Garmin - fēnix® 8 – 43 mm, AMOLED, Sapphire
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Reddit Reviews:
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Last updated: Jan 3, 2026 Scoring
Liked most:
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)."
40
3
"The flashlight is the best ever on a watch."
"helps me find stuff in the dark (exclusive to models with the flashlight)"
"a torch I couldn’t live without now lol ... Torch is 10/10"
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)"
22
3
"this is where Garmin Connect had me hooked as it got me addicted to maintaining or improving my vo2, etc."
"measures total volume (type, sets, reps, weight)"
"My current watch has the latest V5 HR sensor. It's much better in responding to my heart rate increases and doesn't have random drops."
4
1
"This watch is indestructible with the sapphire screen (wiped out once or twice on a mountain bike and smashed it at work) that doesn’t scratch."
"is bullet proof"
"I'm glad I have the more rugged Epix with sapphire glass"
Disliked most:
27
29
"both expensive af"
"I still hate spending the money because it's not cheap and I don't make the kind of money that people who own these types of expenditures have"
"As a GPX1 user I can say that there are equal or better mice for half the price. ... It was a cool mouse in 2020, if you wanted to pay the premium. Nowadays for that price range I guess Razer or Lamzu would be better. There are a few brands that are priced better while being on par feature-wise."
0
11
"During runs and activities, the Garmin watch cannot maintain bluetooth connection to the Airpods, and music starts cutting out. It gets resolved temporarily by pressing play/pause in the Spotify app on the watch, but the connection will cut out again within 5 minutes. I've searched Garmin forums and found that this issue has persisted since the Fenix 6, with no indication that Garmin plans to fix it. The #1 feature I bought a fitness watch for is essentially broken."
"So disappointed with its software. ... Have bose qc earbuds thats a top end product but have constant connectivity issues. ... Spoke to garmin don’t know how many times but they don’t have a solution. ... Not even the controls on the earbuds are working. ... I use this feature quite alot and just because of this I wont recommend this watch."
"when i am listening music from my phone: no interface for watch, no next / skip, or the most important the wheel for volume 😂"
0
4
"I find it frustrating. ... Something as basic as checking my training readiness or sleep score takes too many taps and swipes. ... It looks “pretty,” but it’s not functional. ... That’s why it sits in my drawer unused while the Forerunner is on my wrist 24/7."
"It's a nice looking and feeling watch with the shittiest UI. ... All these crap screens and metrics I don't want - I literally just want my heart rate and sleep and steps like a Fitbit but they make it stupid hard to view."
"I think the app is really not designed well, not intuitive at all. ... it took me ages to find how to do this even knowing it was there."
5
25
"and I'm not getting as good of readings coming out of the optical HRM, leading to a lot of the stuff being off like sleep, stress, HRV, body battery. ... I don't know if the latest HRM hardware is a regression for me or if the chonkiness of the watch on my (tiny) wrist leads to light pollution or what."
"the watch constantly registers my heart rate incorrectly."
"The heart rate sensor (especially for weight training) is terrible"
0
5
"you need your phone nearby to use the device, which makes it kinda useless. ... no 5G/LTE version where you could use it without your phone, pity.. you need your phone nearby to use the device, which makes it kinda useless."
"ultimately I needed (wanted) LTE connectivity for my watch and so I got the Pixel Watch 3 45mm LTE version."
"I also wanted LTE and the OnePlus does not offer that here in the states."
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? ->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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