Rumors around the fēnix 8 have been aflying for about a month, so it came as no surprise when the reviews started dropping this morning. Overall, it looks like a nice hardware bump from the fēnix 7 Pro / epix Pro. Which, side note, Garmin has consolidated these two lines into one, just fēnix now. Makes sense because the only difference before was the screen; the features and software were the same. Just curious because, why now? If it makes sense, it’s always made sense. That’s not the elephant in the room though.
I was interested, although just a little, my fēnix 7 is still totally fine, because I would like to have the mic/speaker and real flashlight (it’s a great “be seen” light when taking a walk in the dark). But the price of entry – $1,100!!! Ouch!!! It doesn’t make sense. Sorry, Garmin… Not in a world where an Apple Watch Ultra 2 is $800…
Obviously, these aren’t totally fungible, but they are fungible enough on the hardware side of things where it makes sense to compare them in a casually cross shop kind of way. Actually, I suspect that quite a few people, not me ’cause I don’t iThingy, are cross shopping them – Garmin is pricing the fēnix in stupid land. I don’t get it…
Fenix has jumped the shark. I “downgraded” to a Forerunner when the 965 came out.
The Apple Ultra is a great example of excellent hardware at a somewhat reasonable price, but it still doesn’t compare to a high-end Garmin for sports.
Totally agree WRT Apple Ultra vs Garmin for cyclists and other sports where Apple doesn’t have the same depth of coverage, and Garmin slays on battery. AFAIK, it is pretty close for running. It will be interesting to see how the fēnix 8 sells. I will be tempted at $600; might grab one after the fēnix 8 Pro launches for $1,500 ;).