Garmin fēnix 7S Solar Multisport GPS Watch, Slate Grey with Black Band

Product Information

That sensor does 24×7 monitoring of your heart rate, as well as workout heart rate, and even pulse oximetry (blood oxygen levels). The green light is for regular heart rate readings, whereas the red light is used for Pulse Ox.

Again, zero issues. I don’t quite know why the 7S struggled for me on the interval workout while the 7X did perfectly fine. I’m reasonably certain there was no light leakage coming in, as it was plenty snug. As with any testing, with so many models and so many potential workout scenarios (indoors, outdoors, differing sports, night vs daylight, etc…), you can go in circles trying to figure out which scenarios might be gaps. For super simple context compared to the other top-dog in the battery space, the COROS Vertix 2, their key claims are: Another of the key improvements for the Fenix 7 is battery life, which has been boosted across the board compared with the Fenix 6 series.Of the two new premium adventure watches, I decided the Fenix is the best candidate for anyone looking for a top-of-the-line Garmin. We've been fans of watches from this series over the years— multiple reviewers have loved them—and importantly for people with little wrists, the case size comes as small as 42 mm. The most noticeable difference between the Fenix and the Epix is the screen. The Epix has a 47-mm case size with a big, bright AMOLED touchscreen versus the Fenix's memory-in-pixel (MIP) display. Yes, the Epix's screen is gorgeous, but it has significant downsides. Starting on the music front, you’ve got a couple of different ways you can access music. In my case, I primarily use Spotify, so it only took a few seconds to link up my Spotify account. A Spotify Premium account is required though for doing offline music to your watch (thus, no phone required). Once connected though, you can choose which playlists you want to sync.

The Fenix 7 has upgraded the heart rate monitor, so you'll spot a different layout of sensor elements on the rear, although the performance we think is pretty much the same across all models. So, then out of curiosity, I equipped my (much smaller wristed) wife with the same setup again just a few hours later for a workout she was doing later that night. This included the Fenix 7S on her left wrist, a Polar H10 chest strap, and then the Fenix 7X on her right wrist. Keeping in mind, the Fenix 7X is hilariously too big for her tiny wrists. She normally wears a blend of a Fenix 5S (yes, 5S, non-Plus) and a FR945. Here’s that data set: Virtually every aspect of the Fenix 7 is better than the Fenix 6 in my testing. Both the tangible things like GPS, barometric altimeter, and heart rate accuracy – but also much of the day-to-day bits around user interface design is more polished. Or even seemingly minor things like the button guards (though, those do take a day or two to get used to). Tasks that used to be a headache, like loading maps ahead of a trip, are now trivial. And for those 7X owners, the ability to light your way through an unknown hotel room in the middle of the night is handy. Plus the myriad of other sport-focused uses for the flashlight.

Garmin's top-tier sports watch smashes its personal best

This combination of being extremely rugged, yet accessible, makes it the perfect place to test GPS-enabled fitness watches. On a recent Sunday afternoon, I parked at a trailhead, got out, and started recording a trail run. Unlike other low-end watches I’ve tried, Garmin's new Fenix 7S Sapphire Solar connected to GPS instantly, even under dense tree cover.

I’m surprised how little attention Garmin has given to the “in the middle of nowhere” use case, i.e. the use far away from (mobile) internet connection. Without regular access to a phone with internet access, several of the “smart” features don’t work properly (or I haven’t figured out to use them properly). I saw a lot of images on reddit and garmin forum where people were complaining about the glare on the sapphire screen. I’d like to know if the difference between sapphire/non sapphire is huge in term of readability. Did you find any cases in daily usage or during running/cycling were you couldn’t read anything at all (or hardly) ? Or was it solved every time by twisting your arm a little bit ? I’m surprised that Garmin doesn’t have to designed the watch with this use case in mind. After all, in remote areas, it’s easier to access electricity (or at least a power bank) than reliable mobile internet connection.

Maps for New Regions

One caveat is that Garmin Connect’s Training Status routinely records whether your workout for the day was productive, unproductive, maintaining, and so on. I do many different types of workouts on different days for different reasons, not all of which align with Garmin’s evaluation. It can be weirdly dispiriting to go on a two-hour trail run just because it’s a nice day and see that your watch has logged your workout as “unproductive.” It was productive mentally and emotionally, OK, Garmin? All Systems + Multiband: This is the new dual-frequency option that everyone has been waiting for, which combines the All Systems option, and then makes it multi-band across both L1 and L5 satellites. As a result, this burns a boatload more battery, and in theory is the most accurate.

It's worth noting that the Fenix 6 Pro and Fenix 7 Solar Sapphire models have 32GB storage, with the standard Fenix 7 and 7 Solar offering 16GB. For the more basic standard Fenix 6, there's only 64MB of storage. Meanwhile, the touchscreen allows you to swipe through and tap menu items just like you would any other touch device. It works reasonably enough while sweaty or in the rain, though precision tends to be slightly less. In general though, as you can see in the video, it’s pretty responsive. Note that no function requires touch, so you can go pure button if you want to. Or inversely, you can get away with mostly touch if you want to (save starting/stopping an activity, and pressing the lap button). While the thin rim around the Fenix 6 wasn’t as obvious, the much wider rim on the Fenix 7 is clearly visible. Though, I guess I’ve just gotten so used to the look that it doesn’t bother me any. Here’s that identified:

However, you can adjust that intensity level by going into the flashlight menu. By default you do that by long-holding the controls button (upper left), and selecting the flashlight. But you can also assign a direct shortcut to another button to take you straight to the flashlight controls. Once there, you’ve got the ability to select from four different levels of white brightness, plus one level of red brightness: