Garmin Forerunner 970 vs Suunto Race 2
Dead heat — 84 vs 84. Your use case is the tiebreaker.
Both are strong — the call comes down to what you prioritise:
- 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.
- Suunto Race 2 — You want a big, bright multisport watch with maps, dual-band GPS and multi-day battery for well under a Forerunner 970, with wrist heart rate you can mostly trust.
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.
Suunto Race 2
The Race 2 keeps what made the Race our value pick (dual-band GPS, free offline maps, huge battery) and fixes its biggest flaw: wrist heart rate is much improved. The screen is larger and brighter and the case lighter, but it costs about 130 EUR more than the Race does now, and smart features stay basic.
Compare side-by-side
| Garmin Forerunner 97084Scorefrom€624Review → | Suunto Race 284Scorefrom€449.10Review → | |
|---|---|---|
| Form factor | — | — |
| Battery life | — | — |
| Screen | — | — |
| Sleep tracking | — | — |
| Recovery / HRV | — | — |
| Subscription | — | — |
| Water resistance | — | — |
Prices are our researched reference points.
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