Garmin Forerunner 101 vs Garmin Forerunner 970

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Forerunner 101 compared with Forerunner 970

	GarminForerunner 101	GarminForerunner 970
Overview
Released
Released	2004	May 2025
Display
Case sizes
Case sizes	83 mm	47 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.	1.4″ (35.3 mm) AMOLED colour touchscreen, 454 x 454 pixels; five buttons
Screen protection
Screen protection	–	Sapphire crystal lens
Health and fitness
ECG
ECG	No	Yes
Blood oxygen
Blood oxygen	No	Yes
Skin temperature
Skin temperature	No	Yes
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	Dual-band (L1 and L5)
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 monitor; Pulse Ox blood oxygen monitor; barometric altimeter; compass; gyroscope; accelerometer; thermometer; ambient light sensor
Health features
Health features	–	Garmin ECG App (atrial fibrillation); Pulse Ox spot checks, with optional all-day acclimation and sleep readings; skin temperature; high and low heart rate alerts; HRV status; health status; sleep score, sleep coach, sleep alignment and nap detection; breathing variations; Body Battery; all-day stress; Health Snapshot; lifestyle logging; women's health tracking with past ovulation estimates; jet lag adviser
Fitness features
Fitness features	Time, distance, pace and calorie tracking; Virtual Partner, interval training, Auto Pause, Auto Lap and pace, time and distance alerts.	Training readiness and training status; running tolerance; running economy and step speed loss (with HRM 600); wrist-based running dynamics and running power; VO2 max, endurance score and hill score; race predictor and projected race time; PacePro; ClimbPro; real-time stamina; Garmin Coach and Garmin Triathlon Coach plans; daily suggested workouts; quick workouts; built-in maps with turn-by-turn directions, dynamic round-trip routing and Up Ahead; triathlon and multisport profiles
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 select activities; assistance; LiveTrack; live event sharing (Android only); LED flashlight
Battery and connections
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 15 hours	Up to 15 days
Mobile data option
Mobile data option	No	No
Works with
Works with	No phone pairing	iPhone and Android
Storage
Storage	–	32 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 mode up to 15 days; GPS only up to 26 hours; SatIQ (AutoSelect) up to 23 hours; All-Systems + Multi-Band up to 21 hours; with music up to 14, 13 and 12 hours in the same modes
Charging
Charging	–	Garmin charging cable with proprietary plug
Connectivity
Connectivity	No computer interface or direct phone pairing; history is viewed on the watch.	Bluetooth, ANT+ and Wi-Fi; multi-band GPS with GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and BeiDou and SatIQ; Garmin Pay; speaker and microphone for calls and the phone's voice assistant with a paired phone; hands-free voice control
Storage
Storage	Up to 5,000 laps and approximately two years of training history.	–
Design
Weight (lightest version)
Weight (lightest version)	74 g	–
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.	Titanium bezel; sapphire crystal lens; 5 ATM water rating (swim); operating temperature –20 °C to 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.	47 x 47 x 12.9 mm; 56 g (Garmin doesn't give a case-only weight)
Bands
Bands	Adjustable wrist strap.	22 mm silicone band; takes QuickFit 22 bands; fits 135–205 mm wrists
Colours
Colours	–	Carbon Grey DLC Titanium with Black case and Black/Translucent Whitestone band; Titanium with Whitestone case and Whitestone/Translucent Amp Yellow band; Soft Gold Titanium with French Grey case and French Grey/Translucent Indigo band
In the box
In the box	–	Forerunner 970, charging cable, documentation