'I've ran hundreds of miles in the Garmin Fenix 8 — here's why it's the smartest Garmin yet'
Garmin has finally stirred the tanks on its flagship, adventure-ready running watch with some long-awaited upgrades that essentially merge the Fenix and Epix Pro models. The star of the show is the Fenix 8 AMOLED with its big, bright, pin-sharp Apple Watch-esque touchscreen – like the one on the Epix Pro – impressive GPS battery life, built-in mic and speaker, new navigation and smartwatch smarts, plus software updates.
In a nutshell, the Fenix 8 AMOLED is now Garmin’s most capable, feature-packed premium run tracker. But all that capability comes at a cost. It’s also a big chunk pricier than the Fenix 7, leap-frogging the Enduro 3 as Garmin’s top dollar option.
If you care more about battery life endurance than smartwatch-eque displays, the Garmin Fenix 8 also comes in Solar edition with a less punchy Memory-in-Pixel (MIP) display and Garmin’s battery-sparing solar tech.
The Fenix 8 AMOLED comes in three sizes: 43mm, 47mm and 51mm, priced at £949.99 for the smaller models and £1,119.99 for the largest. Meanwhile, the Garmin Fenix 8 Solar editions now come in 47mm and 51mm sizes, priced at £949.99 for the more compact option or £1,039.99 for the bigger 51mm case.
There’s also a Garmin Fenix E model – a smaller AMOLED model for £649.99 that misses out on Garmin’s latest heart rate tech, mic and speaker and flashlight.
For this Garmin Fenix 8 review, I spent the past month testing the Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED 51mm with a silicone strap, to find out whether it’s the best Garmin watch you can buy right now or if you’re better off hunting down a bargain on the older Fenix 7 and Epix Pro models.
Garmin Fenix 8 vs 7: Key differences
The headline updates from the Garmin Fenix 7 range include a stunning smartwatch-style AMOLED display, bigger screens on the smallest watches, improved waterproofing that now lets you dive to 40m depth, plus increased battery life (in most settings). The Solar edition battery gains come from a more efficient solar panel that also takes up less screen real estate.
There’s also a new built-in speaker and microphone so you can take calls from your wrist (you’ll still need your phone), listen to your offline Spotify or Deezer playlist or get lap split updates as you run. They also power some clever new voice controls – like starting a run or summoning SIRI/Google/Samsung assistant – and a voice note tool.
The price has jumped up from the Fenix 7 and the Epix Pro models, though, so if you’re happy to forego the AMOLED screen and the new speaker/mic combo, it might be worth foraging for deals on those older models.
Design
The Garmin Fenix 8 sticks to the design DNA of the Fenix range. It’s big, chunky and rugged — the henchest of watches in the Garmin line-up. The 51mm isn’t the most comfortable watch to wear 24-7 and might be a little hefty for daintier wrists, but it is robust and you do get used to it. Those with more delicate wrists can also get the same screen size in the more compact and lighter 47mm.
The new AMOLED display is simply stunning — brilliantly responsive and easy to read in all conditions. The raise-to-wake also springs the screen to life rapidly when you lift your arm. You can eke out more battery life by switching off the ‘Always On’ without impacting the usability, too.
That punchy screen brings all your daily run, recovery, training and health stats to life, as well as elevating the Fenix 8’s mapping and navigation tools to another level. I tested the Garmin Enduro 3’s MIP display side by side while running the 5 Valleys Ultra and it’s much easier to follow routes on the Fenix.
My test watch came with the quick-fit swappable silicone strap which is comfortable enough, but the Garmin UltraFit nylon straps definitely improve the comfort and the fit. They’re easier to adjust and I get less skin irritation, too.
Alongside the touchscreen, the Garmin Fenix 8 features its usual five button controls. These are now leakproof and give you the option to use touch or buttons or a combination of both to do pretty much everything. It’s a happy, best-of-both-worlds set-up and everything is fast and responsive. I like the subtle haptic feedback from the buttons.
There’s a wider selection of watch faces and these are now more customisable. The user interface has some quite significant changes, too.
When it comes to the sensors, the optical heart rate sensor and GPS/multi-band dual frequency set-up is the same as Fenix 7 Pro and Epix Pro. And all the Fenix 8 editions retain the very handy – and incredibly popular – forward facing flashlight.
Features
Beyond the new basic voice controls, some tweaks to the navigation and mapping tools and changes to the customisation and user interface, there aren’t bucket loads of new features on the Fenix 8. However, it remains the most comprehensive running, training and multi-sports watch you can buy. If Garmin has a tool for it, it’s on this watch.
You get the full suite of Garmin’s run tracking, training, recovery, navigation and health tools, including everything from training effect, training load and performance condition, to HRV, Body Battery, recovery time, VO2 Max and race time predictor estimates. Plus, it has progress-charting readouts like Hill Score (how good you are on the ups) and Endurance Score (how good you are at going long).
In a nutshell, everything you need to train for, race and recover from your running adventures is all here. In fact, it probably contains more features than most runners need. However, if you like digging into the numbers, there’s as much data here as you’ll find on any running watch, along with Garmin’s most complete package of smartwatch tools including offline music, contactless payments and the new Garmin Messenger app.
On the software side, Garmin has made positive changes to the user interface to make it easier to navigate the settings menus, or launch into your preferred workout and tweak the settings right before you set off.
When you hit the top right button on Garmin, it usually takes you to your list of sport modes. Now, you land on a screen with Activities and a couple of pinned preferred sport modes above a list of other tools that you can customise Maps, Phone, Music etc. It’s another nod that Garmin is moving in the smartwatch direction. Unfortunately, these user interface changes won’t trickle down to previous gen Garmin watches.
Navigation smarts have been boosted on the Fenix 8, too. In addition to the lovely, routable offline maps and neat tools like next fork routing, backtrack and time to destination estimates, you can now customise map layers and access dynamic round-trip routing. I also love the fact you can load a route and see how many climbs you’ve got left to eat, the profile of your current climb and how far to hit the summit. A true adventure watch.
Accuracy
When it comes to GPS and heart rate accuracy, I tested the Garmin Fenix 8 up against a range of watches, including the Garmin Enduro 3, Garmin Enduro 2 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. I also used a Polar H10 chest strap for benchmarking.
I ran everything from London city 5kms to the tree-covered New Forest Marathon and a Lake District ultra, in a range of modes from the Max Accuracy GPS mode that makes use of that multi-band GPS, right down to the Max Battery mode that sacrifices some accuray for battery life. I also did lots of runs using the AutoSelect mode that automatically finds the best settings for accuracy and battery life.
For me, the Garmin Fenix 8 GPS performance has been impressive but not totally infallible. It locks routes as well as any watch I’ve tested, though it suffered a few wobbles under heavy tree cover. Overall, total distances landed well within the margin for error on official race routes and I was relatively happy with the real time pace.
Heart rate was a little more hit and miss. On the majority of my training runs, it’s performed well against a chest strap, though sometimes struggles to catch the fast changes during intervals.
It matched the chest strap almost beat for beat in capturing the steadily increasing intensity of my New Forest Marathon.
However, during the longer Lakes ultra with lots of changes in effort on the climbs and descents and stops at aid stations, it struggled. It sometimes dropped lower or read much higher than the chest strap. However, it still performed markedly better than the Enduro 3 which had a tough time.
The TLDR: for most of your easy, steady efforts, the optical sensor will do a solid job. If you’re doing laser-focused heart rate training with a lot of intervals, or want more accurate insights for racing, you’ll still need a chest strap. But that’s optical heart rate for you.
Battery life
If you factor in the light conditions that bring the best out of the solar tech, on paper, the Garmin Fenix 8 Solar editions offer longer staying power than the Fenix 8 AMOLED in most cases. However, getting that top solar performance is tough.
For the AMOLED options, the smaller the case size, the less juice you get. The 51mm Fenix 8 AMOLED offers significantly longer battery life than the 47mm model.
For example, my Fenix 8 AMOLED test watch offers between 84 and 145 hours of run tracking. The 47mm offers 47-81 hours while the 43mm goes for 28-49 hours.
When you take solar out of the equation, the Fenix 8 AMOLED 51mm actually outlasts the regular MIP screen Fenix 8 Solar 51mm, in the highest accuracy All Systems + Multiband mode (with the Always On screen switched off). It also beats the Fenix 7X Solar models in many of the higher accuracy modes. For an AMOLED, the staying power that’s mightily impressive.
And it didn’t disappoint in testing, either. Here’s some key battery findings:
The average battery burn overnight was between 1-2% - only slightly higher than the Garmin Enduro 3.
Over a 24-hour period with no runs or GPS usage, the Fenix 8 dropped 8%.
A 90 min run in Normal Power mode/ Always On burned 3%.
A 3-hour marathon in Max Accuracy mode / Always On burned 6%.
Finally, during my 8-hour 5 Valleys Ultra, in Normal Power mode with SAT IQ on and the screen Always On, the Fenix 8 burned 15% while the Garmin Enduro 3 with the same settings burned 14%.
For general usage, with the Always On screen turned off, I got 15 days with around 8 hours of GPS run time before I needed to charge. Though that’s without notifications on.
The big takeaway here is that Garmin has managed to add that excellent, bright colour display to the Fenix without having to sacrifice too much staying power – particularly if you opt for the reliable raise to wake over the Always On display.
RW verdict
The Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED is excellent. It’s the most comprehensive, most capable running watch you can buy right now. You won’t find more tracking, training or adventure tools on any of its rivals. But it will cost you.
If you already own a Fenix 7, it’s hard to recommend an upgrade. If you don’t care about the shiny screen and the new speaker mic and voice tools, you can get largely the same tracking hardware and experience from the cheaper, last-gen Fenix 7.
The big, bright screen, voice tools and interface tweaks moves Garmin’s sportswatch closer to the sportier smartwatches like the Apple Ultra 2. But the daily life tools and third party app selection are still a way off Apple or Samsung’s range. So, if smartwatch smarts are your top priority, those are still your best bet.
If you want something more compact and don’t care about the mic/speaker and the flashlight, the Fenix E is a cheaper alternative. Or the Fenix 7S Solar lands at the same price.
If the big appeal is the AMOLED screen but you want to spend less to land it, the Suunto Race and the Polar Grit X2 Pro are also worth a look.
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