Garmin - epix (Gen 2) Sapphire Edition

I would recommend either Epix Gen2 or Enduro 2. For hiking, especially if you're going to do multi-day hikes, bigger battery in 51mm options could be handy.

I prefer the look of my Epix over the AW. The "smartwatch" look of the AW is a big turn-off. Plus I'm a Android phone user so... It's not just a Garmin thing though, I'll possibly move to Coros when I eventually replace my Epix.

I wish I could get those buttons on my Epix Gen 2. Went swimming recently and my down button broke. Inductive buttons would be a worthwhile trade-off for a watch that's marketed as being made for swimming if it won't break in under 2 years.

Epix2 should be right in your budget. I bought mine in Dec 2023 for 440 dollshairs so it should a bit lower by now

I'm deep in the Apple iPhone / iPad world, but wouldn't consider an Apple Watch. I don't need that level of distraction on my wrist. I have been considering an Edge for my bike for ages, but 2 years ago I setup my Epix G2 on the handlebar mount with the Speed / Cadence / HRM sensors and it's great. Saves me having to buy another device.

I went from garmin epix 2 to amazfit helio. Purely because sleeping with the garmin was painful for me whereas with the amazfit can't feel it. That was the bottom line for me

I agree with all the positives stated here and one more that's important to me. I hate square, rectangular watches. I love the way the Fenix, Epix or most of the round smart/fitness watches look.

Agreed, I've been using my Epix gen 2 for this for two years its phenomenal

[The Garmin Epix Gen 2 is on sale at slightly above your budget.](https://www.basspro.com/p/garmin-epix-gen-2-gps-smartwatch?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions&ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=BPS%7CShopping%7CPMax%7CHunting%7CHunting%7CNAud%7CGoogle%7CNMT&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19856022628&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0erBBhDTARIsAKO8iqS3tLPdLpBQmqWoGh7iR9yHF81EXJ-3xG5we8_2vS-FHr91E8VraeoaAmgsEALw_wcB) This is an $800 watch that's on sale for a hair under $450. I got mine on sale at Cabelas and have no regrets.

Garmin Fenix and Epix Series are far better than this. https://preview.redd.it/cpxhwtjkuuje1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4d50186d95b15e90086bfa4491d354424f3c0bd I am glad. Haha

So here's the thing, with my garmin this works fine, when I have my Apple Watch set like this the active balance starts much lower and it just never makes it to that threshold. Garmin will show -119 when I wake up in the morning and Apple shows -20. When you do walks, runs, or workouts with Apple that number just never goes up.

agree. dancing with a fenix 8 will look & feel ridiculous. Slim wrist here, had the fenix 6 pro, epix 2, and fr965. Fenix & epix felt really chunky in comparison to the forerunner, especially running with them.

all garmin watches have all resources youve cited. In my case, I like the look, style and ruggeness, then, my favorite watch is epix/fenix line. I run 4-5 times a week, but use my watch 7 days week, I rly like fenix casual appearance on my wrist when Im not running or doing exercises.

Friend of mine uses my old Fenix. That is a 9 year old watch, going strong. My wife still uses a Garmin watch I gave her 6 years ago. And Im still using an Epix 2, from 2022. There is a lot wrong with Garmin watches , but hardware quality isn't on that list.

garmin epix + edge 130 on extended display mode. cheap cadence meters on most of the bikes, road bike has a power meter. also cheap HR strap from aliexpress wouldve jumped on garmin earlier if i knew how awesome it is - was on amazfit before because they were cheap everything goes to strava [https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/06/garmins-triathlon-extended.html](https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/06/garmins-triathlon-extended.html)

Garmin. Love my Epix 2 Sapphire. The Sapphire versions have very scratch resistant glass, and the big bonus of including the TOPO maps

My Garmin (Epix Gen 2) measures total volume (type, sets, reps, weight) or else lets you correct anything not automatically detected and then gives you an overall recovery metric that takes into account sleep, calories (of syncing with MyFitnessPal), and stress. It's not perfect and has some annoying constraints (you either lock into a Strength or cardio event when you start working out, so if you go strength you lose some cardio granularity, and if you go cardio, you lose the weights stuff entirely), but it's the best I've experienced so far coming from many years of Fitbits.

I got the Epix gen 2, originally I got it because it supported MTB and ski maps but I started golfing with it and love it. I just use the built in apps on it for courses and handicap, so I can't speak to other apps, but it does what I need. The screen is nice and bright too so you can see it any time, even bright sun.

Many of us have been here. Just get the best Garmin you can afford and you'll never look back. I bought the EPIX 2, and love it, but the Forerunner 9xx series are probably the best bang for buck if you're into fitness training.

Finally Venu 4 release, but also finally I can just confidently keep my Epix Gen 2.

I've been rocking the Epix gen2 since it came out. My ultra has been collecting dust.

Looking to get some advice. I have been using a garmin epix with Cronometer for about a year and it was so helpful with cutting and bulking this past year and extremely accurate. I picked up an Apple Watch Ultra 3 a couple days ago and as much as I want to like it I am struggling with the daily calories with it. Maybe I am just not used to the way it's showing everything vs how my garmin was. So with my garmin I only started strength training or running workouts. Anything else like walks etc would just pile up in my daily activity balance. Once that hit -350 it would start adding it to my expenditure for the day and my expenditure would just start going up for the rest of the day going forward. It was very easy for me to know where I needed to be based on the time of day. With the Apple Watch I've noticed I need to start workouts for walk etc to get full heart rate data and better estimated calories. When adding those in my active energy balance number will go down each time. What I am left with is an energy balance that will not get to -350 by the end of the day and my energy expenditure just kind of stays where it is unless I start another workout. Maybe I am just looking at this wrong and the Apple Watch is a better way of judging my calories. Would love to hear thoughts. I've attached a couple of pics to illustrate what I mean.

Epix is amoled version of Fenix (MIP) prior to version 8 of the latter. Now Fenix 8 comes in MIP and Amoled options, and Epix is gone. And Epix always had the same exact case as Fenix. You're mixing things up a little.

The new Venu 4 fits your bill, but costs a bit more, and tbh doesn't look that rugged Otherwise you'd need to look at the Fenix 7 or Epix series, and go for the 43mm variant

Garmin Epix Gen 2 can be had for $350 or so and it does the things you need. No need to splurge on Fenix or late edition watches.

Did a 26km hike on my Epix 2. Course tracking for the whole thing. Battery went from 10d to 8d. The thing I'm concerned is just the stupid thing that Garmin charges for watch faces. But battery life, Garmin is king

A 2nd hand fenix 7 would be my choice. I have an epix gen 2 which is basically the same thing except with an OLED screen (and a much shorter battery life as a result).

I just switched from Garmin Epix 2 to a whoop. If you're a serious runner, the whoop won't cut it but the Garmin does a good job with the health insights. I'm running less, so I wanted better health insights, which is why I switched to whoop. They aren't really comparable because they solve for two different goals.

I have a Garmin Epix that tracks swim data. Prior to getting it, I would just count laps, note the time on the pool clock, and enter it manually.

Fenix/Epix are the same, Forerunner 9xx has 99% same functions but a bit lighter and not as tall, but only available in one size

I've been trying to figure out exactly this right now.... Here's some info which may help. I have an Apple Ultra 2 and that is my everyday smartwatch. It works OK for run run tracking and there's a pretty good app for surf tracking. I just recently tried it with swim and it's OK. The auto sets feature (e.g. recognizing 4 laps as a 100) is pretty reliable, but I don't think that the automatic split times are especially accurate. HR is somewhat accurate. I've tried both the built-in workouts app as well as the [swim.com](http://swim.com) app and although the latter is generally better for "real" swimming it doesn't really fit with my training workflow which involves transferring workouts to Training Peaks. I also wear prescription goggles (-3.0) and find the display very difficult to read in certain scenarios, especially when the screen dims. Some of the data fields are ridiculously small and there is no way to change them. I also have a couple of Garmin devices (Forerunner 955 and Epix gen 2) and for the sake of this discussion both are the same with the exception of the screen technology. The Epix is AMOLED and objectively "better" but the 955 is so much easier to read at the pool. Garmin's auto rest feature (automatic lap/set vs rest feature) is almost good. The issue is that the motion detection is way too sensitive so if I move my arm at all during rest it thinks I'm still swimming. The algorithm also has trouble with rests shorter than 20s so it's common to see workout sets recorded as one big swim blob with some periods of no movement sprinkled in. HR accuracy is similar to apple... at least it was similar for the few times that I wore both to compare. I think that I've settled on wearing the 955 for swimming in the manual mode where I have to press the lap button at the start end end of each rest period. This gives me the most accurate representation of what I did for that session along with pace and HR data that makes sense within the context of the workout. The display is super-easy to read and gives me the information that I need in the pool. The transfer to Training Peaks is seamless and everything appears to be working well at this point. At some point I'm sure I'll stop caring about the exact structure of the workout that I did and just use the watch to record the whole thing. It is possible to pre-build workouts in both platforms and there are virtual coaching products that work with both. I never investigated what's available as I have a human coach who takes care of dictating my daily torture. I will say that having the watch execute the workout isn't all it's cracked up to be. Neither platform is especially good about providing visibility into what is coming up and in some cases barely conveys what you're supposed to be doing right now. If the watch messes up with counting laps then it could put you into a rest period at the wrong time and generally get you out of place in your workout. In some cases it's extremely difficult to go back and repeat a section of a workout. I've gone back to the post-it note stuck to my water bottle as the high-tech way of bringing my workout to the pool. With the workout transcribed in pencil and a rubber band as a safety it's pretty much fool proof.

garmin epix/fenix no complaints

Functionality-wise the Fenix and Forerunner are pretty similar, especially considering the new Forerunner 970. The Fenix has diving, but other than that, not much beyond the 970. The other big difference between Fenix and forerunner is styling as well as sapphire glass, for a small amount more weight. My gut is that sapphire is nice but not essential unless you're doing lots of mountaineering backpacking. I got an Epix, which was essential the Fenix 8 of a few versions ago, but at that time there wasn't a Forerunner 970/965. I'm glad I have the more rugged Epix with sapphire glass, but I doubt I would have had any issues. Given what little you've shared, I'd probably look at the Forerunner 965. it's the most budget friendly, and I don't imagine many need the microphone/speaker of the 970 (though the flashlight is cool) and that the Fenix is probably overkill. No wrong choice here though!

This is my take. I used to work as engineer at "A"-company often mentioned here that make smartwatches. However, I worked on phones and tablets, not smartwatch. Apple is smartwatch. Cram as much tech into the device as possible. And good value (money spend for tech and features) delivered to consumer. But one big issue is the battery life. Garmin uses old tech. Prices for the devices are a bit outrageous for fitness watch. However, many users who just want fitness watch and don't care for smartwatch features; also don't think about price per tech. I personally buy Garmin only on discount. As for HR accuracy, I suspect the minor difference can be due to power management. It is possible Garmin try to save battery power and sensors are not fully powered. This can result in lower accuracy. Of course this is just speculation. I personally have have had major issue with HR on Epix (Gen 2). This issue tend to occur when another bluetooth device is connected. I can toggle the HR accuracy to be correct (bluetooth device off) and inaccurate (bluetooth device on). At first, I thought it was firmware bug. I have report this to Garmin. And many on Garmin forum also has similar issue. However, it is now 1.5 years and not fixed. So it seems like it is not a bug. So I suspect (but no data to support this) is how Garmin try to reduce power consumption for battery savings.

If budget is a big consideration, then look for a hot price on Epix or Fenix 7. Garmin will often run the older models at 40-50% off and you're not missing out on much.

garmin epix here - stroke detection is pretty meh but intervals and distance is 99.5% perfect once you turn off auto rest - i manually lap each set

No idea about iOS integration. Garmin Epix gen2 has been great for me. I got mine for Christmas 2022 and I'm still using it. The dual-band GPS is totally fantastic for the trails - handles the twists and turns very, very well. I had lots of battery to spare for my 9-hour 50k, but I haven't gone longer with the GPS on. The sapphire version with the low-scratch glass, etc., is very tough. Waterproof. AMOLED screen is gorgeous and bright.

I have Epix gen 2 and just measured my wrist circumference at1 5 cm. It's prominent, but I am quite used to it. I think you shop for features you want rather than the size.

I have Garmin Epix Gen 2. The advantage of Garmin is battery life. My personal issue with Garmin is firmware bugs and issues. As for your use case: It makes no difference for cycling, because you already have Edge + HR sensor. Garmin watch data will just be ignored. Then if you want a fitness watch for other activities (such as strength training), you want to look at details on that. Garmin strength training support is very weak and difficult to use. I gave up. I don't even bother tracking various sets, reps, weights, etc. I have not used AW since AW5, so I don't know how their strength training is.

Get a chest strap for triathlons, one that works in water. The 965/Fenix/Epix are the same or minimal difference. The latest are the Fenix 8 nad forerunner 970. Get what looks good to you, because features are 99.9% the same. Also Fenix is a big bigger

Agreed with others that Garmin is a superior sports watch with great battery life, but not as good of a smart watch. For me that is a bonus, but that (and price) are the biggest factors for me! If you do go Garmin, the Forerunner 965 or an older Epix or Epix Pro will get you most of the new features with OLED for a slightly better price!

My Epix II has been absolutely flawless. I haven't had a single issue with the watch or the app.