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The Garmin Forerunner 970 is an actual contender for the perfect working watch of all of them, so long as you might be keen to spend the requisite cash.
It has quite a few higher-end health and working options, and as of June 2025, it’s the brightest Garmin watch we’ve ever used. The Forerunner 970 prospers in the summertime, even in the event you do should pay for that readability in battery life. Beneath heavy use, the Forerunner 970 received’t final almost so long as some older Forerunners.
The Forerunner 970 can be maybe just a little expensive for UK patrons, at $749.99/£629.99. That’s $150/£30 greater than the predecessor Forerunner 965’s $599.99/£599.99, which was the most effective high-end health watch offers of its technology.
There’s a little bit of a sting for US patrons, however a a lot much less pronounced one for these within the UK.
Garmin Forerunner 970 assessment
Garmin Forerunner 970: Design
Key specs
Display: 1.4-in OLED
Storage: 32 GB
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ANT+
Dimensions: 47 x 47 x 12.9 mm
Weight: 56 g
GPS: Twin-band
Battery life: As much as 15 days
The Forerunner collection is house to a few of Garmin’s most sensible and easy-to-recommend watches. Its Garmin Forerunner 970 assessments that premise, being the most costly of the lot. However that is nonetheless an easy-to-like design.
It doesn’t have the cumbersome, intimidating look of Garmin’s adventure-bound Intuition watches, and the mostly-plastic construct retains the burden to a light-weight 56g.
Assume it’s loopy to spend this a lot on a plastic casing watch? That’s simply a part of the discount once you purchase a Garmin.
That is an ultra-tough polymer, although, and there are metallic touches all through. The Forerunner 970 has a titanium bezel with a matt end on its front-facing edge. All of the buttons are metallic, too, as is the little lime inexperienced Forerunner panel on the facet.
A really ultra-rugged design is what the Forerunner 970 lacks. The bezel doesn’t sit considerably pleased with the display screen, a design utilized in some Garmin fashions to assist deflect surfaces and objects away from the display screen glass.
Now, a number of weeks into utilizing the Forerunner 970, we might additionally advise in opposition to considering titanium means the bezel received’t get broken. We’ve already put a number of scrapes into its matt floor. Oddly sufficient, we have a tendency to search out it’s Garmin’s “polymer” plastic watches that usually age the perfect.
The primary physique of the Forerunner 970 is product of this plastic polymer and seems to be a single piece of it. This watch additionally solely has 5ATM water resistance, not the 10ATM of the Fenix 8. It’s a reminder that Forerunner is a runner-first collection, even when Garmin does additionally advocate this collection for triathletes.
It’s simply robust sufficient and rugged sufficient for many, myself included, however doesn’t have a laser deal with being abuse-ready in comparison with extra adventure-ready households like Garmin Intuition. That mentioned, the bounce to Sapphire crystal show safety is a giant increase over the Gorilla Glass of the earlier Forerunner 965.
There’s additionally no measurement choice past 47mm in diameter. We’re completely proud of this measurement, however in the event you favor a extra petite watch, you might properly favor one thing within the 40-42mm bracket. There’s the pricier Fenix 8 (43mm) or the lower-end Forerunner 570 (42mm), for instance.
Garmin Forerunner 970: Options
The Garmin Forerunner 970 has nearly each function you might ask for, bar the dive-ready water resistance Garmin added within the Fenix 8.
On-watch maps are one of many key stuff you’re paying for, above the step-down Forerunner 570. You possibly can obtain entire continents’ value to the 32 GB inner storage.
With a less expensive Forerunner, you possibly can nonetheless switch deliberate routes to the look ahead to navigation however right here you possibly can see full color maps as you go. We’ve performed this a number of instances throughout testing, and it. It may be the perfect such expertise we’ve ever had with a Garmin watch.
Why? The Forerunner 970 has an amazing mapping show display screen that gives the map plus some important stats — all you want. And this factor’s 1.4-inch AMOLED display screen is exceptionally vivid. In additional than a decade of reviewing wearables, we’re unsure show brightness has ever stood out to me as a lot as this.
The Forerunner 970 actually goes for it too, making the display screen look ultra-clear on vivid and sunny days all through multi-hour exercises somewhat than enjoying secure to preserve energy. It feels positively indulgent, even when it does predictably affect battery life. Extra on that later.
Garmin has additionally performed its finest to mix the sense that the Forerunner 970 is a hardcore runner’s watch and likewise a way of life gadget. It bookends your days with Night and Morning reviews, which present the upcoming climate, your calendar and — the actually vital bit — your advised exercise for the following day.
Morning Report has been round for yonks however the Night one is newer. And we discover it may be helpful when Garmin suggests a more durable exercise. Who doesn’t want some psychological preparation time for a dash session?
What’s particularly new for the Forerunner collection is the Forerunner 970’s combo of a speaker and mic. This allows two flavours of voice-prompted assistant.
Voice Command permits you to management elements of the watch. That may be beginning a run session, rising display screen brightness, or utilizing the Discover My Telephone function. However the half that’s really helpful? Setting timers. The perfect bit: the Forerunner 970 can do that all with out being related to your cellphone, which is neat.
The Forerunner 970 will also be used as a conduit to your cellphone’s personal assistant. That is much less thrilling, although, because the watch itself isn’t actually doing any of the work. And neither of those voice assistant modes feels instant. There’s a brief wait whilst you hope it’ll work.
Moreover, the Forerunner 970 has a flashlight, which was once the protect of Garmin’s bulkiest watches. Up on the highest sidewall of the watch, straightforward to overlook, there are two white LEDs and a pink one, used once you don’t wish to forged an excessive amount of gentle and simply have to see your near-field environment.
The Forerunner 970 has an adventurer’s edge in spite of everything.
It additionally introduces a number of new stats, alongside the long-running (and super-useful) Coaching Readiness and Coaching Load. The Forerunner 970 provides Working Tolerance, which is a stat — expressed in km. Nevertheless it’s not simply the quantity you’ve run. Tougher working has a larger km worth.
Proper now, the Forerunner 970 says we’ve a working tolerance of 91km every week, and that we’re at the moment at 81.8km for the final seven days. However we’ve solely really run 73km.
Is messing with a concrete stat like weekly distance questionable? Certain, however we’ve discovered it a helpful solution to, fingers crossed, keep away from harm by way of overdoing train.
On the well being facet, the Forerunner 970 additionally supplies ECG readings to search for indicators of arrhythmia. That is solely accessible in a number of high-end Garmin units to date, and does require exercise participation, a 30-second session the place you place your thumb and forefinger on the metallic bezel.
Garmin Forerunner 970: Efficiency
The Garmin Forerunner 970 is loads just like the Fenix 8 in use, which is not any shock once they share the identical stage of inner tech.
GPS lock-on takes a number of seconds — not instantaneous however quick sufficient to not grow to be annoying — and the route maps it produces are extremely correct. You could get even higher outcomes in the event you use the extra battery-sapping dual-band GPS mode, current right here.
We’ve used the Auto mode throughout testing, which claims to have the ability to inform when the highly effective dual-band mode is required, then change to it.
Coronary heart fee accuracy is superb for working, too, however as with each different high-end Garmin, it’s not excellent for weight-based gymnasium classes the place your coronary heart fee rises and falls throughout the house of a minute. The Forerunner 970 nonetheless massively outclassed the Sunnto Run we’ve examined alongside the Garmin, however outcomes had been much better with a Garmin HRM 600 chest strap worn on the identical time.
As with most Garmins, you possibly can join a chest strap to the Forerunner 970 wirelessly in the event you like.
We’re principally taking a look at a high quality stage the perfect Garmin has to supply by way of GPS and HR accuracy, which can be among the many finest present in any wearable at current. It will get an A-grade for working, perhaps a C+ for gymnasium work.
Sleep monitoring is nice too. The Forerunner 970 can all the time inform after we’ve had a number of glasses of one thing the evening earlier than, and notices the lack of sleep high quality, though it does are likely to miss wakeful moments at instances — even when they embrace strolling to the bathroom.
Earlier, we advised that the very excessive display screen brightness has an impact on battery life, and it means we personally haven’t come near Garmin’s declare of 15 days of battery life. With the always-on mode switched on, it’s nearer to 4-5 days. And we’ve discovered tracked outdoor train can eat as much as 7% an hour — the variance relies on how your interactions with the wash push it to its highest brightness mode.
Is Garmin’s 15-day declare a faux, then? No, however there are extra components to convey it down than earlier than. And even in the event you decrease the show brightness setting, it can nonetheless put out quantity of energy when in direct daylight.
Garmin Forerunner 970: Consumer opinions
The Garmin Forerunner 970 has obtained virtually universally optimistic consumer opinions to date on-line.
One grievance is that the “always-on show” mode just isn’t very seen when outdoor. That is the place the watch shows the time even when the watch is sitting idle in your wrist.
The Forerunner 970’s brighter display screen really highlights this impact by rising the disparity between the brightness stage when the watch is used and left hanging round in your wrist.
Do you have to purchase the Garmin Forerunner 970?
The Garmin Forerunner 970 is a terrific working and health watch we’re snug recommending to many, with a number of caveats.
It doesn’t really feel fairly as high-value a bundle because the older Forerunner 965 for US patrons. That older mannequin was in all probability the easiest-to-recommend high-end Garmin watch of the final technology.
We get extra sensible options, even larger teasing out of stats. However the core proposition is fairly related. And its neatest trick, supernova brightness, does make real-world stamina worse than final time round.
Does that matter when it genuinely enhances the expertise? Possibly not, however it does reinforce that the Forerunner 970 is healthier suited to those that train round an everyday routine somewhat than spending weekends (or weeks) away within the wilderness, the place charging alternatives could also be much less forgiving.
If the Garmin Forerunner 970 just isn’t for you
Postpone by the worth? It’s value seeing in the event you can seek out a deal on the Garmin Forerunner 965. It’s an older watch with out this one’s display screen brightness and older software program. Nevertheless it does have a lot of the core options we care about most, for much less.
You may additionally wish to contemplate dropping right down to the Forerunner 570, though we really discover the worth subject extra obtrusive in that watch. The 2 had been launched on the identical time, and that one lacks options like maps and ECG readings, and makes use of cheaper glass and metallic for the bezel and display screen.
How we examined
The Garmin Forerunner 970 was worn persistently for greater than two weeks throughout testing. Most days it was used to trace a run, and round 3 times every week it was used to trace gymnasium classes. It took a wet London day pageant like a champ, and was worn most nights to evaluate sleep monitoring. Testing additionally included switching between the Forerunner 970’s “all the time on” display screen mode and the default “elevate to wake” to get the perfect concept of battery life.
