The Fenix 8 is a landmark moment for Garmin. By adding voice control, an OLED screen and other niceties, it has merged its top Fenix and Epix adventure watch lines to better compete with increasingly advanced smartwatches from Apple, Samsung and other major players.
The Fenix has always been where Garmin debuts its technology and features first before trickling them down into other products, such as the popular Forerunner series. It certainly feels more modern, but at £870 (€1,000/$1,000/A$1,699) – a £120 or so increase over its already pricy predecessor – these new advances including diving tracking and AI assistant access do not come cheap.
The Fenix 8 still has Garmin’s signature combination of five physical buttons and touchscreen, unapologetically rugged-but-premium looks and even has a new metal guard on the side to protect some of its sensors. New “leakproof” buttons are ready for diving.
The screen is a bright and crisp OLED from the Epix line and looks far fancier than the low-power LCD displays the Fenix has traditionally used.
The interface has also been revamped to be more modern and responsive. There is haptic feedback for actions across the board, including vibrations for the buttons since they no longer physically click, which takes some getting used to. Swipe down from the top and you get a new notifications panel like you might on an Apple watch. Notifications are colour coded to the app and, at least when paired to an Android, you can see pictures and quickly reply to messages sent to you. Notifications from an iPhone are limited to read-only text.
A microphone and speaker allow access to a couple of new things, such as calls and the voice assistant from your phone. Calls work fine for short conversations, but not much more.
Accessing Siri or Google Assistant from your wrist is a bit clunky and tinny but still handy for changing things on your phone remotely. Press the button, wait for little microphone animation and ask your question.
More interesting is the new voice command function, which works offline. It is basic and a little slow with a “processing” time of a second or so, but works as a quicker way of performing actions, such as starting a timer, opening settings or getting to a metric buried a few menu options deep.
Setting a timer quickly via voice is an absolute must-have for me on a smartwatch, and something that Garmin has lacked till now. The watch can also record voice notes, which are very handy for recording those moments of inspiration you might have while out on a run or ride without your phone.
Specifications
Screen: 1.3 or 1.4in AMOLED
Case size: 43, 47 or 51mm
Case thickness: 13.8 or 14.7mm
Band size: 20, 22 or 26mm quick fit
Weight: 44 to 74g body only
Storage: 32GB
Water resistance: 100 metres (10ATM)
Sensors: Multi-band GNSS, compass, thermometer, heart rate, pulse Ox, depth
Connectivity: Bluetooth, ANT+, wifi 4
Go anywhere, track anything
The Fenix 8 packs some of the most comprehensive activity and fitness tracking available on any device. It has the same super-accurate dual band GPS and fifth-gen optical heart rate sensor as its predecessor, which is as good as a chest strap for most purposes.
It tracks more than 100 different activities out of the box with more available to download via the Connect IQ store. Whatever you want to do there will be an activity profile for it. New for the Fenix line is diving to 40m depths using some of the features that have made Garmin’s dedicated Decent dive computers popular.
Of course the Fenix 8 excels at more mundane activities, such as running by tracking every metric you could want similar to its predecessor, including running dynamics and tools for race day. The torch can even be used as a strobing running light for visibility at night.
Garmin’s general health tracking is also very capable, covering most heart, energy, sleep and day-to-day activities, including recovery from training sessions. ECG measurements are currently only available in the US and some parts of Asia, not in the UK, Europe or Australia.
The Garmin Connect IQ app store has a growing library of third-party apps, including thousands of watch faces, extra data fields, apps for different workouts and fitness equipment, navigation apps, weather apps and music apps such as Spotify for offline playback. The watch has Garmin Pay for contactless payments, though bank support is limited compared with rivals.
The OLED screen does reduce the battery life of the watch compared with the LCDs of predecessors, which lasted in excess of 22 days. The 47mm version of the Fenix 8 manages a little more than seven days between charges with the screen on all the time and 2.5 hours of running with offline Spotify. That is very good for an OLED watch, lasting three to four times as long as main smartwatch rivals and a little longer than the Epix it replaces. The smaller 43mm model has shorter battery life by a few days, while the bigger 51mm version should last around 13 days between charges.
Sustainability
The Fenix 8 is generally repairable. The battery is rated to maintain at least 90% of its original capacity after two years of weekly charging. The watch does not contain any recycled materials. Garmin guarantees at least two years of security updates from release but typically supports its devices far longer. It offers trade-in schemes for some lines and complies with WEEE and other local electronics recycling laws.
Price
The Fenix 8 AMOLED series starts at £869.99 (€999.99/$999.99/A$1,699) and reaches £1,119.99 for the most expensive model. Solar-charging models with LCD screens start at £949 (€1,099.99/$1,099.99/A$1,849).
For comparison, the Garmin Forerunner 965 costs £499.99, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 costs £799, the Coros Vertix 2s costs £599 and the Sunnto Vertical costs £445.
Verdict
The Fenix 8 is undoubtedly a step in the right direction for Garmin in its competition with the likes of Apple and Samsung. It is able to perform more of the functions that have become smartwatch staples, such as access to voice assistants.
The crisp OLED screen looks far better than the low-power LCDs that made Garmin’s most expensive watches still look a bit cheap and basic in the past. I think it is worth the trade-off in battery life as it still lasts a solid seven days between charges, and there are solar-charging versions available with utilitarian LCDs if you really need it to last longer.
Garmin is unrivalled in its tracking of sports and hundreds of activity metrics. I don’t think any one person is going to use all of what the Fenix 8 can do, but you’ll struggle to find a sport or activity it can’t track in some way. The torch on the top is an everyday bonus tool you’ll wonder how you lived without, and there’s no other watch I’d rather rely on to get me home when lost hiking in the middle of nowhere.
But as great as it is, the increased price stings for an already costly watch. And though improved, Garmin’s smartwatch functions are still far behind an Apple or Wear OS watch in capability.
Pros: great OLED screen, tracks practically everything, built-in torch, phone and offline voice control, 7+ day battery life, Garmin Pay, full offline mapping, offline Spotify, 100-metre water resistance and 40M diving, buttons and touch, most accurate GPS.
Cons: extremely expensive, limited Garmin Pay bank support, voice features are slow, still limited smartwatch features compared with Apple/Google/Samsung watches.
