It’s been nearly 5 years since Garmin’s last budget Forerunner came out, the Forerunner 55. And with its successor, the Forerunner 70, it’s arguably one of the biggest upgrades Garmin has ever made in its watch lineup. I can’t think of a single jump between two watch generations that pack as many new features, or foundational changes, as the jump from the Forerunner 55 to the Forerunner 70. All while keeping the price as low as you’re going to expect from Garmin, at $249 (which is virtually identical to the inflation-adjusted price of the Forerunner 55 some 5 years ago).

The Forerunner 70 packs in some 50+ new sport profiles, a new optical heart rate sensor, better GPS, new Quick Workout features (not seen on any other Garmin watch yet), and most critically: The same underlying software platform as seen on Garmin’s higher-end Fenix & Forerunner watches. This means that you’ll get the benefit of literally hundreds of tiny tweaks/updates in those watches, passed down to this budget watch.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you get every feature. Garmin still gatekeeps specific features (like ClimbPro, or offline maps, and even certain sport modes), based on whatever complex spreadsheet they have for determining which models get which features enabled.

Nonetheless, both my wife and I have been putting both the Forerunner 70 & Forerunner 170 through their paces over the last little while, and in this in-depth review, I’ll dive into the least expensive unit first.

Lastly, this is a media loaner from Garmin. I’ve already ordered my own unit at the regular price, for long-term usage purposes. As always, I don’t accept advertising from any company I review, and no company sees my reviews before you do. So, if you found this review useful, consider becoming a DCR Supporter, which gets you an ad-free site, plus the behind-the-scenes video series between both myself and my wife on everything that happens in the DCR Sports Tech Cave/universe.

What’s new:

Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that this is not Garmin’s first Forerunner 70 watch (seen above in blue). In fact, the first one came 15 years ago, all the way back in 2011. You can read my review about it here. Obviously, though, things have changed a lot. That one had a coin-cell battery in it, and lacked GPS as well as most other features. It was basically designed to work with an ANT+ footpod. So, I’ll save you 12 reams of digital paper trying to compare that.

Instead, we’re going to compare it against its actual predecessor – the Forerunner 55 (the Forerunner 60 was from 2010, and basically the same watch as the Forerunner 70 except with a new band). The Forerunner 55 is shown above with the black band.

With that, all the differences compared to the Garmin Forerunner 55:

– Switched from 1” MIP display to 1.2” AMOLED Display
– Switched to a 43mm case size (was previously 42mm)
– Added Touchscreen (previously was buttons only)
– Upgraded from Garmin ELEVATE V3 HR sensor to ELEVATE V4 HR sensor (but V5 is latest)
– Completely revamped/changed user interface
– Added Watch Focus Modes (e.g., sleep, theater, activity, etc…)
– Added HRV Status/tracking support (at night)
– Added Smart Wake Alarm
– Added Sleep Coach feature, including sleep recommendation factors
– Added Nap detection support (new to Garmin, finally!)
– Added Morning Report feature
– Added Evening Report Feature
– Added Daily Summary report feature
– Added Daily Health Snapshot Feature
– Added Health Status tracking
– Added Lifestyle Logging (journaling, on-device & Garmin Connect)
– Added the ability to switch between small fonts and larger fonts for text
– Added quick-access Flashlight feature (using screen, not dedicated LED flashlight)
– Added photos in text messages (Android only)
– Added ‘Shortcuts’ feature (configuring buttons for quick access to features)
– Added Alternate/Secondary Time Zone Widget/Option
– Added the ability to create Widget/Glance Folders
– Added Battery Widget (shows what’s driving battery usage)
– Added Countdowns
– Added Calculator Widget
– Added Garmin Messenger integration
– Added Moon Phase Widget
– Added Pulse Ox Tracking
– Added Sleep Score
– Added Sports Score Widget
– Added Stocks Widget
– Added Sunrise & Sunset Widget
– Added Weight Tracking Widget
– Added Timers/Alarms/Stopwatch/etc Widget
– Added Connect IQ Store (on-device)
– Added Low Battery Alert (e.g., 1 day left)
– Added Color filter option (for color blindness accessibility)
– Added Hourly Alert/Chime
– Added Battery Saver Feature (and now battery life estimates)
– Added ~60+ new sport profiles/apps (see list below)
– Added the ability to configure watch activity profiles and data fields from your phone
– Added Training Readiness (and all underlying metrics)
– Added Training Status (and all underlying metrics)
– Added Acute Load (including historical load trends/tunnel)
– Added VO2Max Trending
– Added Load Focus, Load Ratio
– Added Recovery Time (live widget/etc…)
– Added Running Dynamics support (Ground Contact Time, Vertical Oscillation, Vertical Ratio, Stride Length)
– Added Native Running Power (wrist-based, and native data fields)
– Added Running-power specific training zones
– Added Automatic Run/Walk/Stand detection within a workout
– Daily suggested workouts can now be seen into the future, configuration of long-workout days, more settings, etc…
– Daily suggested workouts can now be tied to future calendar race events, automatically creating workouts for that distance/course
– Added equipment tracking on-device (e.g., shoes, bikes, etc…)
– Added Primary Race Widget
– Added New Race Calendar & Race Details/Countdown Widgets
– Added Race Time prediction (within Race widget)
– Added Workout Benefit feature (tells you what the benefit of a given workout was)
– Added ability to create lap alerts on proximity (e.g., passing the same place)
– Added Course/Route following
– Added ‘Up Ahead’ feature for distances to predefined markers like aid stations, climbs, etc…
– Added Aid Station/Rest Break Timer/Counter in Courses (e.g., Trail Runs)
– Added Time Cutoff Feature in Courses (e.g., Trail Runs)
– Added Garmin Share (to quickly share workouts/courses/etc…)
– Added ‘Workouts’ app/quick access menu
– Added Pack Weight Support (in Running/Hiking activities)
– Increased data fields per page from 4 to 8
– Increased number of custom data pages allowed
– Adds support for up to 4 CIQ data fields concurrently (versus 2 previously)
– Added muscle map feature in strength workouts
– Added Secure/Encrypted Bluetooth sensor pairing feature/option
– Added Cycling Lights, Cycling Radar, RD Pod, Tempe sensor support (ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, see full list below)
– Increased GPS/GNSS types: Added Beidou & QZSS to multi-band list (but not dual frequency)
– Smartwatch battery life is 13 days (5-days always-on)
– GPS battery life per the chart below up to 23 hours
– Weight is 40g
– Waterproof rating is 5ATM/50-meters

Holy moly, that took a long time to put together/figure out (and yes, I literally manually go through every single item to come up with the above list – Garmin doesn’t provide any such list to me). Of course, the reality is there are still tons more features buried in sub-menus and such, but I think the above covers most of it.

When it comes to the full list of sport modes, it’s sprawling, and essentially lines up with most of Garmin’s other watches made in 2025/2026. For the most part, the only differences to a higher-end Fenix series watch are that those watches also have both high-speed watersports (e.g., surfing) due to increased water resistance designs, and low-speed underwater sports (e.g., diving) due to other increased water resistance as well. In any case, here’s the full list:

Forerunner 70 Sport Types: Run, Track Run, Treadmill, Road Bike, Walk, Cardio, Strength, Pool Swim, Trail Run, Bike (Outdoor), Bike Indoor, Virtual Run, Indoor Track, Obstacle Racing, Ultra Run, MTB, eBike, eMTB, Cyclocross, Gravel Bike, Bike Commute, Bike Tour, Mobility, HIIT, Yoga, Pilates, Elliptical, Stair Stepper, Row Indoor, Walk Indoor, Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Jump Rope, Hike, Rucking, Mountaineering, Disc Golf, Horseback, Archery, Inline Skating, Ski, Snowboard, XC Classic Ski, XC Classic Skate, Snowshoe, Ice Skating, Snowmobile, SUP, Kayak, Row, Snorkel, Soccer/Football, American Football, Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Volleyball, Cricket, Lacrosse, Rugby, Field Hockey, Ice Hockey, Ultimate Disc, Tennis, Pickleball, Padel, Racquetball, Squash, Badminton, Table Tennis, Platform Tennis, ATV, Snowmobile, Overland, Motocross, Motorcycle, Horseback, Breathwork

In case you’re wondering how it differs from the also-announced Forerunner 170, that watch has Floor Climb (because it has an altimeter), Openwater Swimming, and Meditation (guided). It does not have multisport/triathlon modes.

Lastly, when it comes to supported sensor types, it supports the following:

Sensor Supported: External HR (ANT+/Bluetooth), Footpod (ANT+/Bluetooth), Lights (ANT+), Cycling Radar (ANT+/Bluetooth), RD Pod (ANT+), Speed/Cadence Sensor (ANT+/Bluetooth), Tempe (ANT+)

The Forerunner 170 adds in cycling power meter and cycling smart trainer support.

Finally, for battery life, here’s where things stand:

Smartwatch mode: Up to 13 days (5 days always-on display)
Battery Saver Smartwatch mode: Up to 28 days
GPS Only GNSS Mode: Up to 23 hours
All-Systems GNSS Mode: Up to 16 hours

Got all that? Good, let’s get into some of the bigger-ticket items.

In the Box:

The Forerunner 70 box doesn’t contain a whole lot, so this section is pretty easy. Above is the outside of the box, and below are the box contents:

Inside, you’ll have the watch, a standard Garmin charging cable (USB-C on one end, Garmin charging connector on the other), and then some paper junk. It’s that simple.

See, the unboxing is done – told you it’s simple.

The Daily Usage Basics:

In this section, I’ll dive into the basics of using the watch day to day, including activity tracking, sleep tracking, smartwatch features, and more. Whereas the section after this dives into the sports and workout pieces.

The Forerunner 70 uses Garmin’s standard 5-button layout common on Forerunner, Fenix, and Instinct devices (whereas Venu/Vivoactive devices usually have 2-3 buttons). In addition to these buttons is a full touchscreen. Garmin’s general philosophy here is that you can use either touch or buttons to accomplish most tasks, depending on your preferences.

Some tasks, such as starting/stopping a workout, do require buttons, and inversely, if you want to disable the touchscreen, you can do so either on a per-sport profile basis, or entirely. There’s lots of flexibility there.

Speaking of which, being an AMOLED display, by default it’ll be in gesture-based mode. Which means when you put your wrist down, it turns off the display to save battery. However, I prefer always-on display mode, which burns more battery life, but means the display dims when I put my wrist down (so I can always see the time, no matter my wrist position). You can change this in the settings:

When it comes time to display visibility, like other AMOLED displays made in the last few years, there are no issues seeing it in bright sunlight. I live on a Mediterranean island, and there’s simply no problem seeing the display on the sunniest of days (or, inversely, this same display on a snowy mountain-top).

In any case, starting off with the watch face, you can customize this however you’d like. I actually like the default watch face here, but you can either choose from a slate of ones pre-loaded on the watch, or literally thousands from Garmin’s Connect IQ watch face app/store. You can even make your own watch face with photos/etc…

Additionally, each of the data bits on the watch face (called ‘complications’), can be customized. Though the definition of ‘each’ can vary a bit between the watch face itself. For the default Forerunner 70 one, not all of the data fields are customizable, but most other watch faces do allow it.

Tapping the down button brings you to the widgets/widget glances. These little snippets are the widget glances, and then you can tap into them to see full-size widgets. Like everything else, you can customize these, the order, grouping, and download 3rd party ones too.

Each of them then expands into more details about that particular item, such as more details about your steps, or your sleep, or moon phases, sports teams, etc…

Again, there are lots of options here, and this is an area where Garmin has expanded the widget realm in the last year or so, focusing a bit more on general smartwatch-like widgets (such as ones for stocks, sports teams, etc…).

When it comes to sleep tracking, the watch will automatically track your sleep (including naps). There’s really nothing you need to do except fall asleep. When you wake up each morning you’ll see your sleep data on a slate of different sleep details:

One of the widgets you’ll have is the ‘Sleep Coach’ widget, which pretty much constantly reminds you to sleep more. Within that, there’s also the ‘Sleep Factors’ widget, which will list some of the reasons why it says what it says. If you take a nap, that’ll show up in a few different places related to sleep/Body Battery, but also just on the dedicated ‘Nap’ widget, if you add it.

The Forerunner 70 has the Body Battery widget, which effectively tracks your body’s energy level throughout the day. I generally find it pretty accurate. It’s going to give you a starting value based on last night’s sleep, and then your day will decrease it (faster or slower, depending on what you’re doing and your stress levels). For example, going for a hard interval run will drain it faster, whereas you might actually recoup a bit sitting watching some TV.

Again, there’s a listing of the factors that impacted it within the widget.

In fact, stepping back towards sleep slightly, the watch will track your HRV (Heart Rate Variability) each night while you sleep. After 19 nights of sleep it’ll start to populate the color coding system you see here, which are personalized ranges for your normal baseline of a 90-day trailing/trended window. Every person is different (my wife’s numbers and my numbers are about 15-20ms apart on average), so don’t overthink my specific ranges too much.

In general, when your HRV numbers plummet, it’s a likely sign of fatigue or impending illness (typically my HRV numbers will drop from ~50ms down to ~30ms the day before I get/feel sick). That said, HRV numbers will also drop due to alcohol, drugs (good or bad), heavy training fatigue, lack of sleep, stress etc…. The key isn’t just numbers going up/down, but your understanding of why they are going up/down.

You’ll see the HRV used in a variety of places, including Training Readiness, which I’ll cover in the next section. However, it’s also one of the metrics shown in the Morning Report each day when you wake up.

The Morning Report is customizable, and essentially summarizes last night’s sleep, as well as the day ahead from a calendar (both your phone’s calendar and your workout schedule), as well as weather and other readiness tidbits.

You can customize the Morning Report in the settings, and likewise, you can customize the Evening Report.

The Evening Report is basically a look back at your day from a workout/activity standpoint, as well as recommendations for sleep ahead.

Finally, shifting towards some general smart bits, the unit can display notifications from your smartphone (text and emoji). In the case of Android phones, it can also display photos and respond to text messages (Apple doesn’t permit either for non-Apple Watches at this time). But on both platforms you can read the message, as well as clear it.

Beyond that, the Forerunner 70 doesn’t have Garmin Pay or offline music, that’s on the Forerunner 170 (and other Garmin watches). So with that, let’s dive into the sports usage bits.

Sports Usage:

For most people, the reason you buy a Forerunner is to…well….run. But the reality is the Garmin Forerunner now supports basically just as many sports as any other Garmin series sport watch, with the only real exception being it lacks triathlon modes & openwater swimming support.

However, what it lacks there it gains in a slate of other sport profiles, and more specifically, Training Readiness, a feature I didn’t exactly expect to see on Garmin’s budget watch yet, which is a huge feature to help manage training fatigue. That said, I cover that in the next section, just since all the Training Load/Status/Recovery features, as well as  calendar-type features ended up making this section a bit too big. Likewise, accuracy is the section after this.

First up, to start a sport/activity, you’ll tap the upper-right button, which opens up the sports/apps menu. You can customize the list of pinned/favorited sports, as well as the order of them.

Here’s a listing of all the sport profiles available on the Forerunner 70 as of this writing. Generally speaking, we see Garmin add a few sport profiles every quarter or so (in their quarterly updates), though it kinda comes in waves (none for a few quarters, then a pile, then none for a while). Here’s what’s available today though:

Forerunner 70 Sport Modes: Run, Track Run, Treadmill, Road Bike, Walk, Cardio, Strength, Pool Swim, Trail Run, Bike (Outdoor), Bike Indoor, Virtual Run, Indoor Track, Obstacle Racing, Ultra Run, MTB, eBike, eMTB, Cyclocross, Gravel Bike, Bike Commute, Bike Tour, Mobility, HIIT, Yoga, Pilates, Elliptical, Stair Stepper, Row Indoor, Walk Indoor, Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Jump Rope, Hike, Rucking, Mountaineering, Disc Golf, Horseback, Archery, Inline Skating, Ski, Snowboard, XC Classic Ski, XC Classic Skate, Snowshoe, Ice Skating, Snowmobile, SUP, Kayak, Row, Snorkel, Soccer/Football, American Football, Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Volleyball, Cricket, Lacrosse, Rugby, Field Hockey, Ice Hockey, Ultimate Disc, Tennis, Pickleball, Padel, Racquetball, Squash, Badminton, Table Tennis, Platform Tennis, ATV, Snowmobile, Overland, Motocross, Motorcycle, Horseback, Breathwork

You can check out my full comparison to the Forerunner 170 below, but in short, the modes offered in that watch that aren’t in the Forerunner 70 are: Openwater Swimming, Floor Climb (needs altimeter), and Guided Meditation (Music only).

Once you tap a sport profile in the menu, it goes into a pending screen where you’re waiting for GPS (if outside), accessories (like cycling sensors), or heart rate lock. It’s here you can change settings, add structured workouts, courses to follow, etc…

You’ll notice you can now do equipment tracking (e.g., shoes, cycling gear, etc…) right from this screen.

Before we start an activity, note that each sport profile can be customized in more ways than you can count. It’s sorta Garmin’s jam in life, heavy customization. You can do this from either the Garmin Connect app, or the watch itself (again, some people prefer one way or the other).

One of the notable things about the Forerunner 70 is that it’s basically adopting the same codebase as the higher-end Forerunner & Fenix watches, and there are tons of little benefits to that, such as now being able to have up to 8 data fields per page, and nearly limitless custom data pages. Plus a boatload of graphical data pages.

Meanwhile, back on that pending page, you can add a structured workout, add a course, create a structured workout, etc… Additionally, if you have Daily Suggested Workouts enabled, for running you’ll get a structured workout listed based on your current Training Readiness levels as well as any goals you might have listed. I dive a bit more into scheduling races and such in the next section.

In any case, with that all set, you’ll tap start, and off you go. It’ll show your data pages in real time, and you can iterate through them to see details as you run. All of this worked just fine for me, like any other Garmin watch, including pace stability and such.

Now, the Forerunner 70 did add the ability to follow a breadcrumb course/route. There’s no maps on the Forerunner 70, but instead, you’ll just follow a line (old-school style). It’s not ideal for super-complex trails in the woods (because of junctions), but for city/street routes, as well as relatively simple trail following, it works pretty well. You can push routes from Garmin Connect to the watch (or load GPX/FIT/etc routes), including routes from Strava, Komoot, and others.

What’s notable is that the Forerunner 70 actually supports Waypoints, including the Up Ahead feature, showing you exactly how far it is until the next waypoint (per the route distance, not as the crow flies).

Even more so, it actually supports Garmin’s new rest timer and time cutoff features, which are aimed at the ultra-running crowd. Again, this is kinda the trickle-down benefit of using the same platform as the higher-end Fenix/Forerunner watches. You can create these aid station timers and time/course cutoffs, and see them in real-time on the watch:

As for the navigation itself, if you go off-course, it’ll warn you of such, and also show where you are on the breadcrumb trail:

It’ll show your elevation profile as well:

Lastly, for sensors, it does support pairing to various sensors, including chest straps, cycling speed/cadence sensors, and more. It does not, however, support cycling power meters or smart trainers (the Forerunner 170 and above do, though). Here’s the sensor list:

Sensor Supported: External HR (ANT+/Bluetooth), Footpod (ANT+/Bluetooth), Lights (ANT+), Cycling Radar (ANT+/Bluetooth), RD Pod (ANT+), Speed/Cadence Sensor (ANT+/Bluetooth), Tempe (ANT+)

In any event, once you complete your run, you’ll see a summary of your workout displayed, such as below:

Likewise, you’ll also see all this information displayed in Garmin Connect (mobile app or desktop), like below:

And of course, if you’ve set up sync to 3rd parties like Strava, TrainingPeaks, and more, it’ll sync off to those instantly. All of this is done via Bluetooth to your phone, and then the interwebs to those platforms. You can also use USB with Garmin Express on a desktop computer too. The Forerunner 70 doesn’t have WiFi.

Now, I do want to separate out one new feature on the Forerunner 70 that’s entirely new to Garmin watches, introduced here on the budget watch but soon coming to other higher-end Garmin watches, which is Quick Workouts.

New Quick Workout Creator:

Garmin has always reigned supreme when it comes to ways you could do structured workouts. Garmin has a manual interval creator (on-device), the ability to import workouts from Garmin Connect (yours or training plans), workouts from 3rd-parties and coaches (e.g., TrainingPeaks, etc…), pace/heart rate/etc targets, dynamic Daily Suggested Workouts, and many more options.

However, one thing it lacked was the ability to just request an on-demand workout of a given duration (time) and pain level, and then boom, give you a few options, and off you go. All on-device, without any AI-driven app or such behind the scenes. Now, it does.

Quick workouts is both simplistic, and frankly, awesome. You simply choose how hard you want to hurt (four different levels), then choose duration levels (30 mins, 45 mins, 60 mins). From there, it’ll spit out 1-4 structured workouts instantly that you can choose from.

As one who often decides what type of workout I’m going to do as I walk out the door, this is perfect.

Here, let’s take a quick look at how it works. First, you choose Run, then choose Training, then Quick Workout:

From there, you’ll choose the level of suffering. Again, super simplistic (if perhaps a touch bit stylistically dated):

Next, you’ll choose the duration. This doesn’t change, no matter how advanced you are. After all, any coach can make even the most elite athlete in the world hurt at any of these given levels.

Instead, the workouts it’s creating for you will vary based on your ability, driven by your workouts. As with most things on the Garmin watch, the more data (runs) you give it, the better this gets. I find that for most Garmin features, you’ll reach that optimal level of data about 4 weeks in, though this totally works straight out of the box too.

In any case, if you select the easiest level, these are almost always basically just blocks at an easy intensity. Whereas once you start increasing intensity, they start getting more creative, and you get more options:

Again, these are taking into account your existing training and ability levels:

The ‘cool’ part is that, unlike Daily Suggested Workouts, which will refuse to give you really tough workouts if it thinks you’re likely to get injured, the Quick Workout Creator has zero effs to give. Like asking for “native-level-spicy” at a Chinese restaurant, it’s gonna deliver probably beyond what you want to accept.

In any case, once you’ve picked your suffering, it’ll load up just like any other Garmin structured workout. So you’ll get prompts and countdowns as you iterate through:

Meaning it’ll tell you the target pace and time left for each section automatically, chirping as it goes along. Then, at the end it’ll give you an execution score:

Ya know what I like best about this? It just works.

No faffing about with some app on your phone driven by wonky AI that can’t put together a coherent workout. Instead, this is driven by the coaching principles that we’ve seen the rest of the Garmin platform leverage on workouts for years. Generally speaking, most people agree that the running workouts it generates once it has enough data are pretty solid (albeit usually a bit conservative, to avoid injury).

The point is, what I appreciate about this is that I can just decide how much I want to suffer as I walk out the door, without pulling out my phone, and then get right to business. Simple and effective.

Training Readiness & Planning:

In this section, I’m going to dig into some of the training features. At a high level, this includes:

– Race Planning/Calendaring
– Automatic coached workouts (for running and run/walk plans)
– Training Load (Training Status)
– Training Recovery
– Training Readiness
– Race Finish Time Prediction
– VO2Max Tracking

There are lots of other aspects that tie into these, but that’s the general gist of the core features.

To start, I’ll quickly cover race calendaring, noting that you do not need to put an event on your calendar for any of these features to work. You can simply not list anything at all, and the watch will automatically suggest running workouts for you to make you more fit, it’s just that those workouts won’t be catered to a given distance/event. Meaning, if you don’t tell it you’re running a marathon, it’s not going to suggest the weekly long runs that you’d associate with a marathon event.

To add an event, you can go to your Garmin Connect app and simply create an event, which can even search databases for the exact race (which is handy later as it pulls in the exact course/route, as well as weather conditions).

You can create multiple events, and prioritize events (e.g., A/B/C priority). These will then ultimately show up in your Race Calendar widget, which can predict your finish time (as of today). Note that Garmin’s higher-end watches can also do forward race time prediction (e.g., based on training, what your result might be in 5 months), though the Forerunner 70 can’t do that.

Now, regardless of what’s on your calendar (or not), Daily Suggested Workouts (DSW) will generate a workout daily to get you to that goal (or just to keep you fit). It does this based on looking at what it needs to do, while balancing your training readiness (e.g., sleep, other workouts, recovery times, etc…). In fact, it’ll even change in the middle of the day if you had exceptionally poor sleep, or went off and did some other high-intensity activity instead.

You’ll see these automatically when you open the Run app, and you can look ahead at your schedule as well:

But you can also change various settings related to it, such as specifying the day you do your long run, days you can’t run, and so on. You can also see these workouts going forward.

In general, I find the Garmin Daily Suggested workouts fairly conservative, which means they’ll err more on the side of avoiding injury than pushing you to the edge. They’ll still deliver very hard workouts, but they won’t ramp up mileage (or intensity) as hard as some coaches might.

Remember that Garmin’s coaching platform is just like any other coach and their coaching style, it has its preferences and quirks. I’ve had some coaches that are very aggressive in terms of ramping up mileage (because they know me as an athlete can typically handle that), and other coaches that are very conservative, preferring to avoid any injury at all (knowing that the most successful athlete is the one that gets to the start line).

In any case, one of the aspects that’s leaned heavily on here is Training Readiness, which looks at a few key metrics each day to figure out how ‘ready to train’ you are at any given minute in the day. This score shifts throughout the day, based on recovery time, if you just finished a workout, and so on. Meaning, you might wake up with a Training Readiness score of 60, and it might slowly climb to 71 by early afternoon (because your recovery time from the previous workout has improved). However, once you complete that hard interval workout, it might drop down to 12, because now your literal “readiness to train” again is very low.

Training Readiness is based on the following factors:

– Sleep (last night)
– Recovery time (from last workout)
– HRV Status
– Acute Load (training load)
– Recent Sleep scores (over the past 7 days)
– Recent Stress (over the past 7 days)

The score is most heavily weighted based on recovery time and sleep, meaning if you go out and do a marathon, it’s going to show a low training readiness score, regardless of your acute load, HRV status, etc… That is, unless your effort was low-enough intensity that it didn’t make a dent because you do marathons every day or such. Again, it’s all based on what the norm is for you.

Garmin has had Training Readiness for a few years now, and generally speaking, I find it a very good indicator of how ready I am to train. Which doesn’t mean I always listen to it, but I’ll use it as one tool in my shed. If I wake up and it’s showing a score of ‘8’, and I feel rough, it’s probably time to do something easier. Whereas if I wake up and feel good and the score is 20 or 30, I’ll likely rally. Again, remember Garmin skews conservative when it comes to trying to keep you uninjured. This is a big piece of that.

One of the metrics that make up Training Readiness is Acute Load, which is perhaps the best overall metric for looking at your Training Load. This metric shows your historical load range over the past 30 days as the green range, and then the last 7 days trending line atop that. It’s super helpful for figuring out how things compare to your baseline:

With that, you can see your Load Ratio, which shows whether you’re trending up or down. Generally speaking, you want to keep your upwards increase in training load at upwards of 1.2ish (meaning, you’re doing 20% more in the last 7-days, than the average 7-day period over the last 30 days).

Which then carries into Training Status. Training Status is more like a true coach that just focuses on whether the ‘type’ of training you’re doing is going to make you faster. Meaning, is it a balanced diet of easy workouts, hard workouts, etc… It mostly ignores factors like sleep/stress (except it does account for HRV). Whereas Training Readiness is looking at all those factors together.

Training Status is going to give you scores like Productive, Unproductive, Maintaining, Peaking, and Recovery. Generally speaking, I’d say that with Training Status in the last few years (new devices in the past few years), it’s now pretty hard to get into an Unproductive status unless you deserve it. However, I managed to, mostly because my zones were somehow set all wonky, and now getting out of this status has been near-impossible. In my case, it’s because it thinks every run is really hard, even really easy base runs. I’ve been having to fudge my HR zones temporarily the other direction to fix it, and I think I’m almost out of the woods.

You can see why it’s upset here, with my load skewed towards high-intensity, even though these were low intensity. This was because initially my zones were set incorrectly too high (and it was upset about that), so I lowered them, and it then made everything high intensity

In any case, generally speaking, for the last few years, I float between Productive or Maintaining most of the time, with occasional Peaking or Recovery if I’ve cut a lot of training load quickly (such as going on vacation, or before a race).

Of course, one really important thing to understand about Training Status (and correspondingly the VO2Max predictions) is that it’s heavily reliant on a varied diet of running, meaning longer runs, shorter-high-intensity runs, tempo runs, etc… If you’re only running a steady-state moderate intensity 30-minute run every other day, it’s going to struggle to be super accurate.

But I find that when I have that varied diet of training run types, it really does a good job at figuring out life and my VO2Max more accurately. And further, as a benefit, that’s generally speaking how you should be training anyway.

Heart Rate & GPS Accuracy:

The heart rate sensor is a Garmin Elevate Gen4 optical HR sensor, which isn’t their latest generation (that’s Gen5), but is generally good in the vast majority of situations. The Gen5 typically has an advantage in certain cases (like intervals on a cool but not super-cold fall day), though the Gen4 beats almost all of Garmin’s competitors anyway.

Meanwhile, on the GPS side, it lacks multiband GNSS, but as you’ll see, that doesn’t seem to stop it from throwing down really good tracks.

First, a quick look at an interval workout (the one I selected above in the Quick Workout generator, in fact). Here are both the Forerunner 70 & Forerunner 170, on separate wrists, compared to a chest strap and other devices.

You can see some slight variations here and there, interestingly more on the FR70 than the FR170, though that’s likely just simply luck of the wrist rather than anything.

Meanwhile, here’s a trail run I did. Well, it started off as a trail run for the first 45 minutes, then I did some intervals for the last 45 minutes. You’ll see where I held up my camera to get a quick snippet of b-roll (while starting the interval going downhill), which caused the cadence lock you see. That’s a good example of an edge-case scenario that the Gen5 optical HR sensor can typically handle.

Still, there are other times where the FR70/170 varies a bit on the recovery, especially, which is semi-common for optical HR sensors that tend to delay catching up after dropping down).

Meanwhile, here’s a run my wife did yesterday, and you can see it’s virtually identical to the Garmin HRM-FIT chest strap she was wearing:

As for GPS, the Forerunner 70/170 doesn’t have a multi-band GPS/GNSS, but as I’ve said countless times, it’s not the size of your GPS, but how you use it. Garmin specifically has had industry-leading non-multi-band GPS antenna designs (and chipsets/firmware) for the last few years, and beats almost every other multi-band/dual-frequency unit on the market. Virtually every reviewer out there finds the same.

So, with that in mind, here’s some trail running, without any issues at all:

Likewise, here’s a downtown area with plenty of tall buildings, and even going under a swimming pool. No, really, I went under it (yes, that’s a man in the water looking down at me):

As you can see, it’s virtually identical to the Fenix 8 Pro with full multi-band enabled in that scenario:

And likewise for this gravel bike ride, no issues here, including next to cliffs, and fast single-track trails that are frankly mountain-bike trails. Here’s a zoomed-in snippet of one section:

If I look at the heart rate data from that ride, you can see that most of the time it’s good, but equally, it missed one entire section/climb for no obvious reason. The fact that the FR170 managed that section (2nd interval, towards the end) is more likely just dumb luck than anything (identical sensors) – it could have easily been the other way around. That said, outdoor cycling, let alone gravel/MTB terrain as was the case here, is one of the most difficult things for most optical HR sensors, and that proved true here as well.

Across more and more trail runs, downtown building runs, and just general rides/runs, I continue to see virtually identical results between my Fenix 8 Pro and the Forerunner 70 when it comes to GPS.

For heart rate accuracy, as seen above, it’s generally very good, though there are minor moments in certain scenarios where the Gen5 optical heart rate sensor of a higher-end Garmin will outperform the Gen4 optical heart rate sensor seen on the Forerunner 70, but those are pretty few and far between.

(Note: All of the charts in these accuracy portions were created using the DCR Analyzer tool. It allows you to compare power meters/trainers, heart rate, cadence, speed/pace, running power, GPS tracks, and plenty more. You can use it as well for your own gadget comparisons, more details here.)

Comparison to Forerunner 170:

I’ve got an entire video & post covering all the differences to the Forerunner 170, as there’s more than meets the eye. Roughly 27 differences, some of them major, some of them minor. At a high level, the key differences are:

– The Forerunner 170 has a barometer altimeter, compass, and temperature sensor
– The Forerunner 170 has Garmin Pay
– The Forerunner 170 has a Music option (with offline music)
– The Forerunner 170 can pair cycling power meters and smart trainers
– The Forerunner 170 has an openwater swim mode

Again, there are a lot of nuanced features that spill out from the above, such as the altimeter gives you elevation and ascent data during activities as well as stairs climbed in daily life, and the cycling power meter gives you more cycling-focused metrics (like Cycling Performance & VO2Max predictions), and so on.

Check out my full Forerunner 70 vs Forerunner 170 post on that here.

Wrap-up:

I’m legit surprised that Garmin packed as much as they did into the Forerunner 70, all for $249. This is an incredibly competitive budget watch, even if the price of ‘budget’ has slowly shifted (by most brands) from $199 to $249. This watch is price-wise unlike anything else Garmin has released in the last few years, in any of their categories. It’s the first time in a long time that Garmin seems determined to not just win on pure features (or depth), but also compete against the COROS/Suunto/Polar’s of the world with price.

As I said in my video, I see this watch as the ‘easy-button’ pick for almost all road runners, or general fitness-focused people who want a Garmin watch without the Garmin price tag. It’s got all the health/lifestyle features of a higher-end Garmin watch, without compromising on the core running (or sports) features. Sure, it doesn’t have offline maps like an Amazfit unit would at this price, nor does it have music or contactless payments. But your phone does both of the last two, and for most road runners, maps aren’t a critical thing. Whereas if you shift over to trail running, then having offline maps (and features like ClimbPro) are much more valuable.

I have very few complaints about this watch, perhaps because almost all the features are already there in other watches and reasonably well-tuned. About the only ‘complaint’ I’d say is that the decision to exclude timing gates & race finish trimming is a bit quirky (given their inclusions of some ultra trail features), but honestly, that’s a pretty minor nit that most people won’t even notice (especially if you never load a route during a race).

It’ll be interesting to see in a few years if this unit turns out to be as popular as the existing Forerunner 55 was. With that – thanks for reading!

Found This Post Useful? Support The Site!

Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.

If you're shopping for the Garmin Forerunner 70 or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot.

Garmin Forerunner 70

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Here's a few other variants or sibling products that are worth considering:

Garmin Forerunner 170

REI

Garmin Forerunner 570

On Sale!

Amazon $449 REI $449

Garmin Forerunner 970

On Sale!

Amazon $649 REI $649

And finally, here’s a handy list of accessories that work well with this unit (and some that I showed in the review). Given the unit pairs with ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart sensors, you can use just about anything though.

Garmin Index S2 WiFi Scale

Amazon

This wifi-connected scale will track your weight and related metrics both on the scale display and in Garmin Connect (plus 3rd party apps like TrainingPeaks). It'll also then sync your weight to your watch/bike computer, to ensure accurate calorie data.

Garmin Cadence Sensor V2

Amazon

This is a dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart cycling cadence sensor that you strap to your crank arm, but also does dual Bluetooth Smart, so you can pair it both to Zwift and another Bluetooth Smart app at once if you want.

Garmin inReach Mini 3 Plus Satellite Communicator

On Sale!

Amazon $449

I never leave cell range without this. Every adventure I do that could leave cellular coverage, I have this with me, and it has native integration with virtually all Garmin watches for seamless alerts. This is the newer version which can send voice mesages & photos.

Garmin Puck Charger (USB-C)

Amazon

Seriously, this will change your life. $9 for a two-pack of these puck Garmin chargers that stay put and stay connected. One for the office, one for your bedside, another for your bag, and one for your dog's house. Just in case.

Garmin HRM-200

Amazon

The HRM-200 is Garmin's newest strap that transmits concurrently on both ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, as well as containing new authentication and encryption capabilities.

Garmin HRM-600

Amazon

The HRM-600 is Garmin's newest top-end strap that transmits concurrently on both ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, as well as containing new authentication and encryption capabilities. Plus, it has all of Garmin's on-board storage features, for using it without a watch.

And of course – you can always sign-up to be a DCR Supporter! That gets you an ad-free DCR, access to the DCR Shed Talkin' video series packed with behind the scenes tidbits...and it also makes you awesome. And being awesome is what it’s all about!

Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. And lastly, if you felt this review was useful – I always appreciate feedback in the comments below. Thanks!

I posted the above to YouTube, walking through my first 24 hours with the Fitbit Air. In this video, I go through a full unboxing, and how it compares physically to the Whoop 5.0/MG band, Polar Loop, and Amazfit Helio. After that, I show on-wrist shots for both myself and my wife (her smaller wrist).

Following the initial look at the hardware, I wait 24 hours before I go through the new Google Health app (which is similar to the revamped Fitbit Public Preview app over the last 6 months). I do this with data from the Fitbit Air to give you some first impressions during that 24 hours (including running and cycling data).

I’ll expand out this post over the rest of the day, but given it’s a Saturday, I’m off to keep spending time with the kiddos. Till then, enjoy the video!

This is apparently ‘Garmin makes pricing reasonable again’ week in Olathe, Kansas. Hot on the heels of the budget-focused Forerunner 70 released on Tuesday, Garmin has permanently dropped the MSRP price of their newest Rally power meter pedals announced last fall, the Rally x10 series. This includes Shimano Road, Shimano MTB/Gravel, and Look KEO compatible versions, in both single-sided (Rally 110), and double-sided (Rally 210) variants.

I’ve actually been riding all three of those over the late summer, fall, winter and now spring on various bikes. Though it hadn’t quite bubbled up to the top of the review pile, partially because they got lost in the hell of September launches, and partially because there hadn’t been much demand for it…because the price was so high.

But now with these changes, it brings them quite close to Favero’s pricing, which had been undercutting Garmin for years, but the disparity grew stronger with the Rally x10 series.

The Price Changes:

In any case, here’s the Garmin Rally pedal pricing shifts:

Road Pedals (Shimano SPD-SL& LOOK KEO): Now $599/$899 (single/dual), was $749/$1,199
XC/MTB (Shimano SPD): Now $599/$899 (single/dual), was $799/$1,299
Bundle (set of both Road + XC/MTB bodies, one transferrable spindle set): Now $1,199 from $1,499

As a reminder, you can move the Garmin Rally spindles between the different pedal bodies, meaning you can shift it from a road pedal body to a MTB pedal body within a few minutes. It’s not something you’d want to do every day, but every once in a while, sure. The bundle offering is aimed at exactly that.

Meanwhile, they’re also lowering the cost of their replacement body/kits substantially. This was frankly an even more obvious sticking point when compared to Favero, where these replacement bodies were a fraction the cost. Favero is still cheaper, but at least it’s half-way reasonable now.

RS/RK rebuild kit/replacement body: Now $99, was $199
XC rebuild kit/replacement body: Now $129, was $299
RS/RK conversion kits: Now $149, was $249
XC conversion kits: Now $249, was $399

Phew, got all that?

Now, for context, here’s how this compares to Favero’s pricing:

Favero Assioma Pro RL/RS (Road): $499/789USD (Single/Dual)
Favero Assioma Pro MX (MTB): $499/789USD (Single/Dual)

In other words, Favero is basically $100 cheaper for the single unit, and $110 cheaper for the dual unit.

The Technical Differences:

I’ll pull together a complete chart at some point of all the technical differences, but I’d say roughly speaking, here’s the key technical bits:

– Accuracy: This is a wash, I just don’t see any difference at all in all of my riding between the two pedals. Both are super accurate.

– Automatic calibration and Temperature Compensation: All of this is the same, works the same.

– Battery Charging: Both use rechargeable pedals these days, this is a wash.

– Battery Duration: This is the biggest difference now. This past March Favero basically doubled their battery via a firmware update. To date, we haven’t seen any repercussions from that. Perhaps we’ll see Garmin do the same, or perhaps not. Either way, Garmin’s claim is 90-hours, whereas Favero’s is 160hrs. Now, practically speaking nobody really had an issue when Favero was half that value given how many hours/weeks/months of riding that really is for most people, but obviously, it’s handy to charge less often.

– Connectivity: Both have unlimited ANT+ connections and 3 concurrent Bluetooth connections. Garmin also supports Secure Bluetooth pairing, which, while in theory is great, I find to frankly be the biggest @#$@)#*U ever. Especially when I’m trying to pair a new watch to the pedals. Once it’s paired, life is fine. But there’s no single thing that annoys me more about these pedals than this. Of course, this may just be a me problem with constantly pairing the pedals to new bikes, but still.

– Direct Force Measurements: This is really the only technical area where Garmin has a ‘win’ over Faveo, which allows you to see the direct force itself. But again, virtually nobody uses this. So while I’m sure a few appreciate it, most probably won’t ever even care/notice.

– Phone Configuration/Update: Yes, both companies have apps that can connect to the pedals, toggle settings, and update firmware.

– Q-Factor: The same

– Strain Gauge: Both companies like to talk about their strain gauge design and how it might be better or not. At the end of the day, it simply doesn’t matter and that’s marketing doing its thing, both are super accurate, super durable and well proven over time.

– Weight: The Favero road pedals are lighter (130g/pedal vs Garmin’s 156g).

– Cycling Dynamics: Both units have it. There are some nuances around Garmin’s new secure Bluetooth pairing that might matter down the road, but practically speaking only Garmin devices support display of Cycling Dynamics, so whether that’s ANT+ or Bluetooth Smart for today doesn’t matter. Let alone the limited value of the data anyway.

So then, given the Garmin pedals cost $100 more than Favero, and have less battery life, why would someone buy them over the Favero ones? For the same reason they did in the past: Global support, and local availability.

One of the biggest challenges of Favero is that they handle all support out of Italy, including replacements. Don’t get me wrong, they’re really good at it, and it’s really efficient, but it means sending your pedals back to Italy and getting a replacement set. Up till now, I’ve argued that you could basically get two Favero sets for the price of one Garmin set. But now that argument evaporates.

Beyond the shipping aspects, there’s the customs/duties aspects. Just last week someone was e-mailing me about issues they were having getting Favero pedals out of customs. Issues that simply wouldn’t exist if they had local distribution.

Now, if you’re in Europe, it largely won’t matter. It’s all pretty seamless. But if you’re in Brazil, or the United States, or somewhere else, it may very well matter. It really depends on your country, and as anyone who has ever imported anything knows: Luck of the draw on that given day.

Wrap-Up:

Ultimately, both companies make really good pedals that work great and are very similar in terms of features. It’s just that now the decision is no longer “obviously, get Favero”, but instead, much closer. I noted that last year I bought my wife another set of Favero pedals for both her gravel bike (MX) and then road bike (RK). The reason was super simple: Price.

At the end of the day, like most riders, she’s simply looking at total power and current cadence, and wants that data to be accurate, with good battery life. Both companies can do that, but one was almost half the price of the other. Now they’re pretty similar, and instead you’re basically paying that $100 for a blend of the Garmin brand but also the Garmin distribution and support network behind it. Depending on where you are in the world, that may or may not matter.

I had the Rally x10 pedals on my long-term review list (along with far too many other things), so maybe this will finally push me to get them done, since people will probably start to consider them. Of course, you can also just read the technical differences section above and pretty much know what my review will say: Pedals work great and are durable, battery life is just fine, pairing is annoying AF, but otherwise I just ride. It’s easy.

With that – thanks for reading!

Found This Post Useful? Support The Site!

Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.

If you're shopping for the Garmin Rally RS210 (Dual SPD-SL Power Meter Pedals), Garmin Rally RK210 (Dual Look KEO Power Meter Pedals) or Garmin Rally XC210 (Dual SPD Power Meter Pedals) or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot.

Garmin Rally RS210 (Dual SPD-SL Power Meter Pedals)

Amazon REI

Garmin Rally RK210 (Dual Look KEO Power Meter Pedals)

Amazon REI

Garmin Rally XC210 (Dual SPD Power Meter Pedals)

Amazon

And of course – you can always sign-up to be a DCR Supporter! That gets you an ad-free DCR, access to the DCR Shed Talkin' video series packed with behind the scenes tidbits...and it also makes you awesome. And being awesome is what it’s all about!

Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. And lastly, if you felt this review was useful – I always appreciate feedback in the comments below. Thanks!

The Forerunner 70 & Forerunner 170 may be two of the most similar watches I’ve ever seen Garmin produce, though that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The units have a mere $50 price difference, or $100 if you include the music edition of the Forerunner 170. Still, while they are similar, there are a handful of differences that may matter depending on what you care about – or more specifically, mostly what types of sports you intend to track.

Still, these two units are the most feature-packed and price-focused watches Garmin has released this decade. It’s an astonishing shift from the sky-high prices of 2025 across their lineup. Garmin is very clearly trying to undercut the bulk of its budget competitors here, and likely doing so successfully, especially with the Foreunner 70.

I’ve been putting both watches through their paces side-by-side (one on each wrist) just to understand those differences in real life, beyond the specs.

With that, let’s dive into it!

The Hardware Differences:

The two units are nearly identical in hardware, especially when viewed externally, as they appear identical. Only a few internal differences exist. Generally speaking, that’s Garmin’s mantra: re-use hardware/components across multiple product lines, and even within a product line, with the majority of differentiation coming from software.

Viewed at any distance, they’d look identical, save the unique colors for each model.

Still, here’s how the two differ:

– The Forerunner 70 is $249, whereas the Forerunner 170 is $299, and the Forerunner 170 Music is $349
– The Forerunner 70 has 6 colorways, Forerunner 170 has 4 (different) colorways
– The Forerunner 170 has the option for music (in the ‘Music’ edition), the Forerunner 70 does not
– The Forerunner 170 has Garmin Pay (NFC/Contactless payments) included; the Forerunner 70 does not
– The Forerunner 170 has a barometer/altimeter, the Forerunner 70 does not
– The Forerunner 170 has a magnetic compass & gyroscope, the Forerunner 70 does not
– The Forerunner 170 has a temperature sensor (as part of the altimeter), the Forerunner 70 does not
– The Forerunner 170 Music has WiFi (for syncing music, activities, firmware updates, etc), the others do not
– The Forerunner 70 actually has a bit longer battery than the Forerunner 170, due to handling the extra processing load of the barometer, altimeter, and more memory for the music edition.

Here’s a look at all the color options for the Forerunner 70:

And then here’s the Forerunner 170 color options:

Now, as noted, there are battery life differences as well. Here are the two variants:

Forerunner 70:

Smartwatch mode: Up to 13 days (5 days always-on display)
Battery Saver Smartwatch mode: Up to 28 days
GPS Only GNSS Mode: Up to 23 hours
All-Systems GNSS Mode: Up to 16 hours

Forerunner 170: 

Smartwatch mode: Up to 10 days (4 days always-on display)
Battery Saver Smartwatch mode: Up to 19 days
GPS Only GNSS Mode: Up to 20 hours
All-Systems GNSS Mode: Up to 14 hours

Again, the higher battery burn of the Forerunner 170 compared to the less expensive Forerunner 70 is that they both share the same exact battery, but the Forerunner 170 has added components that burn more battery (namely the gyro, altimeter, and barometer).

Still, beyond that, from a hardware standpoint, they’re otherwise identical:

– Both are 43mm watches with identical dimensions
– Both have 1.2″ touchscreen AMOLED displays
– Both have Garmin’s standard 5-button layout
– Both have Garmin’s Elevate Gen4 optical HR sensor package (Gen5 is the latest with ECG & skin temperature)
– Both have PulseOx (Blood Oxygenation tracking)
– Neither has ECG support
– Neither has multiband/dual-frequency GPS inside

Again, this might be the closest I’ve seen to two different tiers/series of watches being released with nearly identical hardware. As always with Garmin devices, though, the software differentiates things even more.

The Software (non-Sports):

The biggest thing to understand about the software here on the Forerunner 70 & 170 is that it’s leveraging the same underlying platform as numerous other watches launched in 2025, which originated on the Fenix 8 in August 2024. This is Garmin’s new common OS, and allows for new features & bugs/etc to be fixed universally across all watches. This has dramatically improved getting fixes to more devices, since a fix in a Fenix 8 Pro results in the exact same fix in a Vivoactive 6, Forerunner 570/970, Venu 4, a gazillion Fenix variants, and more (and now Forerunner 70/170).

More notably, though from a features standpoint, this has resulted in a lot of smaller features trickling down from the Fenix series into lower-end watches, simply because it would have been more work to change the UI to remove them than was worth the business effort to upsell them. Most of these can be tiny, like adding the color shift at night options, or the battery burn widget, or the focus modes. But in total, we’re talking likely hundreds of tiny features.

Anyways, to that end, the Forerunner 70 & 170 watches are nearly identical in the actual features they have, save a handful of ones that the 170 has mostly due to added hardware components (e.g., music features on the music one with extra storage), and then a few expanded sport features on the Forerunner 170 (next section).

From a non-sports standpoint, here are the differences:

The Forerunner 170’s Music Capability: Obviously, the Forerunner 170 Music edition (but not the base Forerunner 170) has the ability to download music to it. This includes both MP3 files, as well as streaming services like Spotify, Amazon Music, and Deezer. As of this writing, the YouTube Music app isn’t available for it yet, though I suspect that’ll come soon (it usually takes a bit longer for some odd reason). This allows you to cache offline that music, and then play it without a phone while working out (or, not working out).

You must connect a pair of headphones (or any Bluetooth audio device) to the FR170 music in order for music to play, as it doesn’t have a full speaker (just a beeper).

The Forerunner 170’s Contactless Payments (Garmin Pay): The FR170 has Garmin Pay on all editions, which allows you to load a supported credit card from a supported bank onto your watch. As always, your bank has to be on the Garmin Pay list, though it’s pretty expansive, depending on your country.

To use it, you’ll simply open the controls menu, then tap the little credit card, and enter your pin. After that, you can just tap the card reader like any other NFC/contactless payment card/phone.

Beyond that, everything else is the same. At least, assuming we count altimeter, barometer, and compass data as sport data…which, we will.

Sport Features Differences:

Most of the differences within the Forerunner 170 can be found within the sports realm, either tied to the Altimeter/Barometer/Compass functions, or tied to the extra power meter support. There are a few things that are sorta ancillary to that, but those are the big areas.

Just to list these out nicely and efficiently, here we go:

– The Forerunner 170 Music can generate voice alerts/prompts during a workout via connected headphones; the Forerunner 70 cannot connect to headphones
– The Forerunner 170 has the ABC (Altimeter, Barometer, Compass) widget, the Forerunner 70 does not, as it doesn’t have those three hardware components
– The Forerunner 170 has added data fields around elevation/ascent/descent
– The Forerunner 170 has a temperature sensor, and thus temperature data fields
– The Forerunner 170 has the Storm Alert feature (triggered by the barometer)
– The Forerunner 170 has ‘Cycling Performance’ (data/widget), as it supports power meters that the Forerunner 70 doesn’t
– The Forerunner 170 Cycling Performance widget will estimate your cycling VO2Max (separate from running), as well as estimate your current FTP (Functional Threshold Power)
– The Forerunner 170 can control an ANT+ FE-C smart trainer, including structured workouts
– The Forerunner 170 has a slate of added cycling power meter data fields in the bike profiles
– The Forerunner 170 can support Garmin Cycle Coach, since it supports power meters

Next, looking at the sensor types, here’s a quick listing of the supported sensors

– The Forerunner 70/170 sensors: External HR (ANT+/Bluetooth), Footpod (ANT+/Bluetooth), Lights (ANT+), Cycling Radar (ANT+/Bluetooth), RD Pod (ANT+), Speed/Cadence Sensor (ANT+/Bluetooth), Tempe (ANT+/Bluetooth)

– The Forerunner 170 adds the following types: Cycling Power (ANT+/Bluetooth), Smart Trainer (ANT+)

Here’s the full list of sports modes, and then the additional modes each FR170 variant has after it:

Forerunner 70: Run, Track Run, Treadmill, Road Bike, Walk, Cardio, Strength, Pool Swim, Trail Run, Bike (Outdoor), Bike Indoor, Virtual Run, Indoor Track, Obstacle Racing, Ultra Run, MTB, eBike, eMTB, Cyclocross, Gravel Bike, Bike Commute, Bike Tour, Mobility, HIIT, Yoga, Pilates, Elliptical, Stair Stepper, Row Indoor, Walk Indoor, Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Jump Rope, Hike, Rucking, Mountaineering, Disc Golf, Horseback, Archery, Inline Skating, Ski, Snowboard, XC Classic Ski, XC Classic Skate, Snowshoe, Ice Skating, Snowmobile, SUP, Kayak, Row, Snorkel, Soccer/Football, American Football, Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Volleyball, Cricket, Lacrosse, Rugby, Field Hockey, Ice Hockey, Ultimate Disc, Tennis, Pickleball, Padel, Racquetball, Squash, Badminton, Table Tennis, Platform Tennis, ATV, Snowmobile, Overland, Motocross, Motorcycle, Horseback, Breathwork

The Forerunner 170: Adds Floor Climb, Openwater (Swim)

The Forerunner 170 Music: Adds Guided Meditation too

The reason only the FR170 Music has Guided Meditation is that it leverages the audio playback pieces on the headphones.

On the Forerunner 170 ABC features, the Compass helps in a few ways. While navigating a course, it’ll instantly rotate the map page (breadcrumb route) as you move around, whereas on the Forerunner 70, it won’t do that very quickly. Likewise, on the FR170, you can lock a heading if you want to:

You can also calibrate the altimeter as well, and change the altimeter/barometer modes.

Meanwhile, when it comes to the elevation data, there are some interesting nuances here. First, the Forerunner 70 won’t display your current elevation during an activity, nor any ascent/descent values.

However, if you load a course/route, then it will actually display the ascent/descent data. Here you can see it on a hilly run from today:

(You can see total ascent thus far, 104m, ascent remaining, 28m, the current high/low altitudes, and a course profile for my route. When I went off-route, I simply lost the ascent remaining metric.)

What’s notable is that you can go off-course, and it’ll still correctly track this. Meaning, it’s not actually linked straight to the route file. Instead, it’s leveraging GPS-based elevation data. This is confirmed at the end of the activity/workout, when you’ll see the elevation graph as well as the summary values. Here on this 5KM trail run, you can see the difference of only a few meters, despite some steep inclines/declines.

I suspect that for most people, this difference wouldn’t be meaningful. Plus, once you upload these files to most platforms, it’ll automatically correct the data.

Speaking of which, when it comes to heart rate accuracy and GPS accuracy, I’m seeing no differences at all between the two units; they’re producing identical results. You can see this in my Forerunner 70 post, where I include data sets from both watches on the same activities.

And for the singular GPS sport mode that isn’t on the Forerunner 70 (Openwater Swimming), I’m seeing pretty good results there:

Sure, you see a tiny bit of a difference between the multiband unit and the FR170, but that could also easily be left vs right arm swing. I’ll do another swim and switch arms at the halfway point to see if there’s any difference.

Note, critically for triathletes, neither watch has a multisport/triathlon mode, which is notable because the Forerunner 265 (and of course Forerunner 570/970) does have these modes. It’s really just about the single Forerunner 265 feature that’s not in the Forerunner 170. Meaning, if you aren’t a triathlete and want to ensure you’re on the latest software update train, I’d go Forerunner 170 over Forerunner 265. Whereas, if you’re a triathlete, then you’d want to avoid the Forerunner 170.

Wrap-Up:

Ultimately, I think a decision between the Forerunner 70 vs Forerunner 170 really comes down to about three key questions you’d want to ask yourself:

1) Do you care about Garmin Pay or Music?
2) Do you care about the altimeter/barometer/compass features, including slightly improved trail navigation responsiveness and elevation data during a run?
3) Do you care about either cycling power meter support or openwater swimming?

If the answer to any of those three questions is a ‘yes’, then the Forerunner 170 is probably the better option. Or alternatively, looking at some of Garmin’s prior-get watches on sale (such as the Forerunner 265 instead, which is the same price). As always with Garmin prior-get watches, you’re basically looking at a tradeoff between no-new-feature updates vs very solid deals. Meaning, if you go into buying a Forerunner 265 knowing it won’t get any meaningful new feature updates (it won’t), then you’ll gain triathlon support and a few other things (but won’t get the new FR70/170 Quick Workout Feature).

You can of course play the comparison game all-day long between not only different Garmin watches (e.g., FR265 at $349, Epix Gen 2 at $399, Forerunner 965 for a bit more, etc…), but also to other competitors like the COROS Pace 4 at $249, Suunto Run or Race in the same ballpark, or towards the more smartwatch realm such as the Apple Watch SE at $249, or the Google Pixel Watch. But…that’s not the title of this post. Perhaps/probably another day.

Ultimately, I think the Forerunner 70 is the strongest value watch that Garmin has now in its lineup. Even holding its own against many budget watches out there in terms of price-to-value. However, that does get murkier with the Forerunner 170, compared to Garmin’s own prior-get watches, and some of their competitors.

With that – thanks for reading!

Found This Post Useful? Support The Site!

Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.

If you're shopping for the Garmin Forerunner 70 or Garmin Forerunner 170 or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot.

Garmin Forerunner 70

Amazon REI

Garmin Forerunner 170

REI

And finally, here’s a handy list of accessories that work well with this unit (and some that I showed in the review). Given the unit pairs with ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart sensors, you can use just about anything though.

Garmin Index S2 WiFi Scale

Amazon

This wifi-connected scale will track your weight and related metrics both on the scale display and in Garmin Connect (plus 3rd party apps like TrainingPeaks). It'll also then sync your weight to your watch/bike computer, to ensure accurate calorie data.

Garmin Cadence Sensor V2

Amazon

This is a dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart cycling cadence sensor that you strap to your crank arm, but also does dual Bluetooth Smart, so you can pair it both to Zwift and another Bluetooth Smart app at once if you want.

Garmin inReach Mini 3 Plus Satellite Communicator

On Sale!

Amazon $449

I never leave cell range without this. Every adventure I do that could leave cellular coverage, I have this with me, and it has native integration with virtually all Garmin watches for seamless alerts. This is the newer version which can send voice mesages & photos.

Garmin Puck Charger (USB-C)

Amazon

Seriously, this will change your life. $9 for a two-pack of these puck Garmin chargers that stay put and stay connected. One for the office, one for your bedside, another for your bag, and one for your dog's house. Just in case.

Garmin HRM-200

Amazon

The HRM-200 is Garmin's newest strap that transmits concurrently on both ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, as well as containing new authentication and encryption capabilities.

Garmin HRM-600

Amazon

The HRM-600 is Garmin's newest top-end strap that transmits concurrently on both ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, as well as containing new authentication and encryption capabilities. Plus, it has all of Garmin's on-board storage features, for using it without a watch.

And of course – you can always sign-up to be a DCR Supporter! That gets you an ad-free DCR, access to the DCR Shed Talkin' video series packed with behind the scenes tidbits...and it also makes you awesome. And being awesome is what it’s all about!

Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. And lastly, if you felt this review was useful – I always appreciate feedback in the comments below. Thanks!

Garmin has just launched the new Forerunner 70, which brings a massive slate of new features to the successor of the Forerunner 55. In fact, if you have an existing Forerunner 55 watch (Fun fact: It’s the most popular Forerunner watch ever sold), then the Forerunner 70 will feel like you’ve upgraded to a Fenix-series device. Nearly 5 years later, the Forerunner 70 takes advantage of not just major hardware improvements, but a vast new software platform as well.

What makes this interesting is that this is *by far* the most new features Garmin has ever packed into a lower-priced device, and atop that, they even included some new training features as well. The pricing here is a big shift from what we’ve seen over the past few 12-18 months, and I suspect it’ll undercut a lot of their competitors.

Now, I’ll be dropping my full in-depth review here in a few days (just got one or two more test activities I want to get in), but I’ve got a pretty good feel for things across running, cycling, hiking, strength, and more (such as swimming over on the Forerunner 170). So frankly, very little is likely going to change between now and then, short of it catching fire on my wrist. Nonetheless, let’s get into all the differences.

Lastly, this is a media loaner from Garmin. I’ve already ordered my own unit at regular price, for long-term usage purposes. As always, I don’t accept advertising from any company I review, and no company sees my reviews before you do. So, if you found this review useful, consider becoming a DCR Supporter, which gets you an ad-free site, plus the behind-the-scenes video series between both myself (and my wife) on everything that happens in the DCR Sports Tech Cave/universe.

What’s New:

Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that this is not Garmin’s first Forerunner 70 watch. In fact, the first one came 15 years ago, all the way back in 2011. You can read my review about it here. Obviously though, things have changed a lot. That one had a coin-cell battery in it, and lacked GPS and most other features. It was basically designed to work with an ANT+ footpod. So, I’ll save you 12 reams of digital paper trying to compare that.

Instead, we’re going to compare it against its actual predecessor – the Forerunner 55 (the Forerunner 60 was from 2010, and basically the same watch as the Forerunner 70 except with a new band).

With that, all the differences compared to the Garmin Forerunner 55:

– Switched from 1” MIP display to 1.2” AMOLED Display
– Switched to a 43mm case size (was previously 42mm)
– Added Touchscreen (previously was buttons only)
– Upgraded from Garmin ELEVATE V3 HR sensor to ELEVATE V4 HR sensor (but V5 is latest)
– Completely revamped/changed user interface
– Added Watch Focus Modes (e.g., sleep, theater, activity, etc…)
– Added HRV Status/tracking support (at night)
– Added Smart Wake Alarm
– Added Sleep Coach feature, including sleep recommendation factors
– Added Nap detection support (new to Garmin, finally!)
– Added Morning Report feature
– Added Evening Report Feature
– Added Daily Summary report feature
– Added Daily Health Snapshot Feature
– Added Health Status tracking
– Added Lifestyle Logging (journaling, on-device & Garmin Connect)
– Added the ability to switch between small fonts and larger fonts for text
– Added quick-access Flashlight feature (using screen, not dedicated LED flashlight)
– Added photos in text messages (Android only)
– Added ‘Shortcuts’ feature (configuring buttons for quick access to features)
– Added Alternate/Secondary Time Zone Widget/Option
– Added the ability to create Widget/Glance Folders
– Added Battery Widget (shows what’s driving battery usage)
– Added Countdowns
– Added Calculator Widget
– Added Garmin Messenger integration
– Added Moon Phase Widget
– Added Pulse Ox Tracking
– Added Sleep Score
– Added Sports Score Widget
– Added Stocks Widget
– Added Sunrise & Sunset Widget
– Added Weight Tracking Widget
– Added Timers/Alarms/Stopwatch/etc Widget
– Added Connect IQ Store (on-device)
– Added Low Battery Alert (e.g., 1 day left)
– Added Color filter option (for color blindness accessibility)
– Added Hourly Alert/Chime
– Added Battery Saver Feature (and now battery life estimates)
– Added ~60+ new sport profiles/apps (see list below)
– Added the ability to configure watch activity profiles and data fields from your phone
– Added Training Readiness (and all underlying metrics)
– Added Training Status (and all underlying metrics)
– Added Acute Load (including historical load trends/tunnel)
– Added VO2Max Trending
– Added Load Focus, Load Ratio
– Added Recovery Time (live widget/etc…)
– Added Running Dynamics support (Ground Contact Time, Vertical Oscillation, Vertical Ratio, Stride Length)
– Added Native Running Power (wrist-based, and native data fields)
– Added Running-power specific training zones
– Added Automatic Run/Walk/Stand detection within a workout
– Daily suggested workouts can now be seen into the future, configuration of long-workout days, more settings, etc…
– Daily suggested workouts can now be tied to future calendar race events, automatically creating workouts for that distance/course
– Added equipment tracking on-device (e.g., shoes, bikes, etc…)
– Added Primary Race Widget
– Added New Race Calendar & Race Details/Countdown Widgets
– Added Race Time prediction (within Race widget)
– Added Workout Benefit feature (tells you what the benefit of a given workout was)
– Added ability to create lap alerts on proximity (e.g., passing the same pace)
– Added Course/Route following
– Added ‘Up Ahead’ feature for distances to predefined markers like aid stations, climbs, etc…
– Added Aid Station/Rest Break Timer/Counter in Courses (e.g., Trail Runs)
– Added Time Cutoff Feature in Courses (e.g., Trail Runs)
– Added Garmin Share (to quickly share workouts/courses/etc…)
– Added ‘Workouts’ app/quick access menu
– Added Pack Weight Support (in Running/Hiking activities)
– Increased data fields per page from 4 to 8
– Increased number of custom data pages allowed
– Adds support for up to 4 CIQ data fields concurrently (versus 2 previously)
– Added muscle map feature in strength workouts
– Added Secure/Encrypted Bluetooth sensor pairing feature/option
– Added Cycling Lights, Cycling Radar, RD Pod, Tempe sensor support (ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, see full list below)
– Increased GPS/GNSS types: Added Beidou & QZSS to multi-band list (but not dual frequency)
– Smartwatch battery life is 13 days (5-days always-on)
– GPS battery life per the chart below up to 23 hours
– Weight is 40g
– Waterproof rating is 5ATM/50-meters

Holy moly, that took a long time to put together/figure out (and yes, I literally manually go through every single item to come up with the above list – Garmin doesn’t provide any such list to me). Of course, the reality is there are still tons more features buried in sub-menus and such, but I think the above covers most of it.

When it comes to the full list of sport modes, it’s sprawling, and essentially lines up with most of Garmin’s other watches made in 2025/2026. For the most part, the only differences to a higher-end Fenix series watch is that those watches also have both high-speed watersports (e.g. surfing) due to increased water resistance designs, and low-speed underwater sports (e.g. diving) due to other increased water resistance as well. In any case, here’s the full list:

Forerunner 70: Run, Track Run, Treadmill, Road Bike, Walk, Cardio, Strength, Pool Swim, Trail Run, Bike (Outdoor), Bike Indoor, Virtual Run, Indoor Track, Obstacle Racing, Ultra Run, MTB, eBike, eMTB, Cyclocross, Gravel Bike, Bike Commute, Bike Tour, Mobility, HIIT, Yoga, Pilates, Elliptical, Stair Stepper, Row Indoor, Walk Indoor, Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Jump Rope, Hike, Rucking, Mountaineering, Disc Golf, Horseback, Archery, Inline Skating, Ski, Snowboard, XC Classic Ski, XC Classic Skate, Snowshoe, Ice Skating, Snowmobile, SUP, Kayak, Row, Snorkel, Soccer/Football, American Football, Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Volleyball, Cricket, Lacrosse, Rugby, Field Hockey, Ice Hockey, Ultimate Disc, Tennis, Pickleball, Padel, Racquetball, Squash, Badminton, Table Tennis, Platform Tennis, ATV, Snowmobile, Overland, Motocross, Motorcycle, Horseback, Breathwork

In case you’re wondering how it differs from the also-announced Forerunner 170, that watch has Floor Climb (because it has an altimeter), Openwater Swimming, and Meditation (guided). It does not have multisport/triathlon modes.

Lastly, when it comes to supported sensor types, it supports the following:

Sensor Supported: External HR (ANT+/Bluetooth), Footpod (ANT+/Bluetooth), Lights (ANT+), Cycling Radar (ANT+/Bluetooth), RD Pod (ANT+), Speed/Cadence Sensor (ANT+/Bluetooth), Tempe (ANT+)

The Forerunner 170 adds in cycling power meter and cycling smart trainer support.

Finally, for battery life, here’s where things stand:

Smartwatch mode: Up to 13 days (5 days always-on display)
Battery Saver Smartwatch mode: Up to 28 days
GPS Only GNSS Mode: Up to 23 hours
All-Systems GNSS Mode: Up to 16 hours

Got all that? Good, let’s get into some of the bigger ticket items.

A Revamped Watch

In many ways, it’s hard to know where to start with the Forerunner 70, since there are so many new features, and it’s really an entirely different watch than the existing Forerunner 55. So instead, let’s just hit up some of the core aspects first that are most notable to existing Forerunner 55-era folks, and then my full in-depth review in the next couple of days will dive into everything more thoroughly. Also note that I’ve got a separate post coming on the Forerunner 170 (seen above in red), though frankly, it’s virtually identical.

Now, before we go forward, I do want to note that *everything* you see in this and my review is on an account without Garmin Connect+. Meaning, there’s no extra subscription fee for anything you see here, both at the watch and app/platform level. It’s all included. Garmin Connect+ does offer a few features on the app, such as the nutrition tracking feature, but by and large, I don’t find much value in anything there.

With that, looking at the watch itself, it’s got the usual Forerunner 5-button layout, except now with an AMOLED display:

The display is the same as that found on the Vivoactive 6, which means it’s likely about 1,500 nits in brightness (Garmin doesn’t disclose these values for some odd reason), and so isn’t as bright as the Forerunner 570/970/Fenix 8 Pro, but is plenty bright (and brighter than past generation displays).

From the customizable watch face, you’ll scroll down into the widgets glances (and widgets), which is a huge upgrade from the Forerunner 55 of years past.

With the widgets, you’re going to find all the new widgets that have been released on the Forerunner 570/970 watches over the past year, such as the sports widget, calculator, Garmin Share, and many more. As you can see above, it’s got the new battery burn widget seen on the recent Fenix & Forerunner lineup as well.

Of course, for most people doing workouts, it’s the massive slate of new sports modes that you’ll be interested in. Those are listed up above, but one of the things you’ll notice is the same general sports UI as the Forerunner 570/970 and Fenix 8 Series.

This includes new features like the recently added equipment tracking, for which I’ll eventually add in my correct shoes. In the meantime, those Asics have some 17,000km on them…according to Garmin Connect.

And with that comes the ability to configure a gazillion custom data pages, and up to 8 data fields per page. As well as a slate of new graphical data pages.

As well as the ability to do all your customization from your phone. This includes basic settings, but also more advanced settings like data fields and the things that take forever to do on the watch itself, you can do from either watch or phone.

Of course, the biggest non-sport-mode ticket addition to the Forerunner 70 series is undoubtedly the addition of Training Readiness. This looks at your current training history, as well as daily life data (sleep, stress, etc…), and gives you a number for how ready you are to train at any given moment.

This will change throughout the day (both up and down). Go out for a hard run? It’s going to drop. Sit on the couch and watch TV? It’s likely to go up. It’s one of the best executed pieces of Garmin software there’s been in the last few years. I’ll dive into more of it within my longer in-depth review.

But with that comes Training Status. This instead looks at more of the coaching aspect, than the readiness aspect. It looks at your recent training load, factors like HRV status, and decides whether or not your current volume (and type of training) is appropriate.

This includes Acute Load, one of the key metrics to use for looking at training load trending over time.

It also includes complimentary access to the ‘Unproductive’ training status, for which Garmin is well known (it’s actually really hard to get yourself into that pickle these days, but fear not, I found a way). Again, more in my full written review.

Meanwhile, the unit includes the ability to load up a course/route, which the Forerunner 55 lacked:

However, honestly, more interesting than that is that Garmin included a bunch of waypoint-related features, for example, the Up Ahead function that you can show icons/details about upcoming points on your route:

And even more surprising is that all the new Ultra-Trail running-focused Time Cut-off Checkpoints and Rest Timer features have been added. This allows you to configure a time-off for certain points on the course, as well as configure how long you’ll linger eating Haribo in the aid stations (and it’ll count that down for you).

Though inversely, it was surprising to not see either the Timing Gates feature, or the Estimated Finish line feature (which will trim off the end of a race to the defined course finish line, if you forget to stop your watch).

There are no offline maps here, of course, which requires a higher-end unit from Garmin, but for most people, having the breadcrumb trail will do the trick, especially while road running.

Again, I’ll dive into more of the general running features in my full written review later this week.

New Quick Workout Creator:

Garmin has always reigned supreme when it comes to ways you could do structured workouts. Garmin has a manual interval creator (on-device), the ability to import workouts from Garmin Connect (yours or training plans), workouts from 3rd parties and coaches (e.g., TrainingPeaks, etc…), pace/heart rate/etc targets, dynamic Daily Suggested Workouts, and many more options.

However, one thing it lacked was the ability to just request an on-demand workout of a given duration (time) and pain level, and then boom, give you a few options, and off you go. All on-device, without any AI-driven app or such behind the scenes. Now, it does.

Quick workouts is both simplistic, and frankly, awesome. You simply choose how hard you want to hurt (four different levels), then choose duration levels (30 mins, 45 mins, 60 mins). From there, it’ll spit out 1-4 structured workouts instantly that you can choose from.

As one who often decides what type of workout I’m going to do as I walk out the door, this is perfect.

Here, let’s take a quick look at how it works. First, you choose Run, then choose Training, then Quick Workout:

From there, you’ll choose the level of suffering. Again, super simplistic (if perhaps a touch bit stylistically dated):

Next, you’ll choose the duration. This doesn’t change, no matter how advanced you are. After all, any coach can make even the most elite athlete in the world hurt at any of these given levels.

Instead, the workouts it’s creating for you will vary based on your ability, driven by your workouts. As with most things on the Garmin watch, the more data (runs) you give it, the better this gets. I find that for most Garmin features, you’ll reach that optimal level of data about 4 weeks in, though this totally works straight out of the box too.

In any case, if you select the easiest level, these are almost always basically just blocks at an easy intensity. Whereas once you start increasing intensity, they start getting more creative, and you get more options:

Again, these are taking into account your existing training and ability levels:

The ‘cool’ part is that, unlike Daily Suggested Workouts, which will refuse to give you really tough workouts if it thinks you’re likely to get injured, the Quick Workout Creator has zero effs to give. Like asking for “native-level-spicy” at a Chinese restaurant, it’s gonna deliver probably beyond what you want to accept.

In any case, once you’ve picked your suffering, it’ll load up just like any other Garmin structured workout. So you’ll get prompts and countdowns as you iterate through:

Meaning it’ll tell you the target pace and time left for each section automatically, chirping as it goes along. Then, at the end it’ll give you an execution score:

Ya know what I like best about this? It just works.

No faffing about with some app on your phone driven by wonky AI that can’t put together a coherent workout. Instead, this is driven by the coaching principles that we’ve seen the rest of the Garmin platform leverage on workouts for years. Generally speaking, most people agree that the running workouts it generates once it has enough data are pretty solid (albeit usually a bit conservative to avoid injury).

The point is, what I appreciate about this is that I can just decide how much I want to suffer as I walk out the door, without pulling out my phone, and then get right to business. Simple and effective.

Accuracy (Heart Rate & GPS):

I’ll dive into accuracy within my full in-depth review, though I did want to briefly touch on it here, if for no other reason than to say ‘no issues’. Both the heart rate sensor and GPS chipset are tried and true in numerous other watches over the last few years.

The heart rate sensor is a Garmin Elevate Gen4 optical HR sensor, which isn’t their latest generation (that’s Gen5), but is generally good in the vast majority of situations. The Gen5 typically has an advantage in certain cases (like intervals on a cool but not super-cold fall day), though the Gen4 beats almost all of Garmin’s competitors anyway.

First, a quick look at an interval workout from yesterday (the one I selected above in the Quick Workout generator, in fact). Here are both the Forerunner 70 & Forerunner 170, on separate wrists, compared to a chest strap and other devices.

You can see some slight variations here and there, interestingly more on the FR70 than the FR170, though that’s likely just simply luck of the wrist than anything.

Meanwhile, here’s a trail run I did. Well, it started off as a trail run for the first 45 minutes, then I did some intervals for the last 45 minutes. You’ll see where I held up my camera to get a quick snippet of b-roll (while starting the interval going downhill), which caused the cadence lock you see. That’s a good example of an edge-case scenario that the Gen5 optical HR sensor can typically handle.

Still, there are other times where the FR70/170 varies a bit on the recovery, especially (which is semi-common for optical HR sensors that tend to delay catching up after dropping down).

Meanwhile, here’s a run my wife did yesterday, and you can see it’s virtually identical to the Garmin HRM-FIT chest strap she was wearing:

As for GPS, the Forerunner 70/170 doesn’t have a multi-band GPS/GNSS, but as I’ve said countless times, it’s not the size of your GPS, but how you use it. Garmin specifically has had industry-leading non-multi-band GPS antenna designs (and chipsets/firmware) for the last few years, and beats almost every other multi-band/dual-frequency unit on the market. Virtually every reviewer out there finds the same.

So, with that in mind, here’s some trail running, without any issues at all:

Likewise, here’s a downtown area with plenty of tall buildings, and even going under a swimming pool. No, really, I went under it (yes, that’s a man in the water looking down at me):

As you can see, it’s virtually identical to the Fenix 8 Pro with full multi-band enabled in that scenario:

And likewise for this gravel bike ride, no issues here, including next to cliffs, and fast single-track trails that are frankly mountain-bike trails. Here’s a zoomed-in snippet of one section:

Lastly, the Forerunner 170 gained the ability to track openwater swims (both FR70/170 can do pool swim tracking). You can see that the tracking was pretty good. The multi-band Fenix 8 Pro had a very slight edge on it compared to the reference track on a swim buoy, but otherwise pretty darn close.

Again, I’ll toss some more data sets into my full in-depth reviews for both units, though they’re literally all identical to the above. Everything I’m seeing is exactly as I expected. This is perfectly accurate on GPS, and then pretty good on heart rate, minus some slight bobbles here and there (as expected for the Gen4 heart rate sensors).

(Note: All of the charts in these accuracy portions were created using the DCR Analyzer tool. It allows you to compare power meters/trainers, heart rate, cadence, speed/pace, running power, GPS tracks, and plenty more. You can use it as well for your own gadget comparisons, more details here.)

Wrap-Up:

I’m legit surprised that Garmin packed as much as they did into this watch for $249. This is an incredibly competitive budget watch, even if the price of ‘budget’ has slowly shifted (by most brands) from $199 to $249. This watch is price-wise unlike anything else Garmin has released in the last few years, in any of their categories. It’s the first time in a long time that Garmin seems determined to not just win on pure features (or depth), but also compete against the COROS/Suunto/Polar’s of the world with price.

As I said in my video, I see this watch as the ‘easy-button’ pick for almost all road runners, or general fitness-focused people who want a Garmin watch without the Garmin price tag. It’s got all the health/lifestyle features of a higher-end Garmin watch, without compromising on the core running (or sports) features. Sure, it doesn’t have offline maps like an Amazfit unit would at this price, nor does it have music or contactless payments. But your phone does both of the last two, and for most road runners, maps aren’t a critical thing. Whereas if you shift over to trail running, then having offline maps (and features like ClimbPro) are much more valuable.

I have very few complaints about this watch, perhaps because almost all the features are already there in other watches and reasonably well-tuned. About the only ‘complaint’ I’d say is that the decision to exclude timing gates & race finish trimming is a bit quirky (given their inclusions of some ultra trail features), but honestly, that’s a pretty minor nit that most people won’t even notice (especially if you never load a route during a race).

It’ll be interesting to see in a few years if this unit turns out to be as popular as the existing Forerunner 55 was. With that – thanks for reading!

Found This Post Useful? Support The Site!

Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.

If you're shopping for the Garmin Forerunner 70 or Garmin Forerunner 170 or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot.

Garmin Forerunner 70

Amazon REI

Garmin Forerunner 170

REI

And finally, here’s a handy list of accessories that work well with this unit (and some that I showed in the review). Given the unit pairs with ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart sensors, you can use just about anything though.

Garmin Index S2 WiFi Scale

Amazon

This wifi-connected scale will track your weight and related metrics both on the scale display and in Garmin Connect (plus 3rd party apps like TrainingPeaks). It'll also then sync your weight to your watch/bike computer, to ensure accurate calorie data.

Garmin Cadence Sensor V2

Amazon

This is a dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart cycling cadence sensor that you strap to your crank arm, but also does dual Bluetooth Smart, so you can pair it both to Zwift and another Bluetooth Smart app at once if you want.

Garmin inReach Mini 3 Plus Satellite Communicator

On Sale!

Amazon $449

I never leave cell range without this. Every adventure I do that could leave cellular coverage, I have this with me, and it has native integration with virtually all Garmin watches for seamless alerts. This is the newer version which can send voice mesages & photos.

Garmin Puck Charger (USB-C)

Amazon

Seriously, this will change your life. $9 for a two-pack of these puck Garmin chargers that stay put and stay connected. One for the office, one for your bedside, another for your bag, and one for your dog's house. Just in case.

Garmin HRM-200

Amazon

The HRM-200 is Garmin's newest strap that transmits concurrently on both ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, as well as containing new authentication and encryption capabilities.

Garmin HRM-600

Amazon

The HRM-600 is Garmin's newest top-end strap that transmits concurrently on both ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart, as well as containing new authentication and encryption capabilities. Plus, it has all of Garmin's on-board storage features, for using it without a watch.

And of course – you can always sign-up to be a DCR Supporter! That gets you an ad-free DCR, access to the DCR Shed Talkin' video series packed with behind the scenes tidbits...and it also makes you awesome. And being awesome is what it’s all about!

Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. And lastly, if you felt this review was useful – I always appreciate feedback in the comments below. Thanks!

In this episode, we chat about the potential for the Google Fitbit Air to change the health and fitness industry forever.

For those not subscribed to the FIT File (it’s free!) via your regular podcast app or on YouTube, here’s a quick post with the highlights from the most recent episode.

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As a reminder, here’s where you can find the podcast:

• The FIT File on YouTube.

And then for the audio-only version, you can find it here:

• Apple Podcasts
• YouTube Music
• Spotify
• RSS Feed

Thanks for listening!

It didn’t take long for Whoop to respond to Google-Fitbit’s announcement of the Fitbit Air. By the next morning, the company had posted a seemingly hastily written post on Reddit announcing a slate of vaguely worded plans. Hours later, the CEO would post a vertical video to social media that roughly reiterated those plans. He’d also post a passive-aggressive post to X/Twitter. Then, by Sunday, the company had finally sent something a bit more formal to users, albeit with far fewer features noted than the other posts.

The Fitbit Air has unquestionably put Whoop quickly on the defensive. While there have been a number of screen-less wearables announced over the past year, including most notably the Amazfit Helio Band ($99) and Polar Loop ($199), neither has had the financial engine behind them like Google does. In the case of Amazfit, which made a super compelling budget option, manufacturing couldn’t keep up with demand (and still can’t), and the company had but a fraction of a fraction of the marketing share of Whoop. Meanwhile, for Polar, Whoop was clearly nervous about that one and decided to sue Polar for trade dress allegations (basically, saying Polar infringed on Whoop’s looks).

Still, the Fitbit Air hits different. Priced at $99, with stylish band options that Amazfit & Polar mostly lacked, and backed by a company with massive manufacturing and global marketing power, it’s a real threat to Whoop. But more critical than the hardware price, is that it doesn’t require a subscription (which starts at $200/year for Whoop and goes upwards to $359/year). Sure, Google’s offering is more aligned to Whoop’s when you include Google’s Premium subscription, but even that is only half the price of Whoop’s subscription, at $99 year (or $79/year for existing subscribers). Beyond that, Google is leading their messaging that this is more of an open platform, eager to pull in data from all your data sources (whereas Whoop has long been very closed, save for a few partners they export data to, usually with an API licensing fee).

All of which seemingly led to the below Reddit post.

The Reddit Post

By the morning following Fitbit’s announcment, Whoop had published the below post to Reddit, via their official/verified account. As I started reading through this for the first time, I couldn’t help but think it seemed written by someone who had just cheated on their partner, and was rambling on about all the ways they’d change. While it has some specific items in there, most of it is pretty thin on actual details/dates. It lacks any of the formality and concreteness you’d see in typical Whoop communications (or see a few days later in thinned-down promises). As a funny side note, it reminds me heavily of Strava’s hastily worded late-night Reddit post angry about Garmin, last fall.

In any case, I’ve posted it here in full:

WHOOP Updates (5/8): What’s new and what’s coming next

We’re starting a new rhythm this year. Every few months, we’ll share an update on what’s new, what’s coming soon, and where we’re investing next.

 

Here’s where we’re focused this spring:

 

1. Coaching that knows you
WHOOP is getting better at understanding more than just your physiology. This includes your goals, your routines, and the things happening in your life that affect how you perform and recover.

 

Memory brings your goals, habits, and life events into one place so coaching can reflect what actually matters to you. You can access Memory in your Profile.

 

Proactive check-ins reach out based on what’s in Memory, keeping you accountable to the goals and habits you’ve shared.

 

Journaling is also improving, with options to log by voice or text and suggestions that evolve based on what is working for your body.

 

The goal: coaching that’s specific to you.

 

2. Stronger training, better connected

We said last year that strength exercise progression was coming. It took longer than we expected. It is now shipping in the next few weeks.

 

This comes to life in Strength Trainer with trends and personal records. You will be able to see how your lifts progress over time and track PRs across movements. The goal is to give you a clearer view of how your training is evolving, not just what you did on a given day.

 

We are continuing to build better tools for how you train, and improving how WHOOP fits into the rest of your routine.

 

This includes deeper integrations with the apps you already use, so more of your activity flows into WHOOP automatically. That leads to a more complete picture of your day and better context for recommendations and guidance.

 

3. Even more accurate, every activity

We never stop pushing accuracy forward. We’re delivering another improvement to the heart rate algorithm this summer, with improvements across all activities and everyday wear.

 

Workout auto-detection and classification is also improving so more of your activity is picked up without manual input.

 

4. A deeper picture of your health

We are starting to connect your daily WHOOP data with your broader health context.

 

For members in the U.S., medical records integration with HealthEx will allow you to securely connect your records inside the app so recommendations and guidance are in context of your full medical picture.

 

Also, we’re introducing a new paid add-on service: on-demand video consultations with a clinician fluent in your sleep, activity, bloodwork, and medical records so you can have a health conversation that doesn’t start from scratch.

 

Some of what’s above, like Memory, proactive check-ins, and Journaling improvement are already in your hands. Other features roll out over the coming weeks, with additional details to share as we get closer to launch.

 

You’ll see updates in the WHOOP app and we’ll keep sharing them here as well.

As you can see, it just feels very rambling with lots of ideas, but few of them concrete. Which isn’t to say they are bad ideas. For example, they talk about heart rate accuracy improvements this summer. Whoop has done a really good job over the years in this area, and this is another step in that direction (though realistically, almost every month they’re making tiny gains in their heart rate algorithms).

Likewise, in areas like workout auto-detection, Whoop is already industry-leading, though certainly has room for improvement (as I saw just yesterday, ironically, where it classified an off-road ride as both a run and bike multi-sport event – usually it nails these). Still, these are things that I’m guessing Whoop is already doing every month, so this is kinda like writing down things that were already happening just to fill out the post.

Meanwhile, there are new areas like being able to log your Journal via just a simple voice entry. That’s legit useful for folks who journal every day and find it tedious via selecting checkboxes (especially for more rare items). The same goes for improvements on how their AI remembers key things (they call that ‘Memory’), though that seems like a direct response to Google’s premium Coach feature, which is really good at remembering things.

And then there are things that they previously promised last year and seemingly forgot, that are now being rushed to be completed in the coming weeks (“We said last year that strength exercise progression was coming. It took longer than we expected. It is now shipping in the next few weeks.”). This includes tracking lift PR’s and more. Again, there’s nothing wrong with this, and they could/probably will be legit useful features – but this all feels very rushed. I imagine a bunch of engineers at Whoop are having to work some late nights/weekends to get this done.

Finally, there are the medical records pieces. This is an area where multiple companies keep trying to instantiate the link between wearables and medical records. We’re not just talking things like ECG here, but much broader links to medical records, especially around bloodwork. I remember looking at some of this 15 year ago. That scene frankly hasn’t changed much since. And given concerns around data privacy of such records, especially linked to Big Tech companies, in the US over the last 1.5 years, I don’t expect we’ll be seeing consumers flock to these features.

CEO Video & Postings:

Next, just for historical purposes, we’ve got the CEO video that followed. This is essentially the same message as Reddit, though they did overlay a couple of examples of features that are basically already done. Oddly though, it’s unlisted on their official YouTube channel, only linked from a post on Reddit.

And then there’s this post on X/Twitter, showing the inside of the Whoop that supposedly says “DON’T BOTHER COPYING US…WE’RE STILL WINNING”:

I find this peculiar, because in most cases, they’re…umm…not winning. At least, assuming valuation or subscribers or users is what matters.

For example, Whoop is heavily rumored to be preparing for an IPO, which currently has the company valued in the $10 billion range (with a ‘B’ like bubble). Sure, that’s impressive, but just for context, Google is valued at ~$4.5 TRILLION (with a ’T’, like trampled).

And certainly, there’s far more Fitbit/Google users out there than Whoop users. Whoop sits at 2.5 million users globally, whereas Fitbit alone is well into the upper 30-million active user range (Fitbit recently revamped a page that had listed an exact number from a few years back).

Don’t get me wrong, Whoop is super popular, and they do a lot of things technically right. And some things are technically better than what Fitbit has with the Fitbit Air today. For example, Whoop’s automatic exercise recognition is leagues beyond what Fitbit has (which only automatically recognizes a couple of sports). Likewise, Whoop’s heart rate broadcasting feature makes Fitbit’s look silly and hyper-limited. Whoop’s journaling feature exists where Fitbit doesn’t really have anything like that (save some general daily notes, which aren’t the same). Finally, I think Whoop’s collection of band offerings, however pricey they are, vastly beats Fitbit’s current offerings.

But of course, the inverse is also true. Fitbit’s AI pieces in their updated app run circles around Whoop’s, and Fitbit’s concept of Cardio Load, as well as Readiness. And they are well beyond Whoop’s relatively basic concept of Strain & Recovery (as I’ve pointed out for years). Likewise, Fitbit’s massive list of partners for integrations will soon become a key engine in its story.

The point is, bravado has its place (especially in sports), but these actions together seem less bravado and more scared.

What Really Matters:

The thing is, as any Reddit comment, X/Twitter reply, or YouTube comment will tell you, there’s really only one thing that Whoop users are actually upset about: The price.

That’s fundamentally the issue here, and in many ways, it always has been. Nobody is really complaining meaningfully about features in Whoop. Sure, there’s some broken promises (especially in last year’s hardware debacle), and there’s some software features that haven’t materialized as fast as Whoop promised. But at the end of the day, it’s the price that’s going to drive people from Whoop to Fitbit (or other competitors).

When people look at something like the Whoop MG, with its pricing at $359/year, after 3 years, that’s over $1,000. Whereas a Fitbit Air is still $99, or at worst $400 with three years of Fitbit Premium. And while the Whoop MG does have some other aspects (like full manual ECG), other pieces such as the Blood Pressure haven’t really panned out. Even at a more basic level, you’d be looking at the cheapest Whoop offering being $600 for 3 years, versus the cheapest Fitbit option is $99 for those 3 years (just the hardware cost).

And while I totally get that there are key software differences in comparing Fitbit Air with Premium vs Not, I’ll save those for a more in-depth post. But the reality is, a huge chunk of the market today doesn’t subscribe to Fitbit/Google Premium and isn’t at all upset about it.

Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what Whoop’s next moves actually are. Sure, there was the rambling list of planned changes, but I don’t see any of those being enough to sway people. As always, instead, money talks.

With that – thanks for reading!

Fitbit has just announced the new Fitbit Air, priced at just $99, and it doesn’t require any sort of subscription. In this post, I’ll dive into everything you need to know about it from a hardware, software, and overall platform perspective. I’ve got a unit or two headed my way to start digging into things hands-on, but for now, this covers the key bits you need to know.

In the case of the software app, I’ve been using the beta version to understand it all a bit better with existing Fitbit hardware, as the app is now expanding further beyond Fitbit data to any data source that wants to connect to it. More on that down below.

With that, let’s dive into things.

The Key Hardware Specs:

Here’s the key hardware/etc specs of the unit, keeping in mind that at a functional level, it’s essentially taking a Fitbit Charge 6, and removing the display. Meaning that virtually every feature of the Fitbit Charge 6 exists here, just in a screenless form factor.

– $99USD, no subscription required (though there’s also an optional Premium subscription option)
– Two-part device: The main pod (“the pebble”), and then the band
– Pod is “polycarbonate and PBT plastics”
– Swappable Bands vary by type/material purchased
– Three core band types: Active, Elevated, Performance (see colors below)
– Battery life of 7 days
– Recharging time: 5 minutes quick charge is 1 day usage, or 90 minutes for a full charge
– 7 days of memory for detailed motion data (though oddly only 1 day offline of workout data)
– Tracks sleep, steps, and daily activity
– Has automatic workout/exercise detection
– Tracks training load (aka Cardio Load), includes Daily Readiness
– FDA-certified background Afib detection (but not manual ECG)
– Saves heart rate at 2-second intervals
– Optical heart rate monitor, plus a red and infrared sensor for SpO2 monitoring
– Skin temperature sensor
– Internal sensors include: 3-Axis accelerometer + gyroscope
– Includes vibration motor for smart wake alarms, regular alarms, and low battery alerts
– Small LED for battery status and pairing
– Does not contain nacho cheese dispenser
– Bluetooth 5.0
– Heart Rate Broadcasting to certain equipment/devices (same as Charge 6)
– No GPS inside, but will leverage GPS from your phone (e.g., Connected GPS)
– Water resistant to 50 meters
– Weight – 5.2g without band, 12g with band
– Both Apple iOS & Android supported (minimum Apple iOS 16.4, minimum Android 11.0)
– Starts shipping May 26th (available to purchase today, though)

In terms of the premium subscription option, it’s $9.99/month or $99/year if billed annualy. However, if you’re an existing Fitbit Premium subscriber, then you get to keep your $79/year annual pricing.

Below, you can see the pod within one of the bands, which is officially called “the pebble” (I presume in a nod to Pebble, which Fitbit acquired many years ago):

The pod itself is the same across all models, however, there are four different band colors at launch, which are grouped into three categories. The first is the Active bands:

Then the Performance bands:

Then the ‘Elevated bands:

The official names of these band colors are:

– Obsidian Band, Matte Black Stainless Steel Buckle
– Fog Band, Polished Silver Stainless Steel Buckle
– Lavender Band, Polished Silver Stainless Steel Buckle
– Berry Band, Polished Champagne Gold Stainless Steel Buckle

And then beyond that, there’s the Stephen Curry Special Edition band, too:

Not gonna lie, this one does look pretty nice:

When it comes to the bands, one key omission is that there is no bicep band (or any other band/wearable types). It doesn’t sound like that’s a forever thing, and Google hinted at more band options later in the year. Still, that seems like a silly oversight to make, given the massive popularity of such a band on Whoop (and Amazfit).

Nonetheless, the good news there is that Google pod design lends itself really well to cheap Amazon bands from no-name companies (the companies that just have a bunch of random characters in their names). So I’d be really surprised if we don’t see a plethora of $8-$12 options by mid-June or so.

The App Pieces:

Anytime you have a screenless wearable, arguably the app ends up being more important than the hardware. It’s a lesson we’ve seen Polar learn since launching their Polar Loop last fall. The hardware itself is largely fine, but the app has a fraction of the functionality of Whoop or Amazfit, and with a seemingly decade-old, clunky UI atop it.

In Fitbit’s case, it’s mostly the opposite. The company started to massively overhaul its Fitbit app last year, which launched in public beta shortly after the Pixel Watch 4. With today’s launch, that’s been renamed Google Health (which is kinda wonky, given the name of the just-announced hardware is Fitbit Air, not Google Air or Pixel Air). But in any case, to Google’s credit, I’d argue there’s no app that better leverages AI insights and the like within the fitness/health realm today.

The minor attempts by companies like Whoop, Oura, and others to leverage AI coaching and such are but a fraction of what Google/Fitbit has done in their app. It’s astonishingly deep, albeit sometimes like the talkative Uber driver at 4:45 AM to the airport that just won’t shut up.

So, let me just run through my app, because that’s kinda the best examples of what you’re going to see. This data is from the Fitbit Charge 6, though it’s literally the exact same data you’ll have with the Fitbit Air. Here’s my data from today:

Certainly, there’s some segment of the population that just wants clear-cut and simplistic data metrics on a panel, and others that want more explanations. Right now, it leans very heavily on the wordy-text aspect. I like what it’s surfacing, but at the same time, I wish I had more opportunity to tune it. I can only change those top few metrics, but I can’t otherwise completely redesign it to focus more on other data metrics. Catering to a more customizable home page would go a long way to appeasing both camps.

I’ll dive more into the app in my full review (or you can see my walk-through up above in the video), but I do want to point out that you can use multiple Google/Fitbit devices at once. At launch, you’ll be able to concurrently use a Pixel Watch with the Fitbit Air, and it’ll automatically pull in the correct data and de-duplicate it (and you can set the priority if you want). And then shortly thereafter, they’ll expand that to other Fitbit devices as well.

Revamped Google Health API’s:

One bit of pretty substantial news that’ll probably get overlooked in all the flurry of Fitbit Air hardware news is the inclusion of new API’s to get data into Google Health. Google says that the goal is that you can use Google Health (including the premium features) with any data source, even including an Apple Watch, if you want to. The underlying data (including sleep data, HRV data, etc…) will all be treated the same from an end user standpoint within the Google Health App.

To that end, Google already has its Google Health Connect, which is a set of Android API’s to get your health data into Google Health if you’re on an Android phone with Android apps. That remains the case, and is one of two routes to get data into the platform. This route is ideal if the 3rd-party partner company has an Android app, since Google Health Connect is Android only.

But, that doesn’t solve for a different type of partner, which is one that doesn’t have an Android app (or doesn’t want to develop those data sync pieces). For that, Google is re-launching their existing Fitbit API’s as the Google Health API, with a bunch of changes under the covers. This API has historically covered numerous partners, like Peloton, which allows syncing of that health/fitness data to your then-Fitbit-now-Google account. In these cases, the 3rd-party platform just wants to push data into your account, without the complexities of building out and maintaining a standalone Android app.

However, beyond that, Google is also making those API’s bidirectional, so companies can receive the fitness data from Google Health as well. There are still some aspects of this that are a bit fuzzy (for example, which file formats does Google export out in?), but it sounds like those should become clear soon.

You can find the new Google Health API platform page here, for developers. The existing Google Health Connect page is here (that remains, and gets some expansions).

Going Forward:

I’m super keen to start using this in the coming days. From a practical standpoint, I’ll really be focusing on three core areas that seem to trip up many companies in this space (the screenless wearable tracker):

1) How well does it do automatic workout recognition? Specifically, does it properly track (automatically) the start/end of workouts, and does it classify them correctly. In this case, we know Fitbit is already at a bit of a disadvantage in terms of the total sport types it knows, but it sounds like that’ll be expanding over time. Still, at least getting these core types correctly marked is a big upgrade over some of their competitors.

2) Does the battery life match the claims? Fitbit is saying 7-day battery life, and historically speaking, Fitbit is pretty good about battery claims (rarely missing them). Assuming the 7-day battery life, this isn’t as good as Whoop’s 14-day claim (and reality), but it is above Polar’s battery life. Amazfit’s battery life seems to be in that same realm as well for me.

3) Is the data accurate? In this case, I’m looking at the heart rate data, sleep data, activity data, and anything else it tracks. Fitbit says that the algorithms here are built atop the Pixel Watch 4 algorithms, and we should expect slightly improved performance from the sensor over a Charge 6 sensor. Generally speaking, the Charge 6 sensor was pretty good for sport & daily data, as long as you wore it correctly (but sacrificed the GPS in the process).

Beyond that, I’ll be diving into the app quite a bit. As noted earlier, the app is a huge piece of the puzzle, and while Fitbit is easily the current leader in taking your data and processing it with useful feedback to you, the new app has frustrated some who find it simply too wordy/talkative. I think that’s a very valid complaint, without much of a way to tweak it to be less talkative and more data-focused.

But again, all things I’ll dive into – with both my data, and likely also my wife’s usage.

With that – thanks for reading!

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Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.

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And of course – you can always sign-up to be a DCR Supporter! That gets you an ad-free DCR, access to the DCR Shed Talkin' video series packed with behind the scenes tidbits...and it also makes you awesome. And being awesome is what it’s all about!

Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. And lastly, if you felt this review was useful – I always appreciate feedback in the comments below. Thanks!