Garmin Fenix ​​8 smartwatch review: Expensive but not too expensive

There’s very little that smartwatches can’t do these days. It doesn’t matter if you’re a busy, working professional and a five-sport athlete, or a parent and a casual diver on the weekends, a good smartwatch can keep track of everything, and a great smartwatch doesn’t even need a charge between activities.

Here at Android Police we’ve tested a lot of them good and great smartwatches. Some are better if you have a certain smartphone, some are better suited to certain wrist sizes than others, and some are good buys if you’re shopping on a budget. However, if you’re looking for the best of the best, you’ve found it with Garmin’s new Fenix ​​8, a smartwatch that’s beautiful, functional and versatile enough to face whatever challenges you throw your way.

Garmin fnix 8 AMOLED

8/10

The Garmin Fenix ​​8 is a great smartwatch and fitness tracker and the price is to reflect that. Improved GPS performance, advanced health and fitness tracking, and days of battery life (even with the Always On Display enabled) are all part of what makes the Fenix ​​8 a fantastic and expensive smartwatch.

Positives

• New diving features added

• Excellent battery life, even with AOD enabled

• Advanced fitness features

Disadvantages

• Duration

• No mobile connection

Price, availability and specifications

Garmin’s latest Fenix ​​watch is available in several configurations. The cheapest option costs $1,000, and the 51mm solar version increases the price to $1,200.

While Garmin’s website is a great place to look for the Fenix ​​8, you can also find it on Amazon and you might have luck at local places that sell Garmin watches, like REI and Scheels.

Specifications

Enclosure size

43, 47 or 51 mm

Housing material

Polymer and metal

Display

AMOLED

Screen resolution

454×454 pixels

RAM

1GB

Storage

32GB

Battery

Up to 29 days

Mobile connectivity

No

Wi-Fi connectivity

Yes

Health sensors

Heart rate, pulse, skin temperature

ATM review

10 ATM

Location services

GPS, Glonass, Galileo, QZSS

Always on display

Yes

Sensors

Accelerometer, gyroscope, thermometer, ambient light, depth

Display glass

Gorilla glass or sapphire glass

Speaker

Yes

Microphone

Yes

What’s good about the Garmin Fenix ​​8?

Garmin’s battery life continues to dominate

Even if a smartwatch can answer calls, track sleep, record fitness stats, or stream a podcast episode, its capabilities mean little if the watch’s battery doesn’t make it through the day. The Fenix ​​8 is another entry in a long list of excellent battery performance from Garmin; averaging about an hour of fitness per day, I only had to charge the watch about once every 10 days. The more you charge, the greater the impact on battery life. But even after I turned on AOD, the battery still lasted four days.

I tested the smallest case size offered in the Fenix ​​8 line, and as a woman with average-sized wrists, I was very happy with the watch’s 43mm footprint. The size and weight are noticeable, especially if you’re used to smaller watches, but it doesn’t feel as bulky as other watches.

I’m used to using lighter smartwatches. After testing the Lily 2a Garmin watch that weighed less than 30 grams, everything I wore after that felt like strapping a brick to my wrist.

I compared the weight of the Fenix ​​8 to some other smartwatches I had available (including straps). The Fenix ​​8 is not a lightweight smartwatch, even at its smallest case size of 41mm, but it is slightly lighter than other rugged watches. In any case, it didn’t take long for me to get used to the weight.

When it comes to health and fitness, Garmin doesn’t fix what isn’t broken. If you’re a veteran of Garmin smartwatches, the brand’s Training Readiness, Body Battery exercise and wellness vocabulary will already be familiar. The Fenix ​​8 offers everything you need to track your health and workouts, plus a little extra. The training library is huge, and I’ve always liked the way Garmin presents its training and fitness insights, with stats showing workout recovery and eligibility, as well as your body’s likely energy level given sleep quality, stress and other factors.

GPS accuracy is one of the strengths I consistently see in Garmin watches, and the Fenix ​​8 delivers on this. I wore the Fenix ​​8 along with the Polar Grit the Fenix ​​​​8 deviated from the path the least, despite regular interruptions by trees and buildings.

It’s not just about fitness; overall health is also important. The Fenix ​​8’s extensive list of sensors keeps track of your wellbeing as a whole, looking out for incidents such as falls or atrial fibrillation. AFib and other heart monitoring data can be viewed in the Garmin ECG app, one of several apps you’ll need to download to get the most out of this device.

I admit that, living in the upper Midwest, I am not a diver and the Fenix ​​8’s new capabilities in underwater recreation are wasted on me. However, they will not remain without mention. While it has the same 10 ATM water resistance rating as the older Fenix ​​7, the newest member of the series goes even further by adding full waterproofing to the buttons, as well as several features including pressure gauges, support for safe ascent, dive planning and more . The Fenix ​​8’s dive computer works up to a depth of 40 meters.

What’s bad about the Garmin Fenix ​​8?

Watches over $500 are a tough sell for average users

In terms of features, battery, hardware and user interface, I have absolutely no comments about Garmin’s latest watch. However, I was disappointed to see yet another Garmin release without cellular connectivity. It would be much easier to recommend a high-end smartwatch, including the Fenix ​​8, if LTE connectivity were more common.

Garmin’s interest in LTE-enabled watches has been sporadic. The apparently discontinued Forerunner 945 offered LTE capabilities, and the only watch in the current rotation with LTE capabilities is the Bounce, Garmin’s watch for kids. If it offered cellular data, I don’t think the Fenix ​​8 would ever leave my wrist.

Should you buy it?

Great users who never settle for less

I firmly believe there is a Garmin watch for everyone. The brand is a leader in battery life and advanced fitness features. However, I try to do my due diligence with any higher-end smartwatch and ask myself who it is for and what value it offers compared to watches that cost half or a third as much.

Having personally used at least five Garmin watch models, my all-round choice is still the Venu 3. But choosing the Venu 3 over the Fenix ​​8 is like choosing a Corolla over a Range Rover; you do it because you’re a commuting city dweller, and you know that at least a third of the horsepower of the more expensive machines is wasted. So if you have extra money to spend on these features, then the Fenix ​​8 is the watch for you.

From afar, the Fenix ​​8 doesn’t seem as superior to Garmin’s more affordable offerings as it should, given the price. But on closer inspection, while watches like the new Enduro 3 fly close to the Fenix ​​8, they still don’t quite reach the same heights where you do get what you pay for, but it’s more a question of whether you really need . And $1000-$1200 is a lot to spend if you don’t use all these features.

Garmin fnix 8 AMOLED

8/10

Sometimes we have to accept a high price for perfection. The Garmin Fenix ​​8 lacks one thing I keep hoping for in the cellular connectivity of Garmin watches, but it checks all the other boxes: incredible battery life, intuitive health and fitness tracking, and solid accuracy in GPS and sleep tracking. tracking.