Garmin fēnix 7 Solar Multisport GPS Watch, Black with Silicone Band

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Undoubtedly, Garmin will eventually come out with an LTE Fenix/Epix series. Where that’s just an Epix LTE, an Epix Plus LTE, or down the road in a Fenix 8 or Epix V3 (or whatever they call it). I don’t know, but as you’ll see – what’s here today is undeniably cool. But it’s also hard to reconcile this missing bit with one’s purchasing considerations. Hopefully, we’ll see this feature expand to the rest of the Fenix series in the Fenix 8. Or, to other Garmin watches. As with every Fenix series, the ‘X’ variant (e.g. Fenix 7X) always gets some new experimental feature first, and in the case of the Fenix 7 series, that’s the flashlight. Sports Usage: I have had good and reliable but not amazing performance on the 6X with GPS+Galileo (the default) and GPS-only (although this was over Ultra distance in mountains so minor wobbles would not be that obvious. However I didn’t get lost which was a win.

It's rare in the world of wearables to have a watch with a battery that lasts for an age, to the point you could easily forget it needs charging at all. But that's what Garmin has managed with the Solar edition of the Fenix 7. I think the “current pace” problem is the inherently the least tractable in the list because it is sensitive to a small number of inaccurate points.I also have a strong suspicion, though no personal experience, that the 6 and 6S are worse at GPS than the 6X because they have smaller antennas. The original engineering antenna and case design were for a 51mm case and the bezel is and was part of the RF system. Watches in the Fenix 7 range have longer battery life than Garmin Epix watches, largely due to the different display technologies used. The Epix's AMOLED screen uses considerably more power than the Fenix 7's MIP display – especially when used in always-on mode. While the thin rim around the Fenix 6 wasn’t as obvious, the much wider rim on the Fenix 7 is clearly visible. Though, I guess I’ve just gotten so used to the look that it doesn’t bother me any. Here’s that identified: With that out of the way, the Fenix 7 series retains the same case sizes as the Fenix 6 does, which are: It uses this sensor to drive a slew of data points, for example stress and breathing rate. In general, I actually find the stress estimates reasonably accurate. And it’s an easy way to glance at how the day might have gone, or how it might contribute to my Body Battery. Body Battery is basically your energy level. You recharge it every night, and then decrease it during the day, or during periods of relaxation (like sitting on the couch watching TV).

Hasn’t Garmin had HRV Stress test which requires a ECG chest strap and there is an option to log HRV. Presumably you then analyze those logs with Kubios or something. I don’t think Garmin does anything with that.I guess though, with the Garmin it’s just all there on the watch/app. Whereas with Apple’s Watch you will have to spend hours searching for apps. Visual Race Predictor – Historical trend data for finish times of your target distance as you get fitter. First, it's worth clarifying something – while the new luxury watch is usually referred to as the Epix, it's technically the Epix 2.

We’re gonna accept all that though and do an interval workout. That’s because that’ll be an easy way to show the new Stamina features. By default, Stamina will be shown for running and cycling activities. It doesn’t display in all activities, for example you won’t find it in hiking, but will find it in trail running. In any event, once we press start, the watch will start gathering data from our workout, showing pace, distance, time, and any other data fields you’ve added, depending on the sport. But, inversely, everyone’s 2-5% features are different. I use sports features every day that others never use, and vice versa. It’s fundamentally why they lead this category. And perhaps more importantly, over the last few years the software quality has increased substantially, largely through open firmware beta programs that go on for months. i dont know if body battery accepts readings from the strap (if it did it would be wrong as it would then not be comparing like with like) I use TrainingPeaks LT2 estimate (not Garmin’s) and the Joe Friel zone calculations, not Garmin’s. I have decided that Garmin is much better at collecting data than giving training advice. I think Polar is better as a first party but TP is the gold standard, unless you are going down the rabbit hole of Golden Cheetah and Kubios. When looking at all the features today, I’m happy. I’m happy that I made the switch from Enduro to Vertix 2 a month ago (as Vertix 2 was on sale for 595 EUR!) and there is actually nothing big in F7 that makes me regret my move. After the “detox” from the Garmin ecosystem (and it was tough for a while), I like the COROS for some unknown reason 🙂

Garmin is hardly the first company here in this space. While Garmin did roll-out multi-band GPS to some of their hand-held devices a year ago, the Fenix 7 & Epix are the first wearables to have it (despite rumors to the contrary, Garmin says the Tactix Delta nor any other wearable from them had multiband prior to this). In any case, the first endurance sports watch to add it was the COROS Vertix 2 this past summer, and then more recently Huawei has touted it in their GT 3. In my testing of the COROS Vertix 2, I didn’t see holy-grail-like results. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the promised land either. Of course, the tech is new, and thus we’re likely to see (and have seen) firmware updates rapidly that’ll improve that. More on that in a minute. In the case of COROS, they’re using the MediaTek/Airoha chipset ( AG3335M), and Garmin confirmed they are also using Airoha as their supplier. Prior to confirmation from Garmin, this made sense in my testing, as in almost every scenario over the last 6-7 weeks, the Vertix 2 and Epix/Fenix 7 units made the exact same errors in virtually identical ways (and inversely, did things correctly in near-identical ways). Garmin also confirmed that both Sapphire and Non-Sapphire units across all Fenix 7 and Epix units are using the same chipset supplier (Airoha). Take this one from a few nights ago, this is about as succinct an explanation of my sleep as I could write. And it’s literally spot-on perfect. Yes, it was long-ish sleep, but it was crap sleep. Note: The above photo is showing the real-time estimated hours remaining based on the current battery, which at the moment this photo was shot was 46% on a Fenix 7.) Whereas the middle-left one is your Potential, which is your long-term potential. How long can you maintain this interval workout for, or, in an endurance event – how much gas is in the tank for the entire day. This will steadily decrease over the course of the workout. https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-6-series/282810/new-altimeter-algorithm-not-working-firmware-is-20-30

The 5X is definitely too big for most of those of use with smaller wrists. If worn over clothing I guess its different. Every time a new Fenix watch is released Garmin doesn't just launch a couple of different sizes and call it a day, it creates a mini range of products with different features, sizes, colours and materials. There's no change to that approach here. By default, virtually all sport profiles have touch disabled, and then you enable it on a per-profile basis. You can also tweak whether or not touch is enabled/disabled during your sleeping time periods, through a new Sleep Mode manager interface: In the round, Fēnix 7 is simply a better piece of sports kit than anything out there. But that comes at a significant cost that will deter the faint-hearted. Sure you can wait for prices to fall but as we’ve only recently seen with the Fenix 6, waiting for the more significant price falls could keep you waiting for 2 more years. Sleep Stage AnalysisWatches in the Epix and Garmin Fenix 7 series let you see your seven-day training load on your wrist (Image credit: Garmin) New Touchscreens – Touchscreens are standard on every model, you can disable them but you will want to use them when interacting with menus and maps. No pinch-zoom though. This next section is specific to only the Solar editions of the Fenix 7, as only those editions have solar panels in them. Solar capabilities was first introduced on the Fenix 6 series, and then later added to the Garmin Instinct and Enduro series. In the case of the Fenix 6, it added almost negligible battery life for most users. Whereas in the Instinct series in particular, the impact could be quite significant. Keep in mind that while many watches, like Casio, have had solar for years, those watches tend to be super basic in their functionality, and thus in turn, require less power to operate. I’ve long found that Garmin tends to overshoot here. Nonetheless, there’s also some misunderstanding on this from many users. This item isn’t actually saying not to train, it’s saying not to go out and do a hard workout. Thus, within the context it’s usually not too bad, though I think it still tends to err on the side of keeping you healthier rather than pushing your body closer to the breaking point.