Garmin - fēnix® 7 Pro – Sapphire Solar Edition

I am using Garmin Fenix 7 pro watch. It count reps. My whole trening plan is in this watch crested through Garming app. DM me if you have any questions regarding this watch.

i own fenix 7pro solar. Best watch ever(literally), will not replace it at least 5 more years. I do hiking/climbing/road cycling except for running tho. I do actually train for a marathon in April rn, Forerunner 245 is you best choice if you don't need mountain oriented features and other stuff. What's so great about garmin watch. I track quite accurate my surfing activities, skiing, have always great navigation out in the wild, satellite messaging features, great battery capacity, great water pressure resistance(up to 100m). What else do i need, i ask myself. But in reality, only for running you don't need much. You basically need only HR tracker and gps device to track the pace and distance. So any watch is fine

Garmin fenix 7 pro and I’d get sapphire and solar. You get the best hr sensor, maps for hiking and overall great metrics and data for gym etc. I use mine for mountaineering/hiking, climbing(indoor and outdoor), cycling, rowing, gym and it’s great. The fr965/955 is also great but you lose the better hr sensor there

Guess it depends. I went from the fr255 to a fenix 7 pro and the difference was night and day. During certain workouts the fr255 just wasn’t accurate and when I now compare the elevate 5 to my chest strap they’re pretty damn close

Most of them are decent at hr without a strap but you’d want something with the elevate v5 sensor for the best data and unfortunately that’s fenix only. The 255 or 955 would be the best bet here but the 255 doesn’t have maps. Also the 965 is great if you want oled instead of MIP

I'd take advantage of a sale on the Epix 2 or Fenix 7. Garmin's last, and think of it more as an investment and not a purchase. I'm not sure what your long-term fitness goals are, but a Forerunner or Fenix/Epix model will be able to cover anything you throw at them long-term. The biggest thing I've been telling my friends is, if you ever have dreams of doing a triathlon, get a Forerunner 255/265 and above since that's when the multi-sport/triathlon mode starts.

They are all "good enough" without a HR strap tbh. If you don't care *that* much about HR data... you'll get by with wrist as long as it's tight. It's usually pretty accurate for consistent based efforts. It's the intervals/gym sessions a wrist really struggles. Since you mention mapping... look into the Forerunner 965 or 955. Difference is the 965 has an AMOLED display, 955 is what we call MIP. MIP = longer battery life. Both are on sale, 955 is on sale tremendously if that's a route you wanted to go. If you can afford/find a deal on a Fenix 7 Pro that has the most up-to-date wrist-based optical HR sensor which is more accurate than the Forerunner 965 or 955 HRM. Lots of options there, but I've been recommending some friends to get the 955 lately, as I think I've seen $350 for the regular and $400 for solar model prices out there. I think that's an amazing bargain.

Fenix 7pro is on sale with the release of the 8, it’s an awesome watch & I would highly recommend it to anyone that’s looking for a fitness / health / sleep tracker. I love mine.

I wouldn’t really call the fenix 7 pro a budget garmin tho

Fenix 7 pro sapphire solar. No hesitation

THIS. I bought this watch last August and it’s great. Recently I also added the HRM Pro plus for activities where I can’t wear the watch like martial arts. You will be pleasantly satisfied and it should last you for a few years of support.

Excellent write-up! Although I have the Fenix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar (47mm), this is helpful from a troubleshooting standpoint if I feel something weird is happening with my watch. Since owning this device since early August, I’ve noticed software and battery draining issues that I hope Garmin fixes (just updated to 19.38 this morning). On the other hand, I complete multiple workouts a week with the use of the HRM Pro+, and I average about two weeks of battery life before I have to recharge. I believe with the smart features on, the reported battery life is 18 days. Hopefully, improvements are continued to be made on Garmin’s end so you can enjoy this watch at its fullest possible potential @alycks.

I switched from Apple to Fenix 7 Pro SS and have no regrets. I primarily use my watch for fitness tracking, I’m not interested in notifications so I’ve turned all of them off on my Garmin. I also live near the Peak District in the UK and was out hiking last weekend. First time I’ve properly used the GPS for navigation and it worked great. I had originally plotted the route in Komoot then downloaded it onto the watch, all very easy to do. As I don’t have Komoot premium, i needed to open the route within Garmin maps on the watch, no issues at all. Route was spot on and very accurate. Best of all, the battery still had plenty left. By comparison my AW got to the point of barely making it a day and would require a boost charge. The battery on the Fenix Pro SS states 18 days and I’ve found that to be true, but you need to tweak some settings (turning off notifications for 1). Edit: typo

As with food tracking apps, the "best" is one you use consistently. Wrist-based trackers range from mildly inaccurate to wildly inaccurate as far as calorie burn estimates are concerned; there's no "best" device in terms of accuracy. Most of them are somewhat okay at estimating calories burned during steady state cardio (i.e., walking, running, cycling), but get wonky in a hurry with other activities (i.e., lifting, yoga, Pilates). I've seen some absolutely nonsense numbers from Apple Watch users in particular; but some folks swear by them. I found my old Fitbit was hilariously optimistic with some of its estimates; my Garmins seem to be better. I switched from Fitbit to the Garmin ecosystem several years ago with a Venu Sq. That took me from couch potato to running several times per week; I love the activity badges. I upgraded a few years ago to the Forerunner 265s. I also took up cycling last year (more badges!), also picking up a chest strap HRM, power meter clip less pedals, and a Tacx indoor trainer. I developed an overuse injury from running, so running is no longer an option for me. I can hike, though, and I live in a region with a lot of mountains, so I recently picked up a Fenix 7 Pro (solar sapphire) especially for the hike features, including maps. I'm an active person, now; I don't really think of the stuff I do as "exercise". The Garmin(s) I have go well with the life I live.

Nothing if you compare fr965 to fenix 7pro or fenix 8 or enduro 3.

Get a Fenix 7 pro. You can find them at only slightly higher price levels than the FR 965

Possibly, but the price difference is negligible (might depend on where you live).

I am currently using the Garmin Fenix 7 + MyFitnessPal specifically for that purpose. The calories burned throughout the workout are quickly synchronized with the MFP app, through the Garmin integration. As a disclaimer, I only use the Strength workout from the watch, and start/stop the set.

Garmin fenix 7 has been pretty great (upgraded from forerunner 45). My only 3 sad spots - a HIIT workout type doesn’t track runs as part of the WOD. You can make a button that fast switches it to a different workout type (run) and then back (hiit), but that’s moderately annoying. So either you don’t get running metrics, or you play hit the button during the WOD - I do like the watch itself, but grips can hit the button and stop the workout (maybe I’m just being dumb?) - if you have an iPhone not all metrics go into the apple health apps. BUT I really like the garmin connect app so I don’t care very much.

I don’t think it’s “much more.” It varies from person to person. For me, the Apple Watch Series 6 and the Garmin Fenix 7 are within +/- 1 bpm compared to the Polar H10. However, I do agree with you that a cheap chest strap (connected to an iPhone via Bluetooth) is the most affordable way to measure heart rate accurately during workouts.

This is my answer. I've been using it for 2 years, and the data is excellent. Many people will say the heart rate on a watch is not accurate enough, but I bought a Polar heart monitor to compare, and they're almost always within 1 to 2 BPM across full workouts. ... I also have had problems with grips stopping the clock, but if I wear the grips a little high on my hand, it usually is fine.

I was in the same situation - weightlifting, hiking, climbing, skiing, mountaineering, swimming, cycling, backpacking - and went with the Garmin Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar. It's everything I could ever want. Switched from Whoop and Apple Watch, and couldn't be happier.

It's tedious to set up workouts in the web interface. However, there is a "Free" option when you open the activity that I use every time I lift as a way to watch my heart rate recover and timer to monitor time under tension, and rest time between sets. For big movements where the watch is actually moving in space (squat, deadlift, etc) it can ascertain what you're doing and record it. I've never done anything with that information, but you could go in after the fact and clean it up I guess. For subtler movements, or those that don't involve your arms at all, it can't tell which lifts you're doing. I'd personally just get a small weightlifting notebook from amazon and keep track that way. Or there are approximately 2342309 available apps that do it also if you want to mess with your phone. But overall, the Fenix 7 I have is pretty much limited to just being a mildly accurate rep and rest counter for me.

Garmin user here: Macrofactor for food Garmin for cardio Hevy for weight training Both sync to Strava automatically. Note that garmin's training readiness score has nothing to do with weight training whether you track that in Garmin or not. If you measure accurately, after 6 weeks Garmin & Macrofactor are agreeing on my TDEE which is very satisfying to see.

I've been wearing the Fenix 7 since it came out. Maybe a few years? Personally I focus on my cardio capacity as much as hypertrophy so I really like it. It's helped a lot with sleep, zone 2 training and increasing my VO2 max. Not very useful for weight training but I think it estimates calories burned solely based on your HR well.

Another vote for the Garmin Fenix 7 or 8. You get the surfr app with the 7.

I’ve had some issues with my vivoactive 5 and my Fenix 7 now. Often it’ll track an extra lap or 2, usually if I do 1500m I’ll end up with the watch saying 1525m or 1550m. That said, this week I swam 1500m by my lap count and the watch ended up tracking 1600m. I think it also has to do with the fact that I was in a crowded swimming lane and had to stop/change strokes halfway through laps to avoid running into people.

I love my fenix 7 Sapphire in gold https://preview.redd.it/yh2e2b9pnc1e1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a18406ee7da222dc7c8b2702df48882f9f190a15

I had a Fitbit charge 2 for about 6 years and loved it until google took over and screwed up the compatibility and syncing. I now have a garmin fenix 7. MASSIVE step up. The battery doesn’t last as long, I use to get a week with 8hrs of tracking, now I’m charging every couple of days but that could be because I have all the bells and whistles turned on which aren’t needed. If you’re a data nerd and want more info than you ever thought was possible, then seriously look at garmin. I just have the free topo maps on it at the moment and pay no subscription. And quality seems good enough to navigate by. I haven’t tried it out in the bush yet, but to be honest i wouldn’t rely on it for navigating and would stick with map and compass or phone app where I can zoom in and out so much easier. It is geared towards running, but hiking, alpine are all options in there as activities. I love that it’s ocean proof too and can even track sailing.

Both Garmin and Coros make sport watches that are fine for what you need. I jumped from Garmin to Coros because of the crazy price jump of the Fenix 8, Connect+ subscription service and bad firmware updates for my Fenix 7 that Garmin has not addressed for more than a year now. The trust has been lost.

Go for an old version of Fenix (7 for example). Forerunners are also a good alternative, 265 or 965 if you have a bigger budget. Try to consider a second hand in good condition, a lot of folks have just upgraded to Fenix 8 so you can catch some good deals.

Garmin Fenix 7 something or other. Garmin Edge 530 on the bike with a Varia rear light/camera. I don’t see any value in Strava, I just use Garmin Connect.

Fenix 7 should work great. (Double check for 100hz) I have fenix6s and it works but doesnt show live data and 25hz processor is shit with surfr. Also dowloading times are long. Not that i am slightly bitter with my yesterday 20m jump with 21+sec hangtime. According to surfr ai calculation 9m with 7second hangtime 🥲

I have the Fenix 7 and can tell you I will not buy another watch without maps. Great for when you are in a strange place and familiar areas. I am from South Africa but was able to run through the Norwegian forest on my own because of maps and Garmin Explore. Even at home if I want to run a new 20k, I just go to Garmin Connect, generate an automatic map and have a brand new course. If I am in a foreign city, I can put my hotel as a point in my watch and will always be able to find my way back even if I have no data coverage.

I have a garmin Fenix 7, and I absolutely love it. It tracks gps accurately, and has stats such as stroke rate and distance per stroke, but for super accurate hr, I would connect a chest strap to the watch. Often if I don’t, the watch alone doesn’t track the hr super accurately.

Hi all, Got my OnePlus Watch 3 recently, and I’ve always wondered how it would compare to my Garmin Fenix 7 for fitness tracking — since fitness is a big thing for me. --- Run Summary Distance: 4.39 km (OnePlus) vs 4.40 km (Garmin) Time: 25:59 vs 25:55 Average Pace: 5:55/km vs 5:53/km Best Pace: 4:11/km vs 4:34/km Max Speed: Both 12.3 km/h --- Heart Rate Average HR: 176 bpm (both) Max HR: 187 bpm (OnePlus) vs 192 bpm (Garmin) Min HR: 154 bpm vs 156 bpm --- VO₂ Max OnePlus Estimate: 41 Garmin Estimate: 45 Lab-tested VO₂ Max: 44.5 → Garmin is closest to lab --- Running Dynamics Cadence (avg/max): 168 / 200 spm (both) Stride Length: 1.01 m (both) Vertical Ratio: 8.6% (both) Ground Contact Time: 266 ms (both) --- Power & Respiration Power (Garmin): Avg 332 W, Max 430 W Power (OnePlus): Avg 283 W, Max 460 W Breathing Rate: Avg 42 bpm (both) Min/Max Respiration: 21 / 54 bpm (both) --- Recovery & Training Recovery Time: 46 min (23 min intense) — both Stamina (OnePlus): Start 100%, End 66% Aerobic Effect: 4.1 (OnePlus), 4.4 (Garmin – Threshold) Anaerobic Effect (Garmin only): 1.8 Training Load (Garmin only): 138 --- Conclusion VO₂ Max Accuracy: Garmin is more accurate (closer to lab) Both watches track key stats very well Garmin Fenix 7 leads in training feedback, power data, and clarity OnePlus Watch 3 holds up surprisingly well — especially for a lifestyle-focused smartwatch that also looks better One big con for me: OPW3 doesn’t show training loads (low/high aerobic, anaerobic) — which is huge for me. I split my training into HIIT, Zone 2, sprints, and weight lifting based on those metrics. I’ll use it for another week or so and decide whether to send it back. Honestly feels weird wearing something else after having my Garmin daily for the last 1.5 years.

I am missing the workout functionalities of my garmin.. Training loads, more insights.. However this watch looks better, has better functionalities regarding smart features. Not sure what to do..

I am missing the workout functionalities of my garmin.. Training loads, more insights.. However this watch looks better, has better functionalities regarding smart features. Not sure what to do..

I am missing the workout functionalities of my garmin.. Training loads, more insights.. However this watch looks better, has better functionalities regarding smart features.

I did send the OnePlus watch 3 back. It is good if you are mainly into running and are an average person who doesn't really take working out seriously. Pace is spot on I'd say compared with my Garmin. I just didn't like the app and the metrics it provides, I was missing training loads, acute loads, VO2 max was off by a few points. My lab results tell me that my Garmin was very close though.. You will never get the same what Garmin provides from the OnePlus watch 3, I debated myself for a few days before sending it back. If you just run casually, don't do weight lifting much or don't care about all of that. Get the watch. Also the app is not so good haha. It provides however great basic metrics. I never took my Garmin off in the last 2 years, so it was super difficult for me. Which Garmin do you have?

Personally, I love my Garmin Fenix 7. Yes, it's expensive, but it's super accurate, tracks the data I'm interested in, and it lasts a long time. You can buy a watch with fewer bells and whistles, but your boyfriend will want to upgrade. If you don't want to spend that much, there are a lot of other great running gifts such as nice quality running clothing, a new hydration vest, a race he's been eyeing, etc...

I can only assume you've never ran a competitive race and heard all the Garmins beeping at exactly the same location every km.

My Garmin Fenix 7 allows me to set run/walk intervals. I start my watch like in going for a run, I just can't do the suggested run or it won't time the intervals. Super happy with it.

I am liking my Garminfenix 7 solar (aolar charges a bit). Way more data than I need, but my main complaint ith the apple watch was NO On the water GPS tracking (even wrote then because location data for walking, running, outdoor swimming but NOT rowing). So I am a garmin gal. Yep I wanna know my spm and can initiate a 5K and it doesnt just guess the distance. :)

I rock the Garmin Fenix 7 for MTB, I only use it for tracking and strava. I come home, and I immediately swap, then put it back on to sleep. I don't know why, personal preference, i suppose, but I always like something on my wrist. I also swim and lift but usually don't wear anything for it.

I'm guessing you aren't a strava whore? I unfortunately am. I have the Garmin Fenix 7. I wear it for 2 reasons, one that I already mentioned. The second, so my wife and buddy can track me in the event of a gnarly MTB fall. I had one last year and was fortunate that my buddy was headed to the mountain and helped me get out.

I forgot to add, I wish I didn't put it on to sleep but can't break the habit. Nothing worse than waking up, feeling great and your watch tells you that you slept like shit and need a rest day. I try to ignore it but it messes with me

I use a garmin Fenix 7 for swimming, cycling, hiking, mountain running, long ultramarathons and its fantastic at all of them!

Fenix 7, I like tracking my HR in the sauna

Other than the Fennix 7, nothing Garmin has compares with the sensor quality Apple has in the latest models. It was around the 8 that Apple surpassed Garmin with fitness tracking accuracy and with the Ultra and 19 or 10 they surpassed it with location accuracy as well. Garmin will still win with battery life and I’ll rather keep my watch for the QOL benefits, for me it’s mainly unlocking my Mac, the odd payment and some other health metrics that I specifically use the watch for. I’ll answer a call if I’m too lazy to walk back to my phone. The eSIM support is handy for me to be able to leave my phone at home without the safety hit of being completely offline. I have tested the fall detection already, obviously not intentionally, not sure if Garmin has something like that, but it would the also require a phone to be of any real use in an emergency. I’ll be upgrading my ultra next year if the rumoured Blood pressure and sugar monitoring come out. I am hypertensive so that would be very useful to track if it gets worse

I love my Garmin. I have a Fenix 7 Sapphire solar, which is more watch than you need if your primary activity is running. I wanted all of the mapping and other utilities because I hike and backpack in places where there is no cell service.

I have a Garmin Fenix 7 solar sapphire and I adore her

I switched from WHOOP to Garmin. Never looked back. And I'm a data freak. But with WHOOP I felt like a slave to my data, while Garmin is more like a feedback source. Biggest difference for me was with heart rate data. Whoop shows you how much you've spent in a certain threshold. Garmin does that and also shows you exactly how your heart rate changed over time. That way you clearly see how you perform in intervals, marathons, sprints and mixed trainings. I got WHOOP hoping to get my stress under control. I haven't been able to track it there. Meanwhile, in Garmin you get alerts if your heart rate spikes out of the blue. And that's exactly what I was looking for.

Fenix Solar Sapphire 7

I have a Pixel phone as well and use a Garmin Fenix 7. I still get my notification buzzes in the pool but unlike an Apple Watch you can't answer calls from the watch. The notifications show up in a little bar above the exercise tracking info and disappear after a few seconds if I ignore them.

I have a Fenix 7 and it's very good at tracking laps. I swim 10k+ yards a week and it only adds a "phantom" extra lap maybe once a month, and it's usually because I did something weird to throw off the rhythm. That said, you have to switch to drill mode for kicking or other armless drills-- it doesn't autodetect that.

I know it's not a FR, but i switched last week from a FR745 to a Fenix 7 Pro Solar for 499€. Very happy with my choice.

I'm a Garmin user but for much less money, Coros watches look like like a good option. I cross shopped those before getting a Fenix 7 and they have some great reviews.

I have a Garmin Fenix 7 watch that records my runs, walks and rides. They then get uploaded automatically.

Used to do Apple Watch and switched to Garmin, but not for daily tracking. I did it specifically because of the data it gives me for workouts, and the training plans. It’s a training watch. I think all the stuff you mentioned for me I don’t really need a lot of frills around, really. A simple line chart showing me VO2 max over time is fine. My Garmin Fenix shows me my current estimated VO2 max right on the face. I do like how Garmin charts HRV, but neither Apple or Garmin should be considered best for this if you really care. Wrist is just not an ideal location for it, even if Whoop had done well. I use Oura for sleep tracking. Apple and Garmin BOTH are kinda weak here. What Garmin does do well is show me trends of HRV, and from that it can be useful in terms of telling me recovery impact to training. Ultimately I view Garmin as a training device and Apple Watch as a lifestyle device. Both are about the same for daily tracking of activities and Garmin can feed Apple Health. If you like Apple nudging you to “close the rings” you’re maybe more of an Apple Watch candidate than Garmin. If you like Garmin telling you that today you should run intervals or ride a long zone 2 ride then you’re a Garmin candidate. I also hated having notifications and apps and stuff on my wrist. It was cool at first and then it was annoying and distracting. My big motivation away from Apple Watch was this. First I stopped wearing it at all. Since my goal is training data I was doing activity tracking from my phone and it was unwieldy. I looked at trackers like Fitbits and Whoops and stuff and settled on Garmin. Admittedly I kinda needed out on the data and the maps of the Fenix. I do some remote canoeing and hiking and thought the maps would be really useful. I think the only thing I really want from my watch is some ability to control audio from it. Admittedly Garmin isn’t strong here: they do have Spotify but no way to do Apple Music or Audible or anything, and what you can do is limited. So if I want to run or ride with music or a book my phone always comes with me. I remember when Apple Watch first let you do music from the Watch back in like 2016 and it was really cool at first, then I didn’t care and was bringing my phone on runs anyway. Since you asked about badges and motivation and whatnot: as mentioned Apple has really nice stuff, but I view it as more pedestrian oriented. Ultimately I didn’t ever feel motivated by it. Garmin seems to have tried to get into the social game, too, but I don’t know many people that use this and do gamification. They have a great badge system built more around training than anything else. That said… As another poster mentioned, I also use Strava and Strava as a social media platform is far more motivating for me. If you’re into training at all, look into it. Strava tells you about your previous times on a segment, for instance, and whether you’re getting a PR. It does Q/KOM (Queen or King of the Mountain). It can show you routes and segments in your area. It has a great interface for breaking down training data as well. Garmin is better for like overlaying cycling power with heart rate and elevation, but Strava gives you a lot of this data as well. You can feed Strava with either Apple or Garmin. At the end of the day my opinion on why to chose Garmin is if you want the training planning and tracking. If you have a goal like a race then it’s a pretty cool coach. If you have a program you’re already following and just want to track against it then it matters a lot less. The only other winning thing is depending on model you can get Garmins with incredible battery life. My Fenix 7 gets almost a month on a charge. My wife charges her Apple Watch daily. I’d probably go without a smart watch before going back to an Apple Watch because all of the cool features of an Apple Watch are lost on me.

Also, two words with the Fenix 7: Torch watch! Honestly I use the torch way more than I thought i would!

Quite happy with my Fenix7. But difficult to validate. There is no reference in OpenWater, as you never swim in a straight line. So +-20% in distance compared to the perfect line is totally fine with me. With uneasy weather it's easily +50% distance that you actually swim.

Any of the modern Garmins (Forerunner x55 series, Epix, Fenix 7 or above) - great 24/7 tracking

Love my fenix 7 pro solar and fenix 8 amoled a bit pricey but really works well for me . Maps are always an issue for me ,i do like the smart watch feature of a mic and speaker here and there ,but perfect for exercising in many forms from surfing to hiking and riding motorcycles .... i hear epix is similar but less pricey. Well wishes on your journey

Welcome to the whoop family..... I wear both the fenix 7 sapphire and the whoop band... Whoop tracks your lifestyle and sleep better than Garmin ever will....but Garmin will always be more accurate when it comes to steps and workouts. For some reason Garmin doesn't capture REM sleep accurately..... Hoping they fix soon because their training readiness scores will always be off due to this....

Garmin will add less laps if you stop less or segment your workouts accordingly. Kinda like saying user error? But it’s because the watch is too sensitive? Example: I swim 25 underwater. I get to the wall to stretch for 30 seconds, and then swim back to complete the lap before I do 1500 freestyle. I usually end up with 75 or 100 meters when I complete that first warmup lap. And it’s because it is detecting movement consistent with the movement of pushing off a wall while I’m stretching. If I don’t start my watch until after I stretch and warm up and I just track my main set in one big block it’s spot on. If I am doing intervals it also adds half laps periodically, but for the same reason: it’s detecting change of direction movement. To minimize this I look at a wall clock instead of my watch to know when to blast off again. Solution for garmin: stop moving your watch when you’re not swimming if you told your watch you were swimming. They could probably fix it by making it less sensitive to changes in direction. But for now I can get 100 meters just by putting my goggles on if I want. Watches: forerunner 245 and fenix 7. 25 meter pool. Freestyle only.

I have a fenix Pro, with all phone related things turned off. I will only receive vibration for phone calls (as I keep my phone on silent). Otherwise it’s strictly for fitness/health

100% agree with your review The problem with Garmin is simple, it is as so many say a pro sport watch and bc of that you should live with all the bugs and shitty ui, messed up settings menu bc must are a hard core athlete. At the same time any more advanced athlete just smile seeing garmin watch bc from a training perspective most of garmin metrics are just toys with some very basic failures like z3 is endurance when zones are set by maxhr but all of a sudden when you set zones by lthr your endurance zone is correctly z2, no recovery weeks scheduled pushing people to fatigue themselves to disaster, no way of editing hrv which combined with very shitty sleep tracker makes some days where your garmin forgot to track your sleep destroy whole training readiness calculation without any possibility to edit that one day etc. Don't get me wrong, I'm an Epix user but it is my first and last Garmin product and I will move to AWU next month or so (waiting for AWU 3 and IP16). Garmin is great as a simple activity tracker and if you need one just any old fr955 is enough to track everything you need. With Fenixes you jsut pay extra 600$ just for looks which some like and some not that much. PS. For me Garmin loses bc of a shitty strategy of keeping the simple stuff like new watchfaces only for new models where with any other IT product like a phone, awu, brands have learned to support fully for 5 years or so. (I know I can download new watch faces but they drain more battery and works shittier than the building ones /like no touch gestures etc.) ps. this forum is full of Garmin fanboys so your post will probably will be downvoted to oblivion, bc only positive posts are welcome here. (which is stupid bc it makes people at Garmin think their products is so amazing that they can ask 1100$ for that without solving at least some basic problems). ps2 besides watch faces (this part is for garmin fanboys) major problem was when my watch decided to burn down my house ;;) If any of you use ant+ lights or actually any sensors like a trainer, hr strap etc., your should already know that if you enter a glance menu or any settings menu for some stupid reason your watch connects to your sensors. With lights it works the same way but for some stupid reason Garmin likes to turn them on for a sec, but not always remembers to turn them off. So I was outside my house in the evening ready to start my run just to see through the window that my watch decided to Strat my light, I wanted to let it be but eventually returned home jsut to see my lights on the desk being charged and a smoke coming from desk bc it is not enough to turn on your with without any reasons (like I want to run not ride) but it sets the light on the highest strength (1300 lumen). So yeah I love Garmin and their watches 😀

I mean 400-500$ garmin watch like epix2/fenix7 is a good deal nowadays. I love the mapping, activity menus are ok, just in reality most of the metrics are a bit of BS lifted by a good marketing. Again 400$ is a good price for a tracker but asking 1100$ for a nicer UI menus (which are here only bc owners of FRs got them sooner and it would be hard to sell a much more expensive f8 with shitty menus) and a very low quality speaker and mic is a really brave strategy. I know Apple is not that amazing but it is ok for running, for cycling I use my Wahoo (apple added power meter support and thats something), I keep my music on my MacBook so it will be much easier to sync both (garmin does not support lossless format so I gave up on music bc I hate converting it every time) listening to podcasts is really troublesome with garmin etc. Maybe it is just me and my expectation for Epix I own were much higher. Overall I like it but I think it could be so much nicer with some very small tweaks (like you really need a phd to learn how the garmin energy settings works and when they overrule AOD setting and when not etc.) The thing about awU for me is that I bought Garmin to use my phone less but instead due to lack of or troublesome ui I always take my phone with me anyways just for music and messages. I hope with AWU and some basic apps like notes, reminders etc. I would have easier time leaving my phone at home. Hopefully ps. I love enduro3 and I would strongly consider it as an expedition watch (without any music etc.) jsut as a watch I take on a trip instead of AWU with good mapping etc. But that would make all the metrics obsolete and paying for that 899$ again is just not wise. (now when I think about it, I will probably switch to AWU and buy a used enduro2 just for longer trips and use it alongside my future aWU)

I will make it simple for you ;) If you want a device where you run often and you want something which is a very nice smartwatch and let's you leave your phone at home bc your podcasts and music and notes and reminders are all there with you, just buy AWU (if you use an iphone and remindrs etc. it will be amazing). If you run often but you need some kind of training support and want a feeling that you are doing more then a casual runner but music, notifications etc. will be so cumbersome that you will take your phone with you anyways and you are ok with that, just buy enduro. It's like a lack of comfort due to daily charging (which you can do during a shower) vs a lack of comfort due to crazy amount of bugs, very low quality software and milllion of funcions where half does not work, bu the battery is like crazy good. for me garmin is less usefull bc I read a lot about training and can easily set my owna training plan and I found out that what really makes my run much easier is that I can in seconds sync my book I'm listening too and go out for a run with my watch. With garmin it is just too complicated. if you add all the software bugs in garmin on top of that, yeah it is just not a watch for me PS. any even cheapest personal trainer will be better then garmins automated one and probably much much cheaper. So for me AWU plus eventualy a personal trainer is a best bet bc metrics from garmin like body battery etc are mostly just gimmicks. this guy explains t well: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEmN6JiDGF0&t=646s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEmN6JiDGF0&t=646s)

How accurate is the GPS, especially when running through woods or on overcast days? I've found Apple watches and even lower end Garmins don't handle position tracking very well in those conditions. Sometimes they'll be as much as a half mile off for a several mile run. That's the only time I can't fault the Fenix series watches, the GPS is nearly flawless. The only thing I've found more accurate is a handheld.

Get a garmin Fenix, doesnt really matter which model as long as it’s not ancient, off eBay

You can't go wrong. There are features that the newest Fenix (or Epic pro) have that the others don't. So if you care about ecg monitoring that might change the model you are looking at.

This is my perspective as someone who uses Whoop and wears an SMP or a Speedy that I rotate according to how I feel. Also, I've tried Oura, and liked it, but it wasn't for me. And I have an AW Ultra that I use when running and hiking, and this is after a few years of using a Garmin Fenix. Most people think of Whoop as simply a fitness tracker, which it is, but it is much more. What seperates Whoop from other things is how it shows you the impact of your behaviors. Yes, I think Whoop was less than honest about their upgrade policy with the new 5.0 and MG release, but I still can't find anything like it. The "magic" of Whoop is that it allows you to pre-select certain behaviors that will appear in a daily journal. Each morning you take 30 seconds to check yes or no on these items, e.g. Did you consume added sugar yesterday? Did you eat a late meal? There are endless options. As times goes on, Whoop continues to show you how these behaviors are impacting your sleep so that you discover how far before bed you should stop eating, or what's the latest time of the day you can drink caffeine without it impacting your sleep (even though you may think it doesn't because you fall asleep quickly). I'm not trying to sound like an advertisement for Whoop, but I think most people evaluate Whoop without knowing what it really does. So when I run or hike I use my Ultra for reasons that don't overlap with Whoop. But the rest of the day, when wearing my SMP or Speedy, or when I sleep, I wear Whoop because it is providing overall health insights that I find valuable and have led to lifestyle changes that I may not have made otherwise--even as a person in great shape who works out six days a week.

garmin epix/fenix no complaints

Short answer ; none Long answer ; Garmin is not an optimised at all for bodybuilding (I am nodybuil for the last 20 years and have Garmin for the last 10). So just get the one that is in your price range. Any Garmin will do hiking. One thing though, with bodybuilding the watch can and will suffer from repeated contact with the bars and gear. For that I only take Sapphire models. So Fenix or EPIX.

Seconded, Fenix or Epix are great. I have an Epix but tbh a Fenix suits my needs better

I use Garmin. Watch battery lasts a week at a time workout charging and the watch itself is nice. If I'd gotten a less fancy version than the fenix, my watch battery would last even longer

This is what I do. I have a Garmin Fenix as my sports watch and switch to the Vivosmart when I am wearing my Speedy.

Garmin Fenix and Epix Series are far better than this. https://preview.redd.it/cpxhwtjkuuje1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4d50186d95b15e90086bfa4491d354424f3c0bd I am glad. Haha

I was looking at the Fenix! It's pricey but it did seem to have the most functionality that would be useful for him. I don't know that he would mind losing the running specific data as part of his WOD but then again I think he's the type that would like to know his pace/HR to target. As long as there is a process to program the switch from hiit to run and then back to HIIT I would guess he would suffer the moderate annoyance if he wants to mine that data. And we are not an apple house lol and I agree, Garmin connect is pretty slick. I've found their race predictions to be hilarious but other than that their metrics are pretty spot on!

Return the Apple watch get a fenix

I’ve been wearing my garmin fenix in it for over a year. No issues

I swapped my Omega for a Garmin Fenix and haven't looked back. I'm a cyclist in the garmin infrastructure so it makes sense. Its one of the best sports watches, comes in a range of sizes to fit different wrists and I think it looks stylish as well compared to the square apple watch.

Garmin Fenix, used Garmin for years, battery measured in days not hours

i have a fénix and i won't bring it. You can get miles and ascent trivially from FarOut. just tap on a point behind or ahead of you. For me the fenix is a training tool, it's not for the main event. your stats will be: * Steps: Many * HR: Light/moderate aerobic * Sleep: Shit * HRV: Shit * Status: Overreaching * GPS: The same damn trail as everyone else. Also the power saver mode GPS is pretty bad and [can remarkably *over*estimate distances. ](https://www.tendigitgrid.com/d/159-garmin-ultratrac-review-and-data-accuracy) Number Go Up is fun but not worth it. Track for the folks at home with the Inreach on 1hr tracking. Your watch won't broadcast to your family like the Inreach will, it's redundant and less functional for long distance location tracking. I have ONCE briefly, used a pre-loaded Course on my Inreach for snow navigation on Wonderland Trail. Probably it would be nicer on the Fénix but not enough to bring it. Ill probably stick some Sierra courses on the Inreach ahead of time though.

But nobody say what garmin works with messages better of do it APW with same iPhone. I switched APW to Fenix namely this reason. I dont miss any whats app call or telegram call or messages from it with fenix. But AWU at all is very very good thing, especially if calls and messages from all messengers not matter for you (I apologize in advance for my English)

whoop, using the bicep strap so my wrists are free during workouts. i prefer the no screen no distraction myself, especially when working out. also have a garmin fenix as well as a daily watch.

Yes, I carry a Garmin Fenix and record each day’s hike as an activity. You absolutely do not need a smart watch to hike but it a lot of fun and convenient to have. I love all the stats for each day’s hike. HR. elevation gain and loss. Pace. It’s also convenient to have all the information the watch provides right on your wrist. How many miles you’ve gone. Elevation. (On a nasty up hill I’ll just know the elevation I need to get to and can glance st my wrist for progress without overthinking the distance.) Sunrise and sunset times. Day length. I set a notification to go off 1.5 hours before sunset. That’s my dummy check reminder I need to be looking for a campsite. I also set a lap notification for 1.0 miles. That way I can mentally keep track of how far I’ve gone. The newish elevation acclimation widget has been interesting. Most of these functions/information is as lap available on a cell phone. But it’s nice in watch form. The battery needs of a smart watch are negligible. I did need to recharge it daily.

Apple Watch will do fine for a long time - only got a Garmin last year. However once you go to only having to charge your watch once every two weeks you just can’t go back to Apple. I have a Garmin Fenix (on the $$ side) but I wear it every day as my normal watch too and have had zero issues making the switch. However there’s heaps in the range, I love accuracy, maps, long battery and lots and lots of data so I can overthink every run - so Fenix it is! The forerunners are great and the vivoactives are a good mid range model. There’s other brands like Suunto, Polar etc. For true accuracy on any wrist watch you may need a chest monitor. But if you really like your Apple Watch I found it pretty good unless you’re somewhere with not much reception

This is not clear. Which activities can't you wear a sorts watch? Do you mean like work or formal dinner where sports watch might not match your outfit? If that is the case, you should consider the garmin fenix. More premium build and you can get different watch straps that can be changed quickly if you need to dress to impress.

Garmin Fenix, I bought a second hand one on ebay and I absolutely love it and the best bit is the charge lasts for over a week.

Most people coming from apple go vivo active or venue. Venue being closest to a smart watch. Personally, I'm a instinct guy. Although I'm wearing a Fenix today since I didn't charge my Instinct for 2 weeks and it died before bed. I've swam tens of thousands of meters (more like hundreds but..) in pool, open and salt water with my Garmins. Done free diving (only to about 40ft, I'm not very good) and press the buttons regularly sub surface. I've also done cliff jumping with every watch, and haven't lost a garmin to water intrusion. I would definitely select a 100m rated model for water sports. Any watch can fail but I've had 6 garmins and none have. I also had a bunch of Casio and Timex over the years and not one failure.

Yes they are pretty rubbish for swimming. I just switched to a Garmin Fenix which hopefully will be better. The Apple Watch managed lap counting ok for me but open water was a disaster and the rest of its counting (calories etc) was also well off by the looks of it. Your does sound even more broken than just being rubbish though. It should be able to count laps fairly accurately, I think most of them can do that ok.

There should be, but it isn’t. I have 255 and it’s great, capable, light watch, but it has weak display and no touch, changing straps is a hassle. So I waited long for 975, but I’ll go the Fenix way very, very soon :) Maps are definitely better on the 965 than on 255, navigation there is really rather basic.

Fenix has always been dead on accurate for me. But I’m using an Epix now. Basically the same but my old Fenix didn’t do HR

Bro, it's literally a fitness tracker first, then 2 miles of data sheets from all that tracking...then all the "smart" gibberish as a barely visible dot on the horizon. At least Enduro/fenix/Tactix/Epix line are like that.

I’ve used a Garmin Fenix, Garmin Swim 2, and Apple Watch for swimming and by far the garmins were superior. My Apple Watch would die after about half an hour in open water, regardless of water temp, and was always inaccurate with my laps and interval times in the pool. The swim 2 and fenix work much better.

I personally love my Fenix, and yes, most Garmin things revolve around running—but I do HIIT, strength training, and backpacking, and the recovery seems quite accurate. My overall fitness suffers when I don't listen to the readiness score and overdo it.

i hated my garmin fenix chunky edges on my 4.5 inch wrist which is tiny for my first one i went for the cheap apple watch 6 decided i liked it and went to a series 9 never looked back and also im in the apple ecosystem partley so this has been a great help

I'm very disappointed in my Fenix for gym (and it sounds like the same fault applies to all garmins) because of the logging of reps. When I do a workout it will assume I used the weights I specified, but then it seems to either auto-log reps, which is a disaster for things that don't involve hand movements, and require me to correct them, or assume I did zero and require me to enter the whole lot. If I'm doing 60 sets I honestly don't have the patience to manually enter the rep number, so I use a phone ap instead. The thing that really annoys me though is that it would be so easy for Garmin to make a tiny programing change and start with the assumption that you hit your target. Surely for most people who have a reasonably well-made workout this would mean they only need to change a small fraction of their reps. I have suggested they make that tiny change, as have others, but so-far it has fallen on deaf ears. Hopefully more people will suggest it, until eventually they do it. But for now I'd say stick with the apple watch.

Garmin Fenix. I will always be team Garmin. Apple is a smart watch with fitness features while Garmin is a fitness watch with smart features. There are certain garmins that have more fitness functions and features than others - even among the new models. Some are more “lifestyle” watches (like venu). So just be aware of that when choosing. When I went from my venu2+ to my Fenix, a host of new features opened up for me that I now could not do without. Check out the r/garmin sub for sure if you think you might go that route

I am an AWU → Garmin Fenix convert and have done pretty extensive testing with both, and against dedicated sensors. I have found for basically all metrics where the watch sensors are the source, the Apple Watch is more accurate when compared against the Garmin watch, although dedicated sensors are more accurate than both. I haven’t tried the Garmin chest strap or dynamics pod, but I have compared to a Polar H10 for HR and a Stryd pod for running dynamics. It’s always H10/Stryd > Apple Watch > Garmin. The discrepancy is much higher for HR than running dynamics. I think it is straight up irresponsible to rely on wrist-based HR is you’re using HR as a part of training, but the running dynamics from both watches are more than good enough for most people.

Just buy a fenix and turn notifications etc off. Calls it the only thing that I have on but that also can be turned off.

Honestly, there's a TON of overlap between Whoop and any other tracker you need. It'll have your HR and HRV, recovery scores, and target strain. The ability to broadcast HR to your phone should let you cover runs and bike rides in strava. Look into various Garmin options if you want something that can record multisport events, I think Coros can do those too. But if you just want something for easy workout tracking that records swim laps and ride/run HR + GPS route, a cheap Fitbit would do the trick as well. Personally, I use a Whoop plus a Garmin Fenix. The whoop is overkill, honestly, since Garmin has a "body battery" recovery metric and can tell you how hard to go with the training on any given day. I use the Whoop because I deal with behaviors very similar to exercise bulimia and I need something that literally tells me, "you've worked hard enough today, it is time to stop." If I didn't need that, a Garmin would absolutely be sufficient on its own.

I like my Garmin Fenix. Someone here pointed out that grips stop the workout and that’s true. Straps and grips and a certain angle can hit that button and it sucks. Other than that it does its job really really well. I hate whoop though. It being maybe 3% more accurate with some metrics isn’t enough for me to have to wear the whoop and watch (smart or otherwise). Couple that with the subscription cost. It’s just not worth it for your everyday/local comp person. They’re all trash if you have tattoos on your wrist though. The internal HR monitor struggles there. I use a chest strap or just rotate the watch to the inner part of my wrist.

Can't go wrong with Garmin imho. I've had a fenix and a couple of forerunners, and they've all worked great.

I would agree with you on that. I had Garmin fenixes for years, Garmin Epix pro, Apple Watch Ultra, amazfit trex 3 (current watch) and just got a whoop. Imo for weightlifting nothing beats the Apple Watch (ultra or not doesn’t matter) due to all the different apps available. I was using Hevy and the ability to do a live workout between the watch and the phone at the same time was dope: want to change exercice or do more complex changes during your sessions, you simply edit the workout on the phone. But if you want to do just a 5lbs increment on your lift, you can do it from the watch directly live. Only thing I am eager to test with whoop, which is a important part my decision to do the free trial for a month, is to see muscle strain and how it work in tandem with the cardio based strain. Whoop is the only wearable to do that ( but it seems you can do it with Bevel now)

Garmin fenix works fine in sauna

Another happy Fenix user here. I bought it for the battery life, as I do ultras on occasion and prior watches would not last for 50+ mile races. So far, the only initial downside was the weight, but I'm used to it by now and hardly notice anymore. Otherwise, the battery life if phenomenal and has never failed me in a race (or for days afterward).

Garmin Fenix is the best for snow sports

Please don’t use the Fenix watches for swimming. They may be advertised as such, but very unreliable. Very lengthy replacement process also.

If you are using a treadmill I’ve had good results with the HRM-Pro strap combined with my Fenix watch.  

I've used either a Forerunner 9xx or a Fēnix for about 6 years. If you give it about 5 minutes before you swim to leatch onto as many satellites as possible after it says it has a GPS fix it's pretty good. If you dive in as soon as you get the tick, it's crap.

I've had Apple, Garmin and Samsung smart watches but only got "joy spark" from the Garmin Fenix/Epix. The Garmin Fenix/Epix have an intangible attraction that doesn't equate to any feature or activity. One aspect of wearing a Fenix/Epix that I have to admit is attractive to me is that it signifies that I'm a performance athlete.

People have to stop comparing these. These are for two different people. I would never wear an Apple Watch based on battery life alone. I specifically got the Garmin for a wrist based gps and mapping tool to track and orient myself. You buy an Apple Watch to use smart features and be connected to your phone. Garmin has never been in that market. It’s a whole company based on gps systems for outdoor activities . You buy an Apple Watch to have Apple ecosystem. you can’t use half the feature of the fenix on an iPhone bc they only want you to use their watch… Garmin are all specifically made for their audience even down the the model . Apple watches are just to keep you plugged into your phone and have no bearing on actual outdoor activities despite calling it ultra. The Millitary has been orienteering with Garmin wrist based gps systems forever. You’d never catch an Apple Watch on patrol in Afghanistan. 😂