Runners have a lot to be excited about when it comes to Garmin's revamped family of Forerunner smartwatches . Now starting at $199, the Forerunner family contains six devices that should serve all levels of runner-from novice to expert.

Lightweight design with interchangeable bands; Accurate heart-rate monitor and GPS; Great battery life; Free Garmin Coach training plans will help novice runners; Solid in-app menstrual-health tracking; Can connect to Apple Health

Limited advanced running stats in comparison to Forerunner 645 and higher-end devices; No NFC for Garmin Pay; Wi-Fi connectivity only available on the 245 Music; No barometric altimeter

Garmin's new mid-range GPS running watch packs all the essentials, but does it compromise too much...

Durable; lightweight design Accurate GPS and heart rate sensors Plenty of music storage Seven-day battery life Garmin Coach training plans are very useful

No Garmin Pay No barometric altimeter You have to pay $50 extra just for music storage + Wi-Fi

When Garmin first introduced the Vivoactive 3 almost two years ago, I wondered how exactly they'd create a successor to the Forerunner 235. Sure, the FR235 had more buttons than the Vivoactive 3, but ultimately the Vivoactive 3 was a more rounded watch in terms of features.

The spotify app to synch to this watch didn't work until completely removing and reinstalling and despite all the testimonies as to that fact and the livid reviews (see them all in the IQ Connect store) apparently neither Garmin or Spotify is doing much about it to make the installation easy and...

There are a few notable omissions from the Forerunner 245. I get the feeling Garmin has left these out purely to encourage people to buy other pricier watches, but the Music variant still offers more than anything else in its price bracket.

Accurate and detailed sports tracking; Music playback and Spotify support; Breadcrumb navigation; 24 hours of GPS battery life

No native support for power meters; No triathlon mode

The Forerunner 245 Music is another formidable running watch from the Garmin stable. It's taken nearly everything we liked about the 235 and made it better. We say nearly everything because the battery life has dropped slightly and the heart rate monitor still falters in the high intensity test.

Small and comfortable design; New improved interface; Music player features; New training features

Garmin GPS sports watches are now available across the spectrum of athletes, from casual walkers to professional athletes. Earlier today five new wearables were announced and for the past couple of weeks I have been running with the Garmin Forerunner 245 Music.

Lightweight; comfortable design; Vast amount of customization; Long battery life; Affordable price; Spotify and Deezer support

No barometer

Garmin’s most popular running watch gets an impressive upgrade

The 245 Music has everything a runner needs and more; Along with accurate GPS and heart rate tracking, you get the ability to set workouts to follow, training plans synced to the watch and analysis of the effect of your workouts.

There is no triathlon or open-water swimming mode on the 245, with Garmin presumably trying to push multisport athletes towards the pricier Forerunner 945 , Fenix 5 Plus and Fenix 6 series; Garmin has not put a barometric altimeter in the watch.

“New metrics, onboard maps, and music prove to be a killer combination in the Forerunner 245 Music.”

Easy to read screen; maps; Music support; can steam Spotify and Deezer; Helpful notification support; Accurate tracking; Sleek; modern design

Missing barometric altimeter; No gyroscope; Expensive

Made for fitness enthusiasts who like to listen to their favourite tunes while running, the Forerunner 245 Music is the successor to 2015’s Forerunner 235 and is priced at ₹ 34,990.