Garmin fixes a bunch of annoying bugs in Forerunner 570 and 970 watches with latest beta update

If you’re the proud owner of a Garmin Forerunner 570 or a Forerunner 970 watch and you've spotted a few annoying bugs, you're in luck - there’s a new beta update on the way.

Garmin’s calling it Beta Version 16.17, and while it sneaks in a few useful extras, the main story here is bug fixes. And a lots of 'em.

The changelog (a software log file showing any updates) is packed with little issues that can quietly ruin the day-to-day experience, especially if you’re the type who actually uses things like course navigation, sports scores or the HRV chart.

What’s new in beta 16.17?

This update is mostly to do with reliability. Garmin lists multiple fixes for problems that could cause the watches to reset, including one specifically linked to viewing the heart rate variability (HRV) chart. If you’ve ever had your watch glitch out when you’re just trying to check recovery metrics, that’s the sort of thing this update is targeting.

Sports fans also get a small but welcome upgrade, with Garmin adding support for showing stoppage time in sports scores. There’s also expanded support for spoken watch face complications, which basically means more things your watch can read out loud if you use voice prompts.

Elsewhere, Garmin says it’s improved the course details page layout, and refined the distance intervals audio prompt so it reports the time for each interval more clearly.

Navigation and course-following also gets attention, with fixes for long course point names, incorrect “stay time” when a course includes a rest point, and even a bug where adding a navigation data screen could cancel an activity.

Golf and indoor cycling aren’t ignored either. Garmin has noted a fix in this release for a golf course green display issue, plus resets that could happen when loading a course for indoor cycling.

How to get it

Garmin said the Beta 16.17 is currently rolling out to Forerunner 570 and 970 owners that are already enrolled in Garmin’s Beta Program. But if it doesn’t land automatically, you can usually pull it manually on the watch by heading to Menu > System > Software Update and checking for updates via Garmin Connect.

For those that aren't signed up to the program, you should receive it in due course.

Garmin is on a roll with watch updates of late - it was only earlier this week the firm announced it will start rolling out a new stable update for its Approach S12 golf watch, called System Software 5.10. And while it’s not adding shiny new features, it will squash a couple of very golf-specific bugs that could genuinely make the watch less annoying to use.

And just before that, Garmin said similar updates will soon be rolling out for the Approach G12 clip-on GPS rangefinder as well as stable updates for other golf wearables, including the Approach S70, S44 and S50.