Garmin officially rolls out the feature-packed Forerunner 570 smartwatch at a reasonable price
Priced at $550 and available from May 21, the Garmin Forerunner 570 comes with a beautiful screen, solid battery life, and extraordinary running features.
Well, that didn't take long. It was only a few hours ago that I first reported on the existence and future release of a Forerunner 570 smartwatch, and now Garmin is already listing the new product on its official website ahead of a May 21 commercial debut.
Unveiled alongside the higher-end and costlier Forerunner 970, this athlete and triathlete-friendly mid-ranger of sorts is priced at $549.99, which doesn't exactly qualify the 570 as an ultra-affordable timepiece, but it certainly beats the $749.99 MSRP of the more premium aforementioned model.
So... many... cool.... features
- 42mm and 47mm case sizes;
- 1.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen with 390 x 390 pixel resolution (42mm variant);
- 1.4-inch AMOLED display with 454 x 454 pixel resolution (47mm size);
- 42.4 x 42.4 x 12.9mm dimensions (42mm variant);
- 47 x 47 x 12.9mm dimensions (47mm size);
- 42 grams weight (42mm variant);
- 50 grams weight (47mm size);
- Up to 10 days of battery life (42mm variant);
- Up to 11 days of battery life (47mm size);
- Aluminum bezel;
- Corning Gorilla Glass 3 lens;
- Silicone strap;
- Multi-band GPS and SatIQ technology;
- 8GB internal storage;
- 5 ATM water resistance;
- Built-in speaker and microphone;
- Heart rate monitor;
- Heart rate variability;
- Blood oxygen sensor;
- Sleep score and insights;
- Nap detection;
- Body Battery energy monitor;
- All-day stress tracking;
- Skin temperature;
- Garmin Pay;
- Barometric altimeter, compass, gyroscope, ambient light sensor;
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity;
- Morning Report and Evening Report;
- Garmin Coach, Garmin Running Coach, Garmin Cycling Coach, Garmin Triathlon Coach;
- Multisport workouts;
- Incident detection;
- VO2 Max, Training Load, Training Effect;
- Running Dynamics, Running Power, Grade-Adjusted Pace, Race Predictor;
- Android and iPhone support.
At first glance, the Garmin Forerunner 570 covers all the health monitoring and sports tracking bases... and then some. Also at first glance, not much appears to differentiate the Forerunner 970 from its cheaper "cousin."
At a closer look, however, you'll probably notice that the lengthy list of features and capabilities above lacks a potentially life-saving ECG sensor. And an occasionally handy built-in LED flashlight. The 570's build is also a little less impressive, with an aluminum instead of a rugged titanium bezel and Gorilla Glass 3 display protection rather than sapphire.
Still, this is by no means a fragile or ugly wearable, and the two case sizes actually give the Forerunner 570 an important flexibility advantage over the 970. Leaving all comparisons aside, we're definitely looking at a remarkably feature-packed running smartwatch capable of keeping an eye on every little aspect of your marathon preparation (as well as the marathon itself) while rocking what Garmin calls its "brightest display yet"... without elaborating on the brightness figures.
Can the Forerunner 570 replace your Apple Watch Series 10?
Aaaand we're back to comparing the new product with an existing one... designed for a different target audience. But be honest, this is one of the first questions you ask yourselves whenever Garmin, Samsung, Google, or OnePlus add a new device to the Apple-dominated industry.
Today's answer (as so many times in the past) is complicated, with that 11-day battery life promise, for instance, making the Garmin Forerunner 570 look like not just an Apple Watch killer, but one of the best smartwatches you can buy right now period.
Granted, the Forerunner 970 can guarantee even longer running times between charges, but 11 days (or 10 days on the smaller model) is nothing to sneeze at either. Another detail many prospective Forerunner 570 buyers will probably appreciate is the variety and atypical flashiness of the colors the new Garmin mid-ranger is available in. We're not just talking bland slate gray/black combinations, but also raspberry-and-mango or amp yellow-translucent whitestone-and-turquoise models.
That's a pretty unusual splash of style for a fitness-focused Garmin smartwatch, and together with all the powerful health monitoring tools, stellar battery life, and beautiful AMOLED display, it could well make the Forerunner 570 a formidable opponent for the Apple Watch Series 10, not to mention the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra.
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