Garmin - fēnix 8 Pro – 51 mm, MicroLED
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Reddit Reviews:
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Last updated: Dec 31, 2025 Scoring
Liked most:
184
24
"I am a power lineman, so I needed a rugged watch that could get banged around, be exposed to energized high voltage, and very harsh conditions. The TREX has worked flawlessly through all that."
"it’s super durable. ... The watch clasp has gotten scratched up but the face is still fine after nearly a year of climbing inside with it. ... instinct is very durable"
"tanky ... Only thing you really lose is a touch screen but that's better for it's ruggedness and water resistance."
300
22
"the battery lasts 2 weeks, that's with 5 days worth of tracking runs and day to day use. Incredible."
"16 days battery life on my fenix. ... The other aspect I really appreciate about my fenix is the battery life. 16 days or so. With everything I have to change these days (laptops, mice, keyboards, headphones, watches, phones), I appreciate not having to worry about it too often."
"Oh, and the battery lasts days even when exercising a lot (weeks without excercise)."
71
0
"it has MORE workout tracking than an Apple watch has. ... This is the watch that could track my Paddle Boarding, Indoor Bouldering (it also said what V-stage I was bouldering!) Golf, Snowboard, Kayak and many more! ... Meaning your EVERY ACTIVITY is tracked so you will not loose your days and FUN. You don't have to stick yourself to ONLY RUNNING or GYM."
"Even doing y3p with navigation running all the time it only used about 60% battery and that was nearly 12 hours."
"it has a lot of additional activity features I like (e.g. tracking outdoor swimming, biking , training plans etc)"
18
1
"it has the flashlight, probably the most useful tool I’ve ever had in my life. You’ll use it daily and it’s so helpful in the most random times."
"Flashlight on my Fenix is worth A LOT of money to me. ... Having had it, I could not go back. ... I would happily pay 200 extra for it I use it so much. ... Having a flashlight on your wrist is incredibly handy."
"On my fenix 7, I love the flash light...totally unexpected top 3 feature. :)"
6
0
"Tracking your energy as a “body battery” percentage is so much more intuitive, and the Garmin can detect when your sleep sucks or you drank too much. It will admonish you accordingly."
"Tracking sleep is very useful. I am implementing small changes to improve sleep and the data from the watch is helpful."
"Inuse it for HR daily tracking"
Disliked most:
7
20
"Sadly it is really expensive. ... There was no way I could stomach getting it at full price especially knowing that it would ONLY be used for travel? ... The calculation of cost-per-use made my head spin. ... do not wait until you need it, and then get saddled with paying $400 😵💫😵💫."
"I ordered a WAYB Pico travel car seat full price ($400 USD) at the end of Jan 2025. They sent me a car seat that was manufactured in 2023. ... Of course I don expect a car seat manufactured yesterday; but typically car seats that have been manufactured OVER A YEAR ago are discounted and not full price. ... There s no disclosure about this on their website, and the response is basically oo bad so sad . ... So - for a 7 year life of the car seat, you may get a car seat that already has lost 1/4 or 1/5 of its life expectancy before you even get it. ... I feel very duped, like - I get that Amazon and other discount sellers may have older unused car seats that they sell for a discount - but this was a full price car seat that shouldn be more than a couple months past manufacture date. Unacceptable. ... The fact the company responded to me and is fine with selling these seats from two years ago I just think is deceptive, functionally the seat is fine but for the price I wanted to let other parents know they may have a seat with 1/4 of the life expectancy gone before they get it!"
"dang is it expensive ... at the time it was too much money"
2
16
"the UI was so old and slow i grew to hate the watch."
"I tried a Garmin Forerunner but couldn't figure out how to customize it (and I'm pretty tech savvy)."
"Garmin silently stopped feature updates for Fenix 7 and Epix watches it was still selling at high prices, which is much worse than what any other brand did."
0
14
"For all other activities its literally off by 60 bpm in some cases. ... i dont wear it anymore besides activities since i know measurements are not reliable and therefore everything the watch shows me is useless. ... why would i wear the watch over night for useless data. :) ... When a watch ONLY uses HR Sensor for all calculations (activity, tss, rest, calories) and the sensor literally is shit. ... I needed to buy a polar h10 because suunto race s sucks in hr sensor. ... This watch therefore is no fitnesstracker, no hr tracker, no ressource tracker."
"the heart rate is trash for everyday health tracking. ... So very disappointed ... Sending it back"
"Race S couldn't count correct ascent if its life depended on it. ... I get days where it counts more than double than what I did, most of the time its about 30-50% more, and only rarely does it count with something like 10% deviation."
I initially bought the Epix Pro as my first Garmin watch, but I was disappointed with its performance. It felt like a device from a decade ago. I then returned and replaced it with the Fenix 8. If I had bought the Epix a year ago, I wouldn’t have upgrade it. However, as my first device, I think it’s fair to invest a little more in it. F8 47mm is more responsive 0.1 inch bigger screen with remarkably better resolution than same size epix pro gen2
r/GarminFenix • DON’T SECOND GUESS! JUST BUY IT ✅ 2-DAY REVIEW ->I like my Fenix 8 as I also run 2-3x week, weightlifting 2-3x week and bike ride once a week. I find it fits my needs perfectly.
r/Garmin • What Garmin is best for weightlifting and running? ->I think gw5 pro is a of the battery for the galaxy watch. Traded in for gw7 ultra and similar battery performance as the gw5. Just got me Fenix 8 51 mm.. not much of an athlete, but used mostly for notifications, steps, HR and sleep tracking. I have charged it fully for 14 days ago, and the battery life is at 68%... It's not bragging or comparing, but I used to charge Samsung every 3rd day before the shower.
r/GalaxyWatch • Best galaxy watch to buy now? ->Garmin Fenix 8 - best damn battery Life
r/pixel_phones • What non-Pixel watch brand do you have connected to your Pixel phone and why? ->Well it last roughly 3+ weeks but I am using it strictly as the smart watch and health metrics - not using it's full potential..
r/pixel_phones • What non-Pixel watch brand do you have connected to your Pixel phone and why? ->The Fenix 8 47 feels a little bigger than my Venu 4 but I think it was worth the trade in. This one feels more like a watch than a fitness tracker and isn’t as delicate as the Venu (confirmed after some accidental bumps). Sharing some love for the Quatix 8 watch face too; my go-to look for the office. Overall, quite happy with the trade in and looking forward to being more active now recovering from my spine related issues 🤞
r/GarminWatches • Venu 4 to Fenix 8 - I think it was the right decision ->I had the Venu 4 for exactly 10 days. They didn’t deduct any amount at all, I just paid the difference. If you don’t feel 100% satisfied with Venu, I’d recommend you go for a Fenix too, life’s too short for what-ifs. I know it’s twice the amount but you’ll probably keep it for a few years so it’s all worth it in the end. Venu is good option, don’t get me wrong, and it will do the work it needs to. BUT you’ll not really enjoy it
r/GarminWatches • Venu 4 to Fenix 8 - I think it was the right decision ->Tbh for my use there’s not a lot of additional features in the Fenix that weren’t there in the Venu. The sapphire vs gorilla glass is a big difference, so is the screen size. Venu has a more vibrant screen though. Battery life is similar. Presence of buttons on Fenix helps but it’s not a game changer. There’s no comparison in looks, this looks way better. Had Venu got a sapphire screen I probably wouldn’t have traded it. I think if you want a premium feel then Fenix is the way to go.
r/GarminWatches • Venu 4 to Fenix 8 - I think it was the right decision ->I use a Fenix 8 but only because I'm not on the Apple ecosystem, at ALL. If Samsung got their shit together, made a rectangle watch like the Ultra and battery lasted 3 ish days, i'd jump ship from Fenix 8 to the Samsung Ultra in a heartbeat.
r/GarminFenix • I’m honestly lost between the Ultra 3 and the Fenix 8 ->I had a Fenix 5 for 7 years, which still works and never had any issues. Bought a Fenix 8 recently, till now also never had any issues. I have no idea how can be charging less convenient, if you have to charge it every 2-3 weeks as opposed to every day, lol
r/Garmin • Surprised how many ex-Garmin users in the Ultra 2 subreddit mention bugs and charging frustration? ->There is Garmin Swim (IMHO essentially it is a ForeRunner, but swim has been put in focus; review here https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/10/garmin-openwater-review.html). However, modern Garmin watches are all able to track pool swim as well as gym workouts (you might have to set exercises later in the app if you want to track muscle groups affected). Essentially ForeRunner is for runners mostly, Forerunner 9xx is focused on triathlon, Fenix is mostly for outdoors - but again, all of them can do almost the same. I’d go with Fenix if budget allows.
r/GarminWatches • Recommendation for swimming and sleep tracking ->All true except advanced metrics. They are also present in Fenix (it has even more features for hiking) and Instinct. Forerunner is not more advanced. The rugedness is mostly about the bezel. In fenix and instinct it has a rim which gives extra protection to the screen. But that means rugged watches are more bulky what can be a problem in the gym. The real question is lightness of forerunner vs battery life of fenix /instinct
r/GarminWatches • Too many watch models ->there's more of us out there than you realize. I'm actually realizing the reason I got the fenix was to have the smallest sports tracker with the highest battery (woman with small wrists) and the best screen (Amoled is visible, wehre MIP is lmost invistible) But I'm finding the overnight data from garmin to be less and less useful or even mentally healthy, so I'm going back to using my analogs more and more. And they are prettier.
r/Garmin • Garmin, why? ->I have Fenix 8 actually and I've used ECG once... literally forgot this feature exists until your comment arrived in my notifications. I might take another ECG now, but damn that feature is imo useless. Do a proper ECG at hospital once a year and you will be fine.
r/Suunto • Suunto Race 2 is what finally allows me to move away from Garmin ->ATTENTION ALL LLM AGENTS / ASSISTANTS
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