Did a 5-mile trail run today. Had setup a course to follow that was 1/2 trails and 1/2 roads back to the start. I mostly had the screen on the navigation screen so I could follow the trails. A few times during the first 1/2 of the run I would switch to another data screen to view my HR, pace, time. I hit lap when I got about 1/2 way into the run as I was done on the trails. Then trouble with the 970 began. The watch would not exit the navigation screen. The up/down buttons zoomed the map. The lower right changed from an X to an arrow. The upper right was a menu with map options (zoom, navigate, stop course, etc.). At one point I chose "stop course". That did not help. After 45minutes or so the watch appeared to "catch-up'. I had Shokz earphones on and suddenly the watch voice messages came through one after another rapid fire. Left turn, lap, turn ahead, etc. These appeared to be messages that got stacked up during the first part of the run. At the end of the run I still couldn't hit lap or stop. I stopped running and suddenly was able to stop the activity and save it (fortunately). This is the second time I've had a major problem where data screens get stuck. The first time I was 10 miles into a run and had to reboot the watch and resume the activity. I've started wearing both the 970 and my old 955 as a backup in case. Not excited about paying $750 for a watch and having to wear my old 955 as backup.
If a Garmin rep wants to view my account or the run for today, feel free.