Let's be honest here: the Forerunner 970, like a lot of complex smartwatches, launched with some bugs. The good news? Garmin's been pretty active about fixing them.
Touchscreen issues (mostly fixed):
Early on, "ghost touches" were a real problem. The screen would register taps that never happened. Software version 6.18 helped a lot, though some people still see occasional phantom inputs.
Software quirks that have popped up:
- Watch freezing after entering your PIN code
- Scrolling problems when trying to reach Glances
- Custom watch faces resetting after firmware updates
- Spotify screen going black during playback
Performance complaints:
Some users feel the watch can be laggy, especially when saving activities, loading data, or scrolling around maps. There's a camp of folks who think Garmin's hardware is a bit underpowered for everything the software is trying to do.
Navigation bugs:
The round-trip rerouting feature has been known to just quit. Instead of recalculating, it sometimes ends navigation completely. Turn-by-turn notifications can also be inconsistent.
Flashlight weirdness:
The strobe doesn't always behave correctly. Sometimes it won't return to auto mode when the flashlight turns off, and there have been reports of it misfiring when traveling across time zones.
Swimming accuracy:
Open water GPS isn't as sharp as previous Garmins, and some people report inconsistent lap counting in the pool.
The silver lining:
Garmin has pushed out nearly 30 documented fixes across firmware updates, plus probably more that aren't listed. Keep your watch updated. Most of the early issues have been significantly improved or completely resolved. The 970 today is much more stable than the 970 at launch.
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How we researched this
Where this comes from: this answer draws on the product's published specifications and the reviews ShopSavvy collected for it, alongside prices from ShopSavvy's price data.
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