Serious runners looking to upgrade their smartwatch now have two new Garmin Forerunner options in the form of the 570 and 970. Forerunner is Garmin’s line of running and triathlon training watches. The new versions pack the brightest display from Garmin yet, plus add new training tools, recovery insights and connected features.
Garmin is competing in a field that includes the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Ultra, which is Apple’s adventurer-aimed version of its regular smartwatch. Garmin is perhaps best known for its in-car GPS systems, but has branched out into smartwatches aimed at athletes. CNET maintains a roundup of the best Garmin deals around. We also have a recent roundup of Apple watch rumors.
New Forerunners feature a variety of colors
The Forerunner 570 comes in two sizes and numerous colors.
570 is the cheaper of the two
The 570 is available in both 42mm and 47mm cases, and each size has two exclusive color options in addition to the slate gray aluminum and black band options.
The 970 ships in only a 47mm case, meaning you can only go big or go 570. Available in three colors that look good but are slightly less fun than its smaller sibling’s options, the 970 is for the serious athlete that just won’t quit or those who just want the best that Garmin has to offer.
New for both watches is a brighter 1.4-inch AMOLED display, with optional always-on mode. Opting for this will likely reduce battery life, but given that the 570 has an 11-day battery life, and the 970 can squeak out 15 days, you likely won’t be reaching for a charger nearly as much as with other smartwatches.
Both watches feature the Garmin Triathlon Coach trainer, offering adaptive daily plans of personalized workouts based on your performance and health metrics. Users can create multisport workouts from the Garmin Connect app and send them to the watch to track stats when you switch to another sport during training.
970 extras: Flashlight, titanium bezel
The Forerunner 970 includes a set of expected exclusive features, including a scratch-resistant sapphire lens and titanium bezel.
The 970 also ships with a built-in LED flashlight, and offers on-screen controls to dial down the brightness. Additional features include running tolerance, step-speed loss, and support for ECG measurements in the app, though the latters’ availability varies by region.
Pricing and availability
Both the Forerunner 570 and 970 will be available to order starting May 21. Both the Forerunner 570 42mm and the Forerunner 570 47mm are priced at $550, while the Forerunner 970 costs $750.
