Forerunner 70 & 170: Garmin's New Entry-Level Running Watches

Garmin just refreshed the bottom of the Forerunner line. The Forerunner 70 takes over from the long-running Forerunner 55, and the Forerunner 170 slots in just above the Forerunner 165. Both watches share the same design language as the rest of the new Forerunner family — round AMOLED display, five physical buttons, plastic case, silicone strap — and both are squarely aimed at runners who don't need maps or multi-band GPS.

Forerunner 70 — the biggest leap on the entire line

The Forerunner 55 has been Garmin's entry-level running watch since 2021. It worked, but it looked dated — a small, low-res memory-in-pixel screen, no touchscreen, no music, no streaming. The Forerunner 70 throws all of that out.

• AMOLED display. Sharp, bright, full colour. The single biggest reason to upgrade from a 55.
• Touchscreen. Swipe through glances and widgets the same way you do on a Forerunner 265 or 965.
• Music storage with Spotify, Amazon Music, and Deezer. Leave the phone at home.
• Wi-Fi sync. Faster activity uploads and playlist transfers without your phone in the middle.
• Garmin Pay. Tap-to-pay from the wrist — historically reserved for higher-tier watches.
• Heart rate variability (HRV) status, sleep coach, and morning report. The full modern Garmin health stack.

The trade-off: battery life is shorter than the 55 (no surprise — AMOLED costs power), and you're still without barometric altimeter, multi-band GPS, or maps. For the audience this watch is aimed at — first-time Garmin owners, casual 5K–10K runners, anyone moving up from a basic fitness tracker — that's the right set of compromises.

Forerunner 170 — a quiet refresh of the 165

If the 70 is a generational jump, the 170 is more of a sidegrade. It looks almost identical to the 165, weighs about the same, and shares the same case size, AMOLED display, and 5-button layout. What's actually new:

• Training Readiness. A daily score combining sleep, HRV, recovery time, stress, and recent training load — previously a 255/265/965-tier feature.
• Smart Wake. Wakes you during a light sleep phase inside a chosen window instead of jolting you out of REM.
• Refined health metrics across HRV status and the morning report.

What you do not get over the 165: barometric altimeter is now on both (the 165 always had it — we recently fixed that in our specs), GPS is still single-band, no maps, no music streaming bump. If you already own a 165, this is not the upgrade you've been waiting for.

The dark horse: Forerunner 165 at $199

The most interesting story isn't either of the new watches — it's what happened to the old one. The Forerunner 165 has dropped to $199. At that price it's cheaper than the new Forerunner 70 and only $100 less than the new 170, while sitting feature-for-feature almost identical to the 170 minus Training Readiness and Smart Wake.

If your budget tops out around two hundred dollars and you want a real running watch — AMOLED, HRV, race predictor, PacePro, structured workouts, Connect IQ — the 165 at $199 is the buy of the season.

Forerunner 70 vs 165 vs 170 — at a glance

Feature	FR 70	FR 165	FR 170
Price (USD)	$249	$199	$299
Display	AMOLED	AMOLED	AMOLED
Touchscreen	✅	✅	✅
Barometric altimeter	—	✅	✅
Music storage	✅	Music edition only	Music edition only
Training Readiness	—	—	✅
Smart Wake	—	—	✅
Race Predictor / PacePro	—	✅	✅

Which one should you actually buy?

• Coming from a basic step tracker or upgrading from a 5+ year old Garmin? The Forerunner 70 is the most accessible jump-in point in years.
• Want a proper running watch on the smallest possible budget? The Forerunner 165 at $199 is unbeatable.
• Care about Training Readiness and Smart Wake — and not much else above the 165? The Forerunner 170 gets you there, but expect a modest upgrade, not a transformative one.
• Already own a Forerunner 165? Skip the 170. Wait for the 265 successor instead.

Compare the specs yourself

The compare tool has every spec for all three watches side by side — sensors, sport profiles, battery life in each GPS mode, water rating, weight, the lot.

Open the compare tool →