Garmin Fenix 7 and Epix series offer premium full-featured experiences for multisport athletes | ZDNet

Garmin offers a range of wearables for athletes across a broad spectrum of activities. The Fenix line is the premium series for serious multisport athletes while the MARQ collection offers a similar experience for the luxury watch owner. It’s been two and a half years since the Fenix 6 series was first released and the Fenix 7 has been highly anticipated by Garmin enthusiasts. The Fenix 7 series looks to bring enhancements and features that make it a worthy upgrade to the Fenix 6.

There was a Garmin Epix released back in 2015, but this new second-generation Epix is a completely different device. It’s essentially a premium, flagship option to the Venu 2 series with a brilliant AMOLED display that is built for multisport athletes. It’s likely to be a favorite for serious athletes who want that lovely display, but it’s coming in at a starting price of $899.99.

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Garmin Fenix 7 series

The Fenix 7 series houses the familiar standard five-button Garmin system, but also now integrates a touch screen display. Solar charging is available on some models so you can go even longer between charges with these models.

The largest Fenix 7X model offers the most features, including a quick-access multi-LED flashlight with red or white light options and even a strobe mode that syncs with your running cadence to make sure you are seen while running.

Advanced training options include real-time stamina, visual race predictor, recovery time advisor, and daily workout suggestions. Garmin Coach features are also standard on the Fenix 7. All Fenix 7 models include SkiView maps and more than 42,000 golf courses. TopoActive maps are also available for various regions around the world. An interesting Up Ahead race day feature is provided with locations of aid stations, trails, next turn, and more so we look forward to hearing more about this as the devices hit the wrists of reviewers.

All of the great Garmin 24/7 health and wellness features are also present so you will have heart-rate monitoring, blood oxygen measurements, Body Battery, fitness age, sleep score, and more. Another new function is Connect IQ Store on Device where you can find, download, and install apps directly over WiFi from the watch without the need to use the smartphone app and sync to your watch.

The Fenix 7 series is available in three sizes as a Fenix 7S, Fenix 7, and Fenix 7X with options for standard, solar, and sapphire solar (new for Fenix 7) models. The starting price for the smallest Fenix 7S model is $699.99.

Garmin Epix

In addition to the brilliant 1.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen display, the Garmin Epix offers a sapphire lens and titanium bezel so it is clearly a premium GPS sports watch. Buttons are provided so you can navigate the watch with both touchscreen and physical button actions. It has a reported 16 days of battery life with all of the Garmin fitness, health, and wellness features you would expect in a flagship product.

Multi-band frequency and multi-GNSS support ensures your location is clearly identified with TopoActive maps andSkiView skiing maps helping you navigate the great outdoors. Up to 42 hours in GPS mode is available to get you enjoy days full of activities and adventures. Offline music, Garmin Pay, incident detection, Connect IQ, and smartphone notifications are also supported.