Garmin has unveiled a new smartwatch specifically designed for life at sea – though it also has a lot to offer if you don’t happen to own a boat. The Garmin Quatix 7 (a successor to 2020’s Quatix 6) is packed with tools to make your life easier on the water, including a new alert if your boat’s anchor is dragging, and integrated tide data.
It’s been an extremely busy year for Garmin, with the launches of the Venu 2 Plus, Fenix 7, Epix (Gen 2), Instinct 2, Vivosmart 5, and several niche luxury watches as well.
The Quatix 7 fits into the latter camp, with an array of specialized tools and features for boating. For example, it’s compatible with Garmin’s autopilot systems, allowing you to see info including water depth, engine RPM, and wind on your wrist, and can be connected to Fusion Entertainment systems so you have complete remote control over your audio setup.
When you’re on dry land, there are 30 sports tracking modes to monitor your workouts, plus sleep tracking, and Garmin’s Body Battery score to help monitor your energy level and plan your day accordingly.
On-board GPS tracks your route and pace during outdoor activities and Garmin Pay allows you to make contactless purchases, but it’s worth noting the that Quatix 7 lacks the built-in microphone of the Garmin Venu 2 Plus, so you won’t be able to take and receive calls from your wrist, or use the watch to access your phone’s voice assistant.
Keep boating for longer
It’s a good-looking watch too, and features a new touchscreen in addition to the standard five-button interface of previous Quatix watches. While the buttons are preferable for operating the watch with wet hands, the touchscreen will make it easier to pan across maps and flick through menus when you’re warm and dry.
There are three Quatix watches in the line, including the standard model, the Quatix Sapphire (with a sapphire crystal lens rather than the typical Gorilla Glass), and the Quatix 7X Solar, which features a larger case and Garmin’s solar glass to extend battery life with regular exposure to sunlight (something that should happen easily enough if you’re out at sea).
The Sapphire model also has a new always-on AMOLED display, much like that of the Garmin Epix (Gen 2). This is sharper and brighter, with better color reproduction than the standard memory-in-pixel display, and only makes a small dent in the watch’s battery life. The standard Quatix 7 can run for up to 18 days in smartwatch mode, while the Sapphire edition can last up to 16 days.
The Quatix 7X Solar, meanwhile, can run for up to 37 days in smartwatch mode, or 90 days in battery saver mode. That’s partly down to the watch’s photovoltaic cells, and partly due to the bigger battery hidden away inside its extra large case.
The Quatix 7 line is available now direct from Garmin, with prices ranging from $699.99 (about £560 / AU$980) to $1,199.99 (about £960 / AU$1,700).
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