Live Science Verdict
The Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar is an all - rotund fitness and health tracking fireball , but the solar power does n’t sum much and it ’s seriously tidy
Incredible regalia of exercise tracking
Constant feature upgrades
Solar major power is n’t deserving the cost for most
Bulky and heavy on the carpus
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The Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar represent the in effect that Garmin can put in a physical fitness watch , and bestow in the power of juicing up through the sun ’s ray .
That solar control panel is a young addition to Garmin ’s lineup , designed to help those struggling to get through a multi - day radical - marathon eke out a few moments more electric battery life - but underneath the challenging Modern feature is a powerful watch with extensive exercise tracking .
Software : Garmin O
Compatibility : iOS , Android
bombardment life:21 daylight standby
Memory:32 GB
Display and size:35 millimetre transflective display
GPS : Yes
Water resistance:10 ATM
Heart rate : Yes
Sleep tracker : Yes
Step numeration : Yes
euphony : Yes
The Fenix scope is often the lieu Garmin debuts its new software features , and the 6X Pro Solar ( which has been on the market for a few calendar month now ) has received multiple upgrades to its functionality in that sentence . It ’s capable of tracking your stone’s throw , sleep , and nub rate , as well as learning how you recover from high - intensity exercise to give you a tailor plan for getting the best out of your exercise .
In term of the physical exertion you’re able to go after on the Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar , you’re able to expect to find middling much anything you need on here - from run to kayaking , from jump to bouldering , it ’s all available to be tracked . This sheer variety makes it one of thebest fitness trackersaround .
Garmin sees the Fenix stove as its ' all - action ' range , entail more protection against the element . With that more rugged design and extensive feature adjust , you ’ll necessitate to be ready to give a pretty penny to own this Garmin timekeeper - it launched at $ 1149/£849 RRP , although has since come down in terms slightly .
This high - end Fenix is also an accomplished smartwatch , bringing with it enhanced smartphone connectivity as well as onboard music player that entail you may distribute with your speech sound if you need some disconnect metre while working out .
In short , if you ’re take care for a do - it - all ticker , Garmin forebode that this is it - but while it can pretty much do everything , can it do it well ?
Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar review: Design and display
countenance ’s not beat around the bush here : if you ’re looking for a sleek watch , the Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar is not it . It ’s set out a huge chassis and added heft thanks to the metal used in twist - so while it ’ll experience sound the first time you strap it on , you also instantly get it on you could fall down a rocky waterfall and your ticker ( at least ) will survive .
The display is a large 35 mm transflective screen , with 280x280 resolution - what that mean is that each pixel can muse the sun very well , so in bright conditions , all your data is improbably legible , as well as being very battery effective too .
What ’s also impressive is the backlight - it fires when keys are pressed , but when running at nighttime it intuitively knows when you ’re resurrect your wrist to see footstep or distance . The screen also include a guileless solar layer on top of the hardened glass for extra battery power , but it does n’t seem to affect the profile of the information at all .
There are five button flank the display to help you initiate or discontinue the gadget without needing to appear , as well as trigger laps or move through menus - these can be coded to do other single-valued function with a long press too , which really give you a plenty of choice under the finger , and you ’ll quickly learn the patterns with your fingers to make starting physical exercise or fire up the music participant seamless .
Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar review: Set up and usability
set up the Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar relies on Garmin Connect , a smartphone or pill app that ’s improbably well - stock with features . However , setup can be a little on the slippery side - once you ’ve lay down the joining by selecting the watch from the list , you ’ll be expect a bonnie few questions about your daily habits and connectivity preferences .
Once in , you ’re treated to reams of data about your activity during the sidereal day , as well as options to set up workouts , add mention or debit entry cards for requital on the go or connect to Wi - Fi for music syncing .
Like being OK with the heft of the Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar , you ’ll have to require a watch that lets you do a immense amount , but are on board with ask some prison term investing to learn where everything is .
As mentioned above , working your way through the watch is something you ’ll involve to learn - matter like setting your favourite exercising , tot a navigation course or monitoring your daily stress levels are all a yoke of clicks away from a sure menu or modal value .
But if you ’re disposed to commit the time to examine the locations of all these , you ’ll get a lot back from the Fenix , such are the features on board .
Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar review: Features
The Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar is , as we ’ve adumbrate a few times already , a watch that can do it all - whether it ’s tag about every aspect of health daily , or keeping you entertained during a middling heavy run school term , it ’ll be there by your side .
move over the size of this sentry , you ’ll need to be gear up to wear it 24/7 to get the full essence of the wellness tracking , but it ’s worth it . Each feature of speech has a full level of detail - for instance , your sleep grade render a elaborate breakdown of precisely how you slept , when you awaken , how long you spent in each phase and impart you top on how to improve .
Compare this to the Apple Watch , which essentially just tells you how long you slept for , and it ’s a gulf in difference .
We especially liked the body barrage fire feature , which monitor the variance in your heart musical rhythm ( HRV ) over the course of the day and can secernate you how much vim you ’ve got leave , giving you the confidence to go and work out while also order you when it ’s clip to settle onto the couch and recharge .
Once you pass a few weeks with these insight , the picture of how your sleep pretend your resting heart and soul rate , whether certain workouts revenue enhancement you more , and how your body generally recovers becomes clean-cut and allows you to set your own fitness agenda .
The Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar also uses this HRV to tell you how well you ’re performing on a workout - when you ’ve practise for a few minutes , the lookout will knock with a condition score , telling you whether you ’re rested and ready to go or whether you ’re a bit depleted in muscularity .
While we regularly ignore this if we had a session planned ( without much issue , it has to be articulate ) , it does give huge motivation to attack a workout with gusto when you hear you ’re breathe .
One matter we ’d advise is getting a dresser - based mettle rate monitoring equipment - some people have reported the inbuilt heart pace monitor lizard of the Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar is ok , but we found that the chest strap offered more truth and did n’t wrong tell us that the heart pace was soaring on an easy political campaign , for instance .
A Modern feature Garmin has lately added is tailor sessions , give recommend workouts at the scratch of each day calculate on your recovery - you then score your operation at the terminal to ok - air the accuracy of these . We like this feature when we ’re feeling lazy - it ’s like a prompt trainer on your articulatio radiocarpea that just tells you what to do to improve .
The Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar packs a huge bit of orbiter trailing options beyond GPS , and we found the accuracy of our runs to be excellent . you may adulterate pre - build courses into the watch ( and Garmin will aid you build these , base on where others run on a regular basis ) and see the way clearly on the big display .
There are too many physical exercise types to list here , such is the kitchen range on offer from Garmin - whether it ’s cycling , swimming , track , yoga , free weight lifting , parachuting , boat and more , it ’s supported , as well as more elaborate things like trail run too so you sleep with you ’re getting your run properly give chase .
The battery life compared to many smartwatches is very long on the Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar , coming in at 21 days on understudy if you do n’t use the onboard music histrion or fire up the GPS . We found we could easily go for seven unlike run over the course of a week without require to top up the boot , meaning you’re able to get around 8 - 10 hour of GPS - track workouts at least .
Then there ’s the small element of the solar ability spyglass - this is hard to prove unless you ’re in the desert , but we did get a few days of full sunshine to strain it with .
We ’d say that unless you ’re planning on running across the desert , it ’s not worth picking up the solar good example of the 6X - it ’s more costly and , at proficient , it gently slows the rate of battery loss ( or stops it completely if you just leave the sentinel lie in in the fierce sunshine , not doing much else ) .
We would n’t say it ’s a novelty , but it ’ll be a few geezerhood before solar glass is at the efficiency and cost it needs to be a real boon and be seen on mainstream running watches .
Should you buy the Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar?
If you want one of the best fitness lookout man out there , with money ( and size ) no object , the Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar is an easy testimonial . It can track so many practice session that we felt hangdog for never taking it snowboard or hiking more often , and the wellness trailing feature really do add insight into your sidereal day .
you’re able to easy look at one of the tawdry vigil in the Fenix 6 range if you do n’t ask the solar glass or onboard maps , but if you fancy an investment in your wellness , with a great companion app render steady and utilitarian insights , then this is a expectant pick .
If this product isn’t for you
You might desire your physical fitness smartwatch to be more smart than physical fitness , and that ’s certainly where theApple Watch Series 6fits . It comes with excellent telling , a pleasant vibration to grab your tending , and is well integrate with Apple ’s novel Fitness+ service , which offers a huge salmagundi of exercising to keep you entertain .
It offers far less barrage life history - you ’ll need to charge this every day or two - and lacks the deep fitness capability of the Fenix , but if you ’re an iPhone exploiter you ’ll really enjoy this one .
offer a very exchangeable lineament set to the Garmin Fenix 6X Pro Solar , theGarmin Forerunner 945is a sleeker simulation for those that like the power of a gamy - end fitness tracker , but do n’t beware a little less bombardment .
It has a similar spirit level of exercises to cut across and can work well as a triathlon modeling - plus packs good features to assist keep you calm through breathe utilization too .
If you ’re looking at the cheaper end of the scale , theFitbit Charge 5offers a riches of exercise choices as well as a simple , uncontaminating interface and a good range of heart pace monitoring capabilities - with more to do in succeeding software update .
It lacks buttons and has a more special characteristic set - no music playback ascendancy , for illustration - but is a great marriage of smartwatch and fitness tracker .
