Garmin Forerunner 570 vs 265

The specification table

All battery figures are Garmin's own, taken from each watch's owner's manual with the mode named. Garmin publishes three GNSS modes for both watches, and the gap between the flattering figure and the accuracy figure is roughly a third on each.

The one difference that has actually been measured

In 2025 a team published a comparison of smartwatch threshold estimates against fingertip blood lactate in 100 recreational runners, 23 of whom wore a Forerunner 265. Its threshold pace estimate carried a mean error of 25.78% and overestimated — it told runners they could hold a faster pace than the laboratory said they could. Its thresholdheart rate was far better, inside the 5.95-7.15% band the three watches shared, which is roughly 9-11 bpm. And the test failed to return a usable result 34.8% of the time.

Nobody has run that test on the Forerunner 570. Its threshold feature uses the same family of models on a newer sensor, so the honest position is that it is unmeasured rather than better. Under our evidence hierarchy an unmeasured device cannot outrank a measured one on accuracy grounds — but a measured device that did badly does not get to hide behind the paper either.

Where the newer watch genuinely wins

• Case size choice.The 570 comes in 42mm and 47mm with the same feature set. Garmin's 42mm 265S actually has the longer stated battery of the two 265s, at 15 hours multi-band and 15 smartwatch days, so this is a fit decision rather than a capability one.
• Speaker and microphone. Calls and voice assistant from the wrist, which the 265 cannot do at all.
• Music endurance.The 570 states 8 hours of multi-band recording with music playing against the 265's 6 — a real gap on a long run with headphones.

Where the older watch wins

Battery, marginally: 20 stated GPS-only hours and 13 smartwatch days against 18 and 11. Price, usually substantially — the gap today is $197. And evidence, in the peculiar sense this site means it: the 265 is a known quantity with a published flaw, while the 570 is an unknown one.

Neither watch has maps. If that is what you are shopping for, the decision is between the 570 and the Forerunner 965 instead.

Who should buy which

• You want the most watch per dollar.The 265, and set your training zones from a real test rather than the watch's estimate.
• You want a 42mm case with full features, or calls from the wrist. The 570.
• You are buying because of the threshold feature. Neither. Read what the lactate study found first — all three watches tested overestimated, and two failed the test outright more than a third of the time.

The 42mm question, with real numbers

Both watches come in a smaller case, and the small versions do not behave the same way. Garmin publishes a separate battery table for each:

The 265S is the stronger small watch on every published row, and it is the only case in Garmin's current line-up where the smaller model states longer battery than its larger sibling. If you want a 42mm watch and endurance matters, that table is the answer.

Music, if you run without a phone

Both carry up to 8 GB of media storage, so the capacity question is a tie. The endurance question is not: with music playing, Garmin states 8 hours in All + Multi-Band for the 570 against 6 for the 265, and 9 hours against 7 in GPS-only. Two extra hours of audio is a real difference on a long Sunday, and it is the clearest practical win the newer watch has.

If you want more than 8 GB, neither of these is the watch — the storage figures are published and the jump is to a 32 GB flagship.