graph of all your activities. The optical sensors of Suunto track the heart rate and monitor the activities accurately. Suunto watches have a long battery life. With the Suunto watches, you will have nice mid-running feedback.

Indeed, Suunto watches are also great for running triathletes. And that’s not all, they offer Suunto computers, sports watches, diving watches, and other watches for daily wear. The Suunto firmware is quite stable is better than Garmin smartwatches.

Review Of Garmin Forerunner 945

The Garmin 945 comes with dedicated features. You will have impressive tracking, and it will tell you how many floors you have climbed in a day. This Garmin smartwatch has exceptional features, and it tells the active minutes.

The Garmin forerunner 945 will tell you about your goals. Additionally, you will know the overall fitness state. On top of that, you will know the heart rate by Garmin’s Pulse Ox sensor. And that’s not all; the Garmin 945 has a stress monitoring feature according to your heart rate.

You will also know the sleep quality because Garmin has the sleep modes. You will know the deep and light sleep mode. In addition, the Garmin 945 comes with the blood oxygen level tracking feature. Thus, you will know when the blood circulation of your body is normal.

However, after testing it repeatedly at night we conclude that it would tell the wrong awake time. Even if you made the slightest movement at night, the Garmin forerunner would consider that you are awake. Besides that, the Garmin forerunner will consider the sleeping time when you didn’t move for 10 minutes.

But wait, let us tell you something! The Garmin Connect app will tell you all about your activities in detail, and it is convenient to connect with other smartwatches as well. We recommend buying the forerunner 945 because it is the best Garmin triathlon watch.

Review Of Suunto 9

The Suunto 9 smartwatch comes with long-lasting battery life, and it has durable quality. Moreover, Suunto 9 comes with a distance monitoring feature. Further, the Suunto 9 smartwatch comes with impressive GPS navigation.

However, the Suunto 9 smartwatch doesn’t come with the best syncing feature. Most of the time, users will face difficulty in syncing the fitness data. Other than that, you will have a great smartwatch to monitor hiking.

On the other hand, the Suunto 9 is great for running triathletes as it will monitor the distance accurately. In fact, you will have the new routes and accurate map routes with Suunto 9. Best of all, the Suunto 9 comes with a battery alert, and you will know the weather every day.

This smartwatch of Suunto will alert if it is about to rain in your area. All in all, the best feature of Suunto 9 is the long battery life. Suunto is the best smartwatch for the triathlon.

Now we will compare the features of Suunto 9 and Garmin 945.

Comparison Of Suunto 9 Vs Garmin 945

The Suunto 9 and Garmin 945 have some of the basic features are the following:

• Heart Rate Monitor
• GPS Navigation
• Calorie Counter
• Distance and Pace Monitoring

Although some of the Garmin fitness watches do not have heart rate monitoring features, the earlier Garminsmartwatches were only designed to provide GPS navigation technology. Other than that, the Garmin and Suunto fitness smartwatches will vary in terms of looks and hardware.

To make your decision easier, we’ll describe the features of Garmin and Suunto in detail, have a look below:

Display And Other Smartwatch Features Comparison

The Suunto and Garmin smartwatches have a lot of similar features. For instance, you will have real-time customizable data in the Garmin and Suuntosmartwatches. In addition, Garmin and Suunto smartwatches will monitor the heart rate accurately.

You can buy any of the smartwatches to monitor the distance and pace. Besides that, you will have a calorie intake monitor with the Suunto and Garmin smartwatch.

And the good news? The Garmin 945 and Suunto 9 comes with the elevation gain feature, and they will monitor the stride count as well. So you will have accurate information for the running and walking time.

In terms of display, the Garmin 945 and Suunto 9 are dissimilar from each other. Fortunately, you will only have the screen changing option with the Garmin 945. Customization features of the display are better of Garmin smartwatch as compare to Suunto 9.

Other than that, you can make changes to the Suunto 9 smartwatch from the application. Moreover, you will have an impressive GPS navigation feature with the Garmin and Suuntosmartwatches. Garmin smartwatches are more user-friendly than Suunto.

Battery Lifespan

If we compare the battery life of Suunto 9 with the Garmin 945, you will be surprised to know that Suunto has longer battery life. More than that, the Suunto 9 fitness smartwatch will tell you how much battery is left. Thus, you can charge the Suunto 9 when it is low.

In fact, the Suunto 9 fitness smartwatch will tell you to switch the sports mode when the battery is low. On the other side, your Suunto smartwatch will last long when you aren’t using the GPS smartwatch. Most of the Suunto smartwatches come with a long battery life of 120 hours.

Additionally, the Garmin 945 smartwatch doesn’t have a battery indicator, and they don’t last much longer. So you have to keep the Garmin smartwatch on the power saving mode mostly. Your Garmin smartwatch will only last long when you aren’t using the GPS tracking or other sports modes at the same time.

The Garmin forerunner 945 and other models of Garmin has the battery mode settings. Also, they have the 24 hours’ battery life on the GPS mode only.

On the other side, the Garmin 945 will last for 60 hours if you switch to the power-saving mode. The ultra trac power-saving mode of Garmin will enhance the battery life so you can track activities for more time.

Besides, this smartwatch has a GPS mode, and you will have a speed calculator as well. We would suggest turning off the GPS mode while you are not using it, so the battery of Garmin 945 lasts longer. Thus, the winner in terms of battery life is Suunto 9.

Next, we’ll compare the navigation and mapping of Suunto 9 vs Garmin 945.

GPS Navigation And Mapping

In terms of GPS navigation, there is a tie between the Suunto 9 and Garmin forerunner 945. On the other hand, the mapping features of Suunto are a lot better. Furthermore, the Garmin forerunner 945 and Suunto 9 will provide you impressive new routes.

And that’s not all; you will find the Garmin and Suunto smartwatch comes with an impressive mapping feature. So if you are running alone, you will have accurate navigation. Although the downside of the Suunto and Garmin is the display size.

Most of the users that need navigation features will prefer a smartwatch with a large and clear display. Indeed, you can only follow the map when the screen is displaying the routes.

Apart from that, the Suunto 9 comes with a barometer and altimeter function. You will have an impressive off-trail running Suunto 9 watch with altimeter function.

However, there is not a wide difference between Suunto 9 and Garmin 945 smartwatch. These smartwatches have impressive functions, and you will have accurate map navigation and new routes.

Heart Rate Monitoring Feature

The heart rate monitoring feature of Suunto and Garmin is accurate. Furthermore, these high-end smartwatches come with an optical sensor to monitor the heart rate accurately. Best of all, the heart rate monitor will tell you when to take a break while running.

The heart rate monitoring feature of Suunto and Garmin is accurate. You will know when the heart rate is not normal. The Suunto 9 comes with the ambit 3 peak heart rate belt. Thus, you will not have any problem in monitoring the heart rate with Suunto 9.

Additionally, the Garmin 945 will monitor the heart rate 24/7, and you will know the accurate sleep quality as well. If you want the ambit belt, then buy a Suunto 9 smartwatch. Other than that if you want a smartwatch with additional features with a heart rate monitor then buy the Garmin forerunner 945.

Applications And Data Management

The Suunto 9 and Garmin 945 come with their own apps so you can track your activities. However, the real difference between Suunto 9 and Garmin 945 comes here. So don’t forget to read about the apps of Suunto 9 and Garmin forerunner 945.

Furthermore, the Suunto 9 comes with the moves-count application, and you will have a live feature with it. In addition, the Suunto 9 will impressively transfer the data from your smartwatch.  Besides that, several Suunto smartwatches will provide you the feature of syncing the data in the app.

Best of all, you will have a graph like a description of your activities. As if that’s not enough, you will have the notifications from your phone on the Suunto 9. You can check the calls, messages, and other social media notifications from the Suunto 9 smartwatch.

The Suunto 9 will sync the data like burnt calories, heart rate tracking, and other daily activities. Also, you will know the route planning with the Suunto 9 watch.

On the other side, the Garmin 945 and other models of Garmin will use the connect app. Consequently, you will know the moves-count with the Garmin 945 fitness smartwatch. You can set the daily goals on the app to complete it.

And that’s not all, the Garmin 945 will provide you some build-in courses, and you can share them with your friends. Additionally, the fitness challenges will help you to maintain fitness goals and compete with other fellows.

You need to choose wisely, which smartwatch is ideal for your needs. The Suunto 9 will provide the moves-count, and the Garmin uses the connect app for tracking the daily activities.

Which Smartwatch Is Better For The Running Triathletes – Suunto 9 Or Garmin 945?

After reading the complete review of Suunto 9 vs Garmin 945, you will know which is the best smartwatch for you. No doubt, both of these smartwatches have the high-quality. You can distinguish between the features of Suunto 9 vs Garmin 945 before choosing one.

Certainly, you need to look for the GPS feature, display, activity tracking, syncing, and application of both smartwatches. In fact, the Suunto 9 and Garmin forerunner 945 will fit in your budget easily.

Which Smartwatch Do You Need? – Suunto 9 vs Garmin 945

• Do you need a smartwatch for monitoring the running time only?
• Or you need multiple features in the smartwatch to maintain health?

These two questions should be kept in mind before buying a smartwatch. Now we have done the Garmin forerunner 945 vs Suunto 9 competition, it is the right time to pick one; go ahead!

Thank you for the read!

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Eric Jordan

Writer | Triathlete

A writer by passion and a triathlete coach profession. In his free time, he swims, runs, cycles, and helps newbie athletes to achieve their goals.