Garmin Forerunner 70 Review

Design and screen

• Available in four colours
• Features an AMOLED touchscreen and physical buttons
• Waterproof up to 50 metres depth

The Forerunner 70 is a small watch. With a 42.6mm-sized case and an 11.9 mm thick body, this is a watch that doesn’t dominate your wrist like some other smartwatches. To put that size into context, it’s not quite as small as the 41mm Pixel Watch 4 and has a similar stature to a 42mm Apple Watch Series 11.

Unlike those watches, the 70 has a lot more polymer in play. That helps keep the weight down to a very lightweight 40g, making it ideal for running or for keeping it in the bag after running or other exercise. You can grab it in four different colours that all give it a more playful and unashamedly sporty look. 

Like Garmin’s other AMOLED-packing smartwatches, it hasn’t given up on physical buttons. There are five in total dotted around the case, offering two ways to interact with the watch software. 

The other way is via the 1.2-inch, 390 x 390 resolution AMOLED touchscreen. It’s a display that offers punchy colours and doesn’t suffer any sort of lag when swiping or tapping through screens. You can adjust the brightness to boost visibility in brighter sunlight and keep the screen on at all times. With the 70 being the natural successor to the Forerunner 55, this is a big step up in screen technology.

The accompanying silicone strap that keeps it on your wrist is removable, and it uses Garmin’s quick-release mechanism to whip it off the case. Buying a new official band isn’t a cheap thing to do, though there are plenty of unofficial bands you can spend less on if you want some extra strap options

In terms of waterproofing, the Forerunner 70 carries a 5ATM (up to 50 metres) rating, which is a common rating to find attached to smartwatches that sit around the same price. It means I’ve been able to wear it in the shower and use it in the sea and the pool without issue. 

Performance and software

• No NFC payments or music player support
• Morning and evening report summaries included
• Gets full Connect IQ Store access 

The Garmin Forerunner 55’s software was starting to show its age, especially when sat alongside Garmin’s newer AMOLED watches, so it’s no surprise to see that its successor has been given a software revamp.

This update mainly applies to the watch software. Garmin’s Connect companion smartphone app will still feel like an overwhelming place to view your data or adjust watch settings for many who are not used to using a Garmin watch, though Garmin is doing a better job of simplifying areas to make it more beginner-friendly.

It’s much better on the watch, where it doesn’t take long to get to grips with navigating the software. In true Garmin fashion, there’s still a lot of modes, settings and features tucked away in menus to discover.

That’s led by the move to now offer full access to Garmin’s ConnectIQ Store. Previously, on the Forerunner 55, you could only download watch faces. Now you have access to apps, data fields, watch faces and extensions. There does seem to be an increase in paid-for content now, while searching and downloading apps isn’t quite as slick as it is on Google’s Play Store or Apple’s App Store.

Doing things like viewing notifications, using music playback controls, or checking the weather forecast are thankfully very easy and well optimised for the 70’s dinky display. There are some inconsistencies in feature support across iOS and Android to contend with, however, such as the fact that only Android users can reply to notifications. That aside, the experience of using the watch across both platforms is largely identical. 

It’s good to see the 70 also now gets Garmin’s morning and afternoon reports. These daily summaries of your day’s key data can serve as reminders of your training you’ve managed to tick off or give you a heads up on the weather and the training session you have in store for you once you’ve had a good night’s sleep.

While Garmin now offers features like built-in music players, the ability to make calls, or contactless payments, those features don’t appear on the Forerunner 70. You’ll need to spend more to get those features on your wrist.

Tracking and features

• Misses latest multiband GPS technology
• Introduces Quick Workouts for runners
• Uses older Garmin sensor technology 

Given its predecessor, the Forerunner 55, launched roughly five years ago, the Forerunner 70 has a lot of catching up to do in terms of smarts. That doesn’t mean you’re instantly getting the best that Garmin has to offer in hardware and software, but enough has changed to ensure you enjoy very well-rounded tracking performance.

Let’s start with GPS accuracy, which is pretty important if you’re going to be running or riding outside a lot with this watch on.

Garmin includes a multi-GNSS sensor setup, so not the more advanced multiband technology found on more expensive Forerunner watches. What that means is that you’re missing out on technology that can better cope with grabbing a reliable satellite signal when tracking near tall buildings.

That said, I’ve been using the 70 alongside watches with those more advanced sensor setups, including those from Garmin, and the tracking accuracy has still been very good. It shows that the older sensor technology doesn’t instantly make the 70 a grossly inferior watch.

While this is a watch mainly built for running, you can also use it to track cycling (indoors and outdoors). There are also dedicated profiles for indoor workouts like HIIT and yoga, and it can be used to track activities like hiking. For the latter, you also have the ability to upload routes to the watch and make use of breadcrumb-style navigation to keep you on route – something that wasn’t available on the Forerunner 55.

You can also track pool swims reliably from the 70. You won’t be able to track open water swims, however, and you miss out on multisport and triathlon modes, which you can find on rival watches that sit around the same price as the 70.

This is a watch that can continuously track metrics like heart rate and blood oxygen, though it lacks Garmin’s latest in-house-developed Elevate optical sensor technology. That means you can’t track skin temperature or take ECG-style heart rate measurements.

If you like the idea of a watch that can reliably track heart rate throughout the day and night, this is definitely a strength of the Forerunner 70 and Garmin watches in general. If you want to replicate that strong accuracy during workout tracking, the 70 does a good job of that too. You also have the option to pair it with external heart rate monitors via Bluetooth to ensure the best heart rate tracking accuracy.

For daily activity tracking and sleep monitoring, I’ve been very happy with how the 70 has performed. I’ve been wearing it alongside two other trackers, comparing step counts, sleep data and how the 70 motivates you to move more and make better sense of your sleep data.

For step tracking, the 70s totals weren’t far off the two other trackers. For sleep, Garmin has shown improvements, particularly in registering the amount of time you’ve slept and recognising when you actually fell asleep. I’ve been wearing it alongside an Apple Watch and Oura Ring 5, two of the most reliable sleep trackers I’ve tested. For core data like sleep duration and sleep stages, data on most nights told a similar story. 

One of the biggest areas of improvement for the 70 over the 55 is the level of training features you now have at your disposal. You now have a watch that tracks, analyses and tries to guide you to make better decisions about your workout time.

One of my favourites is Training Readiness, a metric previously reserved for Garmin’s more expensive watches. Now you can use a simple, data-driven score based on sleep and workout history to understand whether you should rest up or have enough in the tank to tackle a hard workout or a packed day.

This is a watch that also works with Garmin’s Coach platform, suggesting running workouts based on workout intensity. These are the kind of features that are ideal if you want to start adding structure to your training but don’t really know where to start. The presentation of these features is what sets Garmin apart from most of the competition and makes them straightforward to use and put to good use.

Battery life

• Up to 13 days of battery life
• 5 days with screen set to always-on mode
• Can last for almost a month in battery saver mode

Garmin’s best battery performers cost way more money than the Forerunner 70, so you have to be prepared to make compromises with battery performance. That said, it’s still very clear that this isn’t going to be a watch you’ll need to charge every few days – even if you choose to keep the AMOLED display lit up day and night.

It can actually last up to 28 days, but that’s only if you’re using it in the more restrictive battery saver mode. This will turn off features like continuous heart rate monitoring and cut the Bluetooth connection, disabling features like notification support. 

If you’re using it to track workouts and use the onboard smartwatch features, you can expect anywhere from 5 to 13 days. I’ve found that it can comfortably last over a week if you don’t use the always-on display mode. If you do that and regularly use features like GPS and continuous health monitoring, the battery lasts closer to 4 days in testing.

Charging is done with a proprietary cable that’s pretty much the universal cable for all of Garmin’s watches now. Is it the best charging cable setup? Absolutely not, but it does mean you can share a cable with other Garmin watch owners if you misplace yours.

Battery life when using the GPS to track outdoor workouts ranges from 16 to 23 hours. I found that using the GPS in its most accurate mode dropped by around 10% per hour on average. That’s actually short of the promised 16 hours. If you’re using GPS maybe 3-4 times a week, that’s likely enough to be happy getting by with it.

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Should you buy it?