Sunday Runday
On this weekly column, Android Central Wearables Editor Michael Hicks talks concerning the world of wearables, apps, and health tech associated to working and well being, in his quest to get quicker and more healthy.
The Garmin Forerunner 570 and 970 are costlier than their predecessors. Different 2025 Garmin watches skimped on new options to maintain costs low, so I am pleased Garmin did not maintain again on its Forerunners. But it surely’s additionally develop into clearer that Garmin does not really feel a have to compete with different manufacturers’ options — solely in opposition to itself.
The leap between the $599 Forerunner 965 and $749 Forerunner 970 is important. You get the latest Elevate v5 technology for higher HR accuracy, ECGs and pores and skin temperature readings, flashlight, mic & speaker for calling and instructions, sapphire crystal safety, and new metrics like working tolerance.
Or when you’re weighing the $549 Forerunner 270 in opposition to the $449 Forerunner 265, you additionally get the gen5 HR accuracy enhance, doubled display brightness on a bigger show, the identical mic & speaker, and pores and skin temperature with warmth acclimation.
The Intuition 3 and Vivoactive 6 caught to last-gen HR sensors, treading water on {hardware} in order that Garmin may hold them of their fastened worth ranges. I feared Garmin would do the identical with its Forerunners, making us wait till 2027 for actual modifications.
That is why I am excited for the Forerunner 970, but additionally feeling annoyed at how Garmin holds again mid-tier watches just like the Forerunner 570.
As costs rise, held-back options are tougher to just accept
The $499 Intuition 3 did not have offline maps regardless of being an “journey” watch, whereas cheaper rival watches just like the $349 COROS PACE Professional and Suunto Race S did. I complained on the time, however Garmin hadn’t given it space for storing for maps, prioritizing a light-weight CPU for battery life.
The $549 Forerunner 570 does have space for storing for maps, and no want to carry again the processor. There isn’t any logistical motive it should not help maps; even when they are not pre-downloaded like on the 970, Garmin may allow you to obtain a selected area’s topo information, not less than.
The one actual rationalization is that their absence makes individuals extra more likely to pay for the 970.
The identical applies to the 570 well being sensors. I clearly respect the improved HR accuracy and pores and skin temperature. However each different gen5 watch has ECGs, together with the $449 Venu 3. And outdoors of Garmin, ECGs are the norm, from mainstream watches to health rivals just like the COROS APEX and Polar Vantage collection.
However Garmin ignores the context of its rivals; the one competitor that issues is the Forerunner 970. That should stand out, so the 570 misses out. Coronary heart well being warnings develop into a $750 bargaining chip.
It is a common-enough technique for Garmin. With the superb Forerunner 165, you possibly can’t see your coaching load though it clearly calculates load within the background to find out your VO2 Max, restoration time, and each day prompt exercises with anaerobic or low cardio focuses. Blocking that information upsells you to the Forerunner 265.
I accepted that synthetic characteristic block as a result of the 165 prices $249, and coaching load remains to be pretty area of interest. However Garmin watch costs hold creeping up. It is tougher to swallow blocked options when these mid-tier fashions value far more than a Galaxy or Apple Watch.
With Garmin watches, each part has a price ticket
Smartwatch “tiers” are frequent sufficient today, and each firm desires to upsell you. However they’re additionally selective about which options are price-locked as a result of they know it’s going to look dangerous if a competitor provides one thing for a lot much less.
You clearly pay extra for metal or titanium casing, or different {hardware} boosts like higher battery life. However in any other case, they squeeze most options into the mainline mannequin whereas sticking to the identical pricing yearly (except for the occasional inflationary enhance).
With Garmin, each new characteristic to modernize its watches comes with a worth bump. MIP-to-AMOLED show swaps for the Forerunner and Intuition lineups value tacked on one other $50–100 to the standard worth. On the Fenix 8, collectively including AMOLED, higher sensors, and a mic & speaker added $200 to the worth.
You will not discover dual-band GPS on any watch $300 or much less, nor offline maps on any sub-$600 watch. And though Garmin’s Gen5 HR sensors got here out in 2023, it should hold utilizing the Gen4 sensors on “cheaper” fashions just like the $500 Intuition 3 right now.
I do not understand how a lot the elements value Garmin, however it desires us to know that it will go that value onto us.
Different elements like tariff considerations bump up pricing, too. However Garmin’s 2025 technique establishes a transparent Garmin precedent: As soon as a watch prices a sure worth, you should not count on new {hardware} at that worth, nor options already established on the flagship tier.
The subsequent model will both value the identical however make minimal upgrades, or add new instruments and value far more.
Garmin treats any new characteristic as a possibility to ask athletes for extra money in change for extra worth. And it could possibly do that as a result of it does not really feel as a lot strain to cost its health watches competitively as different manufacturers.
Garmin customers like its ecosystem an excessive amount of — or are too invested in it — to go away. And so Garmin accepts the adverse press round Join+ paywalled options and price-locks the good new options as a result of its loyal clients pays $750 or extra for them, even when they grumble about it.
For those who suppose the Forerunner 970 and 570 are too costly, then not less than you recognize the last-gen Garmin watches are nonetheless accessible — and discounted for Memorial Day, so a Forerunner 965 prices $50 lower than the 570.
In any other case, we’ve got to just accept this new regular with new Garmin watches.
