Last week the Garmin Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 970 were released, and with that a slate of ‘new to Garmin’ features. The majority of those new features appeared only on the Forerunner 970, however, a handful (such as the new Evening Report feature) also appeared on the Forerunner 570.
After a bit of poking, I’ve finally got clarification on which existing watches will get these new features, and which ones won’t. To clarify, here’s the specific list of features we’re talking about:
– Running Tolerance feature
– Impact Load Factor
– ‘Autolap by timing gates’ feature
– Suggested Finish line feature
– Projected race time predictor feature
– Step Speed loss feature (requires HRM 600)
– Running Economy feature (requires HRM 600)
– Garmin triathlon coach feature
– Multisport Structured Workouts (from Garmin Connect to watch)
– Improved Ovulation cycle predictions using skim temp
There are a handful of other things already in the existing watch firmware update hopper, such as the Breathing Variations feature, seen on recent Garmin Fenix 8 betas (and going live today), as well as other recent beta features like the Rucking activity profile (been around since February or so). For example, Breathing Variations is going to an absolute ton of devices, including all Fenix 7 & Epic series (Pro & Non-Pro), Vivoactive’s, Venu’s, and more. I’m not including those in this list, since those are already trickling down to watches in a fairly predictable pattern. Instead, it’s all about the bits above, which are totally new to Garmin.
In any case, looking at that list, the long and the short of it is that existing Fenix 8, Enduro 3, and Tactix 8 variants will get those features at some point in the future. With ‘will get’ being more of a soft promise than a hard and fast guarantee. Specifically:
“The current plan is to roll the “new to Garmin” software features that announced with Forerunner 570 and 970 into the Fenix 8 series, Enduro 3 and Tactix 8 in future software releases. We cannot comment on the exact timing or guarantee that all features will make it into these updates.”
Said differently (and confirmed), there are no plans for any of these newly listed features to trickle down into the Forerunner 265, 965, Fenix 7 Pro, or Epix Pro series. Also clearly noted, as with all software development, things can and do change. Generally speaking, when Garmin says a feature is coming to other watches, 95% of the time it comes true. There are certainly contrary examples over the last decade, but frankly, they’re few and far between.
This is actually relatively similar to what we’ve seen in the past, at least in terms of timing. With the Garmin quarterly firmware release having started to trickle out in the last few days, that typically means the next cycle of public Fenix 8 betas is usually 2-4 weeks away (which would then culminate sometime in likely early-mid August with a production release, or slightly later if need be for a variety of reasons). As usual, the initial public beta may not include all the features that might end up in the final production version later (and vice versa, features could disappear).
In this case, with the Forerunner 970 clearly sharing most of the same new user interface base as the Fenix 8, it’s going to make that process much faster than it might otherwise have been.
Still, this will no doubt upset Fenix 7/Epix Pro users, or even Forerunner 965 users. From 2020-2023, Garmin actually got really good about updating existing devices (especially on the watch side, setting aside Venu of course). The Edge team still continues to do a very good job at porting features back as well. But with the release of the Fenix 8, it’s clear things have changed. Not just in terms of pricing upwards, but Garmin’s thinking around updating older watches. They’ve seemingly returned to the ‘old Garmin’ of the 2010’s, that forced new watches if you wanted new features.
On one hand, you’ve got companies like Apple offering watch updates for many years back, but that’s also not everyone. Polar for example is pretty heavily limiting things to current-gen watches. Suunto & COROS split the difference a bit, with Suunto updating everything in the current family of devices, while COROS will tend to extend one generation back, depending on hardware constraints. Google (with albeit rather limited history to look at) is mostly updating older devices too. And Samsung splits the difference, with updating some older watches with new WearOS features, but not necessarily new Samsung features.
Either way, of the bigger companies, Garmin is definitely becoming the most strict in terms of those software feature updates. At the same time, they’re also adding *far* more features in their updates than any of the companies I just noted (heck, probably adding more software update features than all of those companies combined). Apple for example, does one big update each year in September. COROS used to do more frequent updates than most, but in the last 1-2 years, the update cadence and depth have dramatically decreased from the 2022ish era. That’s common as companies mature.
Anyways, the reason all this might matter is the current Fenix 8 sales, which bring the price of the Fenix 8 down to $799, versus the $749 of the Forerunner 970. In that scenario, assuming form factor/style/size isn’t a factor, it’s a no-brainer to go with the more full-featured Fenix 8, especially assuming it’ll get the features listed above.
Of those features listed above, having used them on the Forerunner 970, I’d say the two most real-world useful ones are the Running Tolerance/Impact Load Feature (kinda a combo-dish), and the Evening Report feature. Some of the others are still interesting, especially the dynamic triathlon plans for triathletes. But beyond that, I find most are either a bit too geeky, or a bit too complicated to setup/use, for most people.
Anyways, hope this helps folks trying to figure out whether to pickup one of the Fenix 8 units on sale, or, the Forerunner 970. Or, just giving up and still using your Forerunner 305 that continues to work just fine, now 19 years later.
With that – thanks for reading!
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As a 965 owner I was hoping for the new metrics to arrive there as well, since I won’t upgrade the watch but could consider buying a 600, but Garmin lost a sale of that one then ;-)
me too…
Fenix 7 user here and I find myself in the same place. Would gladly buy a HRM 600 if I would get the new metrics.
Yes, I would have bought a HRM600 strap if the new metrics was backported to my Fenix 7Pro.
And me.
As a 955 owner I felt burned that the 965 came out just 9 months later, I still think it should’ve been called 955 OLED given that it was functionally the same device other than the screen. And now the 965 is getting burned. Come on Garmin. Do better. Said as the owner of 6 Garmin & 4 straps.
Thanks for the clarification! Does that mean, that going forward the HRM 600 will replace the HRM pro + as a chest strap that also works during swimming, but the new features will not be usable with a Fenix 7 pro? Do you know, whether there will be a cheaper alternative suitable for triathlon? Thanks again!
This will be the case unless they come to their senses.
The HRM600 is already priced very high making hard to justify even for those with Fenix 8 series, but for anyone else I can’t see any reason to buy the HRM600 over the HRM pro. No one is upgrading their watch just to gain access to the HRM600 features.
Could you please clarify what is Breathing Variations that will trickle down to Fenix 7? I could’t find that in the review of 970.
Thanks for the update! Any word on smart-wake? This feature is not included in the new Forerunners?
Interestingly enough, Garmin Connect app on my phone offered me to add a triathlon to the calendar this morning despite owning a 955. I kinda expected that at least triathlon plans and structured workouts would trickle down, but at the same time it’s understandable that Garmin wants to sell the new devices.
Same here :)
In the Coach glance or where?
Garmin determined to change its relationship with its customer base it seems, firstly the premium idea and now they drop evolution updates for watches that are still on sale. Really the reasons to stay loyal to Garmin as a brand are being erased
Agreed, I’m.usimg an Epix Pro and although I love the watch, unless Garmin change their sales tactics I’ll likely be looking at other options when the Epix Pro is past its used by date. I’ve had Garmins since the FR10 with HRM and footpod combo and have skipped a series up until I switched to the Fenix 6pro now the Epix Pro. It’s been a great run but like the Banks and insurance companies, I’ll be shopping around as clearly my loyalty is no longer seen to add any value to Garmins goals.
The positive is I really don’t need a new chest strap so now I have now itch for new features to suck me in.
I wonder how many people Garmin employs only to keep track of which feature goes to which watch, it must be hard to keep track of this even for them internally haha.
As FR965 owner, I like the idea of a new watch (mainly for flashlight feature, which obviously can’t be updated over the air haha), but realistically a) it has already more features I need b) new metrics are cool, but it’s not like you go from average runner (me) to Kipchoge thanks to them.
I guess there are at least a sub-department in Garmin that have employees with titles like sportprofile manager, sportprofile strategist, sportprofile architect and so on :-D
Let’s hope we (Fenix 8 users) get the UI update of the 970/570. Fenix UI looks very dated. Barely anything has changed since Fenix 6, 6 years ago.
Thank you for the clarification Ray, precise as everytime !
I’m wondering how Garmin will playout the new “Smart Wake alarms” feature they interduced with the Vivoactive 6
Has the Forerunner 970 already got it, will the Fenix 8 get it or will it stay an Vivoactive 6 exclusive one ?
With Garmin you never know…
I am guessing that means no updates for the HRM Pro Plus as well?
I wonder if they could offer some of these trickle down updates as part of a sub, depending on hardware compatibility? Maybe folk would be happy to pay for Connect + and receive some of these new features, as opposed to buying a new watch? The majority will upgrade eventually, but in the meantime you could have the latest features and Garmin can have it’s £80 – £90 a year.
Garmin is losing me as a customer. Bought an Epix pro sapphire titanium a couple of weeks ago. Fenix 8 and newer watches is not an option for me as they have a microphone which keeps me from using it at work. When you add the circus around Garmin connect+ less than 6 months after bashing Strava and other competitors for doing the exact same thing, and now this treatment of watches not even former gen, and we have ourselves a prime example of things thats going to come back and bite Garmin in it’s own ***.
We are 5 people in the family who all are using Garmin products (watches, HRM, pods, bikecomputers) but as of now I’m going with the decision to replace those products with other brands as they are reaching end of life.
So my 18 month old watch is now a dud which will quickly become obsolete? Even quicker as it’ll be the last Garmin I’ll buy. People don’t update their watch every 2 years. Google have the right idea and I buy a Pixel for this reason. Bye bye Garmin.
It’s almost like they haven’t even thought about it’s customer base, when launching a new product.
I’ve long watched the Apple Watch develop, and I think this year it is time to make the leap, surf the learning wave, and accept a couple of limitations.
Having a watch, that isn’t kept up to date, within 9 months of launch, is unacceptable, and blatant profiteering, from a company, that doesn’t seem to engage with its customers.
That’s it for me, a f965 user. Garmin lost me as a customer.
Well, I have been frustrated with features locked to new hardware for some time. This one will make me jump ship. I have a 965 and expected triathlon coaching to go to mod watches. I don’t care about any of the other stuff, coaching is not dependent on new hardware. That is greed. Done. After a lifetime of being a Garmin supporter I will sell this watch and move to Apple. Don’t come at me on features and battery life. I know. At least their ecosystem and updates roll down to virtually every watch.
Step Speed Loss and Running Economy are hardware locked to the new HRM 600. They’re hurting their own sales of they don’t open up this metrics to more watches.