20 Best Watches For Mountain Biking (2023 Updated)

I searched for this watch everywhere, online and at stores. Finally found it at a brick and mortar location. My goal was to get the Fénix 7x sapphire solar but that was not available so purchased the 7 solar.

It is a very nice looking watch with loads of features. The information it provides is more than sufficient and similar to an Apple Watch (own one of these as well). The let down, and probably a reason not to spend the extra cash, is the solar feature.

There obviously is no reliable information on how much the device benefits from this type of charging as circumstances vary per user, but it does seem, from several reviews (read and watched), that the charging from the solar source is at best minimal on a very sunny day.

The sapphire upgrade is another option that seems unnecessary, again per reviews from different sources, as the screen that the normal watch comes with is good enough. Other than that it is an excellent watch with, what is one of the best features so far, a single battery charge that lasts at least a 7 to 9 days depending on usage.

The touch screen is also convenient when you are used to a smart watch like the Apple device, and it makes scrolling easier when searching for options. Right now still excited with the purchase, although it is quite expensive, but would still like to try the 7x for the screen and battery size.

I’ve been using my 7 Sapphire Solar for about a month upgrading from a Fenix 5+ Sapphire. The touchscreen makes the watch much easier to use and navigate (especially the maps), the body battery, sleep tracking, respiration, and pulse ox features give the watch a lot more functionality.

I only have two complaints that keep it from a 5 star score. First is the lack of availability of sapphire glass on anything other than the top spec watch. I didn’t really care about solar, or the extra storage, but I needed the Sapphire glass because my activities including motocross and mountain biking mean my watch takes some heavy abuse.

My 5+ was beat and scratched all over from years of hard use, but the Sapphire glass was still flawless. But with the 7 I had to pay an extra $100 for solar glass and extra memory I didn’t want or need just to get the sapphire glass.

I’d like to see Garmin produce a rugged version that just a base model but with Sapphire glass and DLC coating. The second thing is the bezel on the 7 sits almost flush with the glass. On the 5 the bezel was raised significantly higher than the glass which just gives the glass that little bit of extra protection.

I’d like to see that bezel beefed up a bit like the older model so I’m not as self-conscious about smashing the watch into stuff.

I’ve been trail running for about 5 years, but was happy with my basic fitness tracker. I chatted with a number of runners about their watches, all had great things to say about the data and insights from the two leading brands.

IMO what gave Garmin the edge was they make airplane navigational equipment, the other brand’s’ claim to fame is the battery life. I don’t do 40 hour ultras. Fenix 7 had almost all the advanced functions and long(er) battery life.

The interface took about a week to really ‘get’ and it’s been great to customize to make the watch work even more for me. The workout suggestions are great and do HIIT workouts in my garage, the built in timing programs for that are useful.

I’ve so far had one issue with GPS connection, but I run under redwood trees, so that’s not a first. Bummer they don’t have Sapphire glass on standard Fenix, but I got a screen protector on Amazon for a few bucks.

I would have been tempted for more advanced models if they too had the silver body, I didn’t want a giant military looking watch to wear at work. I’m really happy with this investment, wear it all day and hope it will last 5+ years.

This is my 4th smartwatch. My first was a long time ago so they have been spread across several years but this is by far my favorite. Not the prettiest or most jewelry like but just simple and good looking with more functions than most.

My first Garmin smartwatch, I decided to try Garmin for their GPS rep/support and I was not disappointed as it has great GPS functions even without connecting to your phone. Also many activity functions if you want to track fitness.

Again connection to your phone not required. Of course to receive texts, phone calls, email notifications, etc you need to connect with your phone via their app which is quite easy. Not many choices for watch faces, I find the default most pleasing with customizations available.

I tend to suffer from arthritis so I use the graph to track barometric pressure. If you want pretty backgrounds look elsewhere. No touchscreen which I prefer. The buttons provide better selection choices IMO as touchscreens seem difficult to navigate for me at smartwatch size.

Speaking of size it seems perfect for my wrist (I’m male with slightly slender wrists). Big but not too big. Also very comfortable and lightweight. The band has many holes for ventilation which is great for me as many watches make my wrist sweat.

Seems quite durable. Great battery life, I’ve been using it a week now (without activity tracking and limited phone connection) and only lost one bar on the battery indicator.

Fancy smartwatches these days have bright screens and a lot of things to drain the battery away. Not this watch, since there is no touchscreen and everything is in b/w, the battery lasts an amazing long time (days).

There is even a backlight button which reminds me of all the Casio watches I used to have. I am willing to call these watches “detox” just like the basic phones people buy nowadays for the same reason.

Yet, while it is basic looking, it does have a hefty amount of features. It can read any sort of notification on my iPhone, even discord messages. With a WearOS (the google smartwatches), you can’t do that.

It can display any notification coming in, albeit you have to press the buttons to view them which I think might be annoying for those used to touchscreen (but I love it). I don’t really have anything to say about the sport and activities feature, they are decent at least and not off by a lot.

I tried the esport feature which I don’t see a lot of people here mentioned, even downloaded and streamed with their STR3AMUP software to show my heartbeat on stream. I don’t think it’s very accurate, but its a cool feature to have and see.

I was very excited to finally try out the Fenix 7 sapphire solar because I’ve had the 6X for the last 2 years and watched ALL the YouTube videos comparing the 7 to the Epix 2. I kept going back and forth between the two.

Almost ALL the videos mention the dimness of the sapphire screen but I knew I had to actually see it for myself to make up my mind. Sadly, the screen was even worse than I was expecting. Especially on cloudy days the screen acted more like a mirror and was insanely reflective.

Having to reorient my wrist plus activate the backlight to be able to read the watch at a glance was fairly annoying for a almost $1,000 watch. Now the features and the GPS accuracy and tracking were wonderful, and I was very pleased! It sensed my pace changes MUCH faster than my 6X which was refreshing! I HATE looking down at my watch KNOWING that I’m going at least a certain pace and the pace on my watch is like 2-3 minutes per mile slower just because I’m running near some trees! The 6X drives me nuts with stuff like that, and seems to take forever to catch up to my actual pace in addition to having fairly inaccurate GPS data! The 7 has definitely upgraded on GPS performance and accuracy and sensitivity which was very nice! Lastly though, the battery was pretty poor, and once again is a FAR cry from Garmin’s “estimates”.

It was down to “low battery” in less than 5 days. I had the screen brightness set to 50%, HAD TO to semi compensate for the screen dimness. I used the all systems on for 3 of my 6 activities and then the multi band for 3 of the 6.

I know the multiband sucks up more juice but was testing the accuracy. The solar charging did almost nothing, and I was fairly intentional about exposing it to the sun as much as I could. That feature was not near as helpful as I had hoped or thought.

It’s seems more a marketing gimmick than anything. Granted if all you did was just sit in a chair all day every day directly in the sun not doing any activities with the screen brightness turned off, and turned off almost every other feature the watch has, then you might get close to the “estimates” of 11 days, or “up to 14 with solar charging”.

I’m returning after testing it out till low battery. This has solidified in my experience that the Sapphire Solar version is not worth the extra $100. The sapphire makes the screen way too dim AND reflective, and is pretty distracting.

I only wish the Multiband option was available on the non-sapphire models. I’m trying out the Epix 2 Sapphire next because I’ve read and seen that the amoled display more than breaks through the sapphire lense and you can’t really even tell it’s there.

If I can get all the features I like and be able to read the screen really well and still get better battery life than the 7s, then it’s really a no brainer to me. The 7s Sapphire Solar is simply not worth close to $1,000 to me.

I Love my fenix S Solar watch, despite a few frustrations in the beginning. Here’s what I really like- the solar capabilities, the glances, and the versatility. Solar- I just did a 6 day mountain bike trip in the Utah wilderness and never had to recharge my watch due to the solar charging.

Glances- I love the ease of the touch screen and being able to “glance” through all my stats and physiology in the morning including heart rate, sleep, body battery, weather, training readiness, steps, HRV status.

Versatility- The fenix has so many activity options and fun widgets to use I was frustrated in the beginning when I couldn’t get my fenix to pair with my iPhone. I tried all of the troubleshooting recommendations several times with no luck.

I looked at videos online. Finally I looked up on. a basic Google search, why my Fenix wasn’t pairing. The solution was to delete my Bluetooth for fenix S Solar on my phone settings, not on the Garmin Connect app, then reinstall it.

Bingo! It finally paired. The only other change I wish I’d made was to get the 47 mm face instead of the 42mm.

I have bought and tested 4 different Garmin watches and this is the ONLY watch that had all the functionality and features I was looking for. My original watch is an Instinct (which I still love and use).

The battery life on my Instinct is excellent which is why I was very disappointed with the Vivoactive and Venu models I tried and ultimately returned. I was looking for a watch with specific additional features that didn’t exist on my Instinct but did not want to sacrifice battery life, which was a fraction on the vivoactive and venu models.

Ultimately I purchased the Fenix and am very happy I did. This watch has all the functionality and features and EXCELLENT battery life. Plus, I opted for the solar option which will help in warmer months (short sleeves).

I kept trying to avoid spending more but you really do get what you pay for in this instance. Highly recommend! P. S. Garmin customer service is top notch. This was a >2 month process of troubleshooting and replacement orders and they worked with me every step of the way to make sure I was 100% satisfied.

I have had the watch for a little over a year and I can say it is not worth it at half the price. Two major short comings of the watch. The first is the heart rate monitor. I sent the first one back after a month of back and forth with customer service.

The next one worked marginally better but still frequently drops in and out. The larger problem is the gps. On a regular basis it miscalculates distance or cannot connect to the GPS signal to start with.

Recently on an open water swim I went 1100 yard but my watch told me I went 3700 yards. Also at least once every other week it shorts my distance on a run. I have been holding out hope that updates would make this better but it has not.

I am at the end an will be retiring this very expensive watch and buying something else. My guess is a Garmin.

Compared to Garmin, Suunto and Polar watches I’ve owned in the past, this Wahoo one feels much more intuitive and no nonsense. It lacks some features of competing models, but having read DC Rainmaker review, I decided I didn’t need anything that it lacks (e.

g. advanced daily activity tracking, navigation, 3rd party watch faces/widgets, music, contactless payments etc). I just want something that gives me the ability to log my running, cycling & swimming mileage accurately and intuitively, and it does that well.

I use a TICKR hr strap so can’t comment on the optical hr accuracy, but GPS has looked good enough for me so far, better than I was seeing with my Polar Vantage. The screen is clear and easy to read when I’m out running, and the zoom feature is great for my failing eyesight, allowing you to press two buttons together to see just the info you need most on screen.

The app is also nice and straight forward, giving me access to the stats that matter, without all the fluff that I’ve seen in Garmin Connect and Polar Flow. Definitely happy with the switch so far. Good to see Wahoo have a crack at the GPS watch market, interested to see where it takes them.

It was tough decision initially as there are so many watches to choose from, I purchased an elemnt roam last year I which has been great, so I decided to go for the Rival as well. I’m also planning on doing my first Half-Ironman next summer and really liked the idea of the touchless transitions, and it working in sync with my Roam computer.

Fantastic watch so far, only took 10 minutes to get it setup out of the box and was really simple. The battery lasts for ages and the recordings have been very accurate. Upload is almost instant as soon as I end the activity, and it looks smart too! Toggling between the screens is really easy when you’re out, and it’s really easy to see the key information you need.

Another great no nonsense product from Wahoo that just works when you need it to. Worth noting I haven’t tried swimming yet, but I will be once the local pool is back open.

I bought the Instinct 2 Solar to replace my 735 XT, which I had used happily for triathlon training and racing for many years. When it looked like the 735 might not last much longer, and I saw that it was discontinued, I looked for a replacement.

I had received an email from Garmin touting the Instinct 2 and decided to buy it just over a month ago for the following reasons: 1. Better battery life plus solar charging. 2. More rugged. 3. More accurate GPS.

The battery life is indeed better and it recharges very quickly, but I am not convinced that it would last 29 days without GPS usage. After such a short time I can’t judge how rugged it is or how accurate the GPS, but I am willing to believe those claims.

A pleasant surprise is that the Instinct 2 pairs with my smart bike trainer. I have been using the timer for ice treatments and stretching and the sleep monitoring functions, which I did not do with the 735.

Like the 735 and maybe all such watches, the Instinct 2 does not do a great job counting laps in the pool; it always misses a few turns, understating the distance and distorting the overall statistics.

My only real complaint is that with its abundance of features I personally do not need, it is a bit more complicated to use than the 735 for simple workouts. Also, the display is harder to read during a run or pool swim during rest through swim goggles) with the tiny numbers in the small circle in the upper right-hand corner.

I liked the 735 display better, even though the Instinct 2 has more pixels. To accommodate all the features, Garmin has added a third button on the left side of the watch; since that reduces the spacing, it is harder to change screens during a run.

They also added a function to enable or disable the lap key, essential when doing interval workouts or measuring distances along a hiking route. I could not figure out why I could not measure laps until I called the always super-helpful Garmin support team, who told me about this function, which is inexplicably not included in the full-length manual.

In summary, I love being able to record and view all my training statistics with this watch, and am getting used to accessing the functions I need, but it is not a perfect 5 for the reasons mentioned above.

Purchased this upgraded edition of the Instinct Solar as soon as it appeared. The feature additions were exactly what I was looking for without having to go with the high-end touchscreen devices. This device checks all the boxes for me.

Battery life is exceptional (best-in-class) and a must-have feature for my usage which includes many all-day or multi-day excursions. This device features more satellite system integration so tracking is extremely accurate and fast to acquire.

The menu system is logical and intuitive and operation is quick and responsive. (Garmin has come a long way in making their devices functional and intuitive from their disastrous past implementations, IMHO).

I really appreciate the variety of built-in sports applications – I use many of them, and like that I can add/subtract them easily as my list changes by seasons. The addition of Pulse Ox, V02 max, and other health features aligns this device with the higher-end devices as a great price-point.

Finally, I appreciate the addition of safety features such as Incident Detection. Note, however, that one must be prepared for false alerts, and know how to cancel them – this is not described in the manual nor online so you have 15 seconds to figure it out the first time it happens! Don’t worry though, if you send a false alert the device gives you the option to send a follow-up “I’m Okay” message (if you participate in a lot of activities that involve a lot of motion you will end up exercising this feature – but, I think it is worth the peace-of-mind if something bad does occur).

So far, operation has been near flawless, although I have had experience with Garmin’s connect system going down, and other device/fw bugs, with other Garmin devices, so not holding my breath. Garmin Connect app is top notch and phone integration is also near perfection.

Bottom line: if you need extended (potentially infinite) battery life for longer excursions, and are looking for a fully-loaded fitness/activity/health tracking instrument, this is IMHO the best there is.

I’m a UK surfer and very active (exercise most days, cycle to work and play tennis regularly). I had the 1st generation FitBit HR (c2015) which wasn’t water proof and then got a Polar (c2018) fully waterproof model.

The FitBit website (pre-app launch), was good but basic, widget based but light on data. The Polar was very slow to sync to it’s mobile app but data was better, plus the battery would last for 2 weeks, which was way more than FitBit with 5 days.

Now for Garmin. This Instinct 2S Surf edition, so far is very impressive. I’ve compared with a friend who has a Garmin Fenix 3 and this model comes with more functionality and lots and lots of variable settings (watch face appearance, power modes, connectivity – mobile/GPS – and customisation on app data).

It takes a while to read through and learn the functions but all are quick to navigate once you’re familiar with it. The biggest appeal I haven’t tested is that via the GPS and built-in Surfline software it provides swell forecasts and will allow you to actually record your surfing session via Surfline Sessions (subscription required) website/app.

If you’re at a spot where there’s a Surfline webcam installed it will save the live camera feed during the time you’re in the water straight onto your iPhone. Downsides? This Surf edition isn’t solar powered like other models of the Instinct 2S are, which is disappointing but the battery (with full connectivity and all settings turned on), will get you through 10 days, with daily workouts.

It’s also called ‘rugged’ but having gone for the Waikiki lime green & aqua colour I’ve noticed I’ve already scuffed the bezel from using weights but that’s all.

I previously had a forerunner and was able to make it work for me really well. Unfortunately it died. After a year or so I finally got the fenix 6s, and thus far its been great. I’m still working on customizing it to my liking, but it’s easy to work with.

I think the garmin connect updates have all been steps in a positive direction. And the additional features of the watch are pretty fun for a data nerd like myself. Especially paired with the new hrm-pro, I’m quite interested to test out the new power measurements in xc skiing, overnight pulseox seems to work alright, and being able to do HRV through garmin and not a 3rd party like I used to have to is quite nice.

It pairs well with my sleep app and makes it easy to track and log my daily ‘health’ in a variety of ways. I’d like to see a few more garmin connect updates, particularly related to generating a functional training log for athletes/coaches to analyze.

But not many workout apps I’ve tried do a good job on that front. In any case, I’m impressed. Battery life has been excellent. The wrist HR monitor is about like any other watch, not really reliable, particularly for exercise.

But I don’t knock the product for that. If you want that data it’s pretty much an absolute necessity to have a chest strap of some kind. The price is a bit steep, but hopefully it will continue to last and make it worth the purchase.

As a person who upgraded from a forerunner 245, I’m in love with all of the gadgets and who’shewhat’s it’s on this new watch. I like the different widgets. I like that you can custom the watch face. I really like the heart rate and pull socks.

However sweaty and outside running the heart rate seems a little bit unreliable as you get going. But of course it is a wrist-based biometric not a chest strap so you got to take that into consideration.

Overall though pretty good on the biometrics. I really like using this watch for walking, hiking, ellipticaling and all of the other upright activities I do. I do wish however there was a way that was simpler to hook a foot pod for cycling.

I have a wahoo cadence monitor for my bike but I have not found a reliable distance and speed attachment for my bike that actually talks to the watch that thus can talk to the Garmin application. Overall though for charting of my activities seems to be great.

One thing I would like down the road is get rid of the gold. I love the white. That’s why I went with white. But the gold is something to be desired.

Replaced my aging Fenix 2 that was no longer waterproof. This Fenix 6 is gets a GPS signal right away where my other watch could take 5 minutes many times causing me to either not use it to track walks or missing the first part.

The Fenix 6 also syncs to Garmin Connect effortlessly soon after pressing save on the activity. I used to have to fight with the bluetooth connection on the older watch. So far I have been very pleased with the watch and even with all the features for 24h activity tracking turned on, I get at least a week from the battery.

I have noticed that if the watch has not been rebooted in a while that the turn by turn notifications can stop popping up. So just to keep things problem free, I turn off and on the watch or hook it up to the usb with Garmin Express after a few activities.

Garmin Connect on ios makes it easy to create custom routes. I can plan a route for a walk just before going and send it to the watch so that I can share the route via Live Track for additional safety.

You’d think in a time of self driving cars and robotic surgery, a basic functioning fitness watch that tracks GPS, steps, and heart rate at this price point would be reliable and dependable! Not so with this watch! Stay clear.

I’ve done 2 warranty claims and none of these watches (I’ve had 3) works well. The problems 1) heart rate all over the place (sometimes the whole exercise is tracked at ridiculously high hr, sometimes way too low, at times it just jumps around erratically despite no change in the activity, often it’s just under by 10-15bpm the whole workout) – this is annoying as not only does it misrepresent your workouts and calories burned, but it also misrepresents your “minutes of intense exercise” as your hr needs to be in a certain hr zone for at least 10+ minutes before it even starts tracking your workout as “minutes of intense exercise”.

I can go for a 30 minute run and get 0 minutes of exercise logged!) 2) randomly doesn’t track something like steps, km, exercise minutes, calories (some things you can add in later and others like steps you cannot manually enter, (or sometimes it tracks it in the individual activity but does not update daily totals) 3) sometimes does not switch settings to the next day until you restart the watch and then you lose all the activity you have already done for the day, starting your numbers back at zero, including calories burned and steps 4) GPS works great when it works, but it needs constant attention as it will start to work then stop working or just not even track km at all (bizarrely I still have the map I’ve run or biked but no km logged, which again can be entered later if you want to do the math yourself using another ap) 5) spotty Bluetooth connection (there’s no reliable connection to he had between this watch and my phone – it updates sometimes when it wants, despite having a very good phone with no other Bluetooth issues) Just a consistent and correct HR reader would improve this watch greatly.

There is no excuse for such terrible software and all these bugs at this price point.

As a recovered Fitbit user, I made the switch to Garmin over a year ago. It’s not their newest or most expensive fitness tracker, but the Garmin 35 Forerunner is the best. First off you’re probably wondering, how easy was it to switch over to their software? A cinch and I’m a caveman with technology.

Now the app doesn’t have such catchy accomplishments that others might have, but it is far more accurate. The sleep analysis is mind blowing. This charger has lasted up to 7 days without charging. That is unbelievable.

Usually five is the average, and all this time later, it only takes 30 mins to get back to full. You’ll love the ease of the clamp on charger. It grasps on to the device with no drama. Also it’s not a long cord either, so any AC adapter is excellent.

Worried about going in the pool or ocean? Don’t as it’s waterproof! Also I’m the champion of replacement bands for fitness trackers and traditional watches. None needed. That’s serious build quality, and even the bezel looks no worse for the wear, despite hellacious running and lifting sessions.

It takes a beating, and delivers what your steps are, heart rate, intensity minutes, sleep monitoring, and the current time. That’s also helpful. My recommendation is to buy this one. I think I paid around $135, but my guess is this is less now.

Definitely get this one if you’re rough on equipment. This is one for that man or woman on “the go. ” Accuracy plus reliability are important. Plus this minimalist looking tracker blends in well. It’s comfortable and always ready for what comes your way.

This is a basic watch, which is all I wanted. I only power it on a couple of times a week to do my run and then I power it off, so it leads a soft life. Nevertheless, this morning it woke up and then locked up the screen.

I timed my run with a WIND-UP TIMEX THAT IS 30 YEARS OLD. After my run I went to the Garmin website and discovered that this is a known problem with this watch that they “are working on a fix” for. The watch will get stuck on a screen and become unresponsive.

The reboot is to mash the power button and hold it for a really long time, then plug the watch into power and mash the power button again for a really long time, then it wakes up and has the wrong time and date.

I am frustrated and disappointed. My wife bought me this watch as a gift and she is pissed that it didn’t even last a year when it hardly gets used.

I’ve had this watch for 7 months. I’ve had Breitlings, Rolexs and Casio Protrek watches. This is the best watch I’ve ever owned. I’ve resisted getting a smart watch because of their horrible battery life and nearly as bad water resistance.

The Enduro checked both of these boxes well enough to convince me to take the plunge. I has not disappointed. I regularly ride my bike and use the GPS and bike app to monitor my stats and conditioning (I’m looking forward to using the golf app).

I also use several smart features such as determining tides, SpO2, heart rate, respiration rate and email/text/alert notifications, and more. My battery only needs to get charged every 10 days (longer if I drop down to power save mode when the battery gets low).

When it needs charging, it only takes about 2 to 2. 5 hours to charge from 9% to 100%. After 7 months, there isn’t a scratch on my watch and it only comes off for showers. This long without a scratch is a first for me by a long time.

The “diamond” coating on the case and the tough crystal are extremely durable. If the watch could fully charge in ambient, indoor lighting (like my Casio Protrek) and if it was rated for water resistance to 20 bar (like my Casio Protrek), this watch would absolutely be the ultimate watch.

But it comes close enough that it is by far the best watch I’ve ever owned.

The Enduro apparently shares a Pace tracking issue with the Garmin Fenix 6 Series watches. REI graciously (and very quickly) replaced my first Enduro with a second, as even the Garmin Product Support representative thought the watch was defective when he viewed my recorded data on Garmin Connect.

The second Enduro has exactly the same Pace tracking issue. A watch that does not accurately track moving time, and hence Pace as a function of time, does not adequately support my Hike activities. More in-depth research online revealed that the Garmin Fenix 6 series watches also have this issue, and Garmin has not corrected it to date.

Apparently the Garmin 7 series and Epix watches are indeed new and improved. Sadly my second Enduro watch is also being returned. All the other updated features (I have been using a Fenix 3 for five years) seem to work well and I love the fit and comfort of the Enduro wrist band.

So disappointed that Garmin has not fixed this issue, or even made it “accessible information” to their Product Support team to respond to inquiries like mine. Thank goodness for REI support!.

I am a dedicated athlete, long-distance runner, weightlifter, and Kenpo Karate instructor. I use my Garmin watch to monitor heart rate and sp02, and to track my daily workouts. I upgraded from a forerunner to this gem of a fitness tracker.

I love everything about this watch except for the sleep tracking. There seem to be some bugs for Garmin to work out on this watch regarding the sleep tracking. All the other features, including the solar functionality, are on point.

I love the new nylon stretch band. The newer features for weight training and other activity tracking work fantastically, and I love the new HIIT timer. However, for a watch at this price point, I would expect high accuracy for all the features, including sleep tracking.

Hopefully, a future update will fix these flaws, and this watch will be 100% perfect for me. I love this watch!.

Quick background – I’m an avid runner (having run 20+ marathons and a couple of ultra marathons). I’m not an elite nor professional runner but someone who enjoys putting in between 25-40+ miles a week of city running.

For the last two years, I’ve had the Apple Series 6 watch which I’ve primarily used as a lifestyle watch tho I did use it to track my activities on the Peloton and Apple Fitness+. When it came to outdoor running however, I always switched back to my trusty Garmin Forerunner 645 M which provided the more accurate GPS tracking and longer battery life I needed.

However after upgrading to the new Apple Watch Ultra, it’s fair to say that my old Garmin is likely to only see action when I’m on the treadmill. The new Ultra has taken over not only as my everyday watch but also my performance tracking watch.

Here’s a quick rundown of the pros and cons to the watch as it relates to my own usage (YMMV): Pros: – much better battery life when compared to the Series 6. I can easily get two days of battery life doing my normal activities (a couple of GPS tracked runs and workouts and my regular daily usage of looking at my notifications etc).

Oh and the watch went from 100% to 56% when I ran the Chicago Marathon last Sunday. Thats a lot of battery leftover. – love the new flat screen design that takes elements of the current iPad Pro and iPhone design aesthetics.

From edge to edge, the screen is flat and I love it. – The action button is much appreciated in terms of quickly getting to the pre-assigned action – GPS tracking – LOVE the accuracy. The dual GPS frequency tracking is great.

It’s also not clear if Apple is leveraging what it knows about city streets from their Maps app but the tracking is incredibly accurate even around dense tall buildings. I ran the Chicago Marathon last week and wore both the Ultra and my older Garmin.

While the Garmin told me I ran nearly 28 miles b/c of the buildings, the Watch Ultra told me I ran 26. 58 miles – the closest I’ve ever come to 26. 2 on any GPS tracked marathon ever. – GPS lock – wow this thing locks on a GPS signal fast.

– Size. Yes I think the larger size is a pro. If you’re coming from the Sports fitness world of Garmin Fenix’s – the 49mm size isn’t that bad at all. The larger size brings about the larger display (which is a godsend for my aging eyes) and the larger battery – all really great features.

My wrist got used to the bulk in a day. Cons: – Larger battery – slightly longer battery charging times (granted this is using my current charging hardware and not the included charger) – My wrist isn’t the thickest wrist out there for a guy and thus getting a nice snug fit can be difficult with the Apple Watch.

This sometimes affects the heart rate measurements for some reason (Watch Ultra won’t pick up my heart rate which is a pain for long runs) – Because of my wrist size, the watch can sometimes ride down towards the lower end of my wrist which is only a problem when I’m doing Yoga.

When I’m doing certain poses such upward facing dog, the back of my hand can sometimes press the right button and make the Watch think I’m requesting SOS :/ Really thats all I can think of right now.

This watch is a great improvement over the regular series watch. Don’t get hung up over the size if you’re coming from the world of large sports watches. If you have a super tiny wrist or are using the smaller 41mm watch tho – this might be large for you.

For me – this is a great great watch that I’ll use for almost all occasions going forward.

8 generations in, this updated hardware is a larger refresh in the Apple Watch world, but by no means brings anything too different or new for seasoned Apple Watch users. Rather, this is a more polished version of what you know and already love – just with a larger battery, bigger screen, beefier case, and more finer touches that just make it an all around decent watch.

As a daily runner who’s currently preparing for my next marathon, is it going to replace my Garmin Epix2 w/ running dynamics pod and Polar H10? No – until Apple steps up their running dynamics and training recovery features (to their credit, the former of which is slowly starting to happen), I can’t recommend this for athletes who are actively training.

I also really wish they’d introduced a darker finish as well – the natural titanium with bright orange action button certainly makes the unit stand out a lot more. Also, while the battery life is certainly better than any other AW I’ve ever used and can last me 1.

5-1. 75 days per charge, it still goes nowhere close to the 15 days I get on my Epix2 (w/ all satellites mode). At the same time, it also does a lot more (and has an actually useable flashlight – c’mon Garmin), so it’s a matter of what you value most, at the end of the day.

Red light mode for night use is just the typical Apple polishing touches that we have all come to know and love. Compared to the 799$ I spent back in the day on the SBSS AWS4, this is a very good value for the $ if you’re in the market for an Apple Watch, but again, it’s hard to recommend this at the moment for endurance athletes.

I’m sure Apple will get there with the software; perhaps just 1-2 more generations and they’ll nail it.

I upgraded my 41mm to Ultra and there’s no looking back! It’s awesome, I won’t go into its features’ details since you can read/watch it all online, yes, it’s that good. Pairing with the iPhone was super easy and super fast, And if you’re familiar with Apple Watches, then you know they are very reliable (at least for me, my old Apple watches never failed on me).

For those worrying about the Ultra’s 49mm being too large on your small wrist, just don’t worry. If you’re used to small watches then of course at first you might think it’s too big. BUT, once you have the Ultra on for a couple of days, you’ll start to think your old Apple watches were too small.

It’s only a personal optical perspective. Make sure to order the band size that’s within your wrist size (well I guess you got no choice yet if you’re ordering the Ocean band), but the small Alpine Loop is perfect for my 15.

5 cm wrist, yes I’m a girl. It is comfortable (you can even get the 45mm bands to fit it depending on your mood or activity). You don’t have to be an extreme sports athlete or professional adventurer to get the Ultra, that would be only an excuse to convince yourself not to get it.

Unless one is a professional adventurer, who else goes to the extreme terrains every single day to perform sports and extreme tasks? Even if one is, what about the rest of the days of the year? As for me, I wear my watch every single day.

I’m an average user, normal active, who currently can use all the Ultra new features except for diving. But who knows, maybe I could take on a scuba course in a near future, and maybe one day I could dive next to a whale shark ;).

Purchased my Garmin Fenix 6 as a Christmas present to myself. Delivery from JL was, as always, efficient and prompt. The device itself is excellent. It replaces a year-old Fitbit Charge 4 that I enjoyed but found inaccurate.

A month in and the Garmin Fenix 6 appears much better – things like heart rate, distance swum and tracking of hiking/running routes is working without fault. It has many more features that I am still learning – it can do so much that I would recommend as a second stage monitor rather than perhaps your first foray into wearable tech.

I won’t go further into a feature review – there is already so much out there for you to research – but a couple of points that I spent lots of time considering before purchase: • I went for the standard size (there’s wrist measurements on the Garmin site) and whilst I’ve got quite slim wrists it fits well and doesn’t feel big or heavy • I was considering the Sapphire version but the cost was considerably more – I went for the standard gorilla-glass and purchased separately a screen protector that works well • I had reviews that Garmin is not so good at tracking sleep – so far, it is proving pretty accurate • I had grown to luv the Fitbit app – after only a few days, I got used to the Garmin Connect app and now wouldn’t go back • Is it worth it? Well, for me it did ‘feel’ expensive, but – whilst I’m certainly not an elite athlete so don’t really need many of the features – I enjoy checking out all the stats and I’m really pleased I bought it.

A definite recommendation from me.

This running watch is relatively basic, but is great value for the lower cost it runs compared to other brands, and even other Coros models. With the Coros app you can download and customize workouts, both running and strength, and add them to a custom or preset training plan.

There is a large amount of specific exercises to choose from, and you can add your own custom ones if they do not appear on the app. The watch does have GPS tracking, but does not offer mapping like the higher-end models or brands.

To make-up for this I use a navigation app such as Komoot to set my route, and have notifications turned on my phone as I run. As I approach turns the watch will vibrate and show the notification indicating I need to to turn.

This has served me well in place of watch-supported navigation. Overall a good watch for beginner runners, or someone who is looking for good functionality at a lower price point.

Bought in November 2021 and haven’t looked back! The charge on this watch is amazing and the GPS is very accurate. I do a lot of pool swimming and the watch accurately determines my stroke and pace time.

When running trails the GPS is extremely accurate and seamlessly syncs with my strava account. Bonus – the price is great when you consider what some of these GPS watches cost. It doesn’t have bells and whistles of paying for things and storing your music on your wrist, but I wasn’t looking for anything fancy, just functional.

The only thing I’m not overly impressed with is the app, as it stops syncing with my watch occasionally and I have to uninstall and reinstall the app. Not a big deal though. I highly recommend you give this watch a try!.

Purchased this to replace suunto ambit2 that stoped working with something inexpensive. Inflatiin means luxuries like sports watches are low priority. The bad: Its platic case feels cheap and the controls feel like they will break.

Bizzare effort evaluation on exercises that are not standard road runs. A 4. 5 hour trail run with 1200m of elevation was deemed low effort because (I can only assume) the pace was slow (15% grade over loose rock will you down).

Good: It is as advertized, a decent low budget multi sport watch with a fairly accurate heart raye monitor. Great first watch for someone who takes care of their equipment or for someone who realizes they don’t need all the features of much more expensive products.

Since buying this 7xSapp. Sol. I had the please to store 25 Watch faces, Spotify, and a few widgets. Other than the watch faces, (coolest part) this Fenix is definitely NOT worth the 1,000. 00 plus taxes price point.

Wait til this goes 30% off. Why do you ask?? Well the battery life is not even close to the specs they put in writing. I’m getting 19 days and that was a selling point for me…that 1month time span was like… oh yeah… but NO.

The Connection issues with my iPhone are super annoying… I can’t go into the other room more than 20 feet from my phone and it drops connection. or sometimes just drops randomly is it’s doing that. I’m constantly having to reset the watch, uninstalling the connect apps, resyncing the device, reinstalling the apps, connect back to Bluetooth… It’s such a hassle.

it if you owed a Fenix… you know that this is the routine for their watches at Garmin. Another connection issue, is the GPS connections with the 3rd party watch faces…It’s terribly in accurate with weather and the watch making a connection to its local station 15-20 miles from where I’m actually located… or making connection with the devices weather… it’s always stopping and having to reconnect in the morning after sleep.

I’m also experiencing issues with connectivity of my 2 sets of headphones. 1 Beats/ 1Airpod Pros… the music sounds like it’s being played thru a cassette. You have to just use your phone as the source people… Save the music app and download another face… That also goes up quick being your only limited to 25-30 data points or apps.

Needs more memory, all of a sudden we’re back to the original MP3 player. I could bring up more issues, but as for the build quality. it’s below average… the top right corner button constantly sticks and is inaccurate to the commands.

all buttons are very sticky, but this one does not work. Also around the corners of the week face, when I wear to sleep, the corners of the Watch where the lugs or screws sit, I get fabric hairs from sheets rubbing underneath the front face.

it’s like the bezel is not screwed down tight and the edges catch. had to use tweezers to get “hairs” outta front case bezel… The Solar charging and the flashlight are very gimmicky, Amd then lastly the screen is terribly bad at reading colors it seems as off most color shades are all about the same except the green blue or red… (standard color spectrum).

I do have a replacement coming set aside all these problems. Hopefully, Garmin gets it right………. Eventually they may. With that being said of the review, REI did make it right with a few gift cards to their store for the shipping issues, takes like 6-8 days to receive, due to a battery being in Watch they send standard ground… PERIOD.

REI did send me a open box item… sold as new. That was no bueno as well!! BUT, again made good with the issues we are experiencing and gave us a percentage off the purchase. Cushioning the purchase, we have decided to keep good with REI,MAD PROPS TO REI’s service!! and riding out the storm with Garmin, as they continue to make tiny steps in the overall software development of their devices… PS- no watch faces transfer over to the new device if you need to replace.

Only your health data transfers over… So all your apps widgets or faces need to all be reinstalled and reconfigured. gotta figure a way to save that into the connect app or connectQ, backup and sync data… ya know.

But hey… MORE MONEY. MORE PROBLEMS.

I got this watch a few weeks ago mainly for hiking so i can follow courses I make and download to the watch. Since then I have been using it for more and more things. One thing that I thought (before I got it) that was a little gimmicky was the built in flashlight on the 7X.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. I use that every night now when I don’t want to wake my wife or newborn up when I am up at night. I never use the light on my phone anymore. The red light makes it so nice ti see what I need without having a bright white light.

So far my only real con is the screen backlight brightness is not able to go high enough. During the day when outside it is not needed at all but in those low light times an hour or so around dawn/dusk it does make it hard to see clearly.

The same can be said when inside as there is just enough light to make it harder to see. Since the Fenix 7X and the Epix 2 are basically the same watch aside from the screen and battery life. I hope that Garmin will add Solar and a much ling lasting battery to the Epix in the future and/or a much brighter backlight to the Fenix so that it was easier to read in lower light situations.

The battery life not lasting even the daylight hours on the Epix 2 is the reason I got the Fenix 7X Solar. If the Fenix had a brighter back light (maybe) one that adjusted to preferred settings using the solar sensor that would help a lot.

Especially for those of us over 40. Enhancement requests: I think there is a market out there for a jumbo size version if the Fenix where the actual screen part if the watch was closer to 50mm instead of 35mm.

It would allow for much greater detail when using the watch outdoors during activities when you only have a split second to look down at your watch. Also some more customizable sounds would be great.

I find it annoying sometimes when I look down at my watch and it is just an email or some app notification instead of a text message. This brings up my only other con for this watch. Not being able to filter what apps on the phone show up on the watch is kind of annoying.

There are only a few apps like messaging or other important ones that i want on my watch, but i am stuck with all the others that come along as it is all or nothing. There needs to be a way to control what apps and messaging notifications make it through to the watch and what sounds they make.

Even for basic things like text message there should be a way to filter out contacts you do or dont want as notifications on your watch. Also while it is not a critial feature it would be immensely useful to be able to create preset text message responses similar to the way you have presets on the inReach devices.

All in all I really like the watch even at the $1,000 price tag. If you guys are looking for people to review compare future devices let me know.

So where do I start on this amazing watch from Garmin. I already have the Fenix 3 and the Tactix Solar Delta and now I am so lucky to have gotten this one! WOW! Still an awesome rugged and durable watch you would expect from Garmin but the added feature of the touch screen and the flashlight is off the charts.

You get the best of both worlds. I love the way you can use both the touch screen and or push buttons. You can also set the touch screen to off as in activities or sleep so you don’t bump it or have it turn on.

Also the do not disturb is equally as nice so you don’t get the notifications during sleep or activities. Still a massive beautiful 51mm case size. Still able to switch bands or bracelets or the tactical NATO band by the quick release.

Still has all the features of a Garmin outdoors watch. Maps, weather, activities, time, calendars, heart rate, SPO2, sleep tracker, to name a few to include different watch faces (as shown on my watch) and the solar edition is great to help keep the watch charged or extend it longer.

Just a great watch and the flashlight! WOW again. you can activate it by a hot key or using the control button. It has different levels of brightness and it bright! I have already used it on a few occasions and the first thing people say is Wow.

That’s cool, what and where did you get that! There are also several settings you can set it up to as well for different uses to include the tactical red light as well. I really can’t say enough about this watch.

As a firefighter and one who works in a Trauma Center Hospital and one who loves camping and the outdoors, this Garmin watch is perfect. I have had no issues with the battery life and again with the solar edition it helps keeps the watch going longer.

The only thing that I would add would be a working rotating bezel to add to the abilities of this wonderful watch. I would highly recommend this watch to anyone who is looking for a beautiful rugged and durable watch without having to worry about battery or if it can keep up with you.

I hope this review helps those who are looking at getting this watch and I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Bought this to upgrade my well used Fenix 5x, used for SUP walking, running and mountain biking. The Rebel sport price was just too good to pass up. The watch is slightly lighter and smaller overall but has a slightly bigger screen and a bit more resolution.

The functions are updated by using Garmin connect and Garmin express, including auto software and watch firmware upgrades. This is important as there are a number of functions and measurements that the watch will currently NOT do, that it is supposed to do and the upgrade is going to be necessary.

Of those 2 important functions for me, being the walking pace and SUP stoke rate and distance. Both of these functions worked very well on the previous 5x, so I am a little disappointed that the firmware fix isn’t live yet.

This is NOT the fault of Rebel sports, but the manufacturer. Note : All garmin gps and smart fitness watched need a chest strap for the Heart rate to be accurate. Perhaps Rebel could consider recommending that the chest strap be purchased at the same time.

This is only important if you used the HR function for you fitness activity and need it to be accurate ( which I do). The GPS function is outstanding for fitness route tracking.

Love garmin stuff. Fenix 6S doesn’t disappoint. The right size, tons of features, this thing can do anything. I’ve probably only scratched the surface of what this gadget can do. I also like the customizability of it all.

The battery life is good but it drains fast during my long hikes. Without using it for workouts it lasts a week or so but with multi-day hikes it’s lasts a couple days. My only gripe is the screen on the Fenix 6s sapphire is hard to see in the daylight and comes off as pretty blueish.

Limits customizable backgrounds and what you can actually see when you’re outside in the sun. I don’t think I should need a backlight to see the screen in the sun.

I’ve had a “fruit” watch which didn’t last long enough in battery and had little metrics. Then I got Fenix 5 and loved it for over 5 years. I figure it was time to upgrade and selected 6S. Oh the size.

It’s much smaller which takes a long time (still trying) to get used to. I prefer the larger face and am scared I will break this one. I don’t care for some of the reminders and questions before a run and cannot figure out how to turn those off.

I love Garmin for its functionality, endurance, and the fact that I can get metrics in one spot without extra apps. The battery life is perfect for ultras or any running event you can dream of. I suppose I could have gotten the regular 6 for the size, but I would have sacrificed some features of the 6S.

Absolutely love this watch. The mapping and added features over the enduro 1 are definitely worth it. The flash light is key and so useful. The battery life is astounding! Currently two weeks into this current battery charge and have 11 hours of multiband gps activities (mtb in pretty dense forest) and I have 16 days left of charge.

Only get a couple days a week of 40k lux hours for solar charging. So very pleased with my purchase!.

I have used various outdoor wearables over the last few years, starting with a FitBit, mainly as a step counter, through several other types before arriving at the full blown Garmin GPS option. I have owned an Instinct and a Fenix 5 before taking the plunge with a Fenix 6 Sapphire.

The Fenix 6 range are not cheap but are, in my opinion, the Rolls Royce of outdoor watches by virtue of the level of information that you can utilise from both a fitness and navigational perspective.

In addition you have the significant back up and support provided by the Garmin Connect and Explore Apps to which they sync. These Apps give excellent repots for fitness statistics over time and the Explore App is also useful for planning routes which can then be transferred to the watch.

I have found GPS acquisition times to be fast which enables quick ‘getaways’ when out on the trails and battery life is also acceptable, although don’t believe all the figures that Gamin provide in this respect – if using the watch as intended I would expect to top up the battery every 3-4 days.

The watch is well made and strong with an excellent screen with good clarity. Operating procedures are very similar across the Garmin Outdoor watches, so when you can use one you can use most of them – aided in no small part by the on-line GRP Training Courses.

Negatives – not that many. I would like a longer battery life but the watch is big enough already. Additional straps are expensive for what they are, although easily changeable and I tend to stick with Garmin ones other than clones as I don’t want the watch falling off.

It would be great to have OSGB mapping rather than TopoActive, but that is probably a step too far for this size and definition of screen. If I did lose it I would not hesitate to buy another – good enough recommendation, although I would not head out backpacking without a Handheld Gamin GPS (OSGB Mapping) and a compass and paper map as well!!.

It’s refurbished, so while it’s in perfect cosmetic and functional shape, it only gets 4-5 days per charge instead of advertised 5-7 days when new. Great improvement over entry-level Garmin Forerunner 35.

Acquires GPS signal in 1-5 seconds (versus 10-300 seconds), determines speed, distance, and location better at the start of a run (versus saying you ran in a circle at a 4-minute-mile pace for the first 10 seconds), and has sleep tracking (though far from perfect) and “body battery” / stress tracking (to keep your energy up throughout the day and have enough energy for a run in the evening).

Sleep tracking isn’t perfect: it says sleep was “unmeasurable” for 30 minutes every night at random times unrelated to waking up / getting up (so it underestimates your sleep by 30 minutes) and it doesn’t always track when you wake up (and thinks you are still sleeping when you lie in bed for 30 minutes trying to fall back asleep before getting up, so it overestimates your sleep by 30 minutes), requiring me to remember when I woke up and manually edit my sleep end time.

But as the refurb 45 cost the same as I paid for my 35 new, I think it’s a good deal (ie improved accuracy and more insight for less battery life). #sweepstakes.

I especially love the follwing about this watch. Longer battery life. I can go 3 days if im not using extensively. I use it primarily for cycling and it has been amazing. It obviously works well for running and as a pedometer.

The watch connects well with Garmin connect app for detailed analysis of a lot of things including sleep and hydration meaurements. This is a great value for money. What i regret not doing was to pay slighlty more for a Garmin with Music & Garmin Pay.

– because then i wouldnt have to carry small money and phone for music.

I’ve switched from a forerunner 245M, a 945 LTE, and now a 955 watch. While I loved the option for LTE with my 945, I simply couldn’t resist higher music storage, more accurate GPS tracking, and the addition of a touch screen.

I’d say firstly that the best of all these additions was the GPS tracking: it’s extremely fast at getting a reliable signal and I love being able to review my tracks now that they can encapsulate a better picture of my running journeys, and I have yet to encounter an offensive case of miscalculated distances or speeds.

The multiband is simply a great spec to have. As for the rest of the features, I’d say they are relatively subjective in their usefulness. I like listening to podcasts on my runs, so having a higher capacity for music and stuff like that is a nice thing to have in a watch of this price range.

I also do find myself using the touchscreen quite a bit as it’s especially useful for scrolling the menus and viewing the navigation map: the best part of having such a thing on this device. I do feel it is underutilized in some places however, as I think it doesn’t quite make sense not to have a qwerty style keyboard for quick messages, at least for android as iOS is still very exclusive to the ecosystem that Apple has built.

All the other features of this watch are pretty much the same as all the available options from Garmin though. I know it now sports a new sensor for supposedly more accurate heart rate monitoring, pulse ox monitoring, and is now being used to calculate HRV, but honestly I haven’t yet observed a drastic improvement over the previous sensor in terms of accuracy.

But, for the price Garmin has posted for the 955, it’s a pretty good deal: you get the latest and greatest tech from Garmin in a lightweight device that will last years for a price much cheaper than even their last gen forerunner 945/945 LTE.

I really love this device and the practical aspects of owning a Garmin watch, as battery life is fantastic while offering advanced training metrics and options to get users fit, and as a standalone watch, of course it gives you everything you’d want from one, and has mostly satisfactory smart features, though as I mentioned with the lack of a proper keyboard, it still is a bit away from being a perfect hybrid of a sportwatch and smartwatch, but it’s close enough for now.

However, there is one big flaw with this device, and that is the numerous bugs. Sometimes I hold the music button and before I can even scroll or do anything, the menu backs out. The map navigation was only a few weeks ago rather finicky with the tough screen, as even a little swipe to the left backed out of the map and moving about the image was really tricky, though it appears to have been fixed in the 11.

12 version update. People have also noticed that editing power/heart rate zones is useless as the watch will just revert back to syncing its own calculated values. People have noted battery drain issues as well, though I can’t personally attest to that, it just seems to be a common problem given how many complain about it.

Luckily though, Garmin seems to be patching all these things, and that’s the best part at least: all the bugs are absolutely fixable through software, and at the very least, the core functionality of the watch seems to be very stable and usable, which is why I’ve given this product a 4/5 and not a 3.

Overall, you’re getting the best of the forerunner Garmin watches in one device, with a better price, and you are also getting new key features and more in the future. I think altogether if you’re new to the Garmin world and want to pick up a watch now for running or marathoning and want more longevity from your purchase, I’d totally recommend this watch or the cheaper 255 as it does pretty much the same things, just less music storage, no touch screen, and shorter battery life.

background: i’ve owned a FR210, 735XT, 935, 945LTE prior to this. i only upgraded from the 945LTE because my friend was interested in it, and i saw it as an opportunity to upgrade to the newer GPS which would presumably give me better instantaneous pace while running.

i hope the bugs (some listed below) will be resolved and this can settle into being a “4 year watch” for me just like the 935 which served me very well for over four years. The good: – the GPS is all that it is advertised.

i get much better instantaneous pace and accuracy, especially in tree covered running trails than i did with my 945LTE and 935. this alone makes the upgrade worthwhile. – the 1. 3″ screen is a welcomed size upgrade from the 1.

2″ on the 935 and 945LTE. – the Solar ring offsets the large bezel and does appear to give a noticeable boost if i get enough time in the sun. i think it takes in a fair bit of solar insolation while driving, running, and cycling, but less so while walking/hiking if one’s hands are at their side and the screen isn’t facing the sun.

– i seem to have lucked out (see below): for my uses, the battery life has been in line with spec for both smart watch usage and GPS activities. that is not the case for many of my cohorts on the Garmin forum (see below) – i was glad to see the “price drop” relative to the 945 series.

at $500 (for non Solar), it’s much more competitive with other watches out there. if it had been $100 more, i probably wouldn’t have upgraded. i paid the extra $100 premium for the Solar in hopes that it would give me a little more endurance while backpacking and also i felt it would lend a visual feature that reduced the size of the apparent bezel (which is very wide, IMHO.

especially in this day and age) – Garmin finally seems to have mastered their backlights. while not OLED quality, contrast is very good at night. surprisingly it’s even better than the 945LTE, which in itself was a huge step up from the 935 and 945.

– the touch interface, while half baked (see below), is a nice addition to the UI. i am slowly undoing muscle memory as touch does allow me to do certain things more efficiently. The bad/ugly: bugs, bugs, bugs – surprised to see the return of the backlight settings bug that plagued early firmwares of the 945LTE (the backlight activates on certain glances even if all the setting should have it not illuminating) – many people are seeing continued battery drain after an activity due to presumably sensors that are continually being connected or searched for (this is again a carry over bug from the 945LTE).

as i noted, i’ve so far avoided such issues, but i can’t ignore the fact that many people are having problems, similar to what i was seeing with my 945LTE not living up to specs in the battery life realm.

– the extra 0. 5mm thickness is noticeably over the 945LTE. i’m getting used to it, but i hope they don’t keep making these watches thicker. – the touch features don’t appear fully baked. e. g. , unlike the Fenix 7 watch, if you double tap on the map, it doesn’t zoom in.

i hope this is fixed in a future firmware release. – the built in watch faces don’t use touch to send the user to glances/widgets as they do on the Fenix 7 (touching heart rate doesn’t bring up details about the HR via the HR glance) – this watch doesn’t have the more feature-rich Power Manager that the Fenix 7 (and Fenix 6 for that matter) have.

– watch auto setting max HR and HR zones without notifying the user. this has never happened with my prior Forerunner watches. – random bugs that are not repeatable including but not limited to: spontaneous reboot of the watch (happened once), not being to sync to Garmin Connect via bluetooth, random dropping of GPS lock (GPS only mode) during a run during a manual pause and then taking 12+ minutes to relook GPS giving me really bad data for a significant portion of my run (screwing up VO2max due to inaccurate speed/distance over 1mile).

in the end, i’m going to be cautiously hopeful that Garmin will iron out my critiques above. i’m a bit concerned at how slowly and little attention has been paid to some persistent issues with the 945LTE which released over a year ago.

i’m hoping that’s not an indication of Garmin’s ability to rectify significant problems in their firmwares. Featurewise, the watch is fantastic, and bugs aside, the watch is what i’ve been wanting over these years as the Forerunner line has evolved: the larger screen (hoping some day the bezel will be small enough to give us a 44mm screen a 47mm watch) and dramatically improved GPS are welcomed improvements to this long time user.

i am a long time button users, but i am slowly being won over by the efficiency of doing certain things by touch. i hope Garmin quickly brings feature parity to the 955’s touch interface to match the Fenix 7.

The 955 Solar was a wonderful Father’s Day surprise. I reluctantly made the switch from Apple Watch after beginning to train for an Ironman. Despite the laughably poor battery life of an Apple Watch, I really liked that device as it helped me shed 60 pounds and keep it off.

However, that tracker simply didn’t work well while swimming, and it would never make it through an Ironman. A friend gave me his ancient and enormous, square Forerunner from years ago, and that was far better in the water, but it did not offer heart rate data while swimming.

After complaining enough, the Father’s Day elves produced a 955 Solar that was transformational. For triathlons and open water swims, it is clearly superior in every way. The battery life is fantastic of course.

That said, I could not give up the Apple Watch easily because it was such an integral part of my life. Wore both watches for a while to compare how they tracked data, calories, etc. Turned out the Garmin was much more stingy with calories – the Apple Watch might indicate I burned 1400 active calories, while the Garmin indicated 900.

That was very relieving because I got accustomed to knowing target calories to burn daily, etc. Was happy to find Garmin does not allow easy results. Found a watch face in Garmin IQ (its online store/app platform somewhat like the Apple Store) that mimics the Apple Health Rings/Activities, so that is cool to migrate from Apple to Garmin if you are familiar with and enslaved like I am by the Pavlovian rings.

:)) The Garmin integrates very nicely with Training Peaks that I am using to prepare for the Ironman – but… the swim plans are a big pain. For whatever reason, everything integrates (bike, run, etc. ), except swim.

You must swim and then sync the swim back and forth with Training Peaks. This doesn’t sound like a big deal, and it’s really not, but it’s those little things that begin to add up and frustrate. Surely, this software glitch – and who is to blame for it – will be fixed.

Nobody cares whose fault it is. Just fix it. :)) The device and the apps already play well together except for swim plans, so fix the swim. Please. :)) Otherwise, I find the watch screen to be not quite as stunning as it is portrayed in the ads that appear to use OLED screens like the ones on my daughters’ Venu watches.

No clue why Garmin would set an expectation for the brilliance of an OLED screen with a watch that is already so good that it doesn’t need such a battery-draining bell and whistle. I would recommend Garmin stop using the sexy watch screen images in the ads and use what is more realistic.

It looks like that is already happening in the more recent ads that are showing up, which is good. Keep expectations real, especially when the device is already so good. So, with all of that said, I still give this watch 5 stars.

It has exceeded my expectations in the swim and open water swim areas. The battery life is legendary. The accuracy is way better than the Apple Watch. It works better with other third-party apps (it will be perfect when Training Peaks and Garmin play well together with the swim plan), and overall it has emerged to be a better tracker in just about everything- I’ve even noticed I have more in common with my daughters now that we can talk about body battery and stress scores, which they also have on their Venu watches – but which I never had before.

That underscores why this watch was not only a great triathlon trainer but also an outstanding Father’s Day present. :)).

The MARQ series is Garmin’s entry into what borders on ‘luxury timepieces. ‘ I have both the Expedition/Adventurer and a Fenix 6X. Function-wise, they are almost identical. It has weather, ABC, navigation/GPS, and activity tracking for many things from running, hiking, cycling, swimming, canoeing, skiing,.

yoga. There is a great deal of functionality and it really excels as an activity tracker. It also monitors your vitals including heart rate, reparation, VO2, and even tracks sleep. Paring with the Garmin Connect app is a great way to keep track of your health stats.

Where it appears the Adventurer/Expedition is different than the Fenix 6 is that it has a unique compass app that works with the bezel, and the unique “MARQ” face shown in the picture. Otherwise, all the same apps and functionality is the same.

The UI for activities looks slightly different with the ‘globe’ background, but otherwise it’s all the same as far as what’s available. The case itself is a very sturdy titanium and I believe it has the same sapphire crystal glass.

The case/face is smaller than the 6X, so it’s probably the same size as the ‘medium size Fenix 6. It also uses 22mm Quickfit bands It is not a true ‘smart watch’ since there is no touch-screen, but more of a hybrid.

It does have a lot of the same functionality while paired with your phone, you will receive emails, messages, and call alerts on the watch.

I just upgraded my Fenix 6S Sapphire (which I loved!) to the MARQ Adventurer, and I couldn’t be happier. The Fenix 6 has amazing tracking and features, but the plastic case left something to be desired.

The MARQ is where elegance meets performance. And to people who argue that they can’t justify spending an extra $1K for roughly the same features, I’d counter by asking what the difference is between a Timex and an Omega? The MARQ is intended as a luxury line, and it delivers!.