Garmin Forerunner 15 vs Garmin Forerunner 970

Every spec side by side, from each maker's published figures.

Only show differences

Better figure, where one is clearly better

Share comparison

Forerunner 15 compared with Forerunner 970

	GarminForerunner 15	GarminForerunner 970
Overview
Released
Released	2014	May 2025
Display
Case sizes
Case sizes	52 mm or 57 mm	47 mm
Panel
Panel	Memory-in-pixel	OLED
Always-on display
Always-on display	Yes	Yes
Display detail
Display detail	Monochrome memory-in-pixel display, 55 × 32 pixels; 2.1 × 2.0 cm on the small version and 2.5 × 2.4 cm on the large version, with a backlight and four-button control.	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	50 m
Sensors
Sensors	Built-in GPS; supports a chest-worn heart-rate monitor and optional ANT+ foot pod for indoor pace and distance.	Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate monitor; Pulse Ox blood oxygen monitor; barometric altimeter; compass; gyroscope; accelerometer; thermometer; ambient light sensor
Health features
Health features	Daily steps, calories and inactivity reminders; heart-rate recording requires the chest strap sold in some bundles.	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	Outdoor pace, distance, personal records, Auto Lap, Auto Pause, Virtual Pacer and run/walk intervals; indoor distance requires the foot pod.	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	–	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 35 days	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	Up to five weeks in watch/activity-tracking mode or eight hours with GPS on.	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	Rechargeable lithium-ion battery with a USB charging and data cable.	Garmin charging cable with proprietary plug
Connectivity
Connectivity	USB connection to a Mac or PC for Garmin Connect uploads; no Bluetooth or direct smartphone sync. ANT+ supports optional heart-rate and foot-pod accessories.	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	Seven activities of on-watch history.	–
Design
Weight (lightest version)
Weight (lightest version)	36 g	–
Software
Software	Garmin	Garmin
Case materials
Case materials	Plastic case and band; 5 ATM water rating.	Titanium bezel; sapphire crystal lens; 5 ATM water rating (swim); operating temperature –20 °C to 60 °C
Size
Size	Small 4.0 × 5.2 × 1.6 cm and 36 g; large 4.6 × 5.7 × 1.6 cm and 43 g. The longest case dimensions appear in the size comparison.	47 x 47 x 12.9 mm; 56 g (Garmin doesn't give a case-only weight)
Bands
Bands	–	22 mm silicone band; takes QuickFit 22 bands; fits 135–205 mm wrists
Colours
Colours	Small black/green, teal/white and violet/white; large black/blue and red/black.	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	Watch, charging/data cable and manual; a chest heart-rate monitor was included in some bundles.	Forerunner 970, charging cable, documentation