i love when garmin drops new watches, i always buy the reduced last generation and sell the one i have. So now i got a Epix Pro AND a Instinct 2x for less than the Fenix 8 costs. Sold my Epix (non pro) and Instinct 2 (non x). Instinct for OCR's or multiday trips and epix pro as a everyday driver for me the perfect team.
I really enjoy my Fenix 8 now, when it launched I wasn't quite happy with the lack of improvement from the last generation, I somehow still ended up buying it and upgrading from my Instinct 1 that I had for 4 years. I got the 47mm amoled black titanium version and it works amazing on the wrist, not too huge, not too bulky, just perfect. My only real issues I had with the watch was it crashing when saving activities which hasn't happened since the firmware update, and the lack of watch faces. Garmin did end up adding two more faces from the solar variant of the watch of which I've been using the portal face 24/7 since it became available. I'm extremely happy with my purchase, garmin fixed all problems I had with the watch and I wear it everyday.
It's not everything but the torch has proved itself so useful that many decide to never go back to a non torch watch after that. It could be the deciding factor. Those into EDC and carry a flashlight now get to combine two tools and stamping the EDC.
This, but Id add the epix to that. I had a 945 lte, 955, and 965. I have no desire to upgrade from the 965 even ignoring price. Factor in price, and it is nuts. I worry that the fenix 9 and 10 will not be able to offer much more. The door is wide wide open for apple to add more battery life to their watches, but I was surprised they skipped that on their newest release.
I bought the Fenix 8 and I love it 🙂 There were some bugs at the beginning, but nothing terrible. It seems to be all right now. It's very comfortable. I bought the 47 mm even though I have only 14 cm circumference wrist and I like the look and feel. I mostly wear it with the Ultrafit band. I have the titanium Carbon grey version which goes very well with any color of band. I don't wear any protection of the glass and I don't intend to. It's my first sapphire glass watch and I never put any protection even on the normal glass. I never had any problems before. No scratches there so far. I absolutely love the flashlight too 😀The watch also gives a very luxurious feel. I am happy that I could afford to buy it and I assume that it will be a great companion for the next couple of years.
@@Fozzee.1970 I thought so too until i found a great offer for the gorilla version. I looked into it to see if i was losing out a lot for the almost 100£ price drop, and turns out you don't. I must've read over 60-70 comments across reddit and by and large they are both really good. I was always going to get a protector anyway so it seems like you don't need the sapphire necessarily
I have worn Apple and Garmin. I have recently decided to go back or detach from tech watches and I now wear a mechanical watch and use the new Oura ring 4 to record my activity.
Honestly, I had two Apple Watches and everyone complains about Garmin not being smart watch enough. The most useful part of an AW was setting a timer hands free by saying Hey Siri. And glancing at texts but responding decently required getting my phone out. The timer setting on Garmin, as you described, is probably going to be useful when I get the Fenix 8. And I do like the quick start for activity you showed. But everyone that complains about AW vs Garmin smart functionality needs to reexamine how often they actually use those smart features.
Use it all the time, starting my car, unlocking my house, using it as a festival ticket, ordering a coffee, streaming music and being able to leave my phone at home, using the Nike run app and having a run coach in my ear, Ordering an uber. I can text back on iMessage, signal, messenger, etc just fine. I mean obviously not paragraphs of messages sure. Also for flying, I have every nearby airport to give me frequency, weather conditions, etc. Just sounds like you limited yourself to what it can do.
Due to the poor quality of the smart features of the Fenix 8 and the exorbitant price, I ended up returning them and buying the black ultra 2 and I'm very happy. Much better user experience
He means Apple watch ultra2- the issue with apple is actually not only the battery life-its the health experience-its scattered over so many apps , not talking to each other-small sampling of HRV unless u turn on. AFIB history-Apple can do better but they just don’t want to!
3:40 if you order the watch through Garmin you can choose to get a neutral color if the guard and even what kind of strap and color you get. I despise how so many reviewers keep complaining about a non-issue.
i still have the 7x pro ill stick to it for a while. but if i would have to get me one right now i would go with the enduro 3. on a budget and not being in the garmin ecosystem i would try out the amazfit t-rex 3. but man the flashlight is definetly a gamechanger. if you have tried it out you dont want to live without it.
These after a while reviews are the best! Congratulations! I totally agree about the sensor guard thing. I had a Fenix 6 silver and it had a tiny red accent at the start button. Even this hit my eye whenever I changer strap. Imagine the whole metal .This was the main reason I bought the Dlc febix 7 sapphire which has no colours
@@robhunt8378No. I’ve been an early adopter of other sports and smart watch companies and their products were set on day one. This is a well known Garmin problem. These are more than bugs. The watch was clearly not ready for release.
To be honest, dispite the marginal upgrades compared to an Epix2 Pro, it is the best and most complete smartwatch on the market. Even though I am not a diver, I do like this watch a lot. I chose an FR 965 over the Fenix 7 & Epix 2 Pro's. But wouldn't over the Fenix 8. The F8 has the nice 1.4" screen on a 47mm case, with nice small bezels.
Great video, as always. Well done! You have helped me make up my mind about upgrading. I still see nothing compelling (and this is of course for my use case) over and above the Fenix 6 series. My Fenix 6 pro solar is still pristine - battery lasts a week with half a dozen 1 hour walks/hikes thrown in - super easy to wear (7.5" wrist) - still really good looking (IMO) - love the Always On MIP display. And it does exactly everything I need from a tool/fitness watch and some. I guess I'll be waiting for the Series 9 or 10 or 11 - or when my 6 pro solar finally stops working.
I am a Fenix fan but I will admit that I have no need for the dive function or the speaker/microphone and don't really want to be paying quite a bit extra for something that I don't want. And Garmin does specific watches for for e.g. golfers, sailing, flying, and even marksmen, so why could they not pop the dive feature in a maritime watch rather than add it to what I would otherwise call their flagship sports watch? If I were to upgrade today I would definitely get the Enduro 3 rather than the Fenix 8.
I've had the Fenix 8 47mm titanium ambled for about 1 month coming from the original Apple Watch Ultra. I wore both just for fun and compare data. I rapidly saw that there was a problem with elevation data collected by the Fenix 8. I contacted the customer support. They asked me to clean-up the watch and manually calibrate the altimeter, nothing change. I had to do a few tests in workout modes (running, cycling and walking) with temperature recording on and off. They finally offer me an exchange yesterday and will get the new watch tomorrow (Friday the 25th). Funny fact, the kilometers (yes we do use km here in Montreal) are about 1,5% shorter on the Fenix 8 compared to the Apple Watch Ultra. Not a big deal, on a 10km run (just over 6miles), it's 150 meters.
I don’t know if you still remember, I changed my 6x pro to an Instinct 2x. I loved it, BUT, I liked the Fenix datafields, when I ran I like to see my HR by the top bezel, the Instinct doesn’t know this. Always had to push the buttons to check my HR zone. So I’ve decided near the 7x pro. That is a very very great watch, worths every penny so far. So my point is I wouldn’t give so much money for a recent appeared gadget. Thanks for the vidi.
@@bkkwithlove they aren’t removing the option but they run out of stock and you’ll have to wait for them to restock the case with the titanium sensor guard.
I think the Raw Titanium / Orange Band makes the watch. Like you, I wear it 24/7 and don't wear my 'expensive' watches anymore. I'd say feature for feature this is the best sports watch I have owned.
its funny that you mentioned the color on the raw titinum one. It was by accident that i discovered that the black model is the best because you can pair it with an infiniate amount of band combinations when i put on a chrome bezel cover on my 7x , so yeah i went with the black one.
The course navigation arrow on the map at the 7:59min mark is at the bottom of the screen. Have found that when navigating that the arrow is far too high on the map so you have reduced visibility of where you are heading and more visibility of where you have been. This reduces the benefits of navigating by the map.
Garmin do sell the Finex 8 47/51mm with a natural titanium guard but it’s now an out of stock item. They do tend to come in the dual wrist band packages.
Great video,glad you talk about the software issues. Indeed is better now, however there is a lot of work to do. Round trip courses if you not in the map page the turn prompts don't appear,the audio prompts most of the times are wrong, takes an eternity to rendering the map, gps lock takes a bunch of time, sometimes the only workaround is turn of an on the watch again and after that got a quick lock, sometimes trying to change mape layers or making a faster zoom out or in takes to a crash,in the dark the screen dims to much,if i connect my earphones with the watch to listen Spotify i receive to the audio prompts perfectly, however if in the next run i take the earphones connected with my phone i have to unpair from the watch, because even disconnected from the watch i ear the music but doesn't give me audio prompts. I have to unpair from the watch,save the activity and start another in order to get the audio prompts. If i have a course created and is stored on the watch when i open the map screen even if i don't doing the course,the course is there,i have to delete from the watch and the list goes on!and is not only my experience,is the experience of lots of users. However to follow a course created on Garmin connect,to do my normal runs,to get my daily health is spot on,works perfectly. I believe in a couple of months they will improve but this is a hot mess from 1100 euros,just my opinion. I'm paying to be a beta tester 😂
Never has an Apple watch nor a Coros watch fail so hard than any recently released Garmin (with one exception). Heck the Forerunner 955 was plagued with issues and quirks for around 6 months even on the older OS! At $1000 USD they should have a dialed in the OS before release regardless. Apple's watchOS is much more complicated and yet they deliver a consistently stable user experience even in their beta releases. Coros having a more streamlined OS rarely falters; even with their recent refresh. Garmin, for now, has lost my vote (and $$$) when a Coros can deliver consistent experience for less frustration and $. To give a Garmin a little credit their best all around the Instinct 2x has been the exception. The Instinct 2x is available at reasonable price point and steal when on sale. It delivers on battery, functionality and plethora of features while never being plagued with any significant software issues. But Garmin's do look great and effectively sell their hype at a premium.
I've had mine since release week, and out of the box has great luck with it, but after a few updates began having problems. About two days before Garmin published the most recent software update I'd just completed my first 50 mile Ultra, and after finishing and going to save my activity it crashed and rebooted. I was ticked! Luckily it saved the activity itself, but it didn't apply any of the actual stats from my run towards my metrics.. Fully agree on the color - I'm the same with that lime green, had it for my 955, was intending on swapping, but didn't go with the little orange plate
Cool video :) It would be interesting to see a comparison between fenix 8 and 965 from your angle. Any plan of doing it? Thanks, and hello from Sweden.
Timer (on Epix Gen2): I set a shortcut to the start button. Long press the start button, select the timer from the list using the down button and start it with start button. Easy.
Switch from Fenix 6 to FR965 last year and love it. Don't see any point why we need to pay the double price only for the look and the useless, non-intuitive new features. It's positioned as a sport watch, not a Apple watch, or a premium Swiss watch.
No electronic watch is worth that price IMO. It's kinda jarring how the user experience and the software robustness doesn't match the asking price. I'm a Garmin guy, mind you, but I'm more willing to forgive the quirks when the watch is around £220 like my 255. For over £1000, nop.
Full agree. I was lucky to get a very deep discount on my Epix pro and I gotta say I would not pay full price for it. Not at all. It’s terrific and I love it but it’s not worth close to $1500 dollars
I have LOVED my Fenix 7x, like LOVED it. And I have used Suunto, Coros and I wanted to buy into the hype train of this new Fenix and the future of the franchise... but it seems Garmin lost the plot... I am tempted buy the Enduro 3 at a cheaper price point and better HR sensor than the 2, but Fenix line feels like just highway robbery for the casual bystander of the higher end Garmins... But thanks for this vid!
The sensor guard does come in raw titanium, you have to do a BYOD and it's an option. I have a 51mm raw titanium front and cover for mine for this exact reason the orange looks great with the orange band but anything else it just looks off.
Great video as always! What do you think about the MIP version? I now the battery life is longer, but how do you feel about using it for the gym and outdoor activities like hiking and using the maps? Also, how the display looks inside and outside?
In talk about bands, have you ever tried comparing how different bands work with the watch? Does a fabric stretchy style band like watch steward help with better optical HR measurements? (its stretches so is easier to wear tighter which in theory could improve HR data)
My long term enduro 3 update: really wish there were no green accent/and it was a neutral color scheme as well. Also realized I really shouldn't care about longer battery life. I take the watch off to shower anyways. Maybe I should have gone AMOLED. Could just be FOMO since I havent tried AMOLED. Also the Fenix 8 47mm looks really sexy, love the bezel and how flat the watch looks.
I feel like the titanium bezel scratches more easily than stainless steel, both based on my experience and what I see in this video, especially when compared to the FR 965
Nop! The watch deems its screen in dark environments (e.g. night time) despite the setting in brightness you have. I have mine (Fenix 8 - 51 Amoled) in the highest brightness but in dark environments the screen deems so much that makes the watch almost unreadable, when i through light at it (e.g. with the torch of my iPhone) the screen comes back in max brightness and its super readable, crisp and bright.. after a while without the external light it deems back and it becomes again almost unreadable. The problem is mention by hundreds in Garmin forums, and also shown in some UA-cam videos. (Needles to say that i never had such an issue with my Fenix 7X or my Epix Pro 51 Amoled)
I don't personally have a solar version but I have reviewed the Enduro 3 which is basically the same thing. Realistically the Fenix 8 AMOLED and Solar watches are the same exact watch just with a different display. It's as simple as that!
Can I ask your advice directly please - would you buy right now the fenix 8 or forerunner 965? Does buying the fenix 8 future-proof the purchase more? 965 has been out a while now? WOuld really appreciate your thoughts. I think the flashlight is something I would use a lot.
The Fenix 8 will likely be more future proof but the 965 is still a "current" watch so it will continue to receive software updates. If I had to guess Garmin will refresh the 9XX series some time in the spring of 2025 (just a guess). The 965 is still one of my favorite Garmin watches though it strikes a great balance of size/weight/features and price. The Fenix 8 only has a few advantages like newer HR sensor, new software codebase, flashlight, and dive features.
If I have epix 2 gen2 do I need to upgrade @Chase the Summit .Not sure how long Epix will get new features compared to Fenix 8. It’s not getting Fenix 8 new UI
After a while of being annoyed by the orange sensor guard, I did see you can get the titanium sensor guard if you do the “design your own” on Garmin’s website. It is currently out of stock for titanium sensor guard but they’ll restock. I had the same issue for the Epix where I designed it, didn’t buy right away, they ran out of stock, then it came back in and I ordered the version I wanted.
@@ChaseTheSummit I really want this watch with titanium sensor guard and am waiting another paycheck or two. That design your own had better be in stock or I might risk voiding the warranty by doing a paint job or sand blast lol
So many people are upset about its smartwatch capabilities knowing damn well Apple is a closed eco system and that Garmin would need to partner with an Android OS phone manufacturer for better integration. Come on!
I'll be honest... I want the Garmin Fenix 8. I'm looking to upgrade from my Garmin Fenix 5 Plus which is almost 6 years old now. But I can get the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra for literally half the cost right now (on sale for around $500). I just wish the Fenix 8 was closer to the $799 it should be IMO. $1100 is overpriced.
Any whispers of an update to the Garmin Instinct line? That 2X tactical version has been on my wish list for a while… hate making a purchase if an update is eminent. 🤔
Hey! I’ve been wondering, after heavy use, do you notice scratches on the heart rate sensors of your Garmin watches? I tend to check mine, but I’m curious if you or other users even pay attention to it. Does it affect performance at all in your experience?
Just an assumption, but I feel like this Fenix 8 was rushed to beat the phantom 'Apple Watch Ultra 3' 🤣I'm still getting crashes on mine on the latest software but so glad that most of the original issues are fixed ❤ Let's goo 🔥
Thought about it, but paint typically doesn't stick to titanium/aluminum too well and would likely chip off easily. I think I'd rather just sand blast it or something for the raw titanium look. Don't want to void the warranty either!
Did you find any major differences between the epix pro gen 2 and the 8 ? Apart from the speaker and buttons of course. My epix pro gen 2 is 4 months old, of course i will not get the 8, there's no point, but I'm just curious about your opinion. Most reviews I've seen,would choose the epix pro over this one. What do you think?
Fenix 8 gets the Speaker / Mic, Dive Proof Buttons and Depth Sensor, and a bump in battery life at a hardware level. But the main advantage to Fenix 8 is the software / code base. It's been redesigned from the ground up to be more modern and efficient and will lead to additional features being added as time goes on via firmware updates. The Epix is still an awesome watch but it will not be getting the new software or new features that could potentially roll out down the road.
I had the Fenix 6s, Epix pro, Epix2 pro, it was stable, flawless, great autonomy. With the EXACT SAME apps / connected devices and settings than the Epix2pro, the fenix8 burns TWICE the battery / 24h, period. + The Garmin Pay is failing, updates are breaking my Fenix 8 settings, and so on and so on. NO, it's NOT worth it, even at half the price right now.
if garmin keeps this price when it releases the mini-led version of this watch, if it releases a mini-led version, then $1100 for the 47mm sapphire would be a good price
@ChaseTheSummit Yeah, they only had it for a couple of weeks. I first noticed it on UA-cam in the first days, called Garmin and after 30 minutes was finally told it's only in Europe as a standard option. It seems like a poor decision by Garmin. I saw one on eBay for 999 with the titanium band to buy now but it's gone. Maybe DC Rainmaker can get you one. 🙂
Just to add to this in case anyone sees it, my instinct solar couldn't track my heartrate or body battery correctly, it would just report that my stress levels were maxed all day every day, I would start and end days with 5% body battery no matter what I had done. So to have an accurate heart rate, sleep tracking, HRV tracking, GPS tracking I mean the instinct couldn't even track me going down a road properly, it was fine hiking though. I think it suffered with tree and building cover. It's a complete game changer so if you're looking to upgrade from an older watch, 100% worth it.
I don’t agree with your takeaway, if the watch is worth the price. It does not matter if you can afford it or if you take sports seriously. What matters is, what does the watch offer that justifies the price. Is it almost 2x better in any stat than a Fenix 7 Pro or 765 (accuracy, battery life etc) or does it have any features that you would spend 500$ to have them built into a cheaper watch.
It's still going to boil down to your opinion on the features and price. For example, if you absolutely NEED dive features the $1100 price tag may be easy to swallow considering other dive watches are much more expensive.
As mentioned I don't baby my watches and they get abused. The raw titanium is prone to superficial scratches because of the oxidation layer of the titanium. It's easily buffed out if it bothers you. For me, I don't mind the look even with some patina.
@@ChaseTheSummit Not yet an Garmin watch user but contemplating switching to one eventually, I was asking that from my Ultra perspective after 2 years of wearing (I am also somehow negligent with my watches unfortunately) . Meanwhile I read that Garmin is using Grade 2 while Apple, grade 5 and this can explain my dilemma about the scratches. Thanks for response. Looking forward to your videos ;)
is there a way to adjust the scroll up on the front to become default access to widget just like the previous generation? i dont want to scroll up and open notification
I would have bought a bazel protector for the watch. It looks pretty fu*ed up😬. I bought a bazel protector for my Fenix 7 after one month. Mine still looks great after 1,5 years
I came from Apple Watch to the Fenix 8 about 2 months ago, love it. Zero issues, zero bugs. Battery is great. It’s been awesome.
i love when garmin drops new watches, i always buy the reduced last generation and sell the one i have. So now i got a Epix Pro AND a Instinct 2x for less than the Fenix 8 costs. Sold my Epix (non pro) and Instinct 2 (non x). Instinct for OCR's or multiday trips and epix pro as a everyday driver for me the perfect team.
I really enjoy my Fenix 8 now, when it launched I wasn't quite happy with the lack of improvement from the last generation, I somehow still ended up buying it and upgrading from my Instinct 1 that I had for 4 years. I got the 47mm amoled black titanium version and it works amazing on the wrist, not too huge, not too bulky, just perfect. My only real issues I had with the watch was it crashing when saving activities which hasn't happened since the firmware update, and the lack of watch faces. Garmin did end up adding two more faces from the solar variant of the watch of which I've been using the portal face 24/7 since it became available. I'm extremely happy with my purchase, garmin fixed all problems I had with the watch and I wear it everyday.
Here is a thought. Do a head to head between the F8 and the 965. How much more do you actually get for double the price.
You get pretty, buggy, heavy and thus less HR accurate watch. The led light is worth the extra, right? RIGHT?!
It's not everything but the torch has proved itself so useful that many decide to never go back to a non torch watch after that. It could be the deciding factor. Those into EDC and carry a flashlight now get to combine two tools and stamping the EDC.
yesss i'm also currently deciding between these two
@@nmmsv do you need to make calls from the watch? If not, save your money and buy the FR965 and enjoy lighter watch with better battery life.
This, but Id add the epix to that. I had a 945 lte, 955, and 965. I have no desire to upgrade from the 965 even ignoring price. Factor in price, and it is nuts. I worry that the fenix 9 and 10 will not be able to offer much more. The door is wide wide open for apple to add more battery life to their watches, but I was surprised they skipped that on their newest release.
Love my Fenix 8 51mm Oled black saphire
Great battery life, great display
I bought the Fenix 8 and I love it 🙂 There were some bugs at the beginning, but nothing terrible. It seems to be all right now. It's very comfortable. I bought the 47 mm even though I have only 14 cm circumference wrist and I like the look and feel. I mostly wear it with the Ultrafit band. I have the titanium Carbon grey version which goes very well with any color of band. I don't wear any protection of the glass and I don't intend to. It's my first sapphire glass watch and I never put any protection even on the normal glass. I never had any problems before. No scratches there so far. I absolutely love the flashlight too 😀The watch also gives a very luxurious feel. I am happy that I could afford to buy it and I assume that it will be a great companion for the next couple of years.
You don't need protection on the sapphire glass.
@@Fozzee.1970 I thought so too until i found a great offer for the gorilla version. I looked into it to see if i was losing out a lot for the almost 100£ price drop, and turns out you don't. I must've read over 60-70 comments across reddit and by and large they are both really good. I was always going to get a protector anyway so it seems like you don't need the sapphire necessarily
I'd never thought that I would use a flashlight so often 😁
Bought the Epix Gen 2 about a month back, during Amazon's Prime Day for 400. So worth it!
If a fenix MicroLED release I might pull the trigger for it. For now I’m sticking to the 7x pro. Great content as always Chasethesummit !
I have worn Apple and Garmin. I have recently decided to go back or detach from tech watches and I now wear a mechanical watch and use the new Oura ring 4 to record my activity.
Honestly, I had two Apple Watches and everyone complains about Garmin not being smart watch enough. The most useful part of an AW was setting a timer hands free by saying Hey Siri. And glancing at texts but responding decently required getting my phone out. The timer setting on Garmin, as you described, is probably going to be useful when I get the Fenix 8. And I do like the quick start for activity you showed. But everyone that complains about AW vs Garmin smart functionality needs to reexamine how often they actually use those smart features.
100%!
i use smart home on AW. Not gonna lie, i'm missing my Garmin
Use it all the time, starting my car, unlocking my house, using it as a festival ticket, ordering a coffee, streaming music and being able to leave my phone at home, using the Nike run app and having a run coach in my ear, Ordering an uber. I can text back on iMessage, signal, messenger, etc just fine. I mean obviously not paragraphs of messages sure. Also for flying, I have every nearby airport to give me frequency, weather conditions, etc.
Just sounds like you limited yourself to what it can do.
Due to the poor quality of the smart features of the Fenix 8 and the exorbitant price, I ended up returning them and buying the black ultra 2 and I'm very happy. Much better user experience
Which one do you mean with black ultra 2?
He means Apple watch ultra2- the issue with apple is actually not only the battery life-its the health experience-its scattered over so many apps , not talking to each other-small sampling of HRV unless u turn on. AFIB history-Apple can do better but they just don’t want to!
3:40 if you order the watch through Garmin you can choose to get a neutral color if the guard and even what kind of strap and color you get. I despise how so many reviewers keep complaining about a non-issue.
That option no longer exists on Garmins website
I love the accent color on the sensor guard!
i still have the 7x pro ill stick to it for a while. but if i would have to get me one right now i would go with the enduro 3. on a budget and not being in the garmin ecosystem i would try out the amazfit t-rex 3. but man the flashlight is definetly a gamechanger. if you have tried it out you dont want to live without it.
These after a while reviews are the best! Congratulations! I totally agree about the sensor guard thing. I had a Fenix 6 silver and it had a tiny red accent at the start button. Even this hit my eye whenever I changer strap. Imagine the whole metal .This was the main reason I bought the Dlc febix 7 sapphire which has no colours
Great review, thanks Dave.
Still happy with my fenix 6 after 4 years and with current prices I don’t see w need to change, still have all major functionalities
That’s why I’m getting it in black.
Beta testing loyal customers until the Fenix 9 with a huge price hike. It's the Garmin way.
Early adopters will get what they deserve until they learn their lesson. Which is probably never.
@@robhunt8378No. I’ve been an early adopter of other sports and smart watch companies and their products were set on day one. This is a well known Garmin problem. These are more than bugs. The watch was clearly not ready for release.
I am loving mine going for a dive next week to test out the diving functions
Bring a real diving monitor! Will save your life
@@BilloBob1231 lol sure
I’m not a scuba diver but I’m thinking about doing snorkeling. Do you know how the snorkeling function works?
To be honest, dispite the marginal upgrades compared to an Epix2 Pro, it is the best and most complete smartwatch on the market.
Even though I am not a diver, I do like this watch a lot. I chose an FR 965 over the Fenix 7 & Epix 2 Pro's. But wouldn't over the Fenix 8. The F8 has the nice 1.4" screen on a 47mm case, with nice small bezels.
Great video, as always. Well done! You have helped me make up my mind about upgrading. I still see nothing compelling (and this is of course for my use case) over and above the Fenix 6 series. My Fenix 6 pro solar is still pristine - battery lasts a week with half a dozen 1 hour walks/hikes thrown in - super easy to wear (7.5" wrist) - still really good looking (IMO) - love the Always On MIP display. And it does exactly everything I need from a tool/fitness watch and some. I guess I'll be waiting for the Series 9 or 10 or 11 - or when my 6 pro solar finally stops working.
On my titanium fenix 8 it has the titanium silver cover and initially I was disapointed it wasnt Orange but over time im glad I got this version :)
I’ve been loving mine.
Big up for all the fenix 8 beta testers! Thank you for sll your hard work
You just need to pay 1200€ for that pleasure. 😂😂😂
I am a Fenix fan but I will admit that I have no need for the dive function or the speaker/microphone and don't really want to be paying quite a bit extra for something that I don't want. And Garmin does specific watches for for e.g. golfers, sailing, flying, and even marksmen, so why could they not pop the dive feature in a maritime watch rather than add it to what I would otherwise call their flagship sports watch? If I were to upgrade today I would definitely get the Enduro 3 rather than the Fenix 8.
Can we get an update on the T-Rex 3? Thanks for the work brother.
Stay tuned!
I've had the Fenix 8 47mm titanium ambled for about 1 month coming from the original Apple Watch Ultra. I wore both just for fun and compare data. I rapidly saw that there was a problem with elevation data collected by the Fenix 8. I contacted the customer support. They asked me to clean-up the watch and manually calibrate the altimeter, nothing change. I had to do a few tests in workout modes (running, cycling and walking) with temperature recording on and off. They finally offer me an exchange yesterday and will get the new watch tomorrow (Friday the 25th).
Funny fact, the kilometers (yes we do use km here in Montreal) are about 1,5% shorter on the Fenix 8 compared to the Apple Watch Ultra. Not a big deal, on a 10km run (just over 6miles), it's 150 meters.
I don’t know if you still remember, I changed my 6x pro to an Instinct 2x. I loved it, BUT, I liked the Fenix datafields, when I ran I like to see my HR by the top bezel, the Instinct doesn’t know this. Always had to push the buttons to check my HR zone. So I’ve decided near the 7x pro. That is a very very great watch, worths every penny so far. So my point is I wouldn’t give so much money for a recent appeared gadget. Thanks for the vidi.
Thank you for sharing. Garnin is now offering custom options with the Fenix 8. You can get silver Ti color on the sensor guard.
Where are you seeing that? I only see the ability to purchase a different band.
@@ChaseTheSummit I guess Garmin just removed that option. I saw the option for a couple weeks on the link.
@@bkkwithlove they aren’t removing the option but they run out of stock and you’ll have to wait for them to restock the case with the titanium sensor guard.
In the UK this colour scheme is an option, but only if you purchase with one of the options with a special band (for an extra few hundred 🤑🤑🤑)
@@bufferino7880 I see. I saw that option on the site for a few weeks.
I think the Raw Titanium / Orange Band makes the watch. Like you, I wear it 24/7 and don't wear my 'expensive' watches anymore. I'd say feature for feature this is the best sports watch I have owned.
Thanks allot for sharing your experience
its funny that you mentioned the color on the raw titinum one.
It was by accident that i discovered that the black model is the best because you can pair it with an infiniate amount of band combinations when i put on a chrome bezel cover on my 7x , so yeah i went with the black one.
Thank you for this video, this is the content I was looking forward to watching :-)
The course navigation arrow on the map at the 7:59min mark is at the bottom of the screen. Have found that when navigating that the arrow is far too high on the map so you have reduced visibility of where you are heading and more visibility of where you have been. This reduces the benefits of navigating by the map.
Garmin do sell the Finex 8 47/51mm with a natural titanium guard but it’s now an out of stock item. They do tend to come in the dual wrist band packages.
Great video,glad you talk about the software issues. Indeed is better now, however there is a lot of work to do. Round trip courses if you not in the map page the turn prompts don't appear,the audio prompts most of the times are wrong, takes an eternity to rendering the map, gps lock takes a bunch of time, sometimes the only workaround is turn of an on the watch again and after that got a quick lock, sometimes trying to change mape layers or making a faster zoom out or in takes to a crash,in the dark the screen dims to much,if i connect my earphones with the watch to listen Spotify i receive to the audio prompts perfectly, however if in the next run i take the earphones connected with my phone i have to unpair from the watch, because even disconnected from the watch i ear the music but doesn't give me audio prompts. I have to unpair from the watch,save the activity and start another in order to get the audio prompts. If i have a course created and is stored on the watch when i open the map screen even if i don't doing the course,the course is there,i have to delete from the watch and the list goes on!and is not only my experience,is the experience of lots of users. However to follow a course created on Garmin connect,to do my normal runs,to get my daily health is spot on,works perfectly. I believe in a couple of months they will improve but this is a hot mess from 1100 euros,just my opinion. I'm paying to be a beta tester 😂
Never has an Apple watch nor a Coros watch fail so hard than any recently released Garmin (with one exception). Heck the Forerunner 955 was plagued with issues and quirks for around 6 months even on the older OS!
At $1000 USD they should have a dialed in the OS before release regardless. Apple's watchOS is much more complicated and yet they deliver a consistently stable user experience even in their beta releases. Coros having a more streamlined OS rarely falters; even with their recent refresh.
Garmin, for now, has lost my vote (and $$$) when a Coros can deliver consistent experience for less frustration and $.
To give a Garmin a little credit their best all around the Instinct 2x has been the exception. The Instinct 2x is available at reasonable price point and steal when on sale. It delivers on battery, functionality and plethora of features while never being plagued with any significant software issues.
But Garmin's do look great and effectively sell their hype at a premium.
I've had mine since release week, and out of the box has great luck with it, but after a few updates began having problems. About two days before Garmin published the most recent software update I'd just completed my first 50 mile Ultra, and after finishing and going to save my activity it crashed and rebooted. I was ticked! Luckily it saved the activity itself, but it didn't apply any of the actual stats from my run towards my metrics..
Fully agree on the color - I'm the same with that lime green, had it for my 955, was intending on swapping, but didn't go with the little orange plate
Some folks on interweb have spied a soon to be released Coros on Dave’s wrist in this video.
But where?! 👀
@@ChaseTheSummit It was showing up in a coros reddit thread yesterday. It is on the internet...it must be true...lol.
Cool video :) It would be interesting to see a comparison between fenix 8 and 965 from your angle. Any plan of doing it? Thanks, and hello from Sweden.
Timer (on Epix Gen2): I set a shortcut to the start button. Long press the start button, select the timer from the list using the down button and start it with start button. Easy.
That guard reason is why I exchanged my orange for the black watch
Switch from Fenix 6 to FR965 last year and love it. Don't see any point why we need to pay the double price only for the look and the useless, non-intuitive new features. It's positioned as a sport watch, not a Apple watch, or a premium Swiss watch.
No electronic watch is worth that price IMO. It's kinda jarring how the user experience and the software robustness doesn't match the asking price. I'm a Garmin guy, mind you, but I'm more willing to forgive the quirks when the watch is around £220 like my 255. For over £1000, nop.
Full agree. I was lucky to get a very deep discount on my Epix pro and I gotta say I would not pay full price for it. Not at all. It’s terrific and I love it but it’s not worth close to $1500 dollars
Would say the GPS accuracy and reliability as good as Coros Vertix 2s?
Garmin knew what they were doing. Rush it to prod and fix it in post. Almost got one but the bugs made me pause.
4:50 that’s why I decided to spend more and go with the version with leather band as than the guard is silver = neutral color
I wonder if Marketing is responsible for the orange sensor strip cover
Copy Apple watch ultra orange accent
I have LOVED my Fenix 7x, like LOVED it. And I have used Suunto, Coros and I wanted to buy into the hype train of this new Fenix and the future of the franchise... but it seems Garmin lost the plot... I am tempted buy the Enduro 3 at a cheaper price point and better HR sensor than the 2, but Fenix line feels like just highway robbery for the casual bystander of the higher end Garmins...
But thanks for this vid!
The sensor guard does come in raw titanium, you have to do a BYOD and it's an option. I have a 51mm raw titanium front and cover for mine for this exact reason the orange looks great with the orange band but anything else it just looks off.
That option appears to be gone now for some reason.
This orange piece was the reason I chose the black version. I like raw titanium better tho
Great video as always! What do you think about the MIP version? I now the battery life is longer, but how do you feel about using it for the gym and outdoor activities like hiking and using the maps? Also, how the display looks inside and outside?
I just sold my Garmin EPIX Gen 2 47MM Sapphire on eBay for $330. There are plenty of others for under $400.
In talk about bands, have you ever tried comparing how different bands work with the watch? Does a fabric stretchy style band like watch steward help with better optical HR measurements? (its stretches so is easier to wear tighter which in theory could improve HR data)
My long term enduro 3 update: really wish there were no green accent/and it was a neutral color scheme as well. Also realized I really shouldn't care about longer battery life. I take the watch off to shower anyways. Maybe I should have gone AMOLED. Could just be FOMO since I havent tried AMOLED.
Also the Fenix 8 47mm looks really sexy, love the bezel and how flat the watch looks.
I feel like the titanium bezel scratches more easily than stainless steel, both based on my experience and what I see in this video, especially when compared to the FR 965
Is the speaker loud enough to have a phone conversation while riding a bicycle? If not, I will go Enduro probably…when my 5 plus gets too old.
If you hold it up to your ear yes. It's really not very loud, I wish it was louder.
The aggressive deeming screen during the night remains a HUGE problem. Watch is almost unusable! It’s a pity!
Not sure what you're talking about? Are you talking about Night / Sleep mode? That can be turned off.
Nop! The watch deems its screen in dark environments (e.g. night time) despite the setting in brightness you have. I have mine (Fenix 8 - 51 Amoled) in the highest brightness but in dark environments the screen deems so much that makes the watch almost unreadable, when i through light at it (e.g. with the torch of my iPhone) the screen comes back in max brightness and its super readable, crisp and bright.. after a while without the external light it deems back and it becomes again almost unreadable. The problem is mention by hundreds in Garmin forums, and also shown in some UA-cam videos. (Needles to say that i never had such an issue with my Fenix 7X or my Epix Pro 51 Amoled)
Totally agree with the guard color, Garmin messed up here, they want us to buy different straps but they have this orange guard, bad design choice
when will it be a review of the Solar version? Why Garmin doesnt want us to see any review over the internet of the Solar version? why?
I don't personally have a solar version but I have reviewed the Enduro 3 which is basically the same thing. Realistically the Fenix 8 AMOLED and Solar watches are the same exact watch just with a different display. It's as simple as that!
Can I ask your advice directly please - would you buy right now the fenix 8 or forerunner 965? Does buying the fenix 8 future-proof the purchase more? 965 has been out a while now? WOuld really appreciate your thoughts. I think the flashlight is something I would use a lot.
The Fenix 8 will likely be more future proof but the 965 is still a "current" watch so it will continue to receive software updates. If I had to guess Garmin will refresh the 9XX series some time in the spring of 2025 (just a guess). The 965 is still one of my favorite Garmin watches though it strikes a great balance of size/weight/features and price. The Fenix 8 only has a few advantages like newer HR sensor, new software codebase, flashlight, and dive features.
@@ChaseTheSummit thank you very much for your response. What size did you go for? 51mm just seems huge so thinking 47mm?
If I have epix 2 gen2 do I need to upgrade @Chase the Summit .Not sure how long Epix will get new features compared to Fenix 8. It’s not getting Fenix 8 new UI
Unpopular opinion: Please do a two months later for the Amazfit T Rex 3 you made me buy over the Fenix 8 :)
@@mrbyam64 coming soon!
I have the same model. The orange accent bothered me so I took a Dremel and polished it down to bare metal, it looks way better now
Enduro 3 or fenix 7x pro?
really wish they would have kept the 1.3 inch display and just made the watch itself slightly smaller, probably nitpicking but just my two sense
Do you plan video t rex 3 VS fenix 8 after 2 months ?
What parts of the running app on the watch do you like best. Do you custom build out your watch faces? What data points do you use, if so?
After a while of being annoyed by the orange sensor guard, I did see you can get the titanium sensor guard if you do the “design your own” on Garmin’s website. It is currently out of stock for titanium sensor guard but they’ll restock. I had the same issue for the Epix where I designed it, didn’t buy right away, they ran out of stock, then it came back in and I ordered the version I wanted.
I even thought I might try unscrewing it and sand blasting the finish off lol.
@@ChaseTheSummit I really want this watch with titanium sensor guard and am waiting another paycheck or two. That design your own had better be in stock or I might risk voiding the warranty by doing a paint job or sand blast lol
i have the solar fenix and the battery is so good i forget that it has to be charged until it starts ringing an alert lol
So many people are upset about its smartwatch capabilities knowing damn well Apple is a closed eco system and that Garmin would need to partner with an Android OS phone manufacturer for better integration. Come on!
I'll be honest... I want the Garmin Fenix 8. I'm looking to upgrade from my Garmin Fenix 5 Plus which is almost 6 years old now. But I can get the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra for literally half the cost right now (on sale for around $500). I just wish the Fenix 8 was closer to the $799 it should be IMO. $1100 is overpriced.
Any whispers of an update to the Garmin Instinct line? That 2X tactical version has been on my wish list for a while… hate making a purchase if an update is eminent. 🤔
There were some rumors a while back but nothing since then!
Is there a difference between the HR and other sensors between this and the 6?
Hey! I’ve been wondering, after heavy use, do you notice scratches on the heart rate sensors of your Garmin watches? I tend to check mine, but I’m curious if you or other users even pay attention to it. Does it affect performance at all in your experience?
Haven’t noticed any issues. The new Gen 5 sensor uses glass rather than the epoxy sensors on the gen 4 I think that helps a bit!
Just an assumption, but I feel like this Fenix 8 was rushed to beat the phantom 'Apple Watch Ultra 3' 🤣I'm still getting crashes on mine on the latest software but so glad that most of the original issues are fixed ❤ Let's goo 🔥
What situations cause crashes? I'd like to try to replicate it!
Undo those 2 screws holding the orange plate, apply neon yellow enamel, done. 👍 Oh, and the 51mm version is $1600 in my country. Insanity.
Thought about it, but paint typically doesn't stick to titanium/aluminum too well and would likely chip off easily. I think I'd rather just sand blast it or something for the raw titanium look. Don't want to void the warranty either!
Plate faces would have been cool like different colors to swap from.
Did you find any major differences between the epix pro gen 2 and the 8 ? Apart from the speaker and buttons of course. My epix pro gen 2 is 4 months old, of course i will not get the 8, there's no point, but I'm just curious about your opinion. Most reviews I've seen,would choose the epix pro over this one. What do you think?
Fenix 8 gets the Speaker / Mic, Dive Proof Buttons and Depth Sensor, and a bump in battery life at a hardware level. But the main advantage to Fenix 8 is the software / code base. It's been redesigned from the ground up to be more modern and efficient and will lead to additional features being added as time goes on via firmware updates. The Epix is still an awesome watch but it will not be getting the new software or new features that could potentially roll out down the road.
@@ChaseTheSummit thank you!!!
Thank you @chasethesummit for the update, good to know that the sapphire version of the watch doesn't get any scratches!! Confirm? 😅
No scratches on the screen yet!
Can you make a video how takecare the watch how we can cleaned and that we can use, it’s safe to use cleaning some chemicals?
I wouldn't use anything harsh. I personally just wash mine with hand soap or take it in the shower with me.
What are those great sunglasses at the beginning of the video? Thanks
Shady Ray Cayman!
Bro The other Watch ? Is a New coros?
Looks like the new Polar M3
In which clips? There's the Polar M3 and Google Pixel Watch in some.
@@ol5ke oh thanks
@@ChaseTheSummit Thanks for the clarification. It looked like a pace, maybe when I saw it on the phone I didn't see it well, thanks
I think you mean at 0:56?
I had the Fenix 6s, Epix pro, Epix2 pro, it was stable, flawless, great autonomy. With the EXACT SAME apps / connected devices and settings than the Epix2pro, the fenix8 burns TWICE the battery / 24h, period. + The Garmin Pay is failing, updates are breaking my Fenix 8 settings, and so on and so on. NO, it's NOT worth it, even at half the price right now.
I am waiting to see if I get epic or fenix8.
Just buy the Enduro 3 and you are good to go for the next years
If you don't mind MIP displays
on the epix the flashlight has issues id you're using a non garmin watch face, double tap doesn't work well, not sure if the 8 is the same.
Haven't noticed that on the Fenix 8!
I have fenix 8 47 solar and the battery does 12-14 days without using gps
if garmin keeps this price when it releases the mini-led version of this watch, if it releases a mini-led version, then $1100 for the 47mm sapphire would be a good price
That's true, Garmin should use neutral colour on its side. I do not like it,either.
I got the build your own with the titanium guard. I don't like the orange, either.
That option seems to have been removed from Garmins site.
@ChaseTheSummit Yeah, they only had it for a couple of weeks. I first noticed it on UA-cam in the first days, called Garmin and after 30 minutes was finally told it's only in Europe as a standard option. It seems like a poor decision by Garmin. I saw one on eBay for 999 with the titanium band to buy now but it's gone. Maybe DC Rainmaker can get you one. 🙂
Upgraded from my old, old instinct solar to an enduro 3 and I can't believe how inaccurate the instinct was.
Just to add to this in case anyone sees it, my instinct solar couldn't track my heartrate or body battery correctly, it would just report that my stress levels were maxed all day every day, I would start and end days with 5% body battery no matter what I had done. So to have an accurate heart rate, sleep tracking, HRV tracking, GPS tracking I mean the instinct couldn't even track me going down a road properly, it was fine hiking though. I think it suffered with tree and building cover. It's a complete game changer so if you're looking to upgrade from an older watch, 100% worth it.
I don’t agree with your takeaway, if the watch is worth the price. It does not matter if you can afford it or if you take sports seriously. What matters is, what does the watch offer that justifies the price. Is it almost 2x better in any stat than a Fenix 7 Pro or 765 (accuracy, battery life etc) or does it have any features that you would spend 500$ to have them built into a cheaper watch.
It's still going to boil down to your opinion on the features and price. For example, if you absolutely NEED dive features the $1100 price tag may be easy to swallow considering other dive watches are much more expensive.
Is it from light cause looks like there's a lot of scratches on that titanium for just 2 months of wearing...
As mentioned I don't baby my watches and they get abused. The raw titanium is prone to superficial scratches because of the oxidation layer of the titanium. It's easily buffed out if it bothers you. For me, I don't mind the look even with some patina.
@@ChaseTheSummit Not yet an Garmin watch user but contemplating switching to one eventually, I was asking that from my Ultra perspective after 2 years of wearing (I am also somehow negligent with my watches unfortunately) . Meanwhile I read that Garmin is using Grade 2 while Apple, grade 5 and this can explain my dilemma about the scratches.
Thanks for response. Looking forward to your videos ;)
I order my but it taking forever the delivery 3 to 4 weeks G-8 51mm orange
is there a way to adjust the scroll up on the front to become default access to widget just like the previous generation? i dont want to scroll up and open notification
Yup, the notification scroll up thing can be turned off.
What about scratches ?
I would have bought a bazel protector for the watch. It looks pretty fu*ed up😬. I bought a bazel protector for my Fenix 7 after one month. Mine still looks great after 1,5 years
I don't mind the dings. Gives it charecter!
@@ChaseTheSummit oh ok🤪. It nevertheless shouldn’t be. I think an Apple Watch Ultra (which I would never change for my Garmin) is more durable
Mips or AMOLED ???
That's up to you! I prefer AMOLED these days.