The Smartwatch for Super Athletes

Garmin Fenix ​​8 Review: Design

Let’s start with the hardware. Fenix ​​8 has several different models, but all shares some basic features. Three physical buttons on the left and two on the right, and the buttons are now completely sealed and leaking-proof, more supporting its newly added dive power. A touchscreen is at the front, so there are multiple ways to navigate through the screen, menu and maps (which is good because the touchscreen does not work well under water). On the right of the clock, now there is a speaker and a microphone, which adds its smart powers. There is an LED flashlight on top, and the bottom of the Garmin sensor suite, where there is a heart rate monitor, pulse oximeter, thermometer, etc. It can also take ECG readings (it is currently a feature available in the United States only).

Fast, it may seem like a small thing, but I have to shout how nice the flashlight feature is. White LED has three intensity layers, and at its brightest, it is enough to find your way in the darkness of the pitch. It also has a red-light mode that does not explode your eye balls, which I thought was really helpful when trying to get to the bathroom in the unfamiliar hotel room I was last week.

There are some differences between the models; The most important is that you can choose between a bright, colorful and sharp amoled display and a reflected MIPS display that not only enhances the battery life but also has an integrated solar panel to further enhance it. The amoled watches have 43mm, 47mm, and 51mm versions, where two larger are using Sapphire Crystal Glass and Titanium Bezel (small version contains gorilla glass and stainless steel). The solar version comes only 47 mm and 51 mm and contains solar saffier glass and titanium. In addition to this, the clocks are effectively identical, though large versions are prolonged per charge (more in one second).

Garmin Fenix ​​8 review: Features and battery life

Let’s have a quick in memorium for the epix line and in some extent, dyscent. Epix, which made it a few years ago, is identical with Phenics but with an amoled screen, so it is meaningful to combine these two. RIP Epix. Draging the features from the Decent Line – most significantly, adding depth measurement – huge for new divers. Dive Planning on Fenix ​​8, Auto-Start (when you exceed four feet), wind and nitrox mode, GPS for access/departure, Dissent/Accent Alert, Security Stop Warning, No Decision Limit (NDL), a Compass , Dive time, depth, a compass and more. It has a mode of scuba, apnea (that is, fridiving) and snorkeling modes. If you really dive one ton and want advanced features like integrated wireless tank monitoring, then Decent is probably your favorite watch; For most people, the more smooth Fenix ​​8 will be better integrated in your daily life.

Talking about integrating it, I have closed this watch for the month I am examining it. I chose the 47mm AMOLED version, which is the Goldillox of size and functionality to me. Although it does not last as long as the solar version, it gets up to 15 days per charge. If you are coming from Apple or Android Wire Smartwatch (which is about 36 hours per charge per charge), it is huge, especially consider that it takes only an hour to recharge and you are back in it. Of course, using more GPS-intensive activities will drain it somewhat quickly, but it is still great. I just made snowboarding (using GPS to track each run), and at night the pulse oximetry tracking, and at the end of it, I still had two days battery left. Of course, if I take 47 mm solar version it will start with a 21 -day battery (up to 28 with a coarse dose of sunlight), or 51 mm solar version for a crazy 30 days (up to 48 with sunlight), but two -Plus Week is enough for me. I would rather want a super crisp amoled display for low-profile watch and data and notifications.

Garmin Fenix ​​8 review: performance

For the tracking of the activity, it is absolutely fantastic. I’ve used it for tracking runs, hike, cardio, energy training, swimming, surfing, snowboarding, a pilete’s class and fridiving. It not only supplies one ton data during the workout, but the garment data fields are more customized than any other sports clock that is there, so if you are not already there it can show what you want (which is probably, because most play modes Seems to be thought to be well). While fridiving, exactly how deep I was, how long I was underwater and how long my blood was to allow my blood to re -oxygen in the dive, it was recommended that I could read. For hiking, it is installed in advance with a color topographic map that is easy to navigate using buttons and touchscreen and I can use trackback like trackback to return to my car. The running mode to understand when you are going uphill use the ultimatters, so it doesn’t make you reprimand to be slower than usual. Surfing not only calculates and measures in my wave (though it does not display it in real-time, unfortunately), but it integrates with sarfline so that it is easy to download the video of my rides from the break where their webcam is set up. This watch covers virtually any sport or activity.

Throughout all these modes, the GPS acquisition was fast and accurate, and the built-in Heart rate monitor was close to the lock-steps with the chest strap that I was experimenting against. It allows you to download music from sources like Spotify, Amazon and YouTube Music and run it through the Bluetooth earbads. Garmin Pay will enable you to save a credit card on the clock for Tap payment so you can leave your phone home. It contains weather forecasts, sunrise/sunset, moon level, barometric pressure and tide. You can download GPX files from sites like Alltrails and install the clock to follow the route. It tracks your important things from heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), skin temperature, pulse oximetry, steps, flight climbing, sleep and more. You can manually test your ECG for the symptoms of Atrial Fibrillation (AFIB). However, it is difficult to imagine a more complete sports watch available only in the United States.

From the smartwatch direction, I would say that it is as good as it is … for a sports watch. But if you expect for the same deep integration you are an Apple Watch + iPhone or a Pixel watch + Android phone, you’ll be disappointed, even if you are with Apple. The clock works a great job to display incoming notifications for iPhone and Android and read the text on the AMOLED display (I have read full emails on this watch). It is also easy to choose and choose which apps may not show notifications on your clock, so that you are not distracted by unimaginable things.

Fenix ​​8 now has a very common offline voice assistant. The microphone is activated by pressing the upper-don button for a long time and you can give it some basic command. “Set the alarm for” one racing “,” start swimming in the pool “,” Set the alarm for 7:30 am “,” Show me the weather “and” Set a timer for 15 minutes “usually work without any barrier By doing and it can be a long menu to like scroll through the menu. That is to say, something better is filled with silence. For example, “Change at 8am during my alarm” does not count like Apple Watch or Pixel Watch. You can quickly press a button on the menu to talk to your phone’s digital assistant (eg, series or assistant), but if you ask a question you will get the answer to your phone’s display and/or speaker, not the speaker or display on your clock, Which seems to be a huge miss. I don’t know if this is an API problem, but fixing it will make this watch smarter.

Answering messages is also a bit annoying. Does not allow Apple Garmin to access the APIs required to send messages, so if you have got an iPhone, you cannot answer the coming messages unless you agree to start your friends Garmin Messenger, which will be a solid sale. Android is better in this section, because you can respond to the text and email with some preset, short, quick answer (which you can customize in the app), and it is definitely better than anything. Nevertheless, this watch has a microphone and is capable of identifying speech, so it seems like an opportunity to not answer.

The built -in mike and speaker let you answer the phone call on the clock (if your phone is near) but the sound quality is not great, so you don’t want to make a long call on it. It says, when I was bathing and got an important call, I was really happy to have this feature. It highlights another excluded: There is no alternative for cellular radio, so you can’t add it to your carrier plan and get true phone-free. This is quite amazing for the clock with this caliber and this level sophistication, and this is something I want to see, especially when smart features begin to develop.

Garmin Fenix ​​8 Review: Roy

Of course, there’s the price. These clocks are $ 1,000 for 43mm version, $ 1,100 for 47mm version, and $ 1,200 for 51mm versions, which means absolutely premium sports clock. Fenix ​​8 is the most expensive model on the 8 phenix line. It was said that this is much cheaper than DECENT, so if diving is a big deal to you, it gets most of those features that make you significantly discount.

In the end, despite my complaints on the smartwatch of things, this is my favorite watch that I’ve ever tested. In that context, the last watch I tested with a Pixel 3 LTE, which was really very smart and connected, but once I started using Fenix ​​8, I had no urge to reach the pixel again. It’s so good at tracking a lot of things; I think it is the most intuitive interface and user experience of any sports watch, including the maximum feature and highest level of customization. I can wear it for two weeks, and I look good whether I wore a running shorts or a suit. Once its smarters become smarter, it will be ahead of the competition (which can track it in great detail).