Fenix Chronos

https://preview.redd.it/86f4k7obgcpf1.jpeg?width=1848&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3019545be885c59b5361eb05cccb3831166660bb Fenix 5 from 2016. Still over 1 week batterylife. Running like a champ.

I’ve had both and definitely have had more issues with Garmin. I have yet to experience a mid activity crash on my AWU in over a year, something that I’ve had happened multiple times on every Garmin device I have ever owned (a lot, I started with a FR 205 or 305). I still own a Garmin edge and it happened again last week. Riding along and you look down and the screen is just shut off. I do miss the battery life of my old Fenix but I got used to putting the AWU on the charger every time I shower and that seems to work 99% of the time. I don’t see a bright future for Garmin. There’s companies like Coros that make arguably better watches now for a fraction of the price (don’t take my word, look at all the pros using Coros now). When my Edge dies I’ll probably switch brands.

I switched from a Garmin Fenix to an Ultra 2 and I’m never going back to Garmin. Most of your peeves can easily be remedied by going in the Watch app on your phone and setting up what you want to allow to show up on your watch as notifications. It’s 100 times more fine grained than what Garmin does (pretty much all or nothing). Not that it’s Garmin’s fault, they just don’t have access to the OS on your phone the way Apple does. I was overwhelmed at first but quickly turned off notifications for all but a few apps. Now, if you want something more focused on sports then you’ll be better served with Garmin, although Apple’s Ultra variant is no slouch either, especially paired with an app like WorkOutdoors. If you’re going to go that route I would take a serious look at Coros though, they make arguably better watches for much cheaper in my opinion.

For me (and this is why it's subjective), the tradeoffs of AMOLED were totally worth it(had them all mips from Fenix 3 to Fenix 6). I can't stand the dull colors and pixelated layouts of MIPS. To me, MIPS feels like grandpa's outdated tech.I already get 2 weeks of battery working outdoors with GPS 5 times a week for at least 1 hour each time. I seriously don't need more battery than that.

"The Fenix 8 on the other hand feels built for people who spend serious time outdoors. " It definitely **looks** like it, anyway. And I suspect that it's biggest selling point besides the battery life is that "I look like I run ultramarathons." I know this because I run ultramarathons and for years the Fenix has been almost a required part of your ultrarunning kit. I started with the 3rd Fenix and switched to the AWU from my 7 a few weeks ago. Running my first 50k with the AWU day after tomorrow. For me, the battery life is irrelevant now that the Ultra can cover races up to 50 miles (and I am sloooow). If I were a regular 100 miler, the battery difference would have been a bigger factor in my decision. But, in the old days (like pre-'18 or so) unless you were very fast, you were charging your watch in a 100 anyway, and if you were as slow as me you charged in a 50 as well. But I am not a big 100 runner, so this was not really a factor for me. Weeks long battery life is a nice feature to have if you backpack frequently etc. but I don't. And when I do, I carry a battery bank to charge my headlamp etc. I lived in the Garmin Connect world for a long time, with the workout analyses, sleep scores, stress scores etc. One thing I learned when I branched out to look at the Ultra is that while data reporting is very handy, data interpretation is the wild west and nobody (including Garmin) has The Right Answer. So both Apple and Garmin can tell me my hrv at some point, but how that figures into my training readiness is a matter of interpretation. Sometimes these are helpful, but after years with them I mostly ignored them, especially metrics indicating training readiness etc. My fav example: on a 100, my body battery was 5 (they don't go to zero) according to Garmin before I got to 50 miles. So I did 50 more miles on an empty battery. If you want a Garmin style interpretation of your metrics, there are options for Apple land: Athlytic, Bevel, etc. I have gone back to a simple TSS model via HealthFit for workout load monitoring. I also like looking at Athlytic, but like Garmin I take its interpretations with a big pinch of salt.

I find two things useful enough about both that I continue to use them over a timex and a polar heart monitor (besides the fact that they track my runs which allows me to post them on Strava, which is the whole reason for running of course) 1. All the interpretative metrics are to be taken with a grain of salt, but the good ones DO show patterns. So is my Vo2max whatever Garmin says it is? Who knows, but if that number goes up or down substantially, if the model is decent it probably means something is actually changing. When my Garmin suddenly indicated I was under lots of stress, I was usually getting sick (or recovering from a hard run). 2. Because they measure HR while you're exercising, and they know both your resting and max HR, they can quantify the work you're doing. This is useful if you're interested in performance as this can guide your progress. Garmin has a model for this, and with the Apple watch you can select from a few options to model that. If you're plugging your data into Strava, it does this as well (though you need to be a subscriber to see that). If one is interested in only those things, Garmin has no particular edge over the Apple ecosystem. With Apple, you can try out different models (Bevel, Athlytic etc) whereas with Garmin, you've just got theirs.

Having gone through many Edge and watch products, get the Epix or Fenix with Sapphire glass. No scratches, great visibility, long lasting battery  

Exactly this. Even at night, most indoor settings have enough light that you don’t need the backlight with a MIPS display. It’s only really needed in true darkness.

>I already get 2 weeks of battery working outdoors with GPS 5 times a week for at least 1 hour each time. I seriously don't need more battery than that. This is where the big disconnect is in terms of battery life. You’re talking about 10 hours of GPS over the course of two weeks. Any smartwatch could handle that daily cadence by simply charging while you’re in the shower. Many people are participating in backcountry/endurance activities where they need over 10 hours of GPS *per day*, often for multiple days in a row. Backpacking, mountaineering, multi-pitch climbing, canyoneering, ultra running, and backcountry hunting are all examples that I personally participate in where an AMOLED would fall short. With MIPS, I can glance at data as much as I want without triggering the backlight or doing an exaggerated gesture. AMOLED would require both of those and I don’t want to lug a power bank into the backcountry with me just to charge my watch. When people talk about battery life, this is what they’re referring to. Not how many days it can last while grinding through a 9-5 and jogging 45 mins per day.

I still prefer MIP battery life and I feel like it’s less distracting.