Forerunner 970 - Recent Threads

I have the Garmin Forerunner 970 and HRM Fit. Does the HRM Fit not give me the new running economy metric? Is it only the HRM 600?

6513141 — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 21:11:41 GMT

I have the Garmin Forerunner 970 and HRM Fit. Does the HRM Fit not give me the new running economy metric? Is it only the HRM 600?

RE: I have the Garmin Forerunner 970 and HRM Fit. Does the HRM Fit not give me the new running economy metric? Is it only the HRM 600?

6513141 — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:43 GMT

Thank you!

RE: I have the Garmin Forerunner 970 and HRM Fit. Does the HRM Fit not give me the new running economy metric? Is it only the HRM 600?

S.M.R. — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 22:09:13 GMT

Yes only HRM600 enables that currently. It relies on step speed loss which that unit enables.

RE: Not nap detection

6949985 — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:29:30 GMT

I don't think thats true. When I had my 945lte it always detected naps and I think I saw a false detection once

Not nap detection

8457203 — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 15:55:33 GMT

I did three naps during this week and only detected the first one [emoticon:ca08b2c27c2f40e993e89508acf29e0b] (before the first firmware update)

Which ones are the conditions for get detected or is it running bad after thw firmware update?

Thanks in advance. Best regards,

970 dims in sunlight

Paul — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:08:43 GMT

Today was my first outdoor run. I've had no issues in first two months of owning my 970. As soon as sunlight hit my watch, it went dark. I started/stopped the watch multiple times, did a reboot and tried again. Same thing. I just spent an hour with Tanner from Garmin. We did the normal troubleshooting with no luck. I was even able to send him videos of the dimming. Last ditch effort was to reload the last software update. Boom! it worked. My watch has all of its auto dimming/brightness features back. Double checked all my settings and I was good to go for another run. Oddly GC shows my brightness on low, but my watch is clearly on high. I did a quick reboot and guess what? All the problems are back. The watch is auto dimming into a blank screen in sunlight. Additionally, adjusting the brightness has no effect. It appears to be stuck in low and then times out to a blank screen.

RE: 970 dims in sunlight

Borg — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:50:27 GMT

Good to know. I have the same issue and have now contacted the support team. I might also need to request a new device.

RE: 970 dims in sunlight

Paul — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:18:35 GMT

Nope! Good to go.

RE: Lock Requires Two Buttons, Unlock Requires One, why?

cscsw — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:03:16 GMT

There are many posts from owners of different models reporting the same issue. Some of them are 3-4 years ago. Clearly, Garmin decided to ignore customer's feedback and has no plan to change it. They are hopeless.

It proves there is a gap between customers and the product team. When a company stop listening, it's over. It's a joke that they call it a multisport watch but you can't use it with gloves, wrist guard ...

Lock Requires Two Buttons, Unlock Requires One, why?

user33 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 12:21:25 GMT

Is there a way to require the same button combination to unlock the watch as is used to lock it? Currently, I lock the watch by holding two buttons, but it only takes a single button press to unlock.

This usually isn’t an issue, but when skiing or snowboarding, clothing or gloves around my wrist frequently trigger an unintended unlock, which disrupts activity tracking unless I put the watch in my pocket.

I’m curious why this series unlocks with a single button press, whereas my MARQ Gen 2 requires the same button combination for both locking and unlocking.

RE: Lock Requires Two Buttons, Unlock Requires One, why?

cscsw — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 07:10:44 GMT

that is not convenience. I configure start + down to lock but my wrist guard keeps unlocking the watch.

There is a reason why you want to use 2 buttons, on the opposite sides, to lock

RE: garmin 970 brightness issue

Borg — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 04:33:22 GMT

I have the same issue

garmin 970 brightness issue

TAVITAMIR — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 16:49:13 GMT

New Garmin 970 issue with too dim light which i cannot resolve

It happened after 2 weeks of use

I try to update software and then i have checked the sleep mode and the brightness , but nothing

RE: 970 dims in sunlight

Borg — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 04:29:34 GMT

Any issues with the new device?

RE: Too Laggy to use

William Ashley — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 01:29:15 GMT

That's always been a problem using GPS for pace. If you get a Stryd, then you can use it for instantaneous pace and it updates faster. You have to get it calibrated, though, or you'll get the wrong pace 🙂

Too Laggy to use

2161209 — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 21:28:53 GMT

I got my Forerunner 970 today but will be refunding it. The watch is incredibly laggy. It consistently takes several attempts to swipe left to get from the main watch face to the next menu. It also doesn't register touches to select things, such as the confirm/deny options that appear top right and bottom left. If you can eventually get it to start an activity, when giving it a short test, it lags like *** swiping between screens, doesnt register swipes or touches. The map feature is unusable, and even at walking pace it doesn't load sections of the area ahead or takes forever when it does finally attempt to refresh. This is not a £600+ watch. I needed to upgrade because my Samsung's battery is not longer good enough for running longer distances, but it's a much more polished and USABLE interface, it is at least capable of running the software it has, with an equally bright screen. Not impressed at all with Garmin, seems incredibly overhyped.

16.37 crash while using touch for scrolling notifications

afarnedi — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 13:52:30 GMT

Hi, since I updated my 970 to 16.37 I'm experiencing crashes while using touchscreen for scrolling app notifications. It already happened 3 times, anyone?

RE: 16.37 crash while using touch for scrolling notifications

rickwiggans — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:24:47 GMT

Yep. Same for me. Not every time, maybe two or three times a week

Display not staying on during activity after update 16.37

JuanBaggins — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 01:29:15 GMT

I'm pretty sure this coincides with the last update 16.37, but I'm not for sure.
Recently my 970 no longer kept the display on during an activity. When I first bought the 970 I had turned off the always-on display, but when going for a run or doing some sort of activity I'd track, the display would still always stay on. For whatever reason it stopped doing this.

I don't THINK I did anything to cause this, but I wouldn't rule it out.
I've checked activities and I don't really see anything that sticks out that would change this behavior.

RE: Too Laggy to use

dtunney — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 13:20:35 GMT

I am not defending the 970 performance as it is pants. But in this case move to a ConnectIQ field like exact pace. The lag in this case is the averaging of the pace with the default pace field.

RE: can't sync activity

4559356 — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:37:20 GMT

Same +1

can't sync activity

3275488 — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 14:52:37 GMT

This the 2nd time in 2 weeks that FR970 didn't sync activity (running) with Garmin Connect. Late after, some others activities sync normally.

I tried to upload manually the .FIT file and also was not possible with an error message.

I'm really disapointed with Garmin. I used to use COROS and never had this type of problem.

Yay! v16.37 fixed the bluetooth music-playing crash/reboots!!!

LMOrunner — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 02:05:32 GMT

So far it seems to be working great without any crashes/reboots! I have not tried it out with an activity or GPS yet, but will update if any issues with that. Thank you, Garmin! (now please fix it on my other watch -- the Epix Pro gen 2)

RE: Yay! v16.37 fixed the bluetooth music-playing crash/reboots!!!

Instinct N — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 06:17:22 GMT

This issue also occurred on the Venu 4, which made people upset.

forums.garmin.com/.../venu-4-crashes-when-listening-to-music-on-version-16-37

Suggestion to Add ‘SkiErg’ Activity Profile to Forerunner 970

JG Kim — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:27 GMT

Dear Garmin Team,

I hope this message finds you well.

I am a user of the Forerunner 970, and I would like to express my appreciation for the quality of your products and the continuous improvements you provide through updates.

I am writing to respectfully suggest the addition of a “SkiErg” activity profile to the Forerunner 970.

In recent years, indoor training trends have evolved significantly, and SkiErg workouts have become increasingly popular among fitness enthusiasts. The SkiErg is not only an effective full-body cardio machine but is also widely recognized in competitive fitness events such as HYROX, where it is included as an official component.

Despite this growing popularity, there is currently no dedicated activity profile for SkiErg on the Forerunner 970. From a user’s perspective, this feels like a noticeable gap—especially considering that some less commonly used activity types are already included.

With that in mind, I would like to suggest the following options for your consideration:

Adding a dedicated “SkiErg” activity profile
Alternatively, introducing a more general category such as “Indoor Ski”
Ensuring that SkiErg workouts can be tracked and analyzed independently rather than being grouped under unrelated activities

I believe that implementing this feature would greatly enhance the user experience, particularly for those who regularly engage in indoor training. Many users, including myself, would highly appreciate the ability to track this workout more accurately.

Thank you very much for taking the time to consider this suggestion. I look forward to seeing Garmin continue to evolve with user needs.

Sincerely,
A Forerunner 970 User