Able to run with the 47mm Garmin Epix Professional.
Matthew Miller/ZDNETWhat’s the Black Friday deal?
Amazon is presently promoting the Garmin Epix Professional for $799, a $200 low cost that places the newer Garmin wearable at an all-time low in worth.
Why this deal is ZDNET-recommended
Smartwatches have long-enjoyed AMOLED shows — and now sports activities watches are getting in on the motion, too.
Garmin has supplied an AMOLED show on its mid-range Venu watch since 2019, however followers of the Forerunner and Fenix sequence weren’t keen to compromise options for the show alone. In 2022, Garmin supplied the Epix (2nd Gen) mannequin as its first high-end watch with AMOLED, and it was extremely popular.
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For the previous couple of weeks, I have been working, swimming, biking, strolling, sleeping, and residing with the Garmin Epix Professional (Gen 2). Garmin additionally provides AMOLED on its new Forerunner 965 and 265 units, so there may be now a variety of watches with a show that rivals fashionable smartwatches, such because the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch.
ZDNET RECOMMENDS
Garmin Epix Professional (Gen 2)
Arguably the corporate’s most refined sports activities watch but, with superior coaching options and notably correct efficiency monitoring.
Whereas the good AMOLED show is actually one of many key options of the Garmin Epix Professional, the corporate additionally considerably expanded the choices and extra options on this 12 months’s mannequin. The 2022 Epix (2nd Gen) was out there in a single 47mm dimension (Commonplace and Sapphire), and this 12 months’s mannequin is obtainable in bigger (51mm) and smaller (42mm) sizes, together with Commonplace and Sapphire glass choices, so the mannequin will enchantment to a broader vary of lively customers. Costs vary from $899.99 to $1,099.99.
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One other key function included on the Epix Professional watch, which I’ve used day by day on the Enduro 2, is the built-in LED flashlight. After utilizing this for a lot of months on the Enduro 2, I can’t purchase one other GPS sports activities watch with out a flashlight. I’m more than happy to see Garmin proceed to combine this function in new units, together with the Epix Professional, Fenix 7X Professional, and Intuition 2X Photo voltaic. The flashlight shines in purple or white with strobe mode.
The purple shade LED flashlight is ideal for serving to you preserve your imaginative and prescient at midnight. With the Epix Professional, there’s additionally a purple shift mode, which adjustments the good show colours into shades of purple, so your watch face does not interrupt your sleep or capability to see in low-light situations.
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One of many main advantages of an AMOLED show — past the brightness and wealthy colours — is the flexibility for detailed maps to offer extra helpful data. Climate map overlays allow you to view upcoming situations, and aid shading on topographic maps offers fast data on the terrain you are masking.
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The everyday Garmin five-button navigation system, together with a touchscreen, is current for maneuvering by way of the huge variety of choices, settings, and options of the watch. I have been testing the mid-size 47mm mannequin with a sapphire glass show. With the always-on show choice enabled, I can get about six days of battery life, and 14 days with the always-on show turned off. With all satellites, multi-band, and music enjoying, then you’ll be able to count on about 10 hours of exercise monitoring — and that is a worst-case state of affairs.
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When Garmin releases new watches, we regularly see some new options launched — and that is the case this time as effectively. Fortunately, we additionally see Garmin doing a unbelievable job at protecting earlier units up to date, so test for updates in your present Garmin because it may need these new metrics.
Since I stay on a hill, and each single one in every of my working classes features a hill, I am excited a few metric centered on monitoring my uphill working efficiency. Hill scores vary from 0-100, with increased scores serving to you advance from leisure to elite stage. Hills with a grade of greater than 2% are routinely detected and analyzed.
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One other new metric discovered within the Garmin Epix Professional is the Endurance rating. VO2 Max is a typical measure of cardio health and the Garmin Endurance rating begins with that metric. Garmin then analyzes and interprets your exercise historical past from an endurance perspective — and, as you’d count on, endurance takes time to construct and account for in your Garmin watch.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
Outcomes from the Garmin Epix Professional have been close to excellent with correct GPS monitoring, close to flawless heart-rate monitoring, extra well being and health metrics than you would ever virtually use, a robust and chic smartphone utility, and an enormous ecosystem that will help you prepare and enhance your efficiency and life-style.
I might probably take into account this watch excellent with built-in mobile for phone-free security monitoring (just like the Garmin 945 LTE), however since I often pack a cellphone too, I am going to go forward and say that is the right look ahead to severe athletes.