The Garmin Forerunner 970 is the latest iteration in the Forerunner series from Garmin. Just released back in June this year, it’s so new we’ve not even had the chance to review it. However, its spec represents a massive leap forward over its sibling, the Garmin Forerunner 945, which currently is the best overall choice in our best smartwatches for cycling buyers’ guide.
For Cyber Monday, Amazon has discounted the Garmin Forerunner 970 for the very first time, taking this brand new Garmin smartwatch down to $649.99 and offering a $100 saving on the MSRP of $749.99.
For UK Cyber Monday shoppers, I’ve not found any significant discounts on the Forerunner 970, just a measly 6% off at Amazon, which drops it to £598.52, from £639. However, the best smartwatch in our guide—the Garmin Foreunner 945 has almost £100 off at Sigma Sports, down to a bargain £400.
Looking at the specs of the Forerunner 970, there is plenty to like about to like. To start with, it’s going to be exceptionally accurate thanks to its advanced multiband SatIQ GPS and Elevate Gen 5 heart rate sensor. The Elevate Gen 5 is Garmin’s optical heart rate sensor, which powers advanced health and fitness tracking, which they say is the offer in terms of wearable HR accuracy.
The brand new 1.4-inch AMOLED touchscreen display is the brightest Garmin has ever had in its smartwatches, and it’s built around a lightweight titanium bezel and sapphire lens. There is also a built-in LED flashlight, which, from experience with my Garmin Fenix 7, is so useful when heading for an early morning ride in the dark.
The Forerunner 970 has again a super cycling-friendly built-in microphone and speaker, which enables you to make and take phone calls from your wrist when your watch is paired to your smartphone—you can even use your smartphone’s voice assistant to respond to text messages and more…
Battery life is also impressive at a claimed 15 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and up to 26 hours in GPS mode; its Foreunner 945 sibling has up to 6-7 days as a comparison.
Our Cyber Monday cycling deals hub is the ultimate destination for all the best cycling discounts, with plenty of Garmin tech, including our choice as the best value Garmin cycling computer – the Edge 540 Solar, is down to an outstanding $249.99 from $399.99, also at Amazon.
There are over 100 products with big reductions, and we’ll be updating this across Cyber Monday as the new deals appear.
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