Garmin - Fenix 6 Series

Thank you for your review. It was really a pleasant read. Before the release of the Fenix 8, I was strongly considering it, mainly due to its diving features. However, when it finally launched, I found the feature set underwhelming and decided it wasn’t worth the price for such a limited offering. Instead, I shifted my focus to the Enduro 3, but due to delivery issues with the local representative, I ended up purchasing the 7X Pro. To my surprise, around the time of purchase, Garmin rolled out firmware version 18.xx, which became notorious for its battery drain issues. Despite widespread reports, Garmin neither acknowledged nor resolved the problem. Instead, they seemed to prioritize releasing new features and updates, many of which introduced additional issues. Frustrated, I reverted to using my trusty 6X Sapphire as my primary watch. Although I occasionally give the 7X Pro another chance, my trust in it has eroded. I simply can’t rely on it for races or long adventures because I don’t know how it will perform or if it might fail unexpectedly.

I've only been swimming for last 7 months, but Fenix 6x has been doing great!!! Over 100 swim sessions.

It's fantastic. It also depends how much accuracy is a factor in your workouts. Nothing is going to beat a chest strap, but I'm okay being within 5 beats+/- with my Fenix.

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

Waste is subjective. Ive got a Fenix 6X pro that I picked up at a thrift shop. It was caked in mud and they weren't sure if it would work .. but the thing is a tank. It took me a couple days with fine picks and alcohol to get it clean but it's been working for two years now with no end in sight. I play a full contact sport and do a lot of trail cardio. Previously I'd killed a couple fitbits and a Samsung falling and had a couple much loved devices get discontinued and their servers taken offline I'm not sure I'd want to pay full price for a Fenix but if mine dies next year I'm going to be pretty tempted to buy a 7 second hand. I have a lot of confidence in its ability to do what I need it to do in a way cheaper devices haven't been able to

I think you are in a hard spot here! When someone is serious about something, it is difficult to gift them something about that something. In the same way that you cannot gift a mouse to a software engineer unless it's the Logitech Mx 3 or superior, you cannot gift apparel to a serious runner unless it's something really good. My point is, if you want to gift him a watch, it is difficult to recommend you something that is below $300 or $400. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of watches out there that cost less and may work. For example, you can buy the Garmin Vivoactive or Instinct for around $200, or the Amazfit T-Rex Pro for $150 (this is a really good watch for the price). However, if he is really serious about trail running, you may have to consider a Garmin Fenix 6 (between $350 and $400 on Amazon) or a Garmin Forerunner 945 (I just saw it at $319 on Amazon). If he is into both road and trail running, the Forerunner may be a good choice, but if he is getting more and more into trail running, the fenix is the best option. Note: You won't get navigation in budget-friendly watches, but I haven't meet a racer that needed it. Generally, the course is marked and people carry their phones (I have offline maps just in case). Note 2: You can save a lot by purchasing the previous-generation model (that's why I recommended fenix 6 and forerunner 945).

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.

As the title says, after about 2.5 years with the Fenix 6x pro (51mm) I'm switching from my Garmin (looking for something a little more modern and AMOLED), I am thinking of moving over to a competitor. I mainly use my 6x pro for weight training, running, and other cardio. I also enjoy tracking my sleep and getting a body battery score daily. I used to run a lot when I first got the watch, but now my activities are more even between weights and cardio. I may getting back into running, and try and do some half marathons and 1 marathon (similar to what I did in 2023). But my watch is on my wrist 24/7. I have been researching the **Race S** quite a bit recently. Sounds like at the price points they are at, they are quite an appealing proposition. Other watches I have been looking at are the **Coros Pace Pro** (not a fan of the all plastic body) and the **Amazefit T Rex 3**, which seems to have made quite a splash recently. Seemingly, nothing even comes close to the latter at the moment in terms value for money, and sheer number of features, but I hear many features that exist are half baked. As someone who is just trying to stay healthy (lose more weight and keep/gain some muscle) in his late 40s, I am not looking for the priciest piece of kit out there. In other words, I do not want 1000$ Garmin. Also, while the Apple Watch U2 sounds great, I know coming from the Fenix 6x pro and its insane battery life, I would get immediately frustrated by the 1-2 life on the AW2. I have seen a ton of video reviews on these products including the Race S, but I also wanted some inputs from fellow Redditors about these specific pieces: 1) My biggest concern is HR accuracy. This is the one thing that makes me hesitate about the Race S. I am trying to do a lot of Zone 2 cardio both in the gym and on weekend runs, and I think this is a key metric for me. I run in a suburban setting and don't need to have maps on board, but nice to have. 2) How decent is sleep tracking? 3) I am assuming that no watch really does a good job at strength training tracking, so I am not too fussed about it, and use an app to track reps/sets etc. However, again, a good measure of HR would probably be good here to estimate calories burned. 4) Is the 'resources' metric useful as a measure of daily energy? I'm a little weary about the Race S, as I have a 7 inch (177.8 mm) wrist and this may be on the smaller side? Thanks in advance for your time and inputs!

Garmin Fenix 6X Pro does not require you to hit a lap button when you are done. It will auto pause.

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.

I have a Garmin Fenix 6s and I love it for tracking laps. It doesn't track kick sets, I think it needs arm movement, so I just track those in my head and you can adjust the distance in the Garmin Connect app. But other than that it's great and very accurate. Maybe only off by 25m each swim.

I never knew it had that function!! Thank you!

Fenix 6 or above, Enduro 2 or above. All will easily last over 24hrs recording an activity. The Enduros will stretch to 48hrs at a push

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

J'ai une Apple Watch Ultra, une Garmin Instinct 2 Solar, une Suunto Vertical et eu un Fenix 6 Pro Solar! L'Apple Watch Ultra avec son magnifique écran, son titane et son interface très aboutie n'arrive pas à la cheville des 3 autres montres question sport, incluant la Garmin Instinct 3 avec son écran LCD des années 80's c'est pour dire! Quand j'entends que l'AWU rivalise avec une Fenix 8 c'est soit de la mauvaise foi d'Apple Fan soit des personnes qui ne pratiquent pas de sport, bien sur en utilisation montre connectée l'AWU est géniale mais un peu chère pour cette utilisation non ? Question autonomie, je recharge mon AWU tous les deux jours et je ne fais rien avec, quelques notifications, le SPO2 la nuit, écran éteint, pas de musique. 2 jours pour juste surveiller mon rythme cardiaque, mon O2 la nuit et quelques notifications on ne peut pas dire qu'Apple s'est foulé question optimisation d'autonomie. Pour le sport environ entre une et deux heures par jour avec GPS j'utilise mes autres tocantes, je reçois aussi mes notifications, j'ai des métriques à gogo et je recharge tous les 10 ou 12 jours pour la Suunto et 15 jours la Garmin. Conclusion des mes comparaisons : L'AWU est superbe, un écran magnifique, une interconnectivité avec l'iPhone parfaite (bien sur), une qualité de construction irréprochable, des capteurs précis il faut le dire mais c'est vraiment tout! j'ai eu beau me forcer à l'utiliser en sport, randonnée, marche et musculation en ce qui me concerne c'est trop compliqué, il faut des applis tierces pour arriver à juste essayer de se rapprocher des applis natives Garmin ou Suunto et je reste sur ma fin à chaque fois. Il faut penser à recharger tous les jours (si sport) bref.... je suis désolé mais APPLE est à des années lumière de Garmin et même Suunto en utilisation sportive.

You should first think about what you need from the watch, then choose between the models that offers that specs. Without knowing your use case, the Suunto race S is difficult to beat. I use a Fenix 6 pro myself. I like the maps to be customizable, but when it dies I will change brand. Prices in new Garmin releases are too high in comparison with other brands offerings.

Garmin ecosystem is chocked full of goodness. Since I run and cycle, it’s great for multi sport. A lot of folks who only run seem to love Coros watches and their environment. I think either of those (with Strava integration) would be an improvement over your Apple Watch.

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. 😂

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!

Mine is a garmin 6x pro I think and I have fallen twice while walking my dogs on a muddy hillside. Both times I got the warning that it was going to send an emergency message if I didn’t cancel within 30 seconds or some such. I believe it sends the message to the person I said to not to 911 but haven’t tried it that far.

On my fenix 6, pulse ox even busy at night absolutely cooks the battery. I also found it wasn’t a very accurate or useful feature other than pointing out I might have sleep apnea (which turns out I did, but based off other tests). The advertised battery life probably doesn’t include that, I’d be interested to see how it holds up if it turn that off. For reference I get probably 7-10 days on my fenix 6. Two hours of activity tracking a day, one of which is usually using gps. No pulse ox turned on ever. Using it as a watch only closer to 14 days

I always enjoyed hiking and trail running, but adding Garmin was a great addition. I've had the Fenix 6 and after lost it on a lake, got the Venu 3. Venu 3 is my go to choice, what an amazing and fast watch.

Return the Apple watch get a fenix

I put on my garmin and select backcountry ski.

Fenix 6

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 have an Epix Pro, aka the AMOLED version of the Fenix 7 Pro. It is not a perfect watch, but it is good. However, there are some long lasting bugs in the firmware and the last major version has been release by Garmin despite multiple beta testers reporting bugs. That is something that kills the experience. I had a Fenix 6S Pro and a Vivoactive 4 before. Both good watches with their strengths and flaws, but never that buggy. So, unless you want diving, I wouldn't go with the Fenix 8. Get a used/refurbished Fenix 7 Pro or an Epix Pro and have almost the same watch and features for a lot less money.

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.

Is it as comfy to sleep with? I have a garmin fenix 6 and cant sleep with that but can with the whoop

I don't have any notifications whatsoever on my Fenix 6s pro. I just never set them up. Not a one. I work in a regulated area that prohibits certain distractions like that. That said, it's not a dumb watch, so it can have notifications if you set them up.

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 a Fenix 6s which does everything you mentioned, has lasted for ages, and was well within your budget. The top end Garmins all have very similar software, so it’s more about the look, screen, and build (more metal or more plastic). I don’t think you’d be dissatisfied by any of them.

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.

I do the same. Downvotes be dammed. I usually like to get out at around 130 and get it down to 38 in the cold plunge. 3 years on a fenix 6 without issue.

I have a 955 and a petite female wrist. The watch is big for me but it’s manageable. In the winter, it gets a bit caught on my short sleeves sometimes but that’s the worst of it. I came from a Fenix 6s which was much thicker and heavier so even though that watch face was smaller in diameter, it was much more in the way. It was too heavy. I don’t find that the 955 really bothers me, especially when running.

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.

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

I’ve been using an Apple Watch for pool and open water swimming for about 6 years. You hear people doing the “Apple Watch Isn’t Waterproof” thing every now and then (also the “Apple wont repair water damaged watches”, which is also untrue). Try the thing that you have and see if it suits you. I’ve used AW4, AW6 and currently have an AW10, they’ve all worked well for me. I recently started used a Garmin watch too (Fenix 6x Pro) - it has some significant advantages (better battery life for really long swims) but also some disadvantages (sometimes comical inaccuracy).

At the moment I’m comparing my Apple Watch with a Garmin Fenix 6x Pro that I bought recently. On most swims the Garmin will record a distance about 20-25% higher than the Apple Watch. There are a few swims that I do that I can easily verify the distance on a map (eg where we swim along a river from one bridge to another) and for those, the Apple Watch normally gets the distance about right, so I think generally the Garmin overestimates distance. I don’t see why the watches should give different distance though - like someone else commented, GPS is easily accurate enough to measure distances like this to within a few feet. Both watches might be trying to measure some kind of “effective distance”, eg swimming 1 mile upstream should count for more than 1 mile downstream, but I’ve never seen that written down anywhere. If you really care how far you’ve swum, record your swim with a watch, but then manually measure the GPS track on a real map.

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.

His watch is a 51mm mip so as similar as you can get to the Enduro. Garmin doesn’t make a solar amoled watch. I would expect longer battery from the Enduro but something sounds wrong with his Fenix. Heck, I was getting almost 3 weeks out of my 6x pro and get about the same as he is getting with my 47mm Epix so something must be wrong.

DC Rainmaker (who does the best multisport tech reviews out there) once described the Forerunner 935 as the Fenix 6P, essentially the Fenix 6 but with a plastic body. The feature set was basically identical. When it comes to running metrics specifically, there's unlikely to be any difference. Both are top notch.

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 have a Garmin Fenix 6 and I normally have mine on. I sauna 4 to 5 days a week and have had the watch for 4 or so years. Works totally fine!

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.

I use a polar h10 chest strap and a garmin fenix 6s pro. Does exactly what I expect. The only thing I wish I had was the quality sleep tracking that whoop has. I am surprised nobody has tried to duplicate their sleep tracking algorithm.

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.

Grab the cheapest watch and pair it with a good chest strap for more accurate data. Otherwise the movements give weird data. I pair a Garmin Fenix 6 with HRM Pro+. Pay attention to HRV for recovery.

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.

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.

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

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.

What’s up dude - it sounds like your uses for a Garmin are pretty similar to mine Like other people have mentioned, tracking runs on Garmin is awesome. Along with this, I use the watch to track HITT and other cardio based activities, and I think it does well simply for the HR monitoring. In the gym, I use it only for tracking number of sets, rest between sets, and reps. Sometimes the auto rep counter is off, but you can adjust it manually. Overall I’m ver impressed and happy with the performance from the watch. (Fenix 6x Pro)

I have 674,647 yards this year alone on my 4 year old Garmin Fenix 6, and have not had a single issue with it.

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

Have the battery drain issues on the Fenix 7 Pro series not been addressed yet? I just ordered one, because there was a decent sale. I've had my Fenix 6 Pro for almost 4 years now and it is still going strong and even battery life is still pretty It was actually pretty hard to convince myself to upgrade, given that there aren't that many compelling features that would justify the steep price. Even with the sale, I'm paying double than what I did for the Fenix 6 Pro. I'm not even 100% sure I'll keep it, but having browsed through the official forum and Reddit and seeing all the battery drain reports and people downgrading to 17.xx firmware is not helping.

A lot of Garmin watches cover lots of sports. The Forerunner 265 is a great watch. If hiking a lot and want maps, the Garmin 965 has maps. If money is no object, the Fenix or Epix models cover it all. I have a Fenix 6 Pro as well as a Forerunner 165.. Fenix watches are bulky and heavy. The FR 165 is very good for tracking swims and running but leaves out skiing but is thin and light on the wrist and still gets very good battery life.

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.

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

I've not used the brand myself, (I have a Garmin Fenix 6 that I really like currently), but I hear a lot of good things about Coros and they have watches around the price point your looking for. One of my favorite running Youtubers (he does a lot of ultra trail runs) did a review of the Coros Pace Pro a few months back: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzH-FBISb7I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzH-FBISb7I)

For me. Garmin Fenix 6s pro has changed my life. I gifted my now wife one, less than 3 months after meeting her. It’s fundamental to our lives now

I’ve been using a garmin Fenix 6 for a couple of years and it’s been solid! The only thing I’d say (and it’s not garmin specific just wrist based sensor specific) is that for things with a lot of movement like burpees and KB swings it struggles to record - so I often pair it with a garmin chest heart rate sensor too for those workouts. If it were to break I’d buy a Fenix 7, now that the 8 is out (or soon?) but for me the jump from Fenix 6 to 7 isn’t enough to replace a fully working watch

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.

Similar activies, used to have Garmin Fenix 6 Pro and upgraded lately to Garmin Epix Gen 2 Pro. I would recommend a Garmin Fenix or the Epix Gen 2 Pro as there is quite good deals on them as the Fenix 8 was just intoduced. If you're hiking in areas where it's sunny you can get an model with the solar watch face. There is a lot of ways to conserve the battery on longer trips. If you do mostly longer trips then maybe Enduro 3 with the longest battery life. I'm really happy with Garmin and their quality and also how they provide updates for years to come also for the older models.

I have a Garmin Fenix 6s. Fenix series is definitely on the more expensive end, so this is a more hesitant endorsement. I would have gotten a forerunner in the 900 series, but they don't come in the small size. I will say though, the one I have is five years old and still going strong and tracks pretty much every activity you can think of, so I do like it. You can also download music to the watch too if you want to ditch your phone if that appeals to you. They just recently came out with the Fenix 8 line, so you could probably get a more reasonable price on the 6s or 7s depending what you're looking for.

Garmin for sure. Probably a forerunner or Fenix series. I personally use a Fenix 6s and it'll work for all those sports despite being 6 years old

Garmin Fenix 6s. I use it to track a lot more than just swimming though. And it's lasted, I've had it 5.5 years with no issues so far.

I have a Garmin Fenix 6, which is a multisport watch not a dedicated swimming watch, and it's not very accurate for distance. My last swims: **Outdoor** Actual 1000m, reported 935m Actual 1320m, reported 1684m Actual 1000m, reported 1015m Actual 924m, reported 749m **Indoor** Actual 1716m, reported 2475m

My Garmin Fenix 6 is OK, but the distance can be wildly inaccurate. Outdoors is usually within about 15%, but indoors is worse. My last swim was 1726 meters by lap count, but showed as 2475 meters on the watch... 43% over. (I'm pretty confident in my lap counts since I learned the trick on this sub of doing it by letter instead of number, and thinking of names/places/words beginning with each letter. In my usual pool "O" is a kilometer).

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

Yes and my Fenis 6 goes 14 days. But they aren't comparable let's be honest, not the same use cases

I daily use a Fenix 6 ;)

Garmin Fenix 6 Pro and a HRM Pro strap. Wrist measured HR is unreliable also when cycling, cross country skiing etc.

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)

Still on the fenix 6. I'm not even sure the fenix 9 is gonna make me want to upgrade. Probably could have just bought the 945 745 or even the 245. None of these upgrades is gonna make me fitter. Everyone has different needs but I bet the majority don't get much benefit from last year's line-up the way things have been going. The metrics are nice to have but hardly a necessity.

Garmin fenix works fine in sauna

Garmin Fenix 6 pro. For me, Garmin Fenix is the best watch series. It tells me how many laps I've swamped, my SWOLF, calories, strokes per min, strokes per length, swim style, and how much rest I should get. I love my garmin

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).

One aspect you didn't mention is battery life. I have a Garmin Fenix 6... after 5+ years it's battery doesn't hold up as well as it used to, but charging is still a think I have to do once a week or so. It's also very good at managing battery life during activities... if it's running low during a long hike, it'll do things like reduce GPS polling frequency and turning off sensors to conserve battery before dying on you entirely.

Haven’t seen Venu recommended. I’m running a Fenix 6x Pro right now, and we all love all of our options. Suggest this file https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11FeOS8Gf26GO9Ewp3rGzBALk9EZgT3Xian3TYOe4fwg/edit And dcrainmaker reviews, but seems line the less expensive Garmin do everything you need, even though most of us point to the more expensive models. EDIT: missed OP doesn’t care about price. Yeah Fenix 8

The Instinct 3 is perfect for you if you don’t need maps on the watch. It can load a breadcrumb trail but doesn’t have topo maps overlays. Otherwise look for the previous generation of the Fenix’s, ie. Pro or non- Pro 7’s or Epix. The other option is to check out one of the Forerunner series that has maps. Again previous versions are cheaper than the latest. The features gap between current versions of Garmins and previous versions aren’t that great in its core functionality.

def a garmin, i have the fenix 6s and its phenomenal for tracking swims!

I've got an Enduro 3, the newer version and a Fenix 6X. Both are as good/bad as my form for swimming. The Enduro is much better in rest detection, but it still misses a lap from time to time if I change the tempo or the underwaters during the same set. Sometimes it misses when I take a rest and stops a few seconds later, adding time to a set. It is great if you start and stop manually though. I always need an after-workout analysis, but in general they are both great. In reality the best way to know how your actual time is the pool clock or a friend with a chronometre.

Garmin Fenix 6 pro. Best for advanced swimmers.

Garmin Fenix is the best for snow sports