At a Glance: The Verdict
| Garmin Forerunner 70 | Apple Watch Series 11 |
|---|---|
|
Best For: Runners who hate charging A light, focused running watch that goes 13 days between charges and costs $250. No payments, no calls, no LTE: just training data and a battery that won’t quit. Works with iPhone or Android. |
Best For: iPhone owners who want it all A full smartwatch with Apple Pay, calls, LTE, ECG, and a big, bright 1.96-inch screen. The catch: you charge it every single day, it costs $429, and it only works with an iPhone. |
Quick Buy Path
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These two watches both ride your wrist and track your runs, but they’re built for completely different people. The Garmin Forerunner 70 is a stripped-down running tool with a multi-week battery. The Apple Watch Series 11 is a tiny iPhone you wear. Picking between them is mostly about whether you want a training watch or a smartwatch.
Key Differences
- Battery life: The Garmin lasts 13 days in smartwatch mode; the Apple lasts 1 day. That’s not a small gap. It’s the whole personality difference.
- Smart features: The Apple Watch has NFC payments, a microphone and speaker for calls and Siri, and LTE for going phone-free. The Garmin has none of that.
- Phone support: The Garmin pairs with iPhone and Android. The Apple Watch only works with an iPhone.
- Health sensors: The Apple packs ECG, skin temperature, and a depth gauge. The Garmin sticks to heart rate and SpO2.
- Price: The Garmin is $250. The Apple is $429 (a $179 jump).
Deep Dive Comparison
Design & Comfort
The Forerunner 70 is the lighter, runner-friendly pick at 40 grams in a 43mm fiber-reinforced polymer case. That plastic build sounds cheap but it’s exactly what you want bouncing on your wrist mile after mile. Its 1.2-inch AMOLED screen (390 x 390) is small but sharp and easy to read at a glance.
The Apple Watch Series 11 is actually a hair lighter at 37.8 grams, but it’s a bigger watch: a 46mm aluminum case with a much larger 1.96-inch LTPO3 OLED display (416 x 496). It looks and feels like a premium piece of tech, and that big screen makes typing replies and reading notifications genuinely usable. If you want something that doubles as everyday jewelry, the Apple wins. If you want something you forget is there during a long run, the Garmin wins.
Battery Life
This is the easiest call in the whole comparison. The Garmin Forerunner 70 runs 13 days (312 hours) in smartwatch mode and 23 hours with GPS active, enough for a full marathon and then some. The Apple Watch Series 11 gives you 1 day (24 hours) of normal use and just 7 hours with GPS running. For most runners, the Apple needs a charge every night, and a long ultra could drain it before you finish.
Health & Fitness Features
Both watches use single-band GPS and optical heart rate, so basic run tracking is a wash. The Garmin leans on its Elevate Gen 4 heart rate sensor plus SpO2, which covers the essentials for training and recovery. It’s simple, but it’s the kind of simple that runners trust.
The Apple Watch goes much wider on health hardware: an electrical heart sensor for ECG, a third-gen optical heart sensor, blood oxygen, skin temperature, a depth gauge, and water temperature sensing. If you care about ECG readings or want a watch that can dive, the Apple is in another category. For pure run training, though, both get the job done; the Garmin just does it longer between charges.
Smart Features
Here the Apple Watch Series 11 walks away with it. It has NFC for Apple Pay, a microphone and speaker for calls and Siri, LTE so you can leave your phone at home, Wi-Fi, and 64GB of storage for music and apps. It’s a real smartwatch.
The Garmin Forerunner 70 is the opposite. No contactless payments, no mic or speaker, no cellular, and just 512MB of storage. It connects over Bluetooth and ANT+ for sensors, shows notifications, and that’s about it. If you want to tap to pay or take a call from your wrist, the Garmin can’t.
Price & Value
The Forerunner 70 lists at $250. The Apple Watch Series 11 lists at $429 ($179 more). The question isn’t which is cheaper, it’s whether the Apple’s smart features and sensors are worth nearly double. For an iPhone owner who wants payments, calls, and ECG, yes. For a runner who just wants reliable tracking and a battery that lasts two weeks, the Garmin is the smarter spend by a mile.
Technical Specs
| Spec | Garmin Forerunner 70 | Apple Watch Series 11 |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 40 g | 37.8 g |
| Display | 1.2-inch AMOLED, 390 x 390 | 1.96-inch LTPO3 OLED, 416 x 496 |
| Water Rating | 5 ATM | 50 m |
| Battery (Smartwatch) | 312 hours (13 days) | 24 hours (1 day) |
| Battery (GPS) | 23 hours | 7 hours |
| GPS | Single-band | Single-band |
| Contactless Payments | No | Yes (NFC) |
| Mic & Speaker | No | Yes |
| Sensors | Optical HR (Elevate Gen 4), SpO2, Accelerometer, Ambient light | ECG, Optical HR Gen 3, Blood Oxygen, Temperature, Compass, Altimeter, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Ambient Light, Depth Gauge, Water Temp |
| Storage | 512MB | 64GB |
| Price | $250 | $429 |
The Verdict
These watches don’t really compete: they serve two different buyers. Buy the Garmin Forerunner 70 if you’re a runner who wants accurate tracking, a featherweight build, and a battery that lasts two weeks instead of one day. At $250 it’s the better value, and it works whether you carry an iPhone or an Android.
Buy the Apple Watch Series 11 if you own an iPhone and want a do-everything smartwatch: Apple Pay, calls from your wrist, LTE, ECG, and that gorgeous big screen. You’ll pay $179 more and charge it nightly, but you’re getting a far more capable device. Just know it’s an iPhone-only club. Android users should stop reading and grab the Garmin.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, the Garmin Forerunner 70 or the Apple Watch Series 11?
It depends on what you’re after, but here’s the clean split: the Garmin is the better running watch, and the Apple is the better smartwatch. Runners who want long battery and a light build should take the Garmin; iPhone owners who want payments, calls, and ECG should take the Apple.
Does the Garmin Forerunner 70 have contactless payments?
No. The Forerunner 70 has no NFC payments, no microphone, and no speaker, so you can’t tap to pay or take calls from it. The Apple Watch Series 11 supports Apple Pay and wrist calls, so if those matter to you, the Garmin is out.
Is the Apple Watch Series 11 worth $179 more than the Garmin?
For an iPhone user, yes: that extra money buys LTE, payments, a mic and speaker, ECG, and a much bigger screen. For a runner who only wants tracking and battery life, no. The Garmin does the core job better for $250. Match the price to what you’ll actually use.
Will the Apple Watch Series 11 work with an Android phone?
No. The Apple Watch Series 11 only pairs with an iPhone, full stop. The Garmin Forerunner 70 works with both iPhone and Android, which makes it the only real choice if you’re not on Apple.
Which one has better battery life for long runs?
The Garmin, easily. It runs 23 hours with GPS active versus just 7 hours for the Apple Watch, so it can outlast an ultramarathon and a week of training. The Apple needs a charge most nights and could die mid-event on very long efforts.
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