Garmin Fenix 7: New sports smartwatch with more battery life and accurate GPS

Samuel J Tan Fitness Tecnology 0

We are not going to lie, this is an expensive watch. The flagship fitness smartwatch from Garmin with its super rugged stainless steel or titanium body and silicone strap may not impress any fashionista but underneath the hood, it has enough tech to track every sport there is, accurately.

The new Fenix 7 series, like the Fenix 6 is also available in three size, the small Fenix 7S, the medium Fenix 7 and the supersize and therefore longest lasting Fenix 7X. And like its predecessor, you get a choice of standard, solar powered or Sapphire Solar Edition. Plus the aforementioned choice between stainless steel or lighter titanium casing.

What’s new with the Fenix 7

Battery Life

The primary focus for this generation is battery life and better GPS. Smartwatch particularly sports smartwatches are plagued with low battery life especially when tracking outdoor with GPS enabled. Not so with Fenix 7. Thanks to solar charging and huge battery capacity, particularly that on the Fenix 7X, you can expect up to 122 hours of battery life. That’s a huge jump from around 60 hours.

With average use, you could get a whole months worth of battery life, just make sure you get the self charging solar model and use full GPS and multi-band GNSS modes moderately. Another way to prolong its battery life is to make sure you set it to the appropriate level of brightness.

GPS and Multi-band GNSS

As for GPS, the watch uses multi-band GNSS pushes GPS for better and more accurate tracking. When you are trekking, running, walking or riding, it will accurately map your route, calculate elevation and distance, quickly with its new route following tools.

Transflective Colour Touchscreen

Another useful feature is the colour touchscreen for easier control and access to tracking data. To avoid accidentally tapping on the screen during workout, the touch interface will automatically be disabled when you enable tracking for your workout.

The new transflective colour touchscreen is paired with physical buttons for maximum accessibility. The watch retains those chunky side buttons as per previous Fenix 6 so that is another improvement

The case sizes are 42mm, 47mm and 51mm as before, with three display sizes to match. These are the 1.2-inch (240 x 240 pixels), 1.3-inch (250 x 250 pixels) to the chart topping 1.4-inch (280 x 280 pixels) screen.

Push it Further

Choose the highest model and Garmin pulls out all the stops replacing the standard Gorilla Glass with Sapphire and adding solar charger. You end up with a fitness tracker that is both tough and self charging (Sapphire Solar Edition). Improvements to the combination of both hard Sapphire and solar charging sees Garmin increasing the solar charging yield up to 200%.

The Sapphire Solar Edition also offers choices of leather band or titanium band if you are willing to pay the extra. It will still include the swappable standard silicone straps with your purchase. It just means that you have spare interchangeable strap for different a different look and feel out of the box.

Fenix 7 Chestnut Leather Band

Fenix 7 vented titanium band

Track Everything

Fitness tracker is the name of the game, and Fenix 7 will track any sport you choose to take on. With plenty of performance parameters tracking and analysis, one might be overwhelmed with data, but bring data it will. With the widest range of activities including real time estimates of your stamina and visual race predictor, it is your best fitness pal.

Fitness aside, there is the health and wellness aspects that the Fenix watches are known for. Sleep and heart rate as well as VO2 Max and stamina plus historical data lets you understand your body even better.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, it comes down to how much you want to spend on a flagship fitness tracker. The price range is huge as with previous generations so set your budget and get the right Fenix 7 watch for you. Whichever model you pick, this do-it-all fitness and sports smartwatch has your back, be it for the occasional recreational use or for fitness fanatics.

Other Specifications of Interest