In principle, these functions can provide a great deal of insight into how your fitness and performance is developing over time, as well as helping you determine what your body needs in terms of rest. Well, thats not really the point. Hi, is it possible to copy all of my config/setup from my fenix 6 to a fenix 7?
Regarding Open Water swimming, I was wondering what version of the software you used for your two swims. Indeed, you cant easily do it. Thanks for a great review Ray. Based on that and the advantages of sapphire glass and titanium, 7 Sapphire Solar it is! First though, to turn it on, youll just double-tap the upper left button, which will turn it on to the last intensity level that you left it on. Garmin has also revamped pretty significantly both its base GPS mode for big battery life savings, as well as gotten rid of the GLONASS/GALILEO options. In the past, when I have compared my Garmin watches to your reviews, I have never had the same performance with regards to GPS. What about the 945 (non LTE)? The pace is also much better. This time for her indoor bike workout, also then followed by another lift. No cost to you, easy as pie! Still, I was beyond-done mentally, and certainly in most other respects too. Its been broken for multiple generations of garmin watch. Theres no doubt that well eventually have a 7X-sized AMOLED screen. Or, let it sync while you make a 12-course dinner or something. That too has some minor limitations in rougher water (the buoy will flop around a bit). Its the red light thatll light up on the back of the watch. Looks like a Heisenbug. It appears that the Descent Mk2i has many of the same features, but is missing the flashlight, touchscreen and health snapshot. Am very disappointed, especially given how well my Fenix 3HR performed in the past. If it was a major issue for me or others, Id have brought it up. As with every Fenix series, the X variant (e.g. Not only does it stick to the trail Im on, but also the correct side of the trail. Double-check that on your Fenix 5 Plus, the Physio True-Up toggle is enabled (you enable it on Garmin Connect Mobile). Garmin also confirmed that both Sapphire and Non-Sapphire units across all Fenix 7 and Epix units are using the same chipset supplier (Airoha). thank you for the answer. This was the same on the 2 fenix 6 watches that I had again my thought is if all 3 watches I had have got this same problem it is more due to my settings than something all these units have. Also, did you put the watch on the handlebar of your bike, like a regular bike computer ? You cant go below zero. Theres likely no topic that stirs as much discussion and passion as GPS or heart rate accuracy. Unfortunately, because I was technically on the course, I never received an off-course warning. Thank you very much, happy to get that information. Does the Fenix7 have auto wake up option? TopoActive SGMYVNPH: 1.3GB New Activity Profiles: Adventure Race, Wind Surfing, Kite Surfing, Tennis, Pickleball, Padel, Snowshoe That post/site published a rumor 2 weeks prior to the device coming out.
Your data pages are displayed behind it. Does the watch need to be actually swimming to record? This shows a marked increase in battery life over the Garmin Fenix 6 Pro Solar, which features up to 40 hours in GPS mode and 16 days in smartwatch mode. This is one of the top straps I use daily for accuracy comparisons (the others Polar H9/H10 and Wahoo TICKR X). Though it sounds like its a bit more complex under the hood to add new watches than we (or they) want it to be, in terms of watch firmware. Sigh. Hiding the Fenix 7 away like this means you cant see the watch face or benefit from the solar charging. 
At a non-technical level, its been touted as the holy grail of GPS accuracy. Heres that data: Thus, increasing complications again a 7-hour ride up and down a volcano. I would like to support DCR and enjoy ad-free DC Rainmaker ($20 per year). Swims, bikes, runs, hikes, indoor workouts, and more.
Continue doing that till youre done. You can access the wallet either from the controls menu, or by assigning a shortcut key to it. Ok, with the maps downloaded, lets set out on an adventure. my F6 distance measurment shows terrible! Meaning that these features are basically the same across all Garmin watches. Trail running I have a F6x, so I dont see the need to upgrade to the F7x or the Epix 2, especially with many of the software features coming to the F6x. Is the battery life as long as advertised? So pretty much everything. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. The larger solar strip comes at the expense of the bezel area, not the display area. Before this, I owned a Fenix 6 pro sapphire. Ive got a Fenix 3HR, and Ill sync with Garmin Connect in the morning, but then by the afternoon or evening, the watch has disconnected from my phone, meaning Im not getting messages or the weather anymore. I understand that the power draw is simply too high for Garmins statements regarding 3hrs/50k lux of sun. If you're shopping for the Garmin Fenix 7 Series or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar (7S/7/7X): $899 for 7S/7, and $999 for 7X. Well start off with something relatively basic to get warmed up, in this case an indoor 45-minute treadmill workout, compared to a Polar H10 and the Fenix 7. However I was never satisfied ever with their phone GC app, nor the Garmin Connect Website. . Inversely, if youve had a hard few days of training, or, really poor sleep, itll simply tell you to rest. But frankly, I just dont need that. Surprisingly, the Fenix 7X largely nailed it. I have tattoos on both wrists and I have the garmin 945 which really struggles and mostly cant read my HR from the wrist. A unit with an optical HR sensor should be snug. Whereas, if someone was looking at this as a stop-gap until a Fenix 7/8-LTE or whatever, then Id probably say to save the cash. Everyone has different things that do or dont work for them. For example, check out this 7-hour ride I did last week (well, it was a 7-hour workout, there was some momentary food/photo stops along the way): Yes, I seriously managed to turn down the road to my hotel with 0% remaining, and 1% potential. Garmins very specific (more reasonable) claim is 3 hours of 50K Lux sun. Does anyone know, can the solar feature be manage with ability to enable/disable in Sapphire Solar edition? My Edge says my max HR was 167, while my AW says that I reached a max of 105 yesterday. Is this a bug? New updates including a touchscreen make Garmins do-it-all adventure watch even more appealing. But the knock-on effect of this is that I came to treat the fitness monitoring functions on the Fenix 7 with a level of scepticism. However, this did seem to minimise the rate at which the batterys charge diminished. Whats not the same though is the visibility of features at different levels. The Fenix 7 series isnt available in their customizer yet, and a Garmin chat rep couldnt tell me if/when it would be available. Cant wait. On Fenix 6 there is a limit of 3 copied profiles because after the recent addition of many original profiles like emtb, ebike, etc. Left the watch a few hours and then it showed new firmware (7.20) was available. In general, the simple math is about 5-10 seconds per song to download (so about 10 songs per minute (speed varies based on the length of the song and other factors. Thank you for, as always, a great review! When I create a course in Garmin Explore the distance on both my fenix 6x pro and fenix 5plus is almost spot on and both watches never differ more than about 50m. Think my written reviews are deep? The theory behind dual-frequency GPS is that you can connect across two different frequencies to the satellites, thus if one frequency is having connection or visibility troubles this would mitigate that by providing not just a secondary frequency to validate against (L5), but a frequency thats 10X greater. My whole route is public on Garmin Connect: link to connect.garmin.com. As any endurance athlete will tell you, much of sport is mental as much as physical. In general, Ive found that when the watch gets this upset, its almost always legit. patchy or limited mobile internet connectivity. Once this unit goes back, Ill go out and get my own for any future testing needs. No, sadly no Garmin devices have any sort of smart wake-up stuffs. Hi Ray great review, just wanna point out that your main diff models comparison chart isnt clickable. Also, you asked why it would be useful. Remember that in general the watch uses a lower-power consuming WiFi chipset, so its not downloading things as fast as a phone or computer. It shouldnt last forever, or be crazy high, but, it should actually happen. Both of which Id imagine could easily run just fine on Fenix 6 hardware, so its a shame to see those not being added. Its no longer real-world.
Otherwise, things like sport profiles, phone config, and plenty more will be missing. For example, at a certain caf or coffee shop they might stop at after a run (skipping bringing a wallet or smartphone). Im surprised how little attention Garmin has given to the in the middle of nowhere use case, i.e. The flashlight is awesome. After when I check the activities on the Garmin Connect app, I can only see the initial and final stamina on the summary, but no graph option (I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app, and Im on the latest version) I might be mistaken, but I suspect that the meadia loaners from Garmin might be hand picked golden samples,that gives you good results when comparing them to your reference measurements. shuffle, repeat, etc). Ive been testing the Fenix 7 for quite some time, and have put in countless hours to figure out what works welland what still might need some love. This Fenix 7 I tested has a 47mm carbon grey titanium case with a 1.3in display.
The display is much worse than that of my 945. 2. Why not pre-cache the download files for these whopping 6 recommended apps? Is it 8 like the Fenix 7 and 7X or less? And this was horrible on the Fenix 6. Ya win some, ya lose some. Im from out of the country and will be visiting the US, whats the best triathlon shop in city XYZ? Thus, theyre slightly delayed in their figures. You can see here that you can tweak all the onboard sensors (like whether or not your heart rate broadcasts), but you cant pair any external sensors from the phone, youve gotta go to the watch. Plug it in, add it to your account, and then itll say its up to date. I am thinking the addition of the watch/Garmin Connect doing adding this feature would eliminate me from having to tap the lap button every time I change from walk to run or run to walk. With regard to pre-installed analog watch faces, are the second hands able to remain on at all times? The comparatively small screen makes navigation harder than on a bike computer and the fact its worn on your wrist means its not as visible as a computer mounted to your handlebar. The HR chipset is identical. I need to update some of the pieces here. Do you have any information from Garmin relating to the new sensor and whether it works better with tattoos please? If interested hit me up on Garmin 6X or 7X forum or here. BTW I created few courses using very accurate maps where I could include route side, cutting curves and there is no significant different compare to Garmin courses, Google. SUMMER SALE | Try 3 issues of Cycling Plus magazine for 5 + Get a pair of Lusso cycling socks! The idea being to help you figure out if the pace/intensity youre at is sustainable for the required duration. Once the two-minute test period is over, itll give you a summary of that info: And then you can also see this in Garmin Connect Mobile afterwards, which is where you can spit out a PDF copy if you like: The one downside here is that ostensibly the main reason youd do a Health Snapshot on a regular basis is consistency in timing of the readings.
You can tweak almost every setting on the Fenix 7 from the phone. Both the tangible things like GPS, barometric altimeter, and heart rate accuracy but also much of the day-to-day bits around user interface design is more polished. $699USD is 699EUR): Fenix 7 Base (7S/7): $699 In general, the Bluetooth connectivity stack between watches (of all vendors) and the phone has improved dramatically in the last few years, as that use case has become the norm. I swim with a group and a majority have garmin devices. TopoActive THID: 2.5GB My F7 worked fine for a week. The Fenix 7 has a 260260 pixel resolution transflective colour LED display, which means its clear and easy to read in direct sunlight. Hang tight! Its on my to-do list to validate thats all still true across all models, and then update the post accordingly. The display has a backlight for use in low light. can we expect a deep and sincere comparaison paragraph update between Gorilla Glass, Solar Power Glass and Sapphire Solar Glass ? It is a huge step back. I hope I can send it back. In this case, I didnt wear long-sleeves, and instead just took one for the team. Aspects such as skin color, hair density, and position can impact accuracy. These watches just keep adding silly metrics with software. No category for it. which sucks. HR on the watch is way off, like up to 40bpm too low. Europe: 11.5GB Hence why its hit or miss. I suspect that you have had that 3hr for at least 4 years if not 5 or 6. This will steadily decrease over the course of the workout. This data also informs the watchs suggested recovery time (how long you rest after an activity), workout suggestions, training load and VO2 max estimates. Otherwise his unit might be faulty if you do not experience the same issue. You can wear it a tiny bit looser the rest of the day. Run on a track. Of course, that doesnt mean a small watch is automatically accurate but rather the same sensor placed in three different sized watches will almost always result in the smallest unit being the most accurate. ClimbPro on my Fenix7X Solar was great for telling me how far away the summit of a hill was, there were lots! Hi, Thank you for your excellent work, I would like to ask you if any Garmin watch support wing foil or if you know any other sport watch that support wing foil. Now again, Ive also gone years without this functionality, but it seems time to at least have the option for arrows. Ditto on the flashlight feature for the rest of the Fenix. Waypoints in files of course arent new. that wrist based HR often doesnt work well for cycling, because your wrist is bent and under pressure. But I have software version 7.24 and there you have to chose between one of the 3 fields to be visible. TopoActive MENA: 1.4GB I speak from experience I have had the original battery die, replaced it with an aftermarket battery, which is now dying.
Dont think I do, I asked the person on the support chat if there was number I could follow up with but he only said they would contact me if they had or needed more info. In fact, if you really get it upset, itll actually flash a warning to you mid-morning that your day isnt going well and that its going to basically cancel your planned workout. The Fenix 5X was abysmal. Run/Walk/Stand Detection (in a workout) The reason I dont try and make sense of that, is that in the overwhelming majority of cases (except road riding), its very difficult to know precisely which one is correct, unless there are substantial differences. Anyone else had this issue? As part of the setup process youll create a pin code to use when making a payment. Did you have the chance to compare with a non sapphire ? System 5 is: Its simple.
Theres two places you can change satellite things: Entire watch (System): This is a system-wide setting across all sport profiles, and is considered the default for any sport profiles unless otherwise specified Do you know whether Garmin plans to split up the largest maps like Europe and North America? Im struggling with giving up some of the things Ive come to learn I cant live without. Heres some charts to help you make sense of it. I changed data fields in the GCM of the Fenix 7 run profile and these were afterwards on my 945. The 945 should also get CIQ 4, so some features are possible. Given the unit pairs with ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart sensors, you can use just about anything though. I went from 5 Sapphire to 6x Sapphire to 7x Sapphire Solar and this latest does not feel as rugged as previous versions. In todays case, Im using a route created on Komoot. I have an Epix and a 7X and like to rotate them for exercise and daily wear. On a solar series watch, you can check the current solar income either through various watch faces or widgets. Else, the data will mostly fall apart. I see #399 and up (to #469 at the moment) on page load. While you can use the Fenix 7 without the app, this is where you can set up functions such as Garmin Pay. I aim to leave no stone unturned. I got the the new fenix 7x ss. You can configure this to be off, during sleep only, or 247. High performance high volume training ! About this point, youre probably trying to decide which watch might make the most sense for you (if either). It makes flicking through the watchs many menus a straightforward activity compared to using the five buttons on the bezel. 2. If you connect your Fenix 7 or Epix 2 to a Mac or PC, using Garmin Express, you have the choice to download Europe by segments (e.g. I see a pretty consistent 30-35% drop in battery per day, with a full charge only lasting 3 days. Pulse ox is a little better it has recorded 20 values. I dont feel it is there. So to that end, it got things more than close enough. Using the Power Manager feature, you can get crazy detailed on which features you care about (for example, toggling off optical HR sensor and connecting to a chest strap saves a boatload of battery), and thus can easily extend these. I have not done an accurate study, but it just seems to track. Itll often just end my sleep at say 7:10AM if I was awake/up for a couple of minutes, rather than realizing Ive gone back to bed for 2-3 hours. It accomplishes this in three basic ways: 1) Increased the overall surface area of the solar panels on the watch by up to 54% (e.g. I own a Fenix 7 sapphire solar. I use 2-6 other devices at once, trying to get a clear picture of how a given set of devices handles conditions on a certain day. And for those 7X owners, the ability to light your way through an unknown hotel room in the middle of the night is handy. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. Part of me knows thats true, but part of me also knows that my body can usually take it. I havent heard one way or the other. Fenix 7S Sapphire Solar: 58g (case only: 42g) A touchscreen, improved battery life and a wealth of features make the Garmin Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar an attractive package, but it probably wont replace your bike computer, Garmin Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar smartwatch review, GBP 779.99 RRP This includes all three core models, as well as its Epix sibling.
Ok, so wrapping up the workout, youll get a new set of summary pages. There are plenty of straight roads in those charts, because there are plenty of charts. No category for it. Plus then a Polar H10 chest strap, Polar Verity Sense on the bicep, and Whoop 4.0 on the other bicep. I carry them the exact same way companies themselves do GPS testing: So, heres that data set, and at a high level, things look pretty similar. It looks at your recent load and training focus areas, and figures out what the next logical workout should be to slightly increase your fitness. Keeping in mind, the Fenix 7X is hilariously too big for her tiny wrists. I understand its difficult in Amsterdam Finally, heres a long hike/trail run, which had some larger sustained efforts that more easily show up on the charts: Youll notice that for the first 2 hours and 42 minutes, things are generally very close, with only relatively minor disagreement when walking downhill (moderate in that were at 100-110BPM, so it frankly isnt going to matter much if one is 103BPM and the other 107BPM). Still, I think at that point both you and the device are aware of the situation: You feel like crap. But, during the run I watched it happen in real-time, and most notably, watched the impact it had on Stamina data during the intervals. I dont seem to have read something about this (but maybe I missed it somewhere; sorry in that case). So, were going to start with a feast of watches on a route thats both easy and extremely challenging. I saw a review on another site where the guy compared the gps tracks from a 6x to the 7x Sapphire with multi-band GNSS and the 7x Sapphire was a lot more accurate. Then the next night, I threw the same pairing on her again. This one I created has my heart rate up top, and my altitude down below. With the white background during activities, this was never an issue to me. There are wellness functions such as a perceived Body Battery score and stress levels. The scenario Im imagining is being out on a hike and finding myself without a light and needing to navigate back in the dark.
Long long battery life ! I keep seeing that the visibility of the sapphire screens is much worse than non-sapphire and its frustrating that in order to get more map/music storage, or multi and GPS, you have to accept a downgrade in screen visibility and worse day to day experience. The backend system does it already for trainers/smart bikes, so its easy enough for me to do it on other units. While this doesnt matter for many course that are clear-cut, it does matter for courses that may intersect, like a figure-8 course I did on Thursday. Prior to confirmation from Garmin, this made sense in my testing, as in almost every scenario over the last 6-7 weeks, the Vertix 2 and Epix/Fenix 7 units made the exact same errors in virtually identical ways (and inversely, did things correctly in near-identical ways). Might this have happened to you during your tests? Am really happy with it. This is the first time weve seen Garmin introduce this level of customization from the phone. Huh. I also soon will have a Fenix 7 or (more likely) Epix. Will you test our product before release? Stan joined BikeRadar in 2021 and now covers the latest cycling news and, as an experienced cyclist and writer, provides advice on the best products to buy, based on BikeRadar's independent reviews. I edited the data fields of the run profile of the Fenix 7 with GCM. It can flash white and red as you run, matched to your cadence specific to showing white lights while forward-facing, and red lights rearward facing. Once thats done, youll see itll flash twice white, for each one red. The watch can support interval training, HIIT workouts and dedicated training plans. The benefit is that it tends to clean-up the GPS tracks a little bit in tougher areas, but the downside is that it also incorrectly cuts some corners and such that you actually hiked as it doesnt seem to be 100% certain between a short switchback for a couple of meters, and a GPS error. @DC Rainmaker, any plans in this regards? The main thing to ensure is thats enabled, and that youre seeing activity history from the other one. Literally, every time I file a bug the very first thing they respond with is Did you copy your old files from an older/other unit over?. At a high level, things look a bit fuzzy, but clearly were seeing some trending alignment between the chest strap and the Fenix 7 & Epix units on opposite wrists. The SkiView and CourseView maps are preloaded on all units, because theyre relatively small (23MB for SkiView, and roughly 200-500MB for each continents golf courses). Which is interesting because in general I saw that most of the time if the Vertix 2 made an error, then the Fenix 7 and Epix repeated it. HI Ray did you see my query about the HR sensor and tattoos? (I already scratched a suunto 5 mineral glass at the fist bike fall), Hi As always, time will tell, but this isnt an area Im concerned about. Simply put, its probably too soon to know. Dear Ray, Thanks for any insight! It is only a $100 difference, so the price doesnt really matter; the same applies to size. In fact, it seemed to tell me to go one way, but as Id learn some time later that was the wrong way.
This is notable because it shows how things handle in particular ascending versus descending, but also some longer sustained periods. And Im not interested in buying the sapphire model only because its the higher model. Use Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with either the coupon code DCRAINMAKER for first time users saving 15% on applicable products. Garmin says there are only contour lines available on certain regions of the watchs UK map, but the map would be more instructive and usable if there were contour lines across the map in all territories. Or, you can signal for SOS with it when youre out of ice cream. Fast Phone upload ! Like any product series, the longer the product is in the market, the less revolutionary the changes to each iteration become.
I have been using a fenix 6 Sapphire for about 2 years and had 2 units both with problems measuring elevation. the sports folder on the watch has now 57 original profiles (that arent deletable, not from the watch neither from pc cause the software restore them if you delete them) and I verified that there is a limit of 60 files on that folder that isnt modificable in any way. All these were separated and stable, as to not impact each other. Ill make sure I swim next to another garmin user and well see what they say. I dont use .GPX/.TCX files for file export, because honestly thats pretty old-school for fitness data since it lacks many of the more advanced metrics. I am experiencing a very nice GPS track when doing open water swims, but the distance is way off. It can be messy. So on the final tab (the graphs one), theres no Stamina grab at all? I would also expect a new LTE watch, whether it turns out to be a Fenix 7 or a Forerunner. Now, as fun as it is to do this for 800s, the real intent here is longer-term endurance workouts or races. Hopefully, well see this feature expand to the rest of the Fenix series in the Fenix 8. Just because I went to sleep, doesnt mean Ill automatically wake up with 100% Body Battery. Ive got a question regarding heart rate. No numbers or graph. Then, you can download music and play offline Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music, as well as any of your own MP3s. Show how much it sucks. Further, theres often little real-world actionable things you can do based on that. As such, its moderately important to get at least a few good hard workouts in on the watch, so that it can approximate your VO2Max. For comparison, a sunny winter day around here is 50K lux, and a summer day at the beach was 100-150K lux. Youre not actually using the Fenix to record the activity. The band itself can unsnap easily to be swapped out, if you perhaps want a fancier band for non-sport usage, and then quickly swap to the silicone one for sports. Maps can be used without an internet connection or link to a smartphone. Which is a pitty. Though, the GPS battery life one-upmanship is quirky.
The distance swimmed was recorded to 1685 meter and after doing the import/export routine the distance was 1.77 km. I had the Fenix 3 / I have the FR935 . But I think its fair to say that any unit would have been more than sufficient in this scenario. Which watch would you choose if these cases were to applied , Vertix 2 or Fenix 7 ? For Epix, I think its an easier choice, and is likely worth the extra $100. You can see that it does theres a video of it on a trail within my main video at the top of the page. The watch would display my training status based on running, but this was not a true reflection of what was happening for me across sports. It can compete with the best bike computers, and the only places it is really let down for cycling are where smartwatches more generally fail. It is 1.4 and 280280 pixels the same as 6X. (I already scratched a suunto 5 mineral glass at the fist bike fall on rocks) It doesnt cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot. Well, reasonably close. When I speed up, it shows faster. C) CourseView Golf Pacific: 175MB The green light is for regular heart rate readings, whereas the red light is used for Pulse Ox. The Fenix 7 comes loaded with topographical maps for a variety of activities including cycling, walking, running and golf.
Garmin also confirmed via email that there is no updated Descent version expected anytime soon. So this looks pretty clearly like a Garmin Connect export calculation error, rather than a device error. There are links to Older comments and Newer comments that are supposed to page the comments. This means that you can install Connect IQ apps directly from the wrist, versus having to grab your phone. Whereas in the Instinct series in particular, the impact could be quite significant. Merely because its much more subdued. You can also update a TopoActive Map from there as well. (Sorry Im late in mine, they went to junk mail). Or even more like stamina since its a newer premium watch? Im headed to Paris what do you recommend for training or sightseeing? However, it does not track naps in any way, which is unfortunate. This is the same strap that comes on the Enduro watch, Garmin part number 010-13075-01. This is one I am more than happy to live with. Thus, my suggestion would be that if that thinking is in your brain now to execute on offloading that unit for the most money you can get for it now. This is a real bummer. In addition to feeling, the scroll down button on my unit is not working 100% and will be sent to Garmin next week. still didnt record distance. Ive been impressed with Garmins continued improvements in the written explanations of how your sleep was: Take this one from a few nights ago, this is about as succinct an explanation of my sleep as I could write. The only real way to validate accuracy is a swim buoy/swim cap method with another unit in bike/run mode.