- Garmin has announced the Garmin Forerunner 570 and Garmin Forerunner 970 along with a new HRM 600
- The two watches include new-to-forerunner-line hardware such as a speaker, microphone and LED light
- 970 offers new measurements such as running economy and tolerance
Garmin has announced the release of two new watches, the Garmin Forerunner 570 and the Garmin Forerunner 970 together with a new Garmin HRM 600 heartbeat. The two watches boast of Garmin’s ‘brightest AMOLED screen yet’ and other features new in the Forerunner series, such as a speaker and microphone, so you can take calls during a run without touching your phone with an evening report to add Garmin’s existing morning report functionality.
Read on to see our original impression and whether they will be worthy of a place in our best Garmin watch list.
Garmin Forerunner 570
Garmin Forerunner 570 is priced at $ 549.99 / £ 459.99 / AU $ 999 for 42 mm clock and $ 549.99 / £ 459.99 / AU $ 999 for the larger 47 mm version. With 11 days of battery life in Smartwatch mode (the shortest of any clock in the last several generations of forerunners), it has a selection of jazzy new color ways including slate gray aluminum, raspberry aluminum and cloud blue aluminum, all with new transparent silicone ties.
Apart from the brightest screen yet, evening report and speaker/microphone combination, the watch seems to share a lot of DNA with the rest of the precursor line. This includes access to Garmin trainer training programs, health meals such as a skin temperature and pulse oximeter sensor and Garmin’s usual five-button design.
Unlike many of the other best Garmin watches, there is no solar-powered option with a dull memory-in-pixel screen to preserve the life of the battery. You are stuck with a maximum of 11 days, which is probably realistic to top out in just over a week of repeated GPS training.
Garmin Forerunner 970
Garmin Forerunner 970 comes in a single size, 47 mm, price for $ 749.99 / £ 629.99 / AU $ 1,399, with a 1.4-inch AMOLED display that preserves the ‘brightest ever’ distinction. It lasts up to 15 days in Smartwatch mode: An improvement over 570, but it seems that screen technology sucks more battery life than other precursors before it.
970 packages in all features in 570, with additions, including the LED light seen on the Garmin Epix Pro and Garmin Instinct 3 watches. New measurements include continuous economy, step speed losses (both of which require the new Garmin HRM 600 to work) and run tolerance that tells you about your body’s boundaries and recommends a weekly mileage. It sounds like a useful feature worthy of one of the best running watches.
The sports also ECG functionality, more premium materials such as Sapphire Glass on the lens and come in various color paths, including soft gold titanium and carbon gray DLC titanium. Obviously, Garmin would induce a little more luxury here.
Garmin HRM 600
HRM 600 is Garmin’s latest and best heart rate monitor, price for $ 169.99 / £ 149.99 / AU $ 299. It is compatible with the two new precursors above to enable their extended running dynamic measurement as well as other smartwatches and Garmin cycling computers or can be carried on their own.
It is capable of sending tempo and distance data (indoor training only), steps, time and calories burned to Garmin Connect so you can sync your training points with your smartwatch. This can be done for greater accuracy or during exercise where it is not appropriate to wear a smartwatch, such as boxing or climbing.
