Garmin Forerunner 970 Review: Top Of The Line For Top Price
The Garmin 970 is their new top model Forerunner, a line focused on fitness and running. The 970 replaces the 965 and brings with it a lot of new features but it makes some key compromises at the same time. You can watch my full review in the video above or read on for the highlights.
Stays Slim
The Forerunner line are designed to be light and thin so as to be comfortable when you’re wearing while running or during other sports activities. No exception, the 970 is 47 x 47 x 12.9 millimeters with a 35.3 millimeter display. Gaining 3 grams (now up to 56) the 970 is still light but being slightly heavier is a trade off you’ll likely be okay with.
The lens is now a more scratch resistant material (sapphire crystal) but a bulk of the added weight comes from two big hardware additions.
Light, Listen, And Sound
The 970 now has a built in flashlight with 3 white light modes and a bright red light mode. As bright as most new cell phones a flashlight is one of those features on a watch you didn’t realize you needed until you use it all the time. Garmin have also introduced a microphone and speaker to the 970 so you can now make and take calls with the watch. You can also have it read out kilometer markers or when an activity is starting but a less talked about feature are the new voice commands.
Those work completely offline and let you set alarms, countdown times, activate the flashlight, and a whole bunch of other watch functions with a long press and speaking the command. Voice commands work fairly well, though it can be a bit buggy, I imagine as Garmin improves the feature with software updates over time it will be even more useful.
New Sensors
The 970 now comes with Garmin’s generation 5 Elevate heart rate sensor – a bit more accurate than the gen 4 – and capable of taking electrocardiograms or ECG. The ECG function may be useful in detecting atrial fibrillation, known as Afib, which is an irregular heart beat. The ECG feature isn’t available in all regions and honestly it’s one of those features you’ll use once or twice when you first get the 970 and then probably never bother with again.
The Elevate 5 heart rate sensor can also measure skin temperature and ambient temperature if you take it off for about 10 minutes. There’s a glance dedicated to temperature and when you’re sleeping the 970 uses the temperature readings to better determine your sleep score.
But the biggest jump up for the Forerunner 970 is the new price. The 970 is now $750 (up from the $600 the 965 was sold for new) and as big of an upgrade for Garmin the 970 is, the price will probably keep a lot of people away. You can still get the 965 new at a discount and other manufacturers sell watches with built-in maps for a lot less if you’re wondering if you should buy a Forerunner right now. Garmin decided the Forerunner 970 was going to take a big leap forward but I don’t think anyone was expecting them to do so this much with the cost.