Garmin Forerunner 45 vs Garmin Forerunner 70
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| GarminForerunner 45 | GarminForerunner 70 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | May 2019 | May 2026 |
| Display | ||
| Case sizes | 42 mm | 42.6 mm |
| Panel | Memory-in-pixel | OLED |
| Always-on display | Yes | Yes |
| Display detail | 1.04-inch (26.3 mm) sunlight-readable colour MIP display, 208 x 208 pixels, with button controls. | 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 | Chemically strengthened glass. | Chemically strengthened glass |
| Health and fitness | ||
| ECG | No | No |
| Blood oxygen | No | Yes |
| Skin temperature | No | No |
| Sleep apnoea alerts | No | No |
| High blood pressure alerts | No | No |
| Body composition | No | No |
| Fall detection | No | No |
| Crash detection | No | No |
| GPS | Single-band | Single-band |
| Water resistance | 50 m | 50 m |
| Sensors | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate and accelerometer. | Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate; Pulse Ox; accelerometer; ambient light sensor; no built-in barometric altimeter or body-temperature sensor |
| Health features | All-day heart rate, stress and sleep tracking, plus Body Battery energy monitoring. | 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 | Garmin Coach, VO2 max estimate, running and cycling profiles, indoor track, treadmill, elliptical, cardio and yoga activities. | 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 | Incident detection, assistance and LiveTrack require a paired phone. | 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) | Up to 7 days | Up to 13 days |
| In low-power mode | – | Up to 28 days |
| Mobile data option | No | No |
| Works with | iPhone and Android | iPhone and Android |
| Battery life detail | Up to seven days in smartwatch mode or 13 hours in GPS mode. | 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 | Rechargeable battery with Garmin charging cable. | Garmin proprietary plug charging/data cable; rechargeable built-in lithium-ion battery; USB charging temperature 0–45 °C |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth and ANT+; smart notifications, phone music controls and Connect IQ watch faces. No on-watch music storage. | 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 | – | 512 MB memory/history; not storage for offline music playback |
| Design | ||
| Weight (lightest version) | 36 g (better) | 40 g |
| Software | Garmin | Garmin |
| Case materials | Silicone band and 5 ATM water rating. | Fibre-reinforced polymer bezel; silicone band; chemically strengthened glass; 5 ATM water rating; operating/storage temperature –20–60 °C |
| Size | 42 x 42 x 11.4 mm; 36 g. | 42.6 x 42.6 x 11.9 mm; Garmin lists 40 g without a separate body-only weight |
| Bands | Fits wrists 129–197 mm. | Standard 20 mm quick-release silicone band; fits 126–203 mm wrists |
| Colours | Lava red band with black case. | UK Black, Whitestone, Citron and Cool Lavender; global range additionally offers Tidal Blue and Soft Pink |
| In the box | – | Forerunner 70; charging cable; documentation |
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