Garmin Forerunner 70 vs Garmin Forerunner 965
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| GarminForerunner 70 | GarminForerunner 965 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | May 2026 | March 2023 |
| Display | ||
| Case sizes | 42.6 mm | 47 mm |
| Panel | OLED | OLED |
| Always-on display | Yes | Yes |
| Display detail | 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 | 1.4-inch (35.4 mm) AMOLED touchscreen, 454 x 454 pixels, with optional always-on mode and five buttons. |
| Screen protection | Chemically strengthened glass | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 DX. |
| Health and fitness | ||
| ECG | No | No |
| Blood oxygen | Yes | 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 | Dual-band (L1 and L5) |
| Water resistance | 50 m | 50 m |
| Sensors | Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate; Pulse Ox; accelerometer; ambient light sensor; no built-in barometric altimeter or body-temperature sensor | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and BeiDou with multi-band positioning and SatIQ; Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate, Pulse Ox, barometric altimeter, compass, gyroscope, accelerometer, thermometer and ambient light sensor. |
| 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 | Pulse Ox, HRV status, sleep score, all-day stress and Body Battery energy monitoring. |
| Fitness features | 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 | Training readiness and load ratio, endurance score, morning report, race widget, wrist-based running dynamics and power, triathlon profiles, PacePro, ClimbPro and full-colour maps. |
| Safety features | 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 | Incident detection and assistance require a paired smartphone; LiveTrack. |
| Battery and connections | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 13 days | Up to 23 days |
| In low-power mode | Up to 28 days | – |
| Mobile data option | No | No |
| Works with | iPhone and Android | iPhone and Android |
| Storage | – | 32 GB |
| Battery life detail | 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 | Up to 23 days in smartwatch mode, 31 hours in GPS-only mode without music or 19 hours with all-systems multi-band GNSS without music. |
| Charging | Garmin proprietary plug charging/data cable; rechargeable built-in lithium-ion battery; USB charging temperature 0–45 °C | Rechargeable lithium-ion battery with Garmin proprietary plug charger. |
| Connectivity | 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 | Bluetooth, ANT+ and Wi-Fi; Garmin Pay, Connect IQ, notifications and on-watch music storage. |
| Storage | 512 MB memory/history; not storage for offline music playback | – |
| Design | ||
| Weight (lightest version) | 40 g (better) | 53 g |
| Software | Garmin | Garmin |
| Case materials | Fibre-reinforced polymer bezel; silicone band; chemically strengthened glass; 5 ATM water rating; operating/storage temperature –20–60 °C | Titanium bezel, silicone band and 5 ATM water rating. |
| Size | 42.6 x 42.6 x 11.9 mm; Garmin lists 40 g without a separate body-only weight | 47.2 x 47.2 x 13.2 mm; 53 g. |
| Bands | Standard 20 mm quick-release silicone band; fits 126–203 mm wrists | QuickFit-compatible 22 mm band; fits wrists 135–205 mm. |
| Colours | UK Black, Whitestone, Citron and Cool Lavender; global range additionally offers Tidal Blue and Soft Pink | Black case and black/grey band. |
| In the box | Forerunner 70; charging cable; documentation | – |
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