We may earn a commission from links on this page.
The much-anticipated successor to Garmin’s Forerunner 965 was announced today, and it’s a $749.99 watch called the Forerunner 970 with voice calling, triathlon coaching, and an LED flashlight. Alongside it, instead of a simple upgrade to its little sister the 265, we get a watch at an entirely new place in the Forerunner lineup: the Forerunner 570 ($549.99). Read on for the most important new features, and my first impressions on whether it’s worth splurging on either one compared to the older models. Both will be available to order on May 21, 2025.
A primer on Garmin’s confusing model names
Just to help you keep your bearings here: The first digit in a Forerunner’s number tells you where it sits in the product line, and the latter two numbers tell you how new it is. Until today, the newest models were the 165, 265, and 965, with the 165 being the budget model and 965 the top of the Forerunner line.
So the 970 is a newer version of the 965, the same basic watch with a few updates. But the 570 occupies a new spot in the lineup, priced higher than the 265, and Garmin probably hopes that some 265 users will want to spring for a fancier watch to get the new features.
How does the 570 compare to the 265?
The new Forerunner 570 is a watch that has everything the Forerunner 265 had, plus some new extra features. (It’s also more expensive and has slightly worse battery life, but we’ll get to that). Here are the biggest things the 570 has that the 265 doesn’t:
-
Voice calls and texts, and voice commands
-
The new evening report, which tells you how much sleep you should get and what weather and workouts to expect in the morning
-
Triathlon coaching, instead of making you choose between run coaching and bike coaching
-
Auto lap for races with timing gates (the watch will adjust your mileage as you pass the gate)
-
Finish line trimming for races (if you’ve uploaded a course, you won’t have to stop your watch when you cross the finish line—the watch will keep recording and then ask later if you’d like to trim your activity to end at the finish line)
The 570 is available in both a 47-millimeter size and a 42-millimeter size, similar to the 265 and 265S (46 and 42 millimeters, respectively). Mercifully for me, a person who has to write about both watches, they have dropped the “S” naming system, so instead of calling the smaller watch the “570S,” as if it were a totally different watch, there is just a 570 that comes in two sizes.
Here are the less exciting but still new features of the 570 that the 265 doesn’t have:
-
A sharper screen—454×454 resolution instead of 416×416, and Garmin says it’s their brightest AMOLED screen yet (sorry to those who were hoping for an old-school MIP display)
-
A skin temperature sensor
-
More triathlon workout types, including bricks and pool triathlon
-
Heat and altitude acclimation scores
-
The speaker and microphone mean you can play music from your wrist
-
Golfing features
There are two major downsides to the new watch, though. One is battery life: The 265 and 265S got 13-15 days of battery life in smartwatch mode, while the new 570 gets 10-11 days. Actual use, including activities, shaves off a few days, so expect about a week.
The other is cost. The new Forerunner 570 is priced at $549.99, whereas the Forerunner 265 originally cost $449.99 and, as I write this, is on sale for $349.99. Bumping up the first digit in the model name is supposed to make us feel like we’re getting a nicer watch, but is it really worth paying an extra $200? I’m not convinced.
How does the 970 compare to the 965?
The Forerunner 970 is an improved version of the Forerunner 965, although it, too, has a shorter battery life and a higher price tag. But maybe it’s worth it for you, given these upgrades:
-
An LED flashlight on the front of the watch—yes, an actual light, not just the ability to turn the screen white.
-
Sapphire crystal instead of glass on the watch face
-
ECG readings
-
Running tolerance score, judging how much more mileage your body can handle, so you know when you’re doing “too much”
-
Running economy score, judging how efficiently you run
-
Step speed loss, a running dynamic that describes how much you slow down when your foot hits the ground—but this requires the new HRM 600 heart rate monitor.
The 970 also has all the same major features as the 965 (including maps), and only comes in one size, as did the 965. The new 970 also has everything I described in the 570 above, including voice calls and texts, evening reports, triathlon coaching, and the race day lap and trimming features. The 970 is an AMOLED watch, not MIP as some had speculated.
Battery life takes a pretty big hit, down to 15 days in smartwatch mode, compared to 23 days for the previous model, the 965. (Again, real-life use with activities will be a bit shorter, so subtract a few days.) The price has also jumped significantly: The 970 is $749.99, where the 965 had been $599.99 at the start, and the 965 is on sale now for $499.99. Personally, I’m not sure if the upgrades are worth that much of a price increase, but it’s certainly a nicer watch.
