Garmin Venu 4 vs Forerunner 570: Same Price, Different Buyer

The Fast Answer

Buy the Venu 4 if you want ECG, a flashlight, and a sleeker metal watch that blends into daily life. Buy the Forerunner 570 if you run seriously and want five physical buttons you can hit mid-interval without looking. Same price, same core engine. The decision is touchscreen lifestyle versus tactile running tool. Everything below is the detail behind that one sentence.

Garmin Venu 4 vs Forerunner 570: Spec Table

Both watches run the Elevate Gen 5 sensor, multi-band GNSS with SatIQ, a speaker and microphone, and Gorilla Glass 3. The gaps are buttons, case material, ECG, flashlight, and a few grams of weight.

Prices and specs are current as of publication and shift with sales and firmware. Confirm the live figure on Garmin’s spec sheet before buying. Weight figures below are with the silicone band.

* Venu 4 weight varies by source (roughly 51 to 56g on the 45mm depending on whether the band is included). Confirm the exact figure for your size on Garmin’s spec page before relying on it.

Buttons and Design: The Real Dividing Line

The Forerunner 570 uses a five-button layout on a lightweight polymer case. The Venu 4 uses two buttons plus a touchscreen on a heavier metal case. This is the difference you feel every single day, and it is the difference that should drive your decision more than any spec.

• Five buttons (FR570): Reviewers consistently rate the five-button layout as far easier to use mid-run or in bad weather, when a sweaty or gloved finger fails on a touchscreen. Start, lap, back, and scroll are all tactile. For interval work and lap running, this is a genuine advantage, not a preference.
• Two buttons plus touch (Venu 4): Cleaner, more smartwatch-like, better for everyday tapping and scrolling. Garmin even removed the Venu 3’s third shortcut button on the Venu 4 for a more minimalist look. If most of your interaction is checking notifications and metrics at rest, touch-first is fine. Mid-sprint, it is fiddlier.
• Case and look: The Venu 4’s metal case and stainless bezel read as a polished daily watch that passes at the office. The FR570’s polymer case and aluminum bezel read as a sports watch. The FR570 is lighter on the wrist as a result.

“Buttons versus touch is the same call as a barbell versus a Smith machine. Touch is smooth and clean until your hands are wet and shaking at the end of a hard set. Then you want something physical you can grab without looking.”
— Eugene Thong, CSCS

ECG and Flashlight: The Venu 4’s Two Hardware Wins

The Venu 4 has an ECG app and a built-in LED flashlight. The Forerunner 570 has neither, despite sharing the same Elevate Gen 5 sensor. These two features are the clearest reason to pick the Venu 4 at an identical price.

• ECG: The Venu 4 records a 30-second electrocardiogram to check for signs of atrial fibrillation, where regionally cleared. The FR570 uses the same sensor family but Garmin locked ECG out of it, reserving the feature for the pricier Forerunner 970 and watches like the Venu 4. If on-wrist ECG matters to you, the FR570 is out, full stop.
• Flashlight: The Venu 4’s LED flashlight (white and red modes) is genuinely useful for night runs, dark parking lots, and finding a keyhole. The FR570 has no flashlight. Again, this is a feature the more expensive 970 gets but the 570 does not.
• What the FR570 does not lose: It keeps the shared strengths. Elevate Gen 5 HR, multi-band GNSS, speaker and mic, skin temperature, HRV, Body Battery, and the full training suite are all present on both.

Training Metrics: Closer Than You Think

Both watches carry VO2 Max, Training Readiness, Training Load, Recovery Time, multi-band GNSS, and triathlon and multisport profiles. Reviewers describe the Venu 4 as essentially a Forerunner 570 in a different case, which means the training-metric gap is far smaller than the price-and-positioning story suggests.

• Shared core: Training Readiness, VO2 Max, Training Load, Recovery Time, running dynamics, and structured workouts appear on both. For most runners and hybrid athletes, the daily training experience is close to identical.
• FR570’s running edge: The Forerunner platform layers in triathlon-focused tools, race predictors, and the tactile lap control that serious runners lean on during intervals and track work. The five-button layout is itself a training feature for this crowd.
• Venu 4’s lifestyle edge: The Venu 4 pairs the same metrics with the smartwatch polish, ECG, and flashlight. If your training is real but your watch also needs to look right at dinner, the Venu 4 covers both.

“When two tools share the same engine, stop comparing the engine. Compare the handle. These watches train you the same. They just sit in your hand differently.”
— Charles Damiano, B.S. Clinical Nutrition

Battery: A Near Tie

Smartwatch-mode battery is close: the Venu 4 45mm rates up to 12 days, the Forerunner 570 47mm up to 11 days, and the smaller sizes of both land around 10 days. This is not a category either watch wins decisively.

• Venu 4: Up to 12 days (45mm) or up to 10 days (41mm) in smartwatch mode. Always-on display drops the 45mm to roughly 4 days. One long-term reviewer averaged about 8 days in mixed real-world use.
• Forerunner 570: Up to 11 days (47mm) or up to 10 days (42mm) in smartwatch mode. Battery takes a small step back versus older MIP-display Forerunners because AMOLED draws more power.
• Bottom line: If you buy the larger size of each, the Venu 4 has a slight edge. In the smaller sizes, they are effectively tied. Battery should not be your deciding factor between these two.

Which One Should You Buy?

At the same roughly $549.99, this comes down to touch-first lifestyle plus ECG and flashlight versus five-button running control on a lighter case. Neither is objectively better. They are built for different wrists.

Still deciding between generations instead? See our full Garmin Venu 4 review and our Venu 4 vs Venu 3 breakdown. If battery endurance is your real question, our Venu 4 battery life deep-dive has the real-world numbers.

Venu 4 vs Forerunner 570 FAQ

Do the Venu 4 and Forerunner 570 cost the same?

Yes. Both start at $549.99. Price is not a deciding factor between them, though street prices and sales shift over time. Check the live price before buying.

Does the Forerunner 570 have ECG?

No. The FR570 uses the same Elevate Gen 5 sensor family as the Venu 4, but Garmin locked the ECG app out of it. ECG is available on the Venu 4 (region-dependent) and the pricier Forerunner 970, but not the 570.

Which is better for running, the Venu 4 or Forerunner 570?

The Forerunner 570 is the better pure running watch, mainly because of its five tactile buttons, which are far easier to use mid-run than a touchscreen, plus its lighter case and triathlon focus. The Venu 4 matches most of the training metrics but uses two buttons and a touchscreen.

Does the Forerunner 570 have a flashlight?

No. The LED flashlight is on the Venu 4 and the Forerunner 970, but not the 570. If a built-in flashlight matters, that points you to the Venu 4.

Which has better battery life?

It is close. The Venu 4 45mm rates up to 12 days versus the FR570 47mm at up to 11 days in smartwatch mode. The smaller sizes of both are around 10 days. Battery should not be your deciding factor.

Are the training metrics different?

Not by much. Both carry VO2 Max, Training Readiness, Training Load, Recovery Time, and multisport profiles. Reviewers describe the Venu 4 as essentially a Forerunner 570 in a different case. The real difference is buttons, ECG, flashlight, and look, not the training data.