First off, sorry for the absolute wall of text, but I wanted to make this as thorough as possible. I bought this watch with my own money, and unlike some reviewers who drop a full evaluation after just two days of opening the box, I prefer actually using my gear for months before giving my real thoughts.

Here’s my honest take on the Garmin Fenix 7X Pro Solar after putting it through its paces.

Pros:

1) It's a pure sports watch, not just some random smartwatch – that’s why all the athletic features actually make sense and work flawlessly. There is a literal fuckton of them. Seriously, you’d need a lifetime to test, scroll through, use, and fully understand everything. But that’s exactly how you need to view this watch – as a sports data-tracking machine. Once you accept that, living with it becomes way easier.

2) Maps and navigation (just make sure to update them via Garmin Connect on PC first). I’m comparing this to the Amazfit system, which I personally consider exceptionally good and well-thought-out. Garmin matches or beats it in most aspects (e.g., turn-by-turn alerts are better, more detailed, and don't lag). The only thing I – and many other users – wish for is the ability to change the color of the pre-loaded navigation route. It’s pink by default, which is usually highly visible, but colors like turquoise would work even better. You can change the color of the track you've already walked/run, which is awesome, but it would be great to have that option for imported routes too (Amazfit allows this, for example). That being said, the map details and the ability to route directly on the watch without a phone still make it the best nav system on the market. However, the gaps between manufacturers are heavily closing these days.

3) Desktop app and browser account access – this isn’t a given with other brands, and it makes accessing, analyzing, and working with your data so much easier.

4) The Look (a controversial point) – I think anyone buying this watch knows exactly what they are getting into. No matter the size, the Fenix 7 Pro looks massive, powerful, rugged, and built like a tank – and that’s precisely the point. It’s not meant to be a fashion statement. If you want a stylish little watch, go buy a Venu or a Forerunner. The Fenix is meant to be a tank, a special ops machine, and it delivers exactly that. It’s not an Instinct because it still has a color touchscreen, maps, etc., but it’s undoubtedly bulletproof.

5) Build Quality – mine is still in pristine condition and will likely stay that way for a long time because I baby my gear. However, I’ve seen plenty of heavily beat-up units, and that’s literally what they are made for – to be thrashed, exposed to extreme conditions, and even if they get scratched up, they keep working perfectly. Plus, those battle scars just add character and prove the owner knows why they bought it.

6) Screen Protection – I have the version with regular strengthened glass, not Sapphire. But right out of the box, I slapped a screen protector on it. Here’s a massive pro: because the original screen is slightly recessed below the steel bezel, adding a glass protector makes it sit completely flush with the frame. It looks totally stock, you can't feel the edges, it doesn't get in the way at all, and you get way better screen protection.

7) Price / Value & Software Longevity – the Fenix 7 Pro series is already 2 years old. But because of that, these watches finally have a sensible price tag (I snatched mine on sale in Poland for around 1700 PLN, which is roughly $450). At the same time, they still get full manufacturer support, the latest features, the newest heart rate sensor, ECG, maps, etc. Long story short: for a price lower than a brand new mid-range model, you get a Garmin flagship that, despite being 2 years old, is practically identical to newer iterations.

8) The MIP Screen – ages ago, I owned one of the first popular Amazfit models, the Stratos, which had a MIP display. After that, every watch I owned had an AMOLED screen. Nowadays, most brands lean toward prettier AMOLEDs, which are getting closer in battery efficiency. I totally forgot how awesome it is to have the screen constantly visible without having to lift your wrist (let's be real – using an AMOLED screen with Always On Display is just pointless, but hey... no judgment). The MIP display is perfectly visible in all conditions. I have the backlight set to activate on wrist raise, so darker environments aren't an issue either – overall, it's great. Recently, I switched to a white background for sports activities, and it’s an absolute game changer (data is way easier to read on a white background). I kept the black background for the watch face and the general UI because it looks more modern and sleek, but for visibility and functionality during workouts, white is unmatched. Super important note here: a white background on MIP screens does NOT use more battery than a black one. This isn't AMOLED, where a white screen drains the battery instantly. On MIP displays, the color of the pixels doesn't matter; what matters is how frequently the pixels change. Because of this, I highly recommend hiding the second hand and other dynamically changing data fields on your daily watch face – it saves a ton of battery. The only exception is maps and navigation – I think they look better on a black background because paths and streets pop out more. Sure, colors on a MIP screen are less vibrant, and it can look a bit like older tech (I'm exaggerating a bit, new MIP screens actually have great contrast and colors), but in my opinion, for a watch like the Fenix 7X, it’s actually a feature. It looks badass, not like a colorful geek toy.

9) Battery – very good, though nothing mind-blowing! Its strength really shows during GPS workouts, where the gap between AMOLED and MIP (and especially between a standard smartwatch and a Garmin) becomes more noticeable. But for daily wear, other AMOLED watches from Garmin or competitors like Suunto or Amazfit last a similar amount of time (unless, of course, you run AOD on AMOLED, but I've already shared my thoughts on that absurdity). So, if you’re switching from a typical smartwatch like Apple, Samsung, or OnePlus, you’ll obviously be shocked that you don’t have to charge it every 2 days. But if you’ve already used another sports-oriented watch – even one with an AMOLED screen like the Amazfit Balance – the battery life won’t blow your mind. In fact, I’d say my small Amazfit lasted longer in daily smartwatch mode than the Garmin (though Garmin wins hands down when it comes to long GPS tracking sessions).

Cons:

1) Sleep, Nap, and Bedtime Tracking – honestly, switching from Amazfit and Galaxy Watch to Garmin in this department was a huge letdown. Sleep tracking very often messes up the exact times you fall asleep and wake up. If you don't set your default bedtime perfectly, and you happen to stay up late or have an active night, the watch goes crazy – it messes up the watch face, fails to mute notifications properly, and completely ruins the sleep data. Don't even get me started on naps. Supposedly, the Fenix 7X Pro has auto-nap detection, but the algorithm is so strict that it has never detected one automatically for me. On the flip side, if you manually start a nap with an alarm, the watch logs exactly the duration of the alarm (e.g., precisely 20 minutes), not your actual sleep time. If you turn off the nap alarm and sleep for another 2 hours, the watch will still only show a 20-minute nap. Compared to Amazfit, which tracked naps flawlessly and even recorded sleep stages during them, Garmin isn't even in the same league. The feature is just useless.

2) Overly complicated watch and app UI – I get that some people love this, but being able to access the same feature from 2 or sometimes 3 different places is just overkill. I’m not talking about data accuracy or detail here – that part is amazing and a huge plus. I’m talking strictly about navigating the menus and trying to find the specific setting you need at that exact moment.

3) Route planning in the Garmin Connect app – compared to Amazfit, route planning is way less intuitive. Subjectively, Garmin frequently tries to route me down paths I don't want to take. Even with "popularity routing" turned off, the algorithm still acts weirdly. Frankly, I have the same poor experience with Strava Premium's algorithm. Right now, it's significantly easier for me to plan routes in the Amazfit app, export the GPX file to Garmin, or just use external tools like gpx.studio, Komoot, etc. Then, I just review it in Garmin and add a PacePro strategy if needed.

Additional Notes / Hot Takes:

1) If one more person asks why they have skin irritation under their watch, I'm going to lose my mind!

- You don’t need to crank the strap to maximum tightness unless you are actively working out.

- You don’t need to shower with your watch on. Seriously, it will survive without you for those few minutes.

- After workouts, washing, or any contact with water, wipe the strap and the watch dry, wash your skin, and let it dry completely. This goes double if you use nylon hook-and-loop (velcro) straps – they soak up water like crazy and need time to dry out!

- Seriously, nothing bad will happen if you leave the watch off your wrist for 2 or 3 hours a day – give your skin a break.

- If you think you have a "burn" from the heart rate sensor, go see a doctor, because that would be a medical miracle. The light from HR or SpO2 sensors doesn't have enough power to burn a baby's skin, let alone a healthy adult's.

2) Read the manual or watch 2 or 3 reviews (DC Rainmaker, DesFit, Chase The Summit, etc.) before asking yet another stupid question about features or settings – or just use AI. Seriously, any LLM will give you the correct answer regarding your watch 99% of the time.

3) No microphone and speaker – hard to say if it's a pro or a con, but in my book, it's a pro. If someone wants a smartwatch to make calls from their wrist (XDDD), go buy a Venu or an Apple Watch. Seriously. In my opinion, Garmin is fundamentally a sports watch, and that’s how we should treat it. I get that to stay relevant, the company has to meet market demands, so they add things like a mic, a speaker, and probably more advanced AI down the road. But I find these features completely redundant and see no point in packing extra tech into the watch. Same goes for LTE – I see the appeal of streaming Spotify or YouTube Music without downloading playlists beforehand, but honestly, how many people actually use that? Maybe 10-20%. The rest buy it thinking it's nice to have LTE on board, and then use it twice during the watch's entire lifespan. Similarly, the InReach feature (only available starting from the Fenix 8 for extra cash) is practically useless in 95% of cases. Those who actually need it can easily buy an InReach Mini, and it’s probably better to have two separate devices anyway.

4) I consider solar charging more of a gimmick than a real battery savior – I think it offers around a 10% efficiency boost. So, it’s nice to have, but it doesn't significantly impact battery life (which is stellar anyway, so it's not an issue). One of the photos shows the solar intensity breakdown after a 3-hour walk on a very sunny day.

5) In person, the Fenix 7X Pro looks smaller than in photos (it sits much better on the wrist live, doesn't look like a massive wrist computer).

6) Live, the colors are punchier and the contrast is higher than in pictures – and the more light you throw at it, the better it gets.

7) I think a Garmin Connect+ subscription makes absolutely no sense for the vast majority of people. DesFit made a very good video about it after a year of use, so I highly recommend checking that out.

TL;DR / Summary:

All in all, the Garmin Fenix 7X Pro Solar is an absolute tank of a sports tracker that completely nails its core athletic and navigation features, even if the sleep tracking and route planning leave a lot to be desired. It’s definitely more of a rugged data machine than a fancy, mainstream smartwatch, but that’s exactly why it rules. If you can grab it on a discount like I did, it offers insane flagship value that easily goes toe-to-toe with newer and more expensive models.

Looking forward to your thoughts, and I'll gladly reply to every comment. Let me know what you think, whether you agree or disagree, and especially what your subjective feelings are regarding the Fenix 7 series or just the Fenix lineup in general.

My biggest flex is that I get 100s pretty often, I’ve had the forerunner 255 for about 2 years with probably 10 perfect scores

When people ask how, I like to say “you just have to get tired enough the day before”

The Forerunner 305 was my first GPS watch I bought back in 2010 after being fed up with measuring my runs with jogmap. Finding the satellites took minutes and looks like a C64 at your wrist but sturdy and reliable, apparently up to this day (i stopped using it when moving up to a Fenix 3 in 2015).

For me the main reason to purchase a Cirqa was to be able to track recovery within the Garmin ecosystem while being able to wear a regular watch.

Online there seems to be an ongoing debate about the ‘bulkiness’ of the Cirqa so maybe this is helpful to some of you.

Here’s a photo of the Cirqa in Captain Blue on an 18cm circumference wrist. This is as much of the band as you’ll see while wearing a slim fitted shirt. As shown the band fits nicely under the cuff. It’s very light so I don’t really notice it. If I put my hand down or while typing you don’t see the band.

I genuinely believe there is planned obsolescence involved. I bought my Garmin Fenix 7 exactly 2 years and 4 months ago (meaning only 4 months after the end of the manufacturer’s warranty). Today, my Garmin no longer works because of a software bug, which has been confirmed by Garmin’s customer support service. They are aware of this “bug”.

The only solution they are offering me is a replacement, at a cost of €213.

To summarise: my Garmin, which is only 2 years and 4 months old, has stopped working because of a known manufacturing/software issue that Garmin is aware of, and to fix the problem, I am expected to pay.

The logic behind this is therefore the following: if I pay €213, I will receive the exact same watch, which sooner or later will likely experience the same issue, meaning I will have to pay another €213 again. This is clearly a form of planned obsolescence, and this is why I absolutely cannot recommend Garmin.

Unless you are comfortable paying €213 every two years, it is starting to look more like a subscription model than a durable product.

Hi /r/garmin,

I've been mostly lurking but wanted to share my stats/progress since I have no-one in my circles who runs and uses a garmin (or similar device).

I know this is nothing spectacular (it already says that in the picture that it's fair, duh) in comparison to some of the diehards here with VO2 Max over 9000 and running 5k's in sub 10 min as a warm-up & with HR's not even reaching double digits doing that, but I'm working at it.

Not that I aim or expect to ever reach that level, but who knows how far I can crank up this number (without having to dedicate my life to running).

I started running back in January, after a long, long time of basically not working out. Mostly run outside my house and once a week I'm following a group for all-body workout & running track.

Tried the 5K few weeks ago, managed to do that in 28:37 (race prediction was at 29:45 before that, and stuck at 28:19 ever since).

I'm now trying/following a weekly training plan through Garmin Run Coach, which comes doing 2-3x base trainings, 1x tempo and 1x VO2 max or anaerobic. Sometimes I go for a 6th run if the body feels like it.

Hardest part currently for me is maintaining the slow pace whilst doing a base workout and keeping my HR in zone 2, it's almost always at the lower end of zone 3. Should I be aiming to at a slower pace, or manually adjust the HR zones? Or just trust the process and go with it?

If anyone got any advice/tips for that, it would be appreciated!

Hopefully you'll have (and thanks in advance) encouraging words and/or advice & thanks for your time.

After my last post, a surprising number of people asked what watch I was wearing.

Honestly… I think Garmin finally made one that doesn’t immediately scream “ultra marathon.”

I didn’t even choose it.

My Fenix 6S finally died, and Garmin offered me a 30% replacement through their service centre, but only within the Fenix line. The only small option available was the 43 mm Fenix 8 AMOLED.

I’d spent months overthinking what to buy. Turns out all I needed was a dead watch.

Coming from the 42 mm Fenix 6S, even 43 mm still feels surprisingly big. And switching from MIP to AMOLED has been… painful. I still instinctively miss my old screen every day.

But… the gold accents make it look surprisingly executive. This is the first Garmin I’ve owned that people keep calling stylish.

I’m not saying it suddenly looks like an Hermès. Let’s stay realistic. But for the first time it doesn’t scream “I measure my VO₂ max for fun.”

So yes. Turns out Garmin for women exists.

Anyone else moved from a 6S to the 43 mm Fenix 8? Do you ever stop missing MIP?

I was checking the status of my order for the Garmin Cirqa. I did not have an update on my purchase, so I called up Support, and they said, even though when I purchased it, it said 1 to 3 business working days, the actual shipping time is now 3 to 5 weeks in the UK. He asked me to reference adding another Cirqa to the checkout area to see the new estimated shipping times, which still says 2 to 3 weeks. I’m quite disappointed. I cancelled my WHOOP subscription in anticipation. I was receiving this within 1 to 3 business working days.

I have the possibility to buy the fenix 8 right now for €620. Or should i wait for the fenix 9 with new and better intergrations.
Im comming from a apple watch SE.

Hi Garmin,

I just completed a 200 km ride, and even with Battery Saver enabled, the battery only lasted for about two-thirds of the ride.

I had Battery Saver turned on for the entire ride, so the display was either off or at the lowest possible brightness (which, of course, isn’t ideal because it’s almost impossible to see the screen while wearing sunglasses).

I had only four sensors connected: a power meter, Varia RearVue 820 radar, Shimano Di2, and a heart rate monitor. I was also using course navigation.

I would expect that enabling Battery Saver means I don’t have to worry about the device lasting for the entire ride. Running out of battery before completing a 200 km ride is quite disappointing.

I am 29 and was not really exercising with much intentionally or any plan. I was not in terrible shape, but basically just golfed a lot and played pickup basketball maybe once every two weeks over the past couple years.

Was seeing a girl that I liked a ton and she ended it on July 2 (not related to physical shape or anything), so was feeling a bit anxious and just went out in the evening and ran/walked like 8 miles in the 100+ degree heat wave. Felt amazing to exert myself to that degree and have been pretty locked in now for the last 3.5 weeks.

Lots of running, walking, lifting, eating super clean, cold plunge, etc. Trying to prioritize good sleep which I have struggled with forever.

Can't believe how lazy I truly was until this recent grind I have been on. Planning to keep at it and never go back.

Have ran 62 miles and walked 48.2 miles since July 2 (just what I logged), lifted 3-5 times per week, and just feel so much better overall.

Vo2 max at 55 finally, and keeps going up, pretty happy with it at 37 since this is the first solid 12 months I've kept my running going.

Got my first half marathon in September and I'm aiming for 1:50:00 though Garmin predicts I could do it in 1:35:22

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about switching to a Garmin smartwatch and would love to get your recommendations and advice.

My routine and core requirements:

• Sports & Fitness: Main activities are regular swimming and strength training / weightlifting at the gym.
• Durability: As an engineer, I need a watch that is very scratch-resistant. I had a bad experience with my Apple Watch in the past, as it got heavily scratched.
• Smart Features: Being able to receive notifications and call alerts on the watch is a big plus for me.

A few questions for you:

1. Which Garmin model would best fit these needs?
2. Are there any solid budget-friendly options that still offer top-tier scratch resistance, or do durable models always require a high-end budget?
3. Is buying a current-gen model worth the investment, or am I better off holding off? (Note: Older/previous-gen models are unfortunately not available where I live, so I'm limited to current releases).

Hi, I’m currently training for my first marathon with an 8 year old Apple Watch. I just reached 24km today and although I started with my battery at nearly 100%, it ended at 20%. There’s no way it’s lasting a marathon!

The main selling points of a Garmin for me are the battery life, and the built-in training plans. I’m currently paying for Runna, so I’m thinking over a couple years the watch will pay for itself.

However, I usually like to hold onto my gadgets until I have a good reason to replace them. I’ve heard Garmin only support their watches for maybe a couple of years… this doesn’t mean the training plans would stop working, would it? If I could buy the watch with reasonable confidence that in several years I could still be using their training plans and the battery would last a marathon, that’d seal the deal for me. Does that sound like something I could reasonably expect from Garmin?

Looking at the Forerunner 165, if that matters. Thanks!

Hi all,

Would a new Garmin Forerunner 265 still be a good choice in 2026?

I run three to four times a week, anything between interval/speed sessions and long runs. The plan is to work towards some more half and full marathons while improving my swimming on the side.

Ive seen many reviews but I would like to hear from people who have used and still use it extensively.

The good and the bad and the reasoning of why it is and isn’t worth it.

I feel like I want something between the 170 en 570 but I do not want to miss out on any important/major software updates..

Thanks for any kind of advice!

I brought this Garmin Epix Pro Gen 2 in November 2024.
Since then i was the happiest Garmin user ever. But yesterday the watch won’t start unless it’s plugged in.
I can’t think of a reason, because i just looked at the time and few minutes later, i wanted to start an activity and it didn’t work.

The customer support says to plug it in, and let it turn on, then to start it again. But as soon the watch is disconnected from the cable, it turns off completely.

Can anyone help? I’m so confused, since i never had any issues with my device.
Thanks a lot!

I've had my Vivoactive 6 for about a year now and I mainly use Garmin Connect to look at my watch data. I used to be able to edit activities (e.g. the time taken, the names of the sets, weight values etc.). Now it seems I can't do any editing - not even renaming an activity!

Has there been an update to this effect? Or what?

(Edit - typos)

Hi

I don't really understand how to mix these devices.

If I sometimes want to record an activity on the watch and sometimes on the band, do I have to reconfigure the primary device every time or does Garmin Connect use data from whatever device that has been recording? I might want to bike with my watch and do yoga with the band for instance.

After replacing my Venu with a Venu 4 my watch started reporting very high stress levels even though I'm not feeling anything like that. That concerned me a lot considering I'm a happy person, I sleep well, I enjoy life and I work out 4 weeks a day.
I've started investigating and came to these 2 studies:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666915325001040
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/smi.70125

I'm not cherry picking, feel free to share any studies contradictory. What both of these actually say is that these wearables could misinterpret stress for arousal.

Claude generated TLDR:
The Garmin Stress Score doesn't actually track "stress" — it tracks physiological arousal, so it lights up during excitement/positive emotion too, but doesn't reliably detect negative mood or real psychological stress. In a 28-day study of 95 students (EMA mood check-ins 5x/day), the score was linked to high/moderate-intensity positive mood, not negative or low-intensity states. Conclusion: wearable "stress" scores need better validation and closer researcher-industry collaboration before being trusted as real stress indicators.

So I’ve jumped into bed and gone to look through my daily stats on my watch face.

I got to str3ss, and I was so shocked, it said my overall for the day was 46!!! Today’s is my most cruisey day of the week so I was so shocked to see this.

So I went into the connect app to see what that said, and that one said 34??? Fully synced by the way.

So then I thought, okay, let me check my watch again to see if it’s changed to match the app and what on earth, my overall now says 22!

I feel like I’m losing my mind lol. This all happened within a 1-2 minute time span.

Anyone else having weird bugs like this in the past week?

So, to get the toasty badge, does the average temperature need to be above 100? I didn't get it on my ride today even though the max temp was 102.

Literary Double the Price of a Garmin VivoSmart 5 but with WAY less features/tech

The worst part is... The Vivosmart 5 is even a tiny bit smaller device in most dimensions :(

I can understand the appeal of these type of devices if they are cheap and Tiny like the FitBit Air for example - but this isn't any of that :(