Watch - April 2, 2020

A look at the Garmin range of GPS watches - model comparison

When you first look at purchasing a GPS watch it can be a bit of a minefield.

Therefore, when looking at the Garmin range of GPS watches there are a number of things you need to consider.

I hope this review breaks it down nice and easy into the key points to look at and take into consideration when thinking about the Garmin range of GPS watches.

To summarise what is covered in the video the key things to look at and consider when looking at a GPS watch are –

Heart rate monitoring - GPS watch

All the GPS Watches featured in this video measure your heart rate from your wrist, this gets stored in the saved track data so you can see where in your activity where your heart rate was highest and what it was.

Oxygen levels monitoring - GPS watch

Do all Garmin GPS watches measure the blood Oxygen levels?

1. The Garmin Fenix 6 GPS units also measure your blood Oxygen levels from your wrist, this is great when mountain climbing at high altitude.

2. You don’t get this option of the Garmin Instinct watches.

Mapping options on an outdoor GPS watch

What mapping options are available on a Garmin GPS watch?

1. The Garmin Fenix 6 range comes pre-loaded with TOPO Active mapping. This is a proper digital map so as you zoom in you get more detail and as you zoom out you get less.

2. Again you don’t get TOPO Active Maps on the Garmin Instinct range

Build quality of the case on a GPS watch

GPS watches come with a number of bezel options, these are -

1. Stainless Steel – Base model, can be damaged if climbing, scrambling etc

2. Titanium – Harder wearing and lighter.

3. Diamond Like Carbon, coated Titanium – Very hardy, should never get damaged and still very light.

Then you need to look at the screen options that are available on a Garmin GPS watch

What are the screen options on a Garmin GPS watch?

1. Glass – Can get scratch and broken

2. Gorilla Glass – Very hardy and scratch-resistant

3. Sapphire – Chemically bonded and truly stunning, very hard to scratch or break

Accuracy of the GPS watch when navigating with it

What is the accuracy on a Garmin GPS watch?

1. All new generation GPS watches use both the US and Russian Satellite types

2. Newer models (Fenix 6 onwards) also use the European Galileo satellites which increase accuracy by 100%

Smartwatch capabilities - Garmin GPS watch

Are Garmin GPS watches both a smartwatch as well as a navigational aid?

1. As you will be wearing the watch every day you now have a smartwatch on your wrist, when paired with your phone you will now get all your phone notifications (from apps etc) on the watch. Don’t worry you can choose to switch this off if you want to.

Battery Life – Outdoor GPS Watch

What is the battery life on a Garmin GPS watch?

1. Garmin GPS Watch – 14 days as smartwatch, 36 hours when using GPS built can be put in Expedition mode to increase this to 72 hours. Garmin also do a x version of the Garmin Fenix 6, this is a slightly larger GPS watch with an increased battery life (1/3 extra time).

2. The Garmin Fenix 6 models have a great battery feature that now tells you how long your battery is going to last (in time) and then you can switch off certain aspects you feel you don’t need and see your battery life increase.

3. With the Garmin Fenix 6 there is a solar option, the solar panel is built into the screen and helps top up the battery.

If you have any questions before you purchase a GPS watch please do get in touch.