Garmin Forerunner 301 vs Garmin Forerunner 70

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Forerunner 301 compared with Forerunner 70

	GarminForerunner 301	GarminForerunner 70
Overview
Released
Released	2005	May 2026
Display
Case sizes
Case sizes	82.8 mm	42.6 mm
Panel
Panel	–	OLED
Always-on display
Always-on display	Yes	Yes
Display detail
Display detail	Backlit monochrome screen, 36.49 × 23.35 mm and 100 × 64 pixels; physical button controls. Panel technology is not specified in Garmin's manual.	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 and included digitally coded heart-rate chest strap; no optical wrist sensor.	Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate; Pulse Ox; accelerometer; ambient light sensor; no built-in barometric altimeter or body-temperature sensor
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; smart wake alarm; Health Snapshot; lifestyle logging; Health Status; women's health tracking via Garmin Connect; no ECG app
Fitness features
Fitness features	Running, biking and other-sport profiles; advanced and interval workouts, Virtual Partner, Auto Pause, Auto Lap, Auto Scroll and heart-rate, pace, time and distance alerts. AutoLearn adjusts heart-rate zones as fitness changes.	More than 80 sports apps; training readiness, status, load, load focus and recovery time; Garmin running, cycling and strength coaching; daily suggested running workouts including run/walk; quick workouts; wrist-based running dynamics and running power; PacePro; VO2 max and race predictions; breadcrumb course navigation, back-to-start and TracBack; pool swimming; no open-water swim or triathlon mode; no full offline maps
Safety features
Safety features	Basic map display, up to 100 stored locations and navigation back to the start or a saved location; no 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 14 hours	Up to 13 days
In low-power mode
In low-power mode	–	Up to 28 days
Mobile data option
Mobile data option	No	No
Works with
Works with	No phone pairing	iPhone and Android
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery; fourteen hours of typical use.	Smartwatch up to 13 days, or 5 days with display always on; battery saver smartwatch up to 28 days; GPS-only GNSS up to 23 hours; all-systems GNSS up to 16 hours; actual life depends on enabled features and usage
Charging
Charging	AC charger and USB connection.	Garmin proprietary plug charging/data cable; rechargeable built-in lithium-ion battery; USB charging temperature 0–45 °C
Connectivity
Connectivity	USB computer interface; supplied Garmin Training Center software for analysing activities and creating workouts. No direct phone pairing.	Bluetooth and ANT+; GPS, GLONASS and Galileo; no multi-band GNSS; Android-only text responses and notification images; Connect IQ apps/watch faces/data fields; Garmin Share; controls smartphone music without offline playback; no Garmin Pay, speaker/microphone calls or cellular connection
Storage
Storage	Up to 5,000 laps, with approximately two years of training history according to Garmin's series datasheet.	512 MB memory/history; not storage for offline music playback
Design
Weight (lightest version)
Weight (lightest version)	78 g	40 g (better)
Software
Software	Garmin	Garmin
Case materials
Case materials	Sealed high-impact plastic-alloy housing; IPX7 immersion protection, one metre for thirty minutes.	Fibre-reinforced polymer bezel; silicone band; chemically strengthened glass; 5 ATM water rating; operating/storage temperature –20–60 °C
Size
Size	82.8 × 43.4 × 17.5 mm; approximately 78 g. Width is used as the case size.	42.6 x 42.6 x 11.9 mm; Garmin lists 40 g without a separate body-only weight
Bands
Bands	–	Standard 20 mm quick-release silicone band; fits 126–203 mm wrists
Colours
Colours	–	UK Black, Whitestone, Citron and Cool Lavender; global range additionally offers Tidal Blue and Soft Pink
In the box
In the box	Watch, wrist strap, expander strap, AC charger, USB cable, digitally coded heart-rate monitor, Training Center software and documentation.	Forerunner 70; charging cable; documentation