Garmin epix Pro (Gen 2), 51 mm, Glass, Slate Grey, Black

Product Information

Elsewhere, there are a load of features we’ve not yet talked about that come as standard on the Fenix and Epix chassis. To start with there are Garmin’s impressive GPS credentials, perhaps the best on any running watch, with the ability to create and run your own courses and view your route on the watch. PacePro, meanwhile, allows you to race against your previous times on these courses, charting your improvement in tangible ways. If you miss a notification and want to retrieve it, you have to once again grapple with another menu. This time you swipe up on the screen to show Glances, Garmin’s interpretation of Wear OS’s Tiles. Glances aren’t quite as intuitive or fast as a watchOS or Wear OS’s systems and are really tiny snippets leading to more detail after a tap. Data shown in Glances includes step count, Garmin’s excellent Body Battery stat, weather data, heart rate, and more stats related to specific activities. The Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2)’s careful design is excellent. I really appreciate the way it’s clearly a smartwatch but made and shaped by a team that understands watches. The Epix Pro (Gen 2) is a great alternative to Garmin’s luxurious Marq range for those who can’t stomach the very high prices this models attract. I’ve happily worn the smartwatch — but what about the functionality? That’s changed now. With the Epix Pro & Fenix 7 Pro, the company has added 30 new highly requested profiles – with the bulk of them more simplistic. These are primarily used for categorization purposes, and don’t have any sport-specific data behind them. You can customize them as you see fit, like in the past, but there might not be unique metrics. Garmin says the goal is that they’ll look at usage data for these sport profiles, and then figure out which ones make sense to build out more fully with added data. Within that, there’s a slew of different components that make up all the pieces. I’m going to throw all the terms here, but we’ll walk through it step-by-step, so think of this more as a reference:

Garmin epix™ Pro | Multisport Smartwatch

Both take around two weeks of full-time and wear before appearing, and will then deliver a constantly updating graph of how your endurance or hill skills are increasing or declining. There’s little change in terms of what you get on the software and smartwatch front on the Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) compared to what we saw on the Epix. While I’m not out there pushing my limits, other members of the Digital Trends team have been. If you’re a bit sportier, replacing your Apple Watch with a Garmin can be a legitimately great idea. Is it overkill? Andy Boxall/Digital Trends We're still fleshing out our full verdict on the just-released Epix Pro 2, but, having spent countless hours testing the Epix 2, we're in a great position to outline what's changed with the design, features, and pricing. Garmin has also built up a frankly ludicrous set of insights and sports profiles around this very solid HR and GPS performance.

That’s especially true of new features like the flashlight and discovering its multiple modes, or enabling the red shift mode that turns the screen and interface red. It’s a similar story for the busy Garmin Connect app and the separate Connect IQ Store app that you need on your phone to add more watch faces, data fields, widgets and a small collection of apps. With the Epix Pro not really trying to be a smartwatch filled with apps and widgets, we won't grade it too harshly in this regard. Basically, it just does enough to get by. To be super clear here – while the hardware is capable of it (whereas the previous Epix/Fenix 7 didn’t have the hardware inside), Garmin, from an FDA compliance standpoint, legally cannot discuss any ECG plans on the Epix/Fenix 7, until the device is certified. Thus , if or when ECG gets lit up remains an unknown. Obviously, as Garmin has said previously on-record, they want to expand ECG access as much as possible. And given this unit has the hardware, it’s the certification aspect which remains outstanding. Garmin’s also adding a feature that was previously only available on the Fenix 7X and is adding features to its already impressive mapping skills. So is the Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) an epic watch and is it a watch Epix owners should be envious of? Here’s our take. Design and screen I’ll cover actual battery burn/usage a bit more down in the accuracy sections. With that, let’s talk about the flashlight. The Flashlight:

Epix 2 **PRO** models - inbound - the5krunner three new Garmin Epix 2 **PRO** models - inbound - the5krunner

My point is, perhaps I do have some mountain climbing talents that manifest itself well in the Hill Score values, even if I think they don’t at all compare to a true ultra trail runner. When it comes to sensors, the new units keep the same set of ANT+ & Bluetooth sensors as the existing Fenix 7/Epix units: Recovery time: This looks at your Recovery time in hours (based on workouts, but can be sped up with good recovery) In my mind, the jury is still heavily out on this feature. I’ll be interested to see how others fare over the coming months in terms of Hill Score and how much mileage/speed/etc you’re putting up. In my case, while I have recorded good Hill Strength (the speed part), I suspect that too might be heavily influenced by just how long I can sustain a climb at a fast-hike level. I think the flashlight is one of those features that, given a few years, we’ll see it on everything – beyond Garmin’s own offerings. For example, I could see the flashlight easily fitting into something like the Apple Watch Ultra range, or watches from Suunto or Polar. It’s just super effin’ functional and useful day-to-day, with just as much utility as the flashlight on your phone (if not more, since your hands are still free). Sports Usage:

Garmin Epix Pro

Just as Apple has moved into Garmin territory with the Watch Ultra, the best Garmin watches have similarly adopted smartwatch features to make them better all-rounders –and the Garmin Epix 2 Pro could be its most powerful so far. The three Epix Pro display sizes are 1.2/1.3″/1.4″ (same as Fenix 7 series), with resolutions of 390x390px, 416x416px, and 454x454px (respectively) It's the definition of a nice-to-have feature, obviously, as opposed to one that's essential or a reason to upgrade, but that's also exactly what you would expect from a mid-cycle Pro edition. You can see your historical Endurance Score, though how much you see is super variable on a painful amount of Garmin platform wonk. Basically, the first time you use the watch, it’ll pull your previous 30 days of historical data (maybe, that too depends on which watch you had). And then populate the graph.

Epix Pro In-Depth Review: Now In Three Sizes! Garmin Epix Pro In-Depth Review: Now In Three Sizes!

The Pro now sees the Epix match the three size options of the Fenix series, adding new heart rate sensors and new metrics that want to tell you whether you can easily run up those hills and go the ultra distance.

Garmin Fenix 7 Pro

It's not exactly clear just how many Garmin has pre-loaded onto the Epix Pro 2 that aren't on the Epix 2, with the company simply stating that dozens more are now available. That latter detail is crucial, in our view, because it means you can still get a Fenix-level battery if you're willing to make a compromise on the display (which, technically, you'll already have to if you choose a Fenix instead of an Epix). Personally, there’s no way I’d ever effectively try out all these features, but what I can do is talk about how the smartwatch is to use. It’s all very well, having dozens of features, but if the user interface is a dog’s dinner, then no one will want to use it, and the in-depth platform will be useless. There’s a very clear learning curve with the Epix Pro (Gen 2), and if you’re a newcomer to Garmin’s adventure watches, it’s quite steep early on.