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ToolsThe Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar falls into its own class of smartwatches and while it ’ second surely utilitarian for sports and fitness, it ’ south well described as an adventure determine. It ’ s designed for the gymnasium but besides for surfing, for research and rescue, land nav, and hiking the appalachian Trail. needle to say, it ’ s built to be tough. Garmin claims the addition of solar charge will squeeze in a few supernumerary days of charge for days where outlets aren ’ thymine accessible .
The fenix 6 Pro solar represents the top-of-the-line of Garmin smartwatches. With an MSRP of $ 799, the Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar is one of the costly sport smartwatches on the market. That ’ s precisely why I chose it to review : I wanted to see what a about $ 800 smartwatch has to offer .
Unboxing
Garmin ships the fenix 6 Pro Solar in a small cube-like box and packs in a hefty teaching manual, the watch, and a charging cable. It ’ s a boastful determine that isn ’ triiodothyronine shy about being big. It ’ s not objectionable by any means. You can get a 42mm or 47 millimeter subject, and both provide a decent, big display. The 62-grain weight international relations and security network ’ t a boat anchor by any means, and for its size and capability, it ’ mho quite light.
I charged the determine to 100 percentage prior to firing it up. Setup didn ’ t take much fourth dimension at all. Unlike early smartwatches, you can set up the Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar without a smartphone, but you get the most juice per hug with a smartphone. After about 10 minutes, I was amply set up and had customized the watch for my needs .
I don ’ t surf, ski, or mountain climb, but I do respective workouts, run, raise, and walk, and the alike, so I besides included the ‘ tactical ’ manner for its low-key GPS capabilities. The included silicone band is super comfortable and stretchable and never felt uncomfortable, and the watch never felt heavy either .
Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar (Travis Pike)
The screen is a transflective LCD display that is identical easy to see in undimmed light. An extra button activates a backlight that allows it to be used in low-light situations. The light ’ randomness bright, excessively. many times at night, I navigate to my toilet using the watch ’ randomness lighter !
The Garmin app memory allows you to load respective watch faces and aftermarket apps to the fenix 6 Pro Solar. Thirty-two gig of onboard memory allow you to add maps, apps, and music. I immediately gave it a Pip-Boy theme from the Fallout serial of games to spice it up a morsel. I mean, seeing as how it provides a map and a twelve different health metrics, I figure it ’ sulfur basically a real-life Pip-Boy anyhow .
In the look department, it ’ mho distinctly a sport-based determine. It wouldn ’ thymine look bang-up at an event that requires a black link, but in 99 percentage of situations, it looks fine. It ’ randomness not deoxyadenosine monophosphate objectionable as a G-shock can be, but it won ’ thymine be mistaken for a visualize dress watch by any means .
How we tested the Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar
Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar (Travis Pike)
I used the sin out of it ! I ’ ve worn the Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar now for two months and used it day by day in that time. I ’ ve worked out with it, walked with, run with it, and generally adventured with it. I ’ ve tested the versatile capabilities to the extent that I could .
first and foremost, take the prison term to set this thing up. There are indeed many diverse options and customizations you can do to make the fenix 6 yours, that it ’ mho worth the time it takes to set up. The include manual can help, but Googling what you want to know takes you to Reddit or Garmin, and they typically answer the interview faster than it takes to dig out the paper manual .
The Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar is packed with features and apps, hera ’ s a list of the apps and features I used most .
- Sport Specific Tracking for miles ran, reps completed, etc.
- Body Battery Measurements for Stress and Recovery
- Advanced Sleep Monitoring
- Turn By Turn Navigation
- Spotify and Amazon music apps
- Smart Notifications
- Tactical Mode
This is just a partial derivative list of the apps, maps, and more the Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar is capable of .
The fenix 6 Pro Solar can be reasonably intimidate, and at first, it seems gawky. I was so use to touch screens that I got angry cursorily at the five-button setup. Luckily, I learned it quite quickly and was able to get my watch set up just perfect in the first few days .
For the first week, I walked around like a peanut with a watch on each wrist. I kept the smartwatch I ’ d be using for a couple of years on one wrist and the Garmin on the other. This way, I could compare measurements and see if there was a drastic difference. During workouts, I besides wore a chest-mounted heart proctor for a few workouts to compare the results. The fenix 6 Pro Solar provided measurements about wholly in line with my former smartwatch. Steps, sleeping, workouts, calories burned, etc., were the same. thus if it ’ second inaccurate, so is my previous watch .
Compared to the heart monitor, however, I only noticed a flimsy gap in how fast the watch read my affection rate, and that break existed between the fenix 6 Pro Solar and my own original smartwatch. This is to say that, if I was working out and my affection monitor said 135, my watches would say 115 to 120 for about 10 seconds before they caught up with the 135 measurements from my heart monitor. When my center rate slowed down, the watches would report an raised rate for approximately 10 seconds longer than the heart admonisher. not a boastful bargain, but it ’ mho worth note .
What we like about the Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar
Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar (Travis Pike)
I freakin ’ love the display. It ’ mho clear and easy to see and doesn ’ thyroxine command constant backlighting. In normal lighter situations, I can see the expose without offspring. It ’ randomness clear and comfortable to read. evening when full of information, the big display makes it easy to read .
One of the neatest features is the soundbox battery measurement. Garmin combines a wide diverseness of measurements, including stress, sleep, physical activity, and more, to generate one measurement called your consistency battery. This 0 to 100 measurement gives you a snapshot of your current condition. I ’ m writing this at 9:30 ante meridiem, and my body battery is 63. I surely feel like I ’ m a 63 because my sleep sucked due to some annoyance from an old shoulder injury. All the health chase features are great overall, but the consistency battery simplifies things .
The disk overhead GPS maps with the little green navigating arrow are very courteous. It ’ s a battery drain but makes navigation easy. I live on the border of some populace lands, and I used the GPS to navigate the assorted trails and even locate an off-the-path pond .
I mentioned battery life. My other smartwatch lasts five days on a single charge, and my Garmin fenix 6 Pro solar lasts anywhere from seven to nine days, and that ’ sulfur with big use. You can make the battery animation long by not using the music capabilities, the GPS, and cutting off some measurements, and obviously, it goes all the way to 14 days without a charge if you cut some apps. The power rescuer mode besides works well and bought me a weekend ’ s worth of time once .
When you set the watch to a particular exercise mode, you can perform a wide-eyed assortment of metric track. The crusade of a clitoris can end a plant and enter a respite timekeeper, or end and start the following Yoga present, create laps, etc. When it comes to weight rustle, it ’ s super handy for timing rest periods and sets. I ’ ve found it to be soul-crushing when I think I ’ m on typeset four, but in world, I precisely started set three. Soul beat, but accurate .
I besides like keeping a coherent perch time between sets, and the big timer that sits in front of you as you rest helps with that. I ’ thousand not setting an extra timer to keep my lie periods coherent. I very wish they had an interval timekeeper from Garmin on the watch. The aftermarket app memory offers some options, but I ’ vitamin d love a Garmin-supported exemplary that allows me to set the timekeeper with workplace and perch periods.
The fenix 6 Pro Solar is a durable beast. The screen is protected by a Gorilla Glass 3 DX field glass panel. After many kettlebell snatch and scavenge and presses, I ’ ve even to even scratch it. I ’ ve had that kettlebell smash into it over and over as I exercised, and it doesn ’ t seem to matter. I ’ ve taken it swimming in pools and kayaking in oceans, and it resists water without consequence. I sweat enough that I once killed an early model of Fitbit, and that hasn ’ thyroxine stopped the Garmin yet .
Using the Garmin with Bluetooth headphones is simpleton, and adding music and creating playlists is far from challenging. I like being able to run with just the watch and some headphones while blasting Run the Jewels .
Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar (Travis Pike)
last, I ’ ve found myself more productive with my watch set up to receive telephone alerts. alternatively of looking at my telephone with every ding, I can glance at my watch and barely ever stop what I ’ thousand doing. I ’ ve found it makes me more generative and allows me to ignore spam and insignificant text and alerts. The ability to turn off notifications within a certain time bridge ensures I don ’ t wake up to see the latest chitter update at 1:00 a.m .
What we don’t like about the Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar
When you set the lookout into strength train modality, it attempts to count your reps as you exercise — and son are the counts inaccurate. I could do 10 pushups, and it will say I did four, or possibly it will say I did 24. I ’ ve found it to be accurate possibly five percentage of the fourth dimension. It works so ill that I ’ m not even sure why they included it. evening decelerate, dim-witted exercises like curls do not register correctly .
When you go into the app to look at your exercise, the watch besides guesses at which exercises were done and what muscles were worked. I say guesses because it ’ s besides rarely adjust. You can go back and change it manually, but at that point, I can just use a exercise log app that ’ s faster and more intuitive. due to the accuracy failure, I never use this feature .
I love using the GPS and operating expense map set up, but if you travel via car from one location to another, it takes constantly to figure that out. I traveled to my parents ’ house one weekend, and it took all day to correct the map. It thought I was still at home plate and showed me my home address. It will surely frustrate anyone who travels to hike. Garmin ’ s web site states it uses my telephone ’ south localization services, but my telephone has no issues with where I ’ meter at. I however get the interview score anytime I travel from home, and it can take minutes to hours to correct itself .
Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar (Travis Pike)
This leads us to a more crucial problem : the “ solar ” in the fenix 6 Pro Solar doesn ’ thyroxine seem to work. I wanted to see how much solar it took to charge a share of the battery. If it gets besides hot, it won ’ metric ton commit, so I had to manage the heat and solar exposure. I tried strapping it to my steering wheel in my car during a three-hour drive. It sat immediately in the sunlight the wholly ride. It didn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate charge a single percentage. I set it in my kitchen window the following day and after several hours, it hadn ’ metric ton charged a single percentage. In fact, both times I tried to solar-charge the watch, it lost battery power.When I took my kin to the menagerie, I noted the share of the watch that was charged. We spent five hours outdoors and, again, the watch ’ randomness battery monitor didn ’ triiodothyronine improve at all. According to Reddit, I ’ megabyte not the only person with this emergence, and several people stated they had their determine replaced when this occurred .
There besides seems to be a ghost in the car that actually wants me to go trail run. several times in the last few months, the watch suddenly started itself in the ‘ Trail Running ’ mode. This included once at 1:30 ante meridiem while I was sleeping. other times, when I ’ m barely sitting at my desk or watching television receiver, it will vibrate and say I ’ ve started a trial run. To unintentionally do so, I ’ five hundred have to press one push button three times to start the test. It ’ s a child annoyance most of the time, but I was a little more than crabbed trying to figure out how to end the range at 1:30 ante meridiem when I was one-half asleep .
Verdict
The Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar packs a short ton of technology, memory, and options for the end-user. Being able to customize it for a wide variety of adventuring tasks is quite handy. While I was turned off initially by the five-button, no touch screen apparatus, I cursorily became a fan. The expose is amazing, and the Garmin phone app is comfortable to use. The app memory international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine massive, but it ’ south nice to have the ability to add residential district customization to the watch .
I feel like the Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar is trying to do a lot, in fact, possibly besides much. Don ’ metric ton get me faulty, I love options and features, but it seems unfocused overall. The strength aim is terribly inaccurate, and the watch has solar in its name, but the solar capability doesn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate seem to do anything. I like the vigil, I love a lot of its features, but at this price steer, I expect something about perfect .
FAQs about fenix 6 Pro Solar
More questions ? here ’ second Task & Purpose ’ s extra brief .
Q: How much does the Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar cost?
A : MSRP rounds out at $ 799.99 but you can find it for importantly less on Amazon .
Q: What’s the charge time like?
A : From abruptly to 100 percentage, it takes about three hours .
Q: What music apps are supported?
A : Spotify and Amazon music worked absolutely
Q: What’s the warranty?
A : One year from the original date of leverage
Q: Does it tell time?
A : You have to look at it first, but yeah.
Read more: Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti Review
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Travis Pike is a erstwhile Marine machine artilleryman who served with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines for five years. He deployed in 2009 to Afghanistan and again in 2011 with the 22nd MEU ( SOC ) during a record-setting 11 months at ocean. He ’ south trained with the romanian Army, the spanish Marines, the Emirate Marines, and the Afghan National Army. He plays in the big outdoors of Northwest Florida and enjoy good beer, sharp knives, and long walks in the woods .
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