For performance-driven runners, there’s Forerunner 970 — the premium GPS running and triathlon smartwatch with our brightest AMOLED display, durable sapphire lens and lightweight titanium bezel.
Use the built-in LED flashlight for greater awareness when
you head out before the sun’s up or stay out past dark. Understand your overall energy efficiency with running economy and see how much you are slowing down when your foot hits the ground with step speed loss (HRM 600 monitor required; sold separately). Running tolerance helps you understand the real impact running has on your body so you can adjust your training to avoid overload and improve. Use multi-band GPS and full-colour, built-in maps plus navigation enhancements to stay on track while you train. Forerunner 970 is ready to go when you are, with up to 15 days of battery life in smartwatch mode. If you ever go too far, use the built-in speaker and microphone to make a call from your wrist (when paired with your smartphone).
Running Economy
Measure your overall energy efficiency while running — using long-term running volume, stride length and step speed loss, which tells you how much you slow down when your foot hits the ground — when you pair your watch with the HRM 600 heart rate monitor (sold separately).
Running Tolerance
Better understand the impact each run has on your body, and get a recommended weekly maximum mileage so you can keep training effectively without taking on too much.
Full-Colour Mapping
Whether you’re running on city streets or riding densely covered trails, the Forerunner 970 smartwatch provides full-colour, built-in mapping — now even more dynamic, intuitive and simpler to follow.
Garmin Coach Adaptive Training Plans
Train for an event, achieve a milestone, or improve your fitness with Garmin Coach training plans for running, triathlon, cycling or strength. Select plans adapt daily for personalised workouts based on your performance, recovery and health metrics.
Training Readiness
From the moment you wake up, get a readiness score based on your sleep quality, recovery, training load and more, so you can determine whether it’s a good day to go hard — or take it easy.
Built-In Speaker and Microphone
Make and take phone calls from your watch when it’s paired to your smartphone. Plus, control watch functions with voice command — or use your smartphone’s voice assistant to respond to text messages and more.
PLAN
Morning Report
Get a customisable overview of your sleep, training outlook, HRV status, weather and more as soon as you wake up.
Evening Report
Prepare for tomorrow before bed with a reminder of sleep need, tomorrow’s workout, weather and events.
Turn-By-Turn Directions
Create or find existing courses in the Garmin Connect™ smartphone app, or sync from third-party platforms and get turn-by-turn directions.
Dynamic Round-Trip Routing
Enter how far you want to go, and get suggested routes that will bring you back. If you break off course, your watch will map a new one that hits the same mileage.
Training Status
Using indicators such as HRV status, your recent exercise history and VO2 max, get an easy insight into training effectiveness — and know whether you’re training productively, peaking or strained.
Daily Suggested Workouts
Get workouts made for you. They adapt after every run to match your performance and recovery.
Recovery Time
Know how long you need to recover before your next high-effort workout based on your latest training.
Recovery Time
Know how long you need to recover before your next high-effort workout based on your latest training.
Body Battery™ Energy Monitoring
Track your body’s energy levels to find the best times for activity and rest
Sleep Coach
Get a sleep score and personalised coaching for how much sleep you need. Track sleep stages, and get insights to improve sleep quality..
Nap Detection
Automatically track or log your naps to see how they benefit your body and to check the recommended time and duration they should be.
HRV Status
Gain a deeper understanding of your overall health, stress and recovery through heart rate variability while you sleep.
Skin Temperature
When wearing your watch to sleep, see how your average skin temperature1 changes, which can be related to your recent activity, sleep environment, potential illness, and more.
Women’s Health Tracking
Track your menstrual cycle or pregnancy, plus get exercise and nutrition education. With skin temperature tracking while you sleep, get better period predictions and past ovulation estimates.
Race Predictor
Get an estimate of what your pace could be for a 5K, 10K, half-marathon and marathon if you were to run it today.
Projected Race Time
This race-time prediction is what your race time and pace could be if you keep training well all the way through to the race date entered.
PREPARE
Wrist-Based Running Dynamics
This fitness smartwatch measures crucial running metrics such as cadence, stride length, ground contact time and more.
Step Speed Loss
Improve your running form and understand how much you slow down when your foot hits the ground when you pair your watch with the HRM 600 heart rate monitor (sold separately).
Wrist-Based Heart Rate
This dive computer constantly samples your heart rate to help you gauge how hard you work during activities.
Multisport Workouts
Create custom step-by-step multisport workouts in Garmin Connect and send them to your watch to seamlessly switch from different sport types.
Hill Score
Measure your capability for running uphill, and evaluate your progress over time based on your VO2 max and training history.
Endurance Score
This feature measures your ability to sustain prolonged efforts to help you understand how training from your athletic pursuits impacts your overall endurance.
Acute Load
Compare your recent training load to the optimal range to help improve your fitness.
Load Ratio
Track short-term to mid-term load ratio to keep your rate of training growth within bounds that will help you stay healthy and avoid setbacks.
Performance Condition
While you run, get an analysis of your pace and heart rate for a real-time assessment of your current ability to perform.
VO2 Max
See your current fitness level, and track changes over time to set goals, evaluate progress and more.
Stress Tracking
Find out if you’re having a calm, balanced or stressful day.
Training Effect
See how your workouts influence your endurance, speed and power.
Health Snapshot
Log a 2-minute session to record key health stats, then generate a report to share with your healthcare provider.
Pulse Ox Sensor
Track your blood oxygen saturation while you’re awake or asleep3.
Cross Training
Download free HIIT, strength, cardio, yoga, pilates and mobility workouts so you can switch up how you sweat.
PERFORM
Triathlon and Multisport Profiles
Automatically record splits with built-in profiles for triathlons, duathlons, brick workouts and swimruns, or you can create your own.
Wrist-Based Running Power
See how much power you’re applying to the trail or road so you can manage effort and fine-tune training.
SATIQ Technology and Multi-Band GPS
Get superior positioning accuracy and optimised battery life.
PACEPRO™ Pacing Strategies
Plan race-day strategy with GPS-based pace guidance for a selected course or distance.
Track Running
Your watch will record accurate lap distances in meters on tracks all over the world.
CLIMBPRO
See real-time information on your current and upcoming climbs.
Real-Time Stamina
Use this data to help guide you toward your best possible performance and manage your exertion.
Up Ahead
Get At-A-Glance Awareness Of Relevant Stops Along A Preloaded Course, Including Aid Stations.
Auto Lap® By Timing Gates
Your watch will recognise when you cross mile or kilometre course points and trigger auto laps there versus GPS-based miles or kilometres when following a course
Suggested Finish Line
If you have a course loaded for your race, your watch can suggest trimming your data to the finish line if you forget to stop your timer.
Built-In Sports Apps
Tap in to 30+ built-in activities, including cycling, open-water swimming, strength training and more.
CONNECT
Music
Download songs and playlists from your Spotify, Deezer or Amazon Music accounts for phone-free listening.
Safety and Tracking
If you feel unsafe or if your watch senses that an incident occurred, your watch will send a message with your live location.
Garmin Pay™ Contactless Payments
Breeze through checkout lines or transit systems with participating providers.
Smart Notifications
Receive emails, texts and alerts on your watch when paired with your iPhone® or Android™ smartphone.
Livetrack
Friends and family can follow your real-time location4 and view preplanned courses.
Garmin Connect App
See your health and fitness information, connect with friends and more.
Connect IQ™ Store
Add watch faces, data fields and apps to your paired watch.
Garmin Share
Sync up with friends by sharing saved locations, courses and workouts with other nearby compatible devices.
SPECIFICATION
What You'll Love
- Sleep Score and Insights: Yes
- Battery life (smartwatch mode): Up to 15 days
- Built-In Mapping: Yes
- Pulse Ox Blood Oxygen Saturation: Yes (spot-check, and optional all-day acclimation and in sleep)
- Garmin ECG App: Yes
- LED Flashlight: Yes
- Garmin Pay™: Yes
- Multi-band GPS: Yes
- Music storage: Yes
- Make calls and send texts via voice: Yes (with paired compatible smartphone)
- Training Readiness: Yes
- Training Status: Improved
- Watch display type: AMOLED (optional always-on mode)
- Touchscreen: Yes
- Water rating: 5 ATM
General
- Strap material: Silicone
- Lens material: Sapphire crystal
- Bezel material: Titanium
- Quick release bands: Yes (22mm)
- Physical size: 47 x 47 x 12.9 (mm), Fits wrists with a circumference of 135-205 mm
- Weight: 56 g
- Built-in speaker/microphone: Yes
- Display Size: 35.3 mm (1.4") diameter
- Display Resolution: 454 x 454 pixels
- Colour display: Yes
- Large font option: Yes
- Battery type: Lithium ion
- Battery life:
- Smartwatch mode: Up to 15 days
- GPS-Only GNSS mode: Up to 26 hours
- SatIQ (AutoSelect) GNSS mode: Up to 23 hours
- All-Systems GNSS mode + Multi-Band: Up to 21 hours
- GPS-Only GNSS mode with music: Up to 14 hours
- SatIQ (AutoSelect) GNSS mode with music: Up to 13 hours
- All-Systems GNSS mode + Multi-Band with music: Up to 12 hours
- Charging method: Garmin proprietary plug charger
- Memory/history: 32 GB
Clock Features
- Time/date: yes
- GPS time sync: Yes
- Automatic daylight saving time: Yes
- Alarm clock: Yes
- Timer: Yes
- Stopwatch: Yes
- Sunrise/sunset times: Yes
Health & Wellness Monitoring
- Wrist-based heart rate (constant, every second): Yes
- Daily Resting Heart Rate: Yes
- Abnormal Heart Rate Alerts: Yes (high and low)
- Respiration Rate (24x7): Yes
- Fitness Age: Yes
- Body Battery™ Energy Monitor: Yes
- All-day Stress: Yes
- Relaxation reminders: Yes
- Relaxation Breathing Timer: Yes
- Meditation: Yes
- Breathwork: Yes
- Sleep: Yes (Advanced)
- Sleep coach: Yes
- Nap detection: Yes
- Hydration: Yes (in Garmin Connect™ and optional Connect IQ™ widget)
- Women's Health: Yes (in Garmin Connect™ and optional Connect IQ™ widget)
- Health Snapshot: Yes
- Skin temperature: Yes
- Jet lag adviser: Yes
Sensors
- GPS: Yes
- GLONASS: Yes
- Galileo: Yes
- QZSS: Yes
- BeiDou: Yes
- SatIQ™ Technology: Yes
- Garmin Elevate™ wrist heart rate monitor: Yes
- Pulse Ox Blood Oxygen Saturation Monitor: Yes
- Barometric altimeter: Yes
- Compass: Yes
- Gyroscope: Yes
- Accelerometer: Yes
- Thermometer: Yes
- Ambient light sensor: Yes
Daily Smart Features
- Connectivity: Bluetooth®, ANT+®, Wi-Fi®
- Connect IQ™ (downloadable watch faces, data fields, widgets and apps): Yes
- On-device Connect IQ™ Store: Yes
- Smart Notifications: Yes
- Text response/reject phone call with text (Android™ only): Yes
- View images from notifications on watch (Android™ only): Yes
- Morning report: Yes
- Evening report: Yes
- Calendar: Yes
- Weather forecasts: Yes
- Realtime settings sync with Garmin Connect™ mobile: Yes
- Battery Saver - customisable low power watch: Yes
- Controls smartphone music: Yes
- Plays and controls watch music: Yes
- Find my phone: Yes
- Find my watch: Yes
- Find My Phone during GPS activity: Yes
- Compatible with Garmin Messenger app: Yes
- Smart trainer control: Yes
- Compatible with Garmin Connect™ Mobile: Yes
- Smartphone compatibility: iPhone®, Android™
- Stocks: Yes (optional Connect IQ app)
- BLUETOOTH phone calling and voice assistant support: Yes
- Voice command: Yes
- Red shift mode: Yes
- Garmin Share: Yes
- Passcode: Yes
Workout and Training Plans
- Daily Suggested Workout - Running: Yes
- Daily Suggested Workout - Cycling: Yes
- Garmin Running Coach: Yes
- Garmin Running Coach Experts: Yes
- Garmin Cycling Coach: Yes
- Garmin Coach - Prebuilt Cycling Plans: Yes
- Garmin Coach - Strength: Yes
- Garmin Triathlon Coach: Yes
- Multisport workouts: Yes
- Cardio workouts: Yes
- Strength workouts: Yes
- HIIT workouts: Yes
- Yoga workouts: Yes
- Pilates workouts: Yes
- On-screen workout animations: Yes
- On-Screen Workout Muscle Map: Yes
Activity Profiles- Gym: Strength, HIIT, Cardio, Elliptical Training, Stair Stepping, Floor Climbing, Indoor rowing, Jump Roping
- Multisport: Triathlon, Duathlon, Brick, Pool Triathlon, Swimming/Running
- Wellness: Walking, Pilates, Yoga, Indoor Walking, Mobility
- Indoor Running: Treadmill Running, Indoor Track Running, Virtual running
- Outdoor running: Running, Outdoor Track Running, Trail Running, Ultra Running, Obstacle Racing
- Outdoor recreation: Hiking, Mountaineering, Indoor Climbing, Bouldering, Hunting, Horseback Riding, Golfing, Disc Golf, Archery
- Cycling: Biking, Road biking, Mountain Biking, Gravel biking, Bike commuting, Bike touring, eBiking, eMountain Biking, Indoor Biking, Cyclocross, BMX
- Swim: Pool Swimming, Open Water Swimming
- On the water: Stand Up Paddleboarding, Rowing, Kayaking, Fishing, Boating
- Racket sports: Tennis, Pickleball, Badminton, Squash, Table Tennis, Padel, Platform Tennis, Racquetball
- Snow & Winter: Skiing, Snowboarding, XC Classic Skiing, XC Skate Skiing, Ice Skating, Snowshoeing
- Sport profiles: Basketball, Volleyball, Field Hockey, Ice Hockey, Football, American Football, Lacrosse, Rugby, Ultimate Disc, Cricket, Softball, Baseball
- In the ring: Boxing, Mixed martial arts
- Other activity profiles: Inline Skating
Safety and Tracking Features
- Incident Detection during select activities: Yes
- Incident detection alert on phone for wearables: Yes
- Assistance: Yes
- LiveTrack: Yes
- Live Event Sharing: Android™ Only
- Spectator Messaging: Yes (with compatible smartphone)
- Group LiveTrack: Yes
- Live Event Sharing: Android™ Only
Activity Tracking Features
- Step counter: Yes
- Move alerts (displays on device after a period of inactivity; walk for a couple of minutes to reset it): Yes
- Auto goal (learns your activity level and assigns a daily step goal): Yes
- Calories Burned: Yes
- Floors climbed: Yes
- Distance travelled: Yes
- Intensity minutes: Yes
- TrueUp™: Yes
- Move IQ™: Yes
- Garmin Connect™ Challenges app: Yes (optional Connect IQ app)
- Automatic rep counting: Yes
Training, Planning and Analysis Features
- Customisable screen(s): Yes
- Downloadable training plans: Yes
- Course guidance: Yes
- HR Zones: Yes
- HR Alerts: Yes
- HR Calories: Yes
- % HR Max: Yes
- % HRR: Yes
- Recovery Time: Yes
- Auto Max HR: Yes
- Race glance/widget: Yes
- HRV Status: Yes
- HR Broadcast (broadcasts HR data over ANT+® to paired devices): Yes
- Respiration Rate (During Exercise): Yes (with compatible accessory)
- GPS speed and distance: Yes
- Customisable activity profiles: Yes
- Auto Pause® automatic timer halt: Yes
- Interval training: Yes
- Improved interval (includes open repeats, intervals data page, rest screen and auto detection): Yes
- Advanced workouts: Yes
- HRM running pace and distance: Yes
- Auto Lap®: Yes
- Manual lap: Yes
- Rest timer: Yes
- Configurable lap alerts: Yes
- Heat and Altitude Acclimation: Yes
- VO2 Max (Run): Yes
- VO2 Max (Trail Run): Yes
- Load ratio: Yes
- Training Load: Yes
- Training load focus: Yes
- Training Effect: Yes
- Training Effect (Anaerobic): Yes
- Primary benefit (Training Effect labels): Yes
- Improved Recovery Time: Yes
- Customisable alerts: Yes
- Voice alerts: Yes
- Multisport auto transition: Yes
- Finish time: Yes
- Virtual partner: Yes
- Race an activity: Yes
- Auto multisport activities: Yes
- Multi-sport: Yes
- Garmin Live Segments: Yes
- Strava Live Segments: Yes
- Round-Trip Course Creator (Running/Cycling)
- Trendline Popularity Routing: Yes
- Touch and/or button lock: Yes
- Shortcuts: Yes
- Auto scroll: Yes
- Activity history on watch: Yes
- Physio TrueUp: Yes
- Unified Training Status: Yes
In The Box
- Forerunner 970 GPS running watch
- Charging cable
- Documentation
Occasionally, without notice, manufacturers change product design and/or specifications.