Garmin Forerunner 970 Review: Is It Worth the Price?

(Dan Tri) - Two years after the 965 version, Garmin launched the Forerunner 970 - a high-end running watch with a series of significant upgrades in both hardware and software.

This is the high-end version that Garmin has equipped with many major improvements in both hardware and software, and inherits many outstanding features from the famous Fenix 8 series.

The product is positioned towards professional runners and triathletes.

Not just a sports watch, Forerunner 970 also acts as a "smart assistant", helping to optimize workout performance and monitor overall health.

Dan Tri newspaper reporters had nearly a month of practical experience to verify the product's effectiveness.

The question is: will battery life be affected by the new upgrade series, and more importantly, is the Forerunner 970 really worth the nearly 20 million VND price that Garmin offers?

Advantage:

- Bright screen: Allows clear display in all lighting conditions.

- High accuracy: GPS and heart rate sensors work excellently on land.

- Diverse ecosystem: Fully integrated with smart features such as Garmin Pay, offline music storage, speakers/microphones...

Limit:

- High price: The price of nearly 20 million VND makes it an expensive choice.

- Battery drains quickly: When using the screen in "Always on" mode with high brightness, the battery drains very quickly.

- Minor software bug: The automatic rerouting feature on the round trip route is still not working properly.

Garmin Forerunner 970 Review: Is It Worth the Price?

Design and display

Forerunner 970 continues to inherit the luxurious and durable design language of the Forerunner line with an ultra-light and sturdy Titanium frame, combined with a 1.4-inch AMOLED touchscreen for a modern feel.

The most notable upgrade is that the screen coating has been upgraded to Sapphire Crystal, instead of the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 DX of the 965 version, which makes it more scratch-resistant, especially useful in outdoor activities.

The Forerunner 970's display is also significantly brighter than its predecessor. Garmin did not share specific brightness specifications for this product, but according to some sources, the brightness can reach 1,500 - 2,000 nits, much higher than the 1,000 nits of the Forerunner 965.

The reporter's impression of the Forerunner 970 under harsh sunlight is still clearly displayed.

By default, the brightness is set at 2/3 of maximum, but users can easily adjust it. However, be aware that using "Always On" mode with high brightness will drain the battery very quickly.

Specifically, when testing with this mode, the watch only "lasted" about 2.5 days - a rather modest number.

In addition, the Forerunner 970 is equipped with 5 physical buttons along with a touch screen, allowing flexible use of both ways to control the watch. Users can also completely turn off the touch feature or only use it in specific situations.

Features and performance

The Forerunner 970 is more than just a running watch; it doubles as a comprehensive fitness and health tracker, packed with smart features.

Forerunner 970 will automatically track your sleep including time spent falling asleep, waking up, and different sleep stages.

The Garmin Elevate Gen5 optical heart rate sensor on the Forerunner 970 is the same type as the Fenix 8 (Photo: Bao Khanh).

The product is equipped with the Garmin Elevate Gen5 optical heart rate sensor, which was introduced by Garmin in 2023 and is still used by the company on its highest-end models (such as the Fenix 8). This sensor provides accurate and highly rated data.

For electrocardiogram (ECG) and skin temperature features, the Gen5 sensor enables the product to perform medical -grade ECG to detect atrial fibrillation (AFib). However, all of these features are for reference only and are not a substitute for medical equipment.

Users can also get an overview of sleep quality, recovery status, and daily exercise suggestions. In particular, the watch can also monitor users' sleep apnea.

Connect

The Forerunner 970 is equipped with both a speaker and a microphone, allowing users to make calls, use voice assistants (Siri, Google Assistant, Bixby) and play music directly from the watch when connected to the phone.

Experience shows that the speaker's sound quality is considered better than previous Garmin models; while with the offline voice assistant, you can completely request to turn on features such as running, timer or set alarm with just a simple command.

The watch also supports internal memory to store offline music from services like Spotify, Amazon Music, allowing you to listen to music comfortably without having to carry your phone.

47mm watch face, suitable for people with medium to large wrists (Photo: Bao Khanh).

Contactless payment (NFC) via Garmin Pay is also integrated, making payment even more convenient.

Forerunner 970 has added 15 new sports profiles, not only including traditional running, cycling, swimming but also expanding to extreme sports such as adventure racing, exploration, obstacle racing or other sports such as rucking, fishing, hunting, horse riding...

This makes it easy for users to categorize and track their activities accurately.

Battery and charger

Battery life is always an important factor in sports watches and the battery life experience on the Forerunner 970 is quite interesting.

While battery life in smartwatch mode and GPS-only mode drops compared to the Forerunner 965 (from 23 days to 15 days in smartwatch mode and from 31 hours to 26 hours in GPS-only mode), battery life improves in other modes.

For all-system (GNSS) satellite positioning mode with multi-band: Forerunner 970 can operate up to 21 hours (compared to 19 hours on Forerunner 965). And in GPS-only GNSS mode with music is 14 hours (compared to 10.5 hours on Forerunner 965).

In real-world testing, the battery drains very quickly (about 2.5 days) with the display set to "Always On" and the default brightness. However, when the brightness is reduced to the lowest setting, the battery life increases significantly, almost equivalent to the Forerunner 965.

With popular GPS workouts, the Forerunner 970 still outperforms the 965, for example on a 4-hour hike, the watch still has over 30 hours of use left.

New running feature

Running is one of the biggest highlights of Garmin watches, and the Forerunner 970 is no exception. Garmin has introduced a host of new software features aimed at optimizing running performance and reducing injuries.

Impact Load: This is a new metric that calculates the “true cost” of your running, adjusting for actual distance based on terrain, intensity, and running form.

For example, a 10km run in the mountains will have a much higher impact load factor than a 10km run on a flat road, as it places a greater load on the muscles.

This feature is useful in explaining why your body feels tired after rigorous workouts. In our tests, Impact Load seemed to accurately reflect how your body actually feels.

Running Tolerance: This feature uses your recent impact load data to determine a safe threshold for running, helping you avoid injury.

While this is a good idea in theory, in practice it doesn't work for people with a varied training load.

This feature not only considers running distance but also evaluates biomechanical load, including stress on muscles, joints, and tendons, based on many factors such as speed, intensity, slope, foot cadence, and ground contact time... However, in the reporter's actual experience, this feature is not very useful.

However, it's still a good tool for beginners or those who want to carefully track their training volume increases.

There are also Running Economy and Step Speed Loss features; these two features require the user to use Garmin's HRM-600 chest heart rate strap.

While fun, they require extra equipment and seem to only be effective for easy, steady runs.

Garmin Forerunner 970 and Fenix 8 (Photo: Bao Khanh).

This can leave users feeling limited when doing high-intensity runs or running on complex terrain, as these workouts do not count towards the metrics.

The watch also has a number of other features such as automatic running according to the time gate, finish line suggestions, race time prediction...

GPS and heart rate accuracy

The Forerunner 970 is equipped with both a new optical HR sensor (Gen5) and a new GPS chipset, providing high accuracy.

Forerunner 970 has added 15 new sports profiles (Photo: Bao Khanh).

During workouts, the Elevate Gen5 optical heart rate sensor on the Forerunner 970 worked to provide consistent and accurate data, with no deviations compared to the reference watch, the Fenix 8.

The Forerunner 970 also comes with detailed offline maps including roads, trails, and points of interest. It also inherits the Fenix 8's map user interface, making for a more intuitive experience.

Summary

Compared to the Garmin Forerunner 965, the Garmin Forerunner 970 is a worthy upgrade, but not revolutionary.

From the brighter AMOLED display, Titanium frame, Gen5 sensor with ECG feature, to LED flashlight, all are worthy improvements.

However, with a price of up to 19.63 million VND, almost equal to the high-end Fenix line, Forerunner 970 can be picky about users.

This is not a watch for the masses, but a product for professional athletes or technology enthusiasts who are willing to pay to experience the best.

If you're looking for a well-rounded watch with the most comprehensive and in-depth smart features for running and triathlon, the Garmin Forerunner 970 could be a worthy option.

However, if you don't need all these premium features, previous versions or other competitors from Coros, Huawei, Xiaomi... might be a more reasonable choice in terms of cost.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/danh-gia-garmin-forerunner-970-dat-co-xat-ra-mieng-20250817102818999.htm