How to choose a Garmin outdoor watch

Garmin’s outdoor watches share one job: recording where you go, for days at a time, in a case built for knocks and weather. Every one of them has GPS, a compass, a barometric altimeter, a thermometer and a step counter, and every one is rated to 10 ATM, the pressure at 100 metres of water. Where they differ is in the line they belong to, the size of the case, the kind of display, how long the battery lasts, whether they carry maps, satellite messaging or dive features, and what they cost. This guide explains what each of those means; the comparison on the category page lists every model against the same specifications.

The five lines

The Instinct is the plain outdoor watch: a fibre-reinforced polymer case and bezel, buttons rather than a touchscreen, no maps and no music storage. Within it, the Instinct E is the entry model, the Instinct 3 the current one, and the Instinct 2 and 2X Solar the previous generation still sold.

The fēnix adds a metal bezel, a touchscreen, preloaded road and trail maps and music storage. The fēnix 8 and fēnix 9 also add a speaker and microphone and dive features; the fēnix E is the entry model without multi-band GPS, a torch or a sapphire lens. The Pro versions of the fēnix 8 and fēnix 9 carry inReach satellite messaging, covered below.

The Enduro is a 51 mm fēnix-type watch built around battery life: a solar memory-in-pixel display, a titanium bezel and a light nylon or fabric band, so the Enduro 3 weighs 63 g and the Enduro 4 66 g.

The tactix is the tactical version of the fēnix: the same case, maps and sensors with stealth and night vision modes added. The same tactical features come on the Tactical Editions of the Instinct 3 and Instinct Crossover.

The Instinct Crossover puts analogue hands over an Instinct display, in a standard, a Solar and an AMOLED version.

Case size and weight

Cases run from 40 mm (the smaller Instinct E and Instinct 2S) to 51 mm, and weights from 41 g to 102 g with the band. Most fēnix and Instinct families come in two or three sizes, and the larger case usually holds a larger battery and a larger display. On the category page such a family shows its size, weight, battery life and display size as a range, with each model’s own figures on its card and on the product page.

The drawings on the category page show every case to scale inside the same circle, seen from above with its side profile, which makes the difference between a 45 mm Instinct and a 51 mm fēnix easier to see than the numbers alone. Thickness runs from 13.3 mm, on the 43 mm fēnix 9 Pro and the 40 mm Instinct 2S, to 17.5 mm on the fēnix 8 Pro MicroLED.

Display: MIP, AMOLED or MicroLED

Garmin uses three kinds of display, and the choice sets the battery life more than anything else.

A memory-in-pixel (MIP) display reflects daylight, so it is clearest outdoors in sun and uses little power. The Instinct’s MIP displays are monochrome; the fēnix Solar, Enduro and tactix Solar displays are colour MIP. Solar charging is only offered on MIP models.

An AMOLED display lights its own pixels, so it is bright and colourful indoors and at night but draws more power. Where Garmin sells both kinds of the same watch, the difference shows in the figures: the 45 mm Instinct 3 is rated at 18 days in smartwatch mode with AMOLED and 28 days with the solar MIP display, and the 47 mm fēnix 8 at 16 days with AMOLED and 21 days with the solar display.

MicroLED, on the fēnix 8 Pro MicroLED alone, is brighter still and is rated at 10 days.

Touchscreens come on the fēnix, Enduro and tactix; the Instinct and Instinct Crossover are worked by their buttons alone, which some people prefer with gloves or in rain. The display size row gives the diameter of a round display, or the width of the Instinct’s main window.

Battery life and solar charging

The battery figures are Garmin’s “up to” figures for everyday smartwatch use, without solar charging, and depend on which features are switched on. Across the category they run from 10 days to 40 days. The second figure, battery life with multi-band GPS, is how long a recorded walk or run can last at the watch’s most accurate setting; it runs from 15 hours on the smallest cases to over 60 hours on the largest, and is only given for models with multi-band GPS.

Solar models have a solar panel under the lens that tops up the battery in daylight. Garmin quotes a second, higher figure for each that assumes several hours a day outdoors in bright light; the category page stores only the figure without solar, so solar and non-solar models compare on the same terms, and marks solar charging as yes or no.

GPS, multi-band and maps

Every watch here has its own GPS, so none needs a phone to record a route or to show the direction and distance to a saved point. Multi-band GPS receives satellites on two frequencies, which keeps the position steadier under trees and beside cliffs and tall buildings; it is on every current fēnix, Enduro, tactix and Instinct 3, the Instinct 2X Solar and the Instinct Crossover AMOLED, and not on the Instinct E, the Instinct 2 and 2 Solar, the Instinct Crossover and Crossover Solar, or the fēnix E.

Preloaded maps are the main step from an Instinct to a fēnix. With them the watch shows where you are on a road and trail map, without a phone; without them it shows a breadcrumb line and a bearing. Maps come on the fēnix, Enduro and tactix, with one exception: the standard editions of the fēnix 8 AMOLED, with a stainless steel bezel and Gorilla Glass, have no maps, and the Sapphire editions do.

inReach satellite messaging and LTE

The fēnix 8 Pro and the inReach editions of the fēnix 9 Pro send and receive text messages by satellite where there is no mobile signal, and also connect to a mobile network on their own. Both need a paid plan. No other model here has either.

Sensors and health

Beyond the compass, altimeter and thermometer every model shares, the ECG app records a reading of the heart’s rhythm. It comes on the fēnix 7 Pro, fēnix 8, fēnix 9, Enduro, tactix 7 AMOLED and tactix 8, though Garmin does not list it for the tactix 8 Cerakote Edition, and not on any Instinct, the fēnix E, the tactix 7 or the tactix 7 Pro.

Smart features

The built-in torch, an LED in the top of the case, is on every fēnix but the fēnix E, on the Enduro, tactix and Instinct 3, and on the Instinct 2X Solar and Instinct Crossover AMOLED; the Instinct E, the Instinct 2 and 2 Solar and the standard and Solar Crossover have none. Contactless payments through Garmin Pay are on most models, but not on the Instinct E or the Instinct 2. Music storage, for playing to wireless headphones without a phone, comes on the fēnix, Enduro and tactix. A speaker and microphone, for calls through the phone and voice commands, are on the fēnix 8, fēnix 9 and tactix 8, which are also the models with dive features for recording depth and dive time.

Tactical features mean a stealth mode, which stops the watch sending signals, and a night vision mode for use with night vision goggles. They are on every tactix and on the Tactical Editions of the Instinct 3 and the Instinct Crossover.

Materials and lens

A sapphire lens is harder to scratch than glass. It is on every fēnix 9 and fēnix 9 Pro, the fēnix 8 Solar and Pro, the Sapphire editions of the fēnix 8 AMOLED, the fēnix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar editions, the Enduro, the tactix and the Instinct Crossover AMOLED. The other Instinct models and the fēnix E have glass lenses. Bezels are titanium on the fēnix 9, the fēnix 8 Solar and Pro, the fēnix 7 Pro Sapphire Solar, the Enduro and the tactix, stainless steel on the fēnix E, the standard fēnix 8 AMOLED and the fēnix 7X Pro Solar Edition, and polymer on the Instinct, with aluminium on the Instinct 3. The materials row names each family’s case, bezel and band, and the editions of a family that differ, such as a titanium bracelet or a leather band, show their own.

Price

Recommended retail prices run from £219.99 for the Instinct E to £1,399.99 for the fēnix 8 Pro MicroLED. Within a family, the largest case, a Sapphire edition, an inReach edition, a leather band or a titanium bracelet each add to the price. The category page shows each family’s lowest RRP; shop prices are often lower, and they will appear on the product pages once FairlyRanked lists offers.