Enduro 3

That month doesn't include hours of tracking each day. That will cut it down to about a week or less. (Source: Garmin Enduro 3 owner)

If you're looking at the Fenix 8 with MIP screen and voice control is NOT on your Pros list, you absolutely should look at the Enduro 3 instead. Essentially the same watch, lighter weight, same software updates, no microphone/voice assistant, but larger battery. Honestly, I keep getting tempted to offload my Epix Gen 2 Pro 51 to get the Enduro 3.

Correct that the Enduro 2 is an excellent value but as a fellow owner of a Fenix 7 variant, we are not being very well supported by Garmin these days with updates. I know that updates are a hot button issue these days but honestly, phones get years of OS updates, my Pixel gets new features all the time, and Garmin isn't giving strength training plans to 1 year old flagships, meanwhile Forerunners that are older and 1/3 the price are getting new features. As great as the Enduro 2 and even my Epix Gen 2 Pro is, they feel pretty end of life despite the excellent hardware that is clearly very much current as proven by the Fenix E and even a recent teardown showing nearly identical internal components between the Fenix 7 and 8 series. If I had the money and interest in even one of the latest software features, like strength training plans or sport specific suggested workouts and race predictors, etc, I would go for the new model. The old ones sadly are probably not gonna get it despite being totally capable of running them.

I got the Enduro 3 with a 20% off coupon by downloading the Optimity app and playing Yatzee until I had enough points for the Garmin coupon. It brought the cost below $800 including tax.

I ended up going with the Enduro 3 from a Fenix 6 for the reason you stated. I didn’t need the dive feature and speaker as well

I went from an AW to first an Epix pro gen 2 and then an Enduro 3. Although I did like Siri on my wrist, I can still change my music from my current Garmin, and see the notifications I’m getting so I feel I’m not really missing much. I prefer to type on my phone anyway as Siri isn’t the greatest at making words work haha I find the battery life, the durability and just « this is a watch » of the Garmin will keep me. I don’t have a mini phone on my wrist and my eyes prefer the MIP screen. And then there’s the flashlight function. My god what a game changer and so practical, from checking on kids at night to looking for things to doing work with tools. I find I don’t baby my Garmin as much because I’m not worried about smashing the screen or scratching the finish. There’s also less of a concerns for me personally for water damage and something about physical buttons that I love. That’s all I can think off the top of my head, but I’ll never go back to AW and I’m very much ingrained in the apple ecosystem in all other areas.

No, Enduro 3 has the longest battery of all of them. "Better" is relative and what do you mean by "performance oriented"? It will help if you can describe what kind of activities you want to do and what expectations you have from the watch.

I'm wearing an epix pro gen 2 47mm, I would trade it for an Enduro 3 if my wrists were larger. 51mm is a giant watch (for me). With that being said, Enduro is a hell of a watch that I would give up other Garmin watches for.