The Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED ($1,000 to $1,200 relying on options, $1,100 as examined in 51-millimeter stainless-steel model) is way more than a easy GPS operating watch; it’s in an analogous class as challengers just like the Coros Vertix 2S and (*8*)Suunto Vertical. These are watches with usually 30 or extra completely different sport and exercise choices, manufactured from rugged titanium or sapphire supplies with an enormous emphasis on mapping and navigation. Yet the one watch on this class so far to supply an AMOLED possibility is the Garmin fēnix 8.
The 12 months 2024 was the 12 months of AMOLED for the key manufacturers and legacy watch sequence within the GPS operating and out of doors classes. All of the key gamers — Coros, Suunto, and Garmin — unveiled new watches boasting the gorgeous and high-definition AMOLED shows, previously reserved for the favored Garmin Epix.
In the Garmin fēnix 8, Garmin has added an AMOLED model to one in every of its hottest and highly effective units. Have a glance again to our Garmin fēnix 7 evaluation to match this re-creation with the prior within the fēnix line.
AMOLED requires lots of battery energy in comparison with its Memory in Pixel (MIP) counterparts, so whereas the development in GPS operating watches is to supply longer and longer life — largely with MIP shows — Garmin, and to a lesser extent Coros and Suunto, with the Coros Pace Pro and Suunto Race and Suunto Race S, are discovering methods to supply greatest at school mapping, optical coronary heart charge and oxygen sensors, and excessive efficiency GPS recording with out sacrificing a lot battery longevity whereas nonetheless delivering the AMOLED show enhancements.
What I’ve lengthy appreciated concerning the Garmin fēnix sequence although is its means to switch my telephone. It syncs to streaming service Spotify, comes totally loaded with labeled maps, and has the most effective, most intuitive consumer interface of any watch I’ve examined.
The Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED stays aggressive with the Coros Vertix 2S and Suunto Vertical in battery life, however it comes at a slightly giant price enhance. The Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED is about $300 greater than its class opponents, with roughly the identical battery life, however a greater show and singularly provided options.
Read on to search out out if the Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED is price the additional price once you’re contemplating a purchase order of a really well-rounded out of doors sports activities watch that can be utilized for ultrarunning. We additionally suggest you try our greatest GPS operating watch information, the place we rated this watch among the many different prime watches.
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Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED Display
The Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED in use.
The Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED display is further vivid, and paired with an anti-glare coating, it’s simpler to learn, even when the solar is instantly overhead. This is essential once you’re out within the mountains or deep in a canyon and don’t need to be fiddling together with your watch to see the info. That brightness stage is adaptive too, so it adjusts relying in your atmosphere, whether or not you’re within the shade or instantly beneath the solar.
The display is sharp, clear, and readable in nearly any situation. The larger decision makes textual content and icons pop, so that you’re not left squinting at small particulars once you want them most. One of the challenges with any watch in vivid daylight is glare and this has been a selected knock towards AMOLED shows traditionally.
For excessive output sport watches for ultrarunners, AMOLED shows was a tough proposition. Sure, it seems lovely and makes your outdated watch appear to be a relic, however it comes at an enormous price to battery life. Or it used to.
AMOLED tech produces richer, extra vibrant colours and deeper blacks — the sort of distinction you don’t get with a conventional MIP display. If you’ve used the Garmin fēnix sequence up to now, or watches from the opposite main manufacturers within the GPS operating watch class, you’ll instantly discover the distinction.
This adjustment out of the field might be considerably annoying although. In common, you need to maximize battery life, which suggests using inner battery saving options, like dialing again the display brightness and limiting power-hungry options when you should stretch that final little bit of juice, however it’s the adaptive brightness that may typically hinder your expertise.
Think about when doing intervals, observe reps, or actually any exercise state of affairs once you need to examine your tempo or another information shortly. There might be severe lag between turning your wrist upward and the display changing into totally illuminated. This might be abated by turning on the always-on show possibility to your particular exercise, so that you simply gained’t must faucet the display or increase to wake the system each time you need to examine your time, tempo, or altitude. But, particularly on lengthy runs, this shall be a significant battery hog.
The display alone might warrant runners buying the Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED over the still-exceptional Garmin fēnix 7, however the fēnix 8 AMOLED in addition to the Garmin fēnix 8 Solar ($1,100 to 1,200) additionally get some spectacular new options. I’ve all the time appreciated how shut the fēnix line involves killing off my smartphone dependence whereas operating, providing great options like offline Spotify streaming and the most effective mapping of any sports activities watch, making it simpler to simply depart your telephone behind totally — not less than on daylight runs in public locations, the place you don’t really feel such as you want a telephone for security.
Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED Size, Weight, Look, and Feel
A facet view of the Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED.
The earlier two variations within the fēnix line weren’t slight units, however the 51-millimeter Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED by comparability appears much more gargantuan. Fortunately, the watch can be provided in 43- and 47-millimeter circumstances, however I examined the 51-millimeter model. This does appear higher suited to my body at 6 ft, 4 inches in peak, however even I wrestle to search out it completely comfy for all-day put on. The weight of my stainless-steel check unit is 102 grams.
Garmin has by no means had the panache of Suunto from a design and consumer interface perspective, however, particularly with an AMOLED model, Garmin’s feel and appear is way improved, veering away from the Android/open supply comparisons of outdated to a barely extra fashionable and complex colour palette throughout the customizable shows and menus.
Maybe my greatest gripe concerning the watch’s really feel is the button sensitivity. The watch maintains a prime and backside proper button structure, and a prime, backside, and center button on the left. The drawback is that they are often very mushy. They merely require an excessive amount of specificity for my liking and in comparison with different watches in related settings. With gloves over your fingers, it may be further tough to begin and cease an exercise or navigate utilizing the buttons. On the opposite hand, the touchscreen performance when not sporting gloves may be very strong.
Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED Voice Commands and Notes
In a nod to Siri and Alexa, the Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED will get voice command capabilities, permitting you to begin a run, a nap, a timer, and lots of different choices by holding the beginning/cease button on the highest proper and talking into the system. The voice recognition app opens in an analogous approach to Siri by listening then enabling your command. Some of the important thing voice instructions are:
- Start or cease an exercise;
- Pause your run;
- Adjust settings like display brightness, don’t disturb mode, or music playback with out having to navigate by way of menus — I actually like this significantly when utilizing my Spotify playlists, so that you don’t must click on by way of the cumbersome screens; and
- Activate particular options, just like the flashlight or stopwatch.
A again view of the Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED.
The fēnix 8 AMOLED additionally integrates together with your telephone’s voice assistant, reminiscent of Siri for iOS or Google Assistant for Android. This means you should use your watch to ship textual content messages or make calls, get climate updates, and set reminders or timers.
While it’s not fairly a completely immersive voice assistant such as you get with a wise speaker in your house, it provides simply sufficient performance to make actions smoother, particularly once you want a fast adjustment or replace with out pulling out your telephone or fidgeting with the watch’s buttons and menus.
Since voice instructions nonetheless require touching a button on the system, it isn’t as seamless as maybe if it was all the time on and hands-free. But voice instructions and recognition know-how deliver the fēnix 8 AMOLED ever nearer to its smartwatch counterparts from Apple and Google, and since I often put on the system full time, I really take extra benefit of voice instructions throughout each day life for options just like the flashlight or for nap timers and alarms.
Voice notes are one other very cool function that syncs and saves together with your GPS location. On journey runs or whereas navigating new routes it is a worthwhile function for leaving your self reminders about landmarks, obstacles, or variations to route-finding. It is way more seamless than pulling out your telephone and recording the small print there.
There is the helpful new means to make the most of the built-in speaker and mic to allow you to make and take telephone calls out of your wrist when your watch is paired to your telephone. Along these strains, some bank card corporations will mean you can register your card and mean you can use Garmin Pay for contactless funds at distributors — one other phone-killing perk!
Garmin Fēnix 8 AMOLED GPS Accuracy and Battery Life
One of the stand out options on the Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED that carries over however is improved over the fēnix 7 is SatIQ, Garmin’s clever satellite tv for pc reception system. SatIQ is a GPS function that adjusts how your watch interacts with satellites in actual time. Instead of utilizing a relentless, full-strength GPS sign which drains battery, SatIQ dynamically adjusts to the situations round you.
SatIQ runs within the background to provide probably the most correct place monitoring when it counts, and conserving battery once you don’t want excessive precision. For instance, in case you’re out on a wide-open path or a comparatively flat part of a race, SatIQ may swap to utilizing simply GPS. On the opposite hand, in case you’re in an space with dense tree cowl, a valley, or rocky terrain, SatIQ will swap to pulling in indicators from international navigation satellite tv for pc programs GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo to enhance accuracy. By always monitoring the atmosphere, SatIQ routinely switches to the most effective satellite tv for pc configuration to your environment.
The outcome? You get extra out of your watch, particularly on these lengthy days once you want each ounce of battery life to complete a race or coaching run. But it is best to nonetheless alter your GPS-sampling charge (i.e. swap between efficiency modes) when you understand you should get probably the most battery efficiency attainable, and also you’ll additionally need to flip off lots of different battery draining options reminiscent of sensors or music playback when full battery life is required for observe recording and navigation.
Real world battery efficiency stats for the 51-millimeter model of the watch I examined, even with the AMOLED show, routinely provides me round 65 to 68 hours. This information got here by way of disabling SatIQ and with all satellite tv for pc programs enabled and using the AMOLED battery saving options. On the opposite finish of the spectrum, in Expedition GPS mode, the fēnix 8 AMOLED ought to give about 31 full days of energy. AMOLED isn’t out there in Solar variations of the fēnix 8, so in a direct comparability to earlier fēnix fashions with photo voltaic, battery efficiency may very well be slightly worse with the brand new fēnix 8 AMOLED.
Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED Overall Impressions
Some individuals will discover that the Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED is a consolidation of the most effective options from the Garmin Epix — the show — and the prevailing Garmin fēnix 7 — its unbelievable mapping, battery, well being, and sensors know-how. This is perhaps so, though persevering with to construct on the inspiration of the SatIQ clever satellite tv for pc reception system to include and keep battery life at the side of AMOLED is an thrilling improvement, proprietary to Garmin.
The actual selection for a lot of will hinge on how essential show high quality is for you. I’ve to confess that it’s considerably laborious to return to different shows after spending lots of time with watches which have AMOLED shows.
There is a large price for this know-how proper now although, so whether it is only a show dialogue, you might go for extra inexpensive AMOLED sports activities watches just like the Coros Pace Pro or Suunto Race S. You will sacrifice rather a lot from a options standpoint by turning to those different units, and maybe most significantly, in case you worth a watch that may put a ways between you and your telephone whereas providing lots of the identical options, the Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED is a really worthy funding.
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Call for Comments
- Have you tried the Garmin fēnix 8 AMOLED? What have been your ideas?
- How does this model evaluate to prior variations within the Garmin fēnix line?