Garmin Forerunner 170 vs Garmin Forerunner 970
Our pick: Garmin Forerunner 170 takes it — 85 vs 84.
Both are strong — the call comes down to what you prioritise:
- Garmin Forerunner 170 — You coach runners or endurance clients and want Garmin's readiness and load metrics on a first 'real' training watch, without the €500 tier.
- Garmin Forerunner 970 — You coach or train for endurance and triathlon and want maps, the full readiness and load suite, and data you can use to manage clients' weekly volume.
Garmin Forerunner 170
A software-led upgrade on the 165: Training Readiness, Training Status, running power and dynamics and Garmin Pay arrive at the entry price, on the same AMOLED and sensor. Street prices have settled near where the 165 was, but battery is a touch shorter and GPS is still single-band.
Garmin Forerunner 970
The most complete Forerunner yet: a brighter AMOLED under sapphire, a flashlight, speaker and mic, ECG, a Gen 5 heart-rate sensor and new load tools such as Running Tolerance. It also costs about 135 EUR more than the 965 we reviewed, and smartwatch battery drops from 23 to 15 days.
Compare side-by-side
| Garmin Forerunner 17085Scorefrom€250.56Review → | Garmin Forerunner 97084Scorefrom€624Review → | |
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Prices are our researched reference points.
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