Garmin Forerunner 101 vs Garmin Forerunner 170 Music

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Forerunner 101 compared with Forerunner 170 Music

	GarminForerunner 101	GarminForerunner 170 Music
Overview
Released
Released	2004	May 2026
Display
Case sizes
Case sizes	83 mm	42.6 mm
Panel
Panel	–	OLED
Always-on display
Always-on display	Yes	Yes
Display detail
Display detail	Backlit 36.49 × 23.35 mm monochrome display, 100 × 64 pixels, operated with physical buttons. Garmin does not identify the panel technology.	1.2-inch (30.4 mm diameter) colour AMOLED touchscreen, 390 x 390 pixels; optional always-on display and large-font setting; five physical buttons
Screen protection
Screen protection	–	Chemically strengthened glass
Health and fitness
ECG
ECG	No	No
Blood oxygen
Blood oxygen	No	Yes
Skin temperature
Skin temperature	No	No
Sleep apnoea alerts
Sleep apnoea alerts	No	No
High blood pressure alerts
High blood pressure alerts	No	No
Body composition
Body composition	No	No
Fall detection
Fall detection	No	No
Crash detection
Crash detection	No	No
GPS
GPS	Single-band	Single-band
Water resistance
Water resistance	–	50 m
Sensors
Sensors	Twelve-channel GPS receiver with built-in patch antenna; no heart-rate or cadence sensor support.	Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate; Pulse Ox; barometric altimeter; compass; gyroscope; accelerometer; thermometer; ambient light sensor; thermometer measures activity/ambient temperature, not overnight skin temperature
Health features
Health features	–	Continuous heart rate with high/low alerts; HRV status; Body Battery; stress and respiration; advanced sleep, sleep coach, breathing variations and nap detection; meditation; smart wake alarm; Health Snapshot; lifestyle logging; Health Status; women's health tracking via Garmin Connect; no ECG app
Fitness features
Fitness features	Time, distance, pace and calorie tracking; Virtual Partner, interval training, Auto Pause, Auto Lap and pace, time and distance alerts.	More than 80 sports apps; training readiness, status, load, load focus and recovery time; Garmin running, cycling and strength coaching; daily suggested running workouts and quick workouts; wrist-based running dynamics and running power; ground-contact balance requires a compatible accessory; PacePro and grade-adjusted pace; VO2 max and race predictions; cycling power-meter and Varia radar/light support; pool and open-water swimming; no dedicated triathlon mode; Breadcrumb course navigation, point-to-point navigation, back-to-start and TracBack; elevation profile, future elevation plot and Up Ahead; no full routable offline maps
Safety features
Safety features	Stores 100 locations and offers basic route display and navigation back to the start; no detailed base maps.	Incident detection during selected activities, assistance and LiveTrack require a paired compatible smartphone; live event sharing is Android-only; screen flashlight, not a separate LED torch
Battery and connections
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 15 hours	Up to 10 days
In low-power mode
In low-power mode	–	Up to 19 days
Mobile data option
Mobile data option	No	No
Works with
Works with	No phone pairing	iPhone and Android
Storage
Storage	–	4 GB
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Two replaceable 1.5 V AAA batteries; fourteen to fifteen hours of typical use according to the owner's manual.	Smartwatch up to 10 days, or 4 days with display always on; battery saver smartwatch up to 19 days; GPS-only GNSS up to 20 hours; all-systems GNSS up to 14 hours; with music, GPS-only up to 7.5 hours and all-systems up to 6.5 hours (exact series manual; UK web table mislabels 7.5 hours as days); actual life depends on enabled features and usage
Charging
Charging	–	Garmin proprietary plug charging/data cable; rechargeable built-in lithium-ion battery; USB charging temperature 0–45 °C
Connectivity
Connectivity	No computer interface or direct phone pairing; history is viewed on the watch.	Bluetooth, ANT+ and Wi-Fi; GPS, GLONASS and Galileo; no multi-band GNSS; Garmin Pay contactless payments; Android-only text responses and notification images; Connect IQ apps/watch faces/data fields; Garmin Share; controls smartphone music and plays downloaded personal audio or supported music-service content through compatible Bluetooth headphones; third-party services may require subscriptions; no speaker/microphone calls or cellular connection
Storage
Storage	Up to 5,000 laps and approximately two years of training history.	4 GB memory/history with offline music support
Design
Weight (lightest version)
Weight (lightest version)	74 g	41 g (better)
Software
Software	Garmin	Garmin
Case materials
Case materials	High-impact plastic alloy housing; IPX7 immersion protection, one metre for thirty minutes. This is not a swimming watch.	Fibre-reinforced polymer bezel; silicone band; chemically strengthened glass; 5 ATM water rating; operating/storage temperature –20–60 °C
Size
Size	83 × 43.5 × 23 mm; 74 g including batteries, according to Garmin's series datasheet. Width is used as the case size.	42.6 x 42.6 x 11.9 mm; Garmin lists 41 g without a separate body-only weight
Bands
Bands	Adjustable wrist strap.	Standard 20 mm quick-release two-tone silicone band; fits 126–203 mm wrists
Colours
Colours	–	Black with Black/Amp Yellow band; Whitestone with Whitestone/Cloud Blue band; Teal Green with Teal Green/Citron band; Red Pink with Red Pink/Mango band
In the box
In the box	–	Forerunner 170 Music; charging cable; documentation