Amid a 2026 gear cycle dominated by 500-dollar racing shoes and ever more exotic super-foams, Garmin's Forerunner 70 and 170 are a deliberate move in the opposite direction: purpose-built running watches aimed at beginners and improvers rather than sponsored elites. Announced in mid-May and available shortly after, the pair sit at the accessible end of Garmin's deep Forerunner line, and they make a strong case that the most useful running technology for most people is not the most expensive. For runners weighing their first dedicated GPS watch, or an upgrade from a phone strapped to an arm, these are among the most sensible options on the market.
Both watches share a clean, modern hardware package. Each carries a vibrant 1.2-inch AMOLED display, a responsive touchscreen and a traditional five-button layout, the combination that long-time Garmin users prefer for operating a watch mid-run with sweaty fingers or in the rain. The bright, colourful screen is the headline upgrade for this tier, bringing the at-a-glance readability of Garmin's pricier models to a watch built for everyday training. The five physical buttons matter more than they might sound: they make starting, lapping and stopping a session reliable when a touchscreen alone can be fiddly in motion.
Pricing is where the range makes its pitch. The Forerunner 70 carries a suggested retail price of 249.99 dollars, the Forerunner 170 comes in at 299.99 dollars, and a Forerunner 170 Music edition with on-watch storage lands at 349.99 dollars. That ladder lets buyers pay for only what they will use: the 70 covers the fundamentals, while the 170 adds the kind of training and recovery guidance that helps a runner structure a build-up rather than simply record it. For a category in which flagship multisport watches routinely cost two or three times as much, the value proposition is clear.
The feature set is pitched squarely at people trying to build a running habit and then improve. Across the two models, Garmin leans on its established training tools, the daily suggested workouts, recovery guidance and the readiness and load metrics that turn a stream of data into actionable advice, while keeping the interface approachable for someone who has never owned a sports watch. The result is a watch that can grow with a runner: useful on day one for pace and distance, and still relevant months later when the same person is following a structured plan towards a first 10K or half marathon.
None of this displaces Garmin's premium Fenix and higher Forerunner models for athletes who want every advanced metric, longer battery in ultra-distance use, or full mapping. But the 70 and 170 underline an under-appreciated truth in running gear: the gap between an entry-level watch and a flagship has narrowed sharply, and for the vast majority of runners the affordable option now does almost everything they need. In a year when so much attention has gone to marginal gains at the very top of the sport, a reliable, readable, reasonably priced running watch may be the upgrade that makes the biggest difference to the most people.