Garmin Forerunner 970 / 570

The Garmin Forerunner 970 and its sibling, the Forerunner 570, are Garmin's newest GPS running and triathlon smartwatches. Garmin announced them on 15 May 2025 and opened orders in Garmin's online store on 21 May. They bring the company's brightest AMOLED display yet, a built-in speaker and microphone, free Garmin Triathlon Coach training plans and an evening report, and the 970 adds full-colour mapping, a built-in LED flashlight and a set of new running metrics. This page is based on Garmin's press release. We keep performance statements labelled as Garmin's own claims, and Garmin's footnotes stress that its health features are not medical devices.

Models, sizes and price

The Forerunner 570 is offered in 42 mm and 47 mm sizes with an aluminum bezel, in colours such as raspberry with a translucent bone and mango band, amp yellow with a whitestone and turquoise band and indigo with an imperial purple band. The Forerunner 970 has a single 47 mm case with a titanium bezel and a scratch-resistant sapphire lens, in carbon gray DLC titanium, titanium with a whitestone band and soft gold titanium with a french gray band. In the United States the Forerunner 570 had a suggested retail price of 549.99 dollars and the Forerunner 970 of 749.99 dollars. Susan Lyman, Garmin's Vice President of Consumer Sales and Marketing, described them as premium smartwatches for every athlete chasing goals, from elite competitors to runners building mileage for a race.

Display and design

Garmin promotes the vivid touchscreen as its brightest smartwatch display yet. Alongside the touchscreen the watches keep a purpose-built five-button design, which Garmin says allows fast, all-weather access to training tools, health stats and notifications. The 970's premium materials, a titanium bezel and a sapphire lens, are said to withstand the harshest environments, and the 970 also has a built-in LED flashlight whose brightness you can adjust on the display for better awareness in dark places. Garmin does not list display size in inches, resolution or nit values in the release, so those specifications need to come from the product page.

Battery life

Battery life is one of the selling points: Garmin claims up to 11 days in smartwatch mode for the Forerunner 570 and up to 15 days for the 970. These are figures for smartwatch mode with typical use, not for continuous GPS tracking, and the release does not list GPS-mode hours. SatIQ technology and multi-band GPS are meant to provide superior positioning accuracy while optimising battery life. Because such claims depend heavily on display settings and use, compare them with independent tests when they appear.

Training tools

The 570 already covers the advanced metrics that many runners want: training status, wrist-based running power, running dynamics, acute load, training effect, performance condition and VO2 max. Each morning a training readiness score, based on sleep quality, recovery and training load, tells you whether to push hard or take it easy, and a daily suggested workout adapts after every run. Garmin Coach plans cover running, cycling and strength, and PacePro offers grade-adjusted pacing guidance for race day. New for both models are free Garmin Triathlon Coach training plans that adapt daily, custom multisport workouts built in Garmin Connect and sent to the watch, auto lap by timing gates, a suggested finish line and a projected race time predictor. The 970 adds running tolerance, which estimates the impact each run has on the body and recommends a weekly maximum mileage, and, with the HRM 600 heart-rate monitor sold separately, running economy and step speed loss.

Mapping and navigation

The 970 builds on the 570 by adding full-colour built-in mapping. You can create or find courses in Garmin Connect, sync them to the watch and get turn-by-turn directions. If you enter a distance on the watch, it suggests round-trip routes to keep you on track and on time. Garmin also lists a built-in speaker and microphone, which lets you take calls when paired with a compatible smartphone, use voice commands or dictate replies through your phone's assistant.

Health and wellness

Both watches track sleep score, Body Battery energy monitoring, stress, menstrual cycle, pregnancy and heart rate variability status. New features include skin temperature tracking, which Garmin says can help improve period predictions and past ovulation estimates, breathing variations during sleep using Pulse Ox and an evening report with a sleep-needed reminder, tomorrow's workout, weather and events. The ECG app records the electrical signals of the heart and looks for signs of atrial fibrillation, and Garmin states it is available only in some regions and for adults aged 22 and over. Garmin's footnotes state clearly that these tools are not medical devices and are not intended to diagnose or monitor any condition.

Connected features

When paired with an iPhone or Android phone, the watches show smart notifications. You can download songs from Spotify, Deezer or Amazon Music with a premium subscription for phone-free listening, use Garmin Pay for contactless payments where supported, and rely on incident detection, assistance and LiveTrack, whose requirements are listed on Garmin's website. Features vary by country and bank.

What the release does not say

Garmin's press release is a list of features, not a test. It gives no display size, no weight, no water rating, no storage capacity for music and no battery figures for GPS use, and it does not explain how accurate its new metrics are. Several features need extra hardware, such as the HRM 600 heart-rate monitor for running economy and step speed loss, and others depend on a paid music subscription, a compatible phone or the country you live in. Anyone comparing the 570 with the 970 should note that the mapping, the flashlight, the sapphire lens and the longer battery life belong to the more expensive model.

Who they suit

The Forerunner 570 and 970 suit runners and triathletes who want detailed training analysis and a long battery life more than a full smart-assistant experience. Compared with a mainstream smartwatch such as Apple's Watch Ultra 3, the Forerunner 970 vs Watch Ultra 3 table shows the different priorities. Everyday Android alternatives with health and fitness focus include the Pixel Watch 3 and the Galaxy Watch8, and you can see every model in our smartwatches section.