Garmin Fenix 7 has been finally launched after half and one year of waiting. Except for the initial two generations, the Fenix series keeps the rhythm of releasing new models every year, but the Fenix 7 is a bit late – the new crown epidemic had not yet started when the previous generation of Fenix 6 came out, does it feel like a long time ago?
(From left to right, epix, fenix 7X, 7, 7S)
We got three pieces of the Fenix 7 series in advance, as well as the Epix (which can be interpreted as the Fenix 7 with AMOLED screen and no solar charging) that was updated again after six years.
Garmin Fenix 7 gives us a lot of surprise. This new Fenix arrived with a lot of hardware and software upgrades, so it is hard to talk about all of them in a single review. This article mainly talks about a few impressive new features –
What are the main upgrades of Fenix 7 compared to Fenix 6?
Like Fenix 6, Fenix 7 still deliver three size, Fenix 7S (42mm), Fenix 7(47mm) and Fenix 7X (51mm), they are compatible with 20mm Quickfit watch band, 22mm Quickfit watch band and 26mm Quickfit watch bands. ( Quickfit Garmin Fenix watch band can be replaced by standard straps together with a pair of Garmin adaptors), this design reward from Fenix 5.
Solar charging function is standard feature for the whole editions
The solar charging version, which was introduced from the beginning of Fenix 6, became the standard for the whole series of Fenix 7. And on top of the original Power Glass (Corning Gorilla Glass DX mirror), the Power Sapphire (synthetic sapphire mirror) with better scratch resistance has been added.
From the outside, the solar charging “ring” area of the 7 is thicker than the 6, charging efficiency is obviously much higher.
Taking the top 7X and 6X as a comparison, the 7X has 89+33 hours of battery life in GPS mode, while the 6X is 60+6 hours – the previous figure represents the battery life itself (in addition to battery capacity, but also related to chip power consumption and software tuning), while the latter represents the range brought by solar power in ideal conditions.
Of course, we still need to emphasize that solar energy can still only supplement the range, but cannot achieve the effect of directly increasing the power for the watch
Full touch screen
The Fenix 7 is equipped with a touch screen as standard, and still uses the traditional five physical buttons.
We will talk more about the touch screen experience later. First of all, the touch screen is very smooth, wet hands + gloves do not affect the operation; it greatly improves the convenience of reading data, knowing that it is very troublesome to read detailed values or input by buttons in the past; not used to touch screen/worried about accidental touch, the touch screen can be easily closed in various modes.
The touch screen is perhaps the biggest change in the use of the Fenix 7.
Dual-band + multi-star positioning system
This is also the key point to be mentioned later. GPS running watch has evolved to meet the needs of daily sports is more than enough, the most problems often lie in the low signal environment (such as outdoor shade / under the overpass), environmental interference (such as urban high-floor street running), dual-frequency multi-star positioning is optimized for such less than ideal, poor signal outdoor environment, is also the biggest outdoor performance improvement.
LED flashlight
Available only on the 7X. In addition to illumination and safety tips, the LED flashlight can be adjusted to blink according to your step rate.
Advanced Training
For long distance endurance runners, two of these features are worth mentioning: “UP AHEAD Fearlessly” and “Real-Time Stamina Real Time” –
– importing routes and marking CP points before the race, so that after the start you can check how many positions are left for the next resupply/punch/water/change point, which will be very useful for cross-country ultramarathon.
Real-time stamina value for running and cycling, based on your current exercise intensity and past assessment of your ability, presenting a “stamina blood tank”. This blood slot is very interesting, for example, “stamina 10km/50% remaining” means that according to the current intensity output, you can continue to run 10km and still have 50% energy left.
This slot also tells you the maximum amount of stamina you can recover after a pause.
NFC bus card
In addition to the original Garmin pay support for mobile payment / traffic travel, the entire 7 series support NFC transport card. Subsequent upgrades will slowly, the majority of domestic cities bus and subway can be used.
Other upgrades
Fourth generation optical heart rate meter (Gen 4.0), mainly to improve the accuracy of heart rate feedback time in shorter, strenuous exercise under the heart rate, which is the biggest gap between the previous photoelectric heart rate compared to the heart rate band.
The ROM of Fenix is at least 16G (elite version) to start, the flagship version and the honorable version are 32G.
Fenix 7 can meet 100 km or even 100 miles of cross-country in GPS mode, and even if the more power-consuming dual-frequency multi-star positioning is turned on, it can cope with many super horses without any problem. (Definitely) Fenix 7 users will not have any battery life anxiety.
Above are some update features that really excite me. There is no doubt that Garmin Fenix 7 would be the best outdoor smartwatch if you want to go for a little adventure.