Garmin Forerunner 745 vs Garmin Forerunner 970
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| GarminForerunner 745 | GarminForerunner 970 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | September 2020 | May 2025 |
| Display | ||
| Case sizes | 44 mm | 47 mm |
| Panel | Memory-in-pixel | OLED |
| Always-on display | Yes | Yes |
| Display detail | 1.2-inch (30.4 mm) transflective colour memory-in-pixel display, 240 x 240 pixels, with button controls. | 1.4″ (35.3 mm) AMOLED colour touchscreen, 454 x 454 pixels; five buttons |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass DX. | Sapphire crystal lens |
| Health and fitness | ||
| ECG | No | Yes |
| Blood oxygen | Yes | Yes |
| Skin temperature | No | Yes |
| 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 | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate, Pulse Ox, barometric altimeter, compass, gyroscope, accelerometer and thermometer. | Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate monitor; Pulse Ox blood oxygen monitor; barometric altimeter; compass; gyroscope; accelerometer; thermometer; ambient light sensor |
| Health features | Pulse Ox, sleep, all-day stress and Body Battery energy monitoring. | 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 | Triathlon, running, cycling and swimming profiles; daily suggested workouts, training status and load, VO2 max, recovery time, PacePro and course guidance. Detailed running dynamics require a compatible pod or strap. | 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 | Incident detection and assistance require a paired smartphone; LiveTrack. | Incident detection during select activities; assistance; LiveTrack; live event sharing (Android only); LED flashlight |
| Battery and connections | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 7 days | Up to 15 days |
| Mobile data option | No | No |
| Works with | iPhone and Android | iPhone and Android |
| Storage | – | 32 GB |
| Battery life detail | Up to seven days in smartwatch mode, 16 hours in GPS mode without music or six hours with GPS and music. | 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 | Rechargeable battery with Garmin charging cable. | Garmin charging cable with proprietary plug |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, ANT+ and Wi-Fi; Garmin Pay, Connect IQ, smart notifications and on-watch storage for up to 500 songs. | 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 |
| Design | ||
| Weight (lightest version) | 47 g | – |
| Software | Garmin | Garmin |
| Case materials | Fibre-reinforced polymer bezel and silicone band; 5 ATM water rating. | Titanium bezel; sapphire crystal lens; 5 ATM water rating (swim); operating temperature –20 °C to 60 °C |
| Size | 43.8 x 43.8 x 13.3 mm; 47 g. | 47 x 47 x 12.9 mm; 56 g (Garmin doesn't give a case-only weight) |
| Bands | – | 22 mm silicone band; takes QuickFit 22 bands; fits 135–205 mm wrists |
| Colours | 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 | – | Forerunner 970, charging cable, documentation |
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