Forerunner 970 - Recent Threads

RE: Laggy Watch

William Ashley — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 19:59:19 GMT

Not that previous generations were great, but this current generation of Garmin watches is embarrassingly overpriced for the processing power they have. It doesn't seem they've really improved the CPU at all over several years, but they have been adding more features. The result is this laggy mess we have now, along with the huge price increase.

Laggy Watch

Mikel — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 05:54:02 GMT

I’ve had the Forerunner 970 since launch, and overall it’s been a great watch in terms of features, accuracy, and reliability. That said, one issue that has consistently bothered me is the laggy user interface.

I honestly expected this to be resolved by now through firmware updates, but it still feels very noticeable in day-to-day use.

The most obvious example is when starting an activity. After pressing the start button, there’s roughly a one-second delay before the activity actually begins. It might not sound like much, but it’s very noticeable and breaks the otherwise polished experience, especially on a device at this price point.

More recently, I’ve also noticed that navigating through glances isn’t smooth. Scrolling between them feels choppy and inconsistent, rather than fluid. What makes this more frustrating is that I have friends using other newer-generation Garmin watches, and their interfaces are noticeably smoother and more responsive in the same scenarios.

This leads me to wonder:

Is this a known limitation of the Forerunner 970 hardware?
Is the UI lag something Garmin is actively working on via firmware optimisation?
Or is this simply the expected performance for this model going forward?

I’m not trying to nitpick, this is still a great watch, but responsiveness is a big part of the overall user experience, and it feels like the 970 should be capable of better performance.

I've had the last 4 Forerunner 9xx generations, this seems to be the most in terms of lag

Alerts don't trigger when under a custom made workout

1348649 — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 17:10:45 GMT

Hi Garmin
I have found a bug. When running a specific workout built through TrainingPeaks or just Garmin's own workout planner, alerts don't trigger.
I found the bug while doing a specific workout I had made on TrainingPeaks. Every 20 minutes I wanted to get an alert to take a gel. But it never triggered.

Please fix this!
Kind regards
Philip

Interface lag

1348649 — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 13:41:34 GMT

Hi Garmin

I love my forerunner 970 but there are many instances where it just is too laggy. Here are just three examples

1) horrible frame rate drop when showing a trophy when setting a PB

2) browsing through glances can offer lag

3) pressing the run button setting up a new run session

Do you Garmin have solutions for this?

RE: Laggy Watch

1348649 — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 13:33:34 GMT

I can fully agree on this. Dear Garmin are you working on optimising the frame rates as well as day to day lag??

RE: Laggy Watch

Paulo_Goulart — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 11:16:58 GMT

I was thinking and aborted. I’m glad for that decision, after seeing this “complaints”. These behaviours are a deal killer, coming from 30 years on PCs and (Android) phones…

RE: Not nap detection

Daern — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:48:57 GMT

I'll admit that I don't do a whole lot of napping, but last Saturday after a rotten night's sleep due to work, and a long run, I did put my head down for an hour or so. I've only just checked back and, yes, the watch detected it automatically. FR970, latest (release) firmware etc. Might not be absolutely perfectly accurate, but I would mark it as "about right" in my eyes.

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,

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?

RDW — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:28:12 GMT

Agree, snowboarding generally my gloves end up unlocking the thing all the time.

Feature Suggestion: Integration of Marine Environmental Data (Waves & Currents) in Open Water Swimming via Windy API

9994531 — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:20:28 GMT

I am writing to suggest a significant enhancement for the "Open Water Swimming" activity profile. Currently, metrics such as Pace, SWOLF, and Training Effect are calculated based solely on GPS movement and heart rate, ignoring the massive impact of environmental resistance.

The Problem:

Swimming at a 1:30/100m pace in calm water requires a completely different effort compared to the same pace against a 0.5 knot current or 1.0m waves. Currently, Garmin’s "Relative Effort" and "Performance Condition" do not account for these variables, leading to inaccurate training data.

The Solution:

I propose integrating real-time marine data—specifically from providers like Windy.com (API)—into the activity start sequence.

Pre-Activity Sync: When the watch acquires a GPS soak at the beach, it could fetch local wave height, wave period, and current velocity/direction via the Garmin Connect app.

Post-Activity Analysis: This data should be recorded in the activity .FIT file. This would allow Garmin to provide an "Adjusted Pace" or a more accurate "Effort Score" that reflects the actual physical work done against the elements.

Contextual Metrics: In the Garmin Connect summary, users should be able to see the sea state (e.g., "Sea State 3" or "0.8m swell") alongside their performance charts.

Why it matters:

For competitive swimmers and triathletes, understanding how currents and chop affect their performance is crucial for pacing strategies and load management. Since Windy already provides highly accurate ECMWF and GFS marine models, this integration would set Garmin apart as the ultimate tool for open water athletes.

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 — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 09:16:25 GMT

On the About screen, quickly press the Light button eight times. Then you'll be prompted to confirm if you want to install the latest software update.

RE: 970 dims in sunlight

FlipStone — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 07:40:48 GMT

Hmmm, doesn't seem to do anything for me? I just qo through the various 'about' screens rapidly

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!

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?

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

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 ...

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?