Garmin Fenix 8 review: only kind of smart

There utilized to beryllium a wide disagreement betwixt smartwatches and multisport watches. On 1 side, you had Apple Watches, Fitbits, and Galaxy Watches, with their snazzy screens, dependable assistants, and third-party apps. On the other, you had Garmin, with its rugged watches, slayer tracking, and large artillery life.

That enactment has gotten a batch blurrier successful the past fewer years. The Apple Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch Ultra person taken respective pages from Garmin’s playbook. And now, with the $999.99 Fenix 8, Garmin is striking back. If its rivals privation to adhd fittingness features, well, Garmin’s conscionable going to marque the Fenix 8 smarter.

The large additions to the Fenix 8 are a talker and microphone. They mean you tin present interact with the ticker successful much ways than fittingness tracking and training. You tin instrumentality calls from the wrist, usage an on-device dependable adjunct for mounting timers and starting activities, and link to your phone’s built-in adjunct for much analyzable queries. If you tin person your loved ones to download the caller Garmin Messenger app, replying to messages connected the wrist has besides gotten easier.

Theoretically, these are each bully updates. In practice, it means the Fenix 8 doesn’t play to Garmin’s strengths. 

Kinda smart

The Fenix 8 is the apical canine successful Garmin’s extended smartwatch lineup. While it’s not arsenic chunky arsenic older Fenix models, it’s not meant to beryllium a sleek manner ticker similar the Venu bid oregon sporty, lightweight enactment similar the Forerunner. There’s gravitas to its design. It’s the premium prime for superior athletes who privation everything Garmin tin propulsion astatine them — and that’s wherefore Garmin is bringing a batch of these astute features to the Fenix 8. 

The bulk of the “smart” updates zero successful connected the summation of the microphone and talker — namely, dependable assistants and calling from the wrist. But there’s a large origin holding backmost the Fenix 8’s astute features: the deficiency of LTE. 

Yes, you tin marque and person calls with the Fenix 8… truthful agelong arsenic your telephone is wrong Bluetooth range. Yes, you tin speech to a dependable assistant… but it’s constricted unless your telephone is nearby. Yes, you tin reply to texts, but… you get my drift. If you get a cellular Apple Watch, Galaxy Watch, oregon Pixel Watch, you tin permission your telephone astatine home. That’s not truly an enactment with the Fenix 8.

The friction is peculiarly noticeable with the on-device dependable assistant. The adjunct works beauteous well, but it’s mostly constricted to commands that don’t necessitate an net connection. You tin commencement activities, acceptable timers, and tweak settings. (It tin archer you the weather, provided it’s loaded the day’s upwind from Wi-Fi or… your telephone via Bluetooth.) But accidental you privation to nonstop a substance message. This nameless adjunct can’t bash that. Instead, you’ll person to scroll to a antithetic paper and motorboat your phone’s assistant. It’s bully to person that option, but astatine that point, you’re astir apt conscionable going to whip retired your telephone anyway. 

Part of the occupation is that Garmin has ever been staunchly platform-agnostic. I hap to deliberation that’s a bully thing, but the terms you wage is ne'er having your ticker enactment rather arsenic seamlessly with your phone. For example, it’s large that you tin dictate dependable memos now, but their usefulness is constricted due to the fact that there’s nary casual mode to get them off your wrist and onto different device. That’s dissimilar the Pixel Watch 3, wherever I tin conscionable grounds something, and boom, it’s magically connected my Pixel 8 Pro.

Another premier illustration is the caller Garmin Messenger. Ostensibly, this is to assistance iOS Garmin users reply much easy to messages connected the wrist. (Android users person ever been capable to nonstop speedy replies to texts, but Apple gon’ Apple.) Good luck convincing friends and household to download yet another chat app truthful you tin reply to messages connected your Fenix 8! I roped 1 person into it. It worked, but it was benignant of a hassle to use: you can’t dictate messages, the canned responses are limited, and for immoderate reason, Garmin thought bringing backmost a T9 keyboard was a bully idea. At the extremity of the test, I asked my person if she’d ever usage the Garmin Messenger app to scope me. Her words: “Only if I had to.” Followed by “Also, tin I delete the app now?” 

A bully chunk of this astute diagnostic awkwardness would beryllium solved with a cellular enactment — and it’d heighten Garmin’s existing information tools, too. But there’s a crushed astir third-party smartwatch makers don’t connection LTE options: dealing with carriers is simply a pain. It took Fossil ages to connection an LTE option, and adjacent then, it lone ever managed a azygous bearer earlier quitting smartwatches entirely. Garmin has LTE options for its Forerunner 945 ticker and its Bounce kids tracker, but those necessitate a abstracted Garmin subscription and are constricted to information features. 

Blessed consolidation

I’ve often criticized Garmin for making mode excessively galore smartwatches. The Fenix 8 thankfully makes things simpler astatine the apical extremity by combining the Fenix and Epix lineups. 

The second-gen Epix, introduced successful 2022, was fundamentally a Fenix with an OLED display. The occupation was that Garmin past had 2 premium watches that were precise similar. The main quality was the memory-in-pixel (MIP) show connected the Fenix and the OLED show connected the Epix Pro. The MIP mentation gets amended artillery life, whereas OLED offers overmuch amended visibility indoors. It’s a wide prime for ultra-athletes but confusing for everyone else.

Now, you tin conscionable take betwixt an MIP oregon OLED Fenix 8. It’d beryllium cleanable if not for conscionable 1 babe beef: petite-wristed folks don’t get to prime thing different than the OLED display.

The MIP Fenix 8 lone comes successful 47mm and 51mm sizes. In principle, I’m annoyed for the small-wristed jock who wants an MIP display. But the world is the artillery bump from an MIP show isn’t rather arsenic awesome connected the smaller watches. I got 9 to 11 days connected past year’s 42mm Fenix 7S Pro. This year, I got 8 to 9 days connected the OLED 43mm Fenix 8 with the always-on show turned off. (That dwindles to astir 4 days with it on.) I inactive deliberation you should springiness radical the option, but I besides recognize wherefore Garmin didn’t. For what it’s worth, I tested the OLED, and that’s what I’d urge if you privation bully indoor visibility. If you’re trekking retired successful a batch of harsh, nonstop sunlight, MIP is the mode to go. 

Even with that quibble, consolidating with the Fenix 8 was a refreshing and invited change. I’d emotion to spot Garmin streamline immoderate of its different smartwatch lineups. I don’t cognize that it will, arsenic Garmin seldom passes up a accidental to bash more, but 1 tin hope.  

Nobody likes a terms hike

It’s a shame. Despite the upgrades, the Fenix 8 is lone benignant of amended astatine being a smartwatch. It’s inactive an fantabulous training watch, and its artillery acold outlasts some Apple and Samsung’s Ultras. But I’m simply not convinced anyone’s going to ditch either 1 for a Fenix conscionable due to the fact that they tin present interact with a dependable adjunct oregon marque calls from the wrist.

Everyone I’ve ever met with a Fenix ticker has been a triathlete, ultramarathoner, oregon idiosyncratic who casually qualifies for the Boston Marathon with a sub-three-hour marathon time. These folks prime thing similar the Fenix due to the fact that they request a tracker with mondo artillery life, stellar GPS accuracy, in-depth grooming programs, and maps for traversing trails. Those are the features that radical would permission Apple oregon Samsung for — and they don’t get a large upgrade with the Fenix 8.

To marque matters worse, I astir choked erstwhile I saw the Fenix 8’s starting terms was a full $350 much than the Fenix 7. That’s not a $50 to $100 hike wherever you grumble and past begrudgingly admit that ostentation is simply a bitch. For $999, you could bargain a laptop. Hell, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is $800, portion the Galaxy Watch Ultra is $650. And those do travel with LTE. If you’re determined to get a Garmin, determination are virtually dozens of cheaper options. (Might I suggest the $450 Forerunner 265 oregon a discounted Fenix 7 Pro oregon Epix Pro?)

It’s frustrating due to the fact that Garmin is close to enactment up its astute features. There’s not overmuch to amended connected the fittingness front, truthful making its watches much utile extracurricular of grooming makes a batch of sense. It’s besides crystal wide that Garmin has immoderate catching up to do, and advancement isn’t going to hap overnight. The Fenix 8 mightiness beryllium connected the close track, but it doesn’t rather nail the terms oregon execution.