Black Friday is technically over, but the Black Friday Weekend sales are in full swing, and as we approach Cyber Monday, we expect plenty of big discounts on the horizon.
One Garmin deal I’ve spotted is on the Garmin Forerunner 970 — this newly released premium smartwatch has $100 off and is at its lowest-ever price.
Stand-out features that really stood out for Andrew included the 1.4-inch AMOLED touchscreen, which he noted as being one of the brightest in any of the Garmin smartwatch range.
The newly added LED flash and voice assistant support, although not essential for everyone, was a welcome addition too, and Andrew summed up his review by stating that the Forerunner 970 was a world-class runner’s and fitness watch.
It’s worth noting that a host of US retailers are matching the Amazon Forerunner 970 discount. If you wish to shop elsewhere, you’ll find more details below.
Andrew Williams
Andrew Williams is a freelance journalist based near London. He has written about tech for over a decade, contributing to sites such as WIRED, TechRadar, TrustedReviews, Wareable, Stuff, T3, Pocket-lint and many others. When he’s not covering fitness tech, he writes about mobile phones and computing, as well as cameras.
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There is plenty to like about the Garmin Forerunner 970. To start with, the stunning AMOLED display is beautifully bright and colorful. Bigger, brighter screens normally mean lower battery life. Sure enough, in Andrew’s testing, he came nowhere near the claimed 15 days of battery life. Andrew reported that the 970 with the always-on mode switched on was powered for around 4-5 days. This can be extended further by switching off always-on and also lowering the display brightness setting.
Accuracy was also excellent, as you’d expect from a Garmin watch that features much of the same level of internal tech as its Garmin Fenix 8 sibling. Advanced multiband SatIQ GPS and Elevate Gen 5 heart rate sensor delivered what Andrew called the best Garmin has to offer, and in his opinion, amongst the best in any wearable fitness tracker.
Elsewhere, the host of useful smartwatch features ticks all the boxes for usability, with NFC payments, offline music playback and voice control. Andrew noted that the Garmin Forerunner 970 at full MSRP was on the costly side, and that stopped it from being awarded the flawless score. With this Black Friday Weekend discount, it’s now an even more appealing smartwatch package worth snapping up fast ahead of Cyber Monday.
Key features: 1.4-inch AMOLED display, 32 GB of internal storage, dual-band GPS, up to 15 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and up to 26 hours in GPS mode, built-in LED flashlight, speaker and microphone
Product launched: May 2025
Price history: The price of the Garmin Forerunner 970 has firmly sat at $749.99 since its release in May this year. Today’s offer from Amazon and other major retailers brings the price down to $649.99 for the first time.
Price comparison: Amazon: $649.99 | Walmart: $649.99 | Best Buy: $649.99 | Garmin: $649.99 | REI: $649.99 | Dick’s Sporting Goods: $649.99
Reviews consensus: The Garmin Forerunner 970 is universally praised for its exceptional accuracy, lightweight design, bright display and comprehensive set of workout tracking features, with many reviewers considering it one of the best running smartwatches on the market. The only major complaint was that it cost a rather steep $749.99, and some testers were also disappointed at its limited size and color options.
TechRadar: ★★★★½ | Android Central: ★★★★½ | Tom’s Guide: ★★★★½ | T3: ★★★★½ | Live Science: ★★★★½
Featured in guides: Best running watches, Best Garmin watches
✅ Buy it if: You want one of the latest Garmin watches at its best-ever price.
❌ Don’t buy it if: You are looking for something slightly more affordable, such as the older Garmin Forerunner 965 (now 25% off at Amazon), or something with a better waterproof rating — the Garmin Instinct 3, for example (also on sale, also with a 25% discount).
Check out our other guides to the best fitness trackers, budget fitness trackers, smart rings, sleep trackers and much more.
