The $1000 and up Garmin Fenix 8 and the single-size $800 Fenix E have officially arrived to take on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 with beautiful AMOLED screens and incredible battery life.
If you don’t know whether you should buy last year’s Apple Watch Ultra 2 right now (at a cool discount) or wait a couple more weeks for a (presumably) improved Apple Watch Ultra 3 to (presumably) go official, you may want to pause for a second and consider the hot new Garmin Fenix 8 as well.
This is billed as the “ultimate GPS smartwatch”, coming in three different sizes (two of which offer solar charging as an optional add-on), and its rugged design, health and activity tracking tools, and especially battery life look virtually impossible to beat today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and two weeks from yesterday.What Fenix 8 variant is right for you?
If you’re familiar with the Fenix 7 lineup, which includes confusing Pro, S, S Pro, X, and X Pro models, you’re likely to immediately notice that every member of the new Garmin Fenix 8 family is called simply Fenix 8.
You’ve got 43, 47, and 51mm Fenix 8 versions, mind you, priced in the US at $1000, $1100, and $1200 respectively, as well as 47 and 51mm solar charging-equipped models that cost $1100 and $1200 respectively. How come you don’t have to pay a premium for your optional solar charging functionality? It’s simple – the three variants that lack that crucial battery life-maximizing feature instead come with sharp and bright AMOLED touchscreens.
