Battery for Two Weeks: Garmin’s New Solar Smartwatches
Do you use a smartwatch to record your ride? We do not, but we know plenty of people who do. Garmin’s leading that space with its Fenix line, which allows multisport tracking for cycling, running, swimming, and… uh… golf. It’ll go great with your dentist’s Cervelo.
The new Fenix line adds solar powered battery, which Garmin says will extend the battery life up to 16 days. That’s 384 hours (quick maths), or more time than we’ve spent in the saddle all year. Pretty nice. The new Instinct Solar boasts an even huger 24 days, but we don’t know anybody who uses that so it’s probably not for cyclists.
The Fenix models add features for more sports including surfing, climbing, and mountain biking. Sounds like our kind of triathlon. And all are cooler than golf.
Will you make the switch to a smartwatch you hardly ever have to charge? It does have some appeal. These days the pre-ride ritual has become a process of sighing as you discover that none of the shit you strap to yourself and your bike has any battery left.
Psst, Garmin. Make a solar power head unit. Like the Trimm One, but fully featured. Garmin head units still haven’t made the switch to USB-C though, so it’ll probably be about 2035 when they add solar power there.
Here’s what Garmin has to say. They’re using the tagline “Do what you love longer” which sounds a bit sexy. Maybe that’s the lockdown talking:
OLATHE, Kan.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), today announced the expansion of its solar charging technology to its Instinct, fēnix 6 and 6S, and tactix Delta adventure smartwatches. Building on the success of Garmin’s first solar charging adventure watch, the fēnix 6X – Pro Solar, these new solar editions allow customers to “Do What They Love Longer” through significantly increased battery life and new purpose-built functionality including surf, mountain biking and climbing activities.1
“Garmin’s multisport GPS watches are the choice for athletes and adventurers willing to push themselves through the next mile or over the next mountain. Using our solar capabilities, the new Instinct, fēnix 6 and 6S, and tactix Delta solar watches provide extraordinary battery life and give customers the ability to follow their passion to the sunset and further,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales. “In addition to the solar charging capabilities, these editions are full of updated and unique features. From new camouflage design patterns to surfing activity profiles, there is something for everyone with the new members of Garmin’s solar family.”
Instinct Solar
Since launching in 2018, the Instinct GPS adventure watch series has proven itself as a reliable tool built to endure the most challenging environments, from the city to the mountains and all places between. Instinct Solar takes its rugged reputation to new heights with astonishing battery life, updated bold designs and new activity profiles, including two new activity-specific Instinct editions, Instinct Solar – Surf Edition and Instinct Solar – Tactical Edition.
Representing a milestone for Garmin, Instinct Solar can provide unlimited battery life with sufficient solar exposure in Battery Saver mode. Using Expedition Mode with sufficient solar exposure, Instinct Solar provides increased GPS functionality while still delivering over two months of battery life. The Instinct Solar series also boasts up to 24 days in smartwatch mode indoors and more than 50 days with sufficient solar exposure. Users can make these battery-extending changes on the fly through Instinct Solar’s incorporation of Power Manager.
Instinct Solar – Surf Edition is purpose-built with specialized surf features such as tide data and a dedicated surfing activity to help customers make the most of every wave. Water rated to 100 meters, the Instinct Solar – Surf Edition is also a multisport water-recreation watch. Instinct Solar – Tactical Edition, popular with military personnel, is equipped with tactical-specific features such as night-vision goggle compatibility and Stealth mode.
In addition to Instinct’s already robust outdoor activity and health tracking, Instinct Solar now also includes Pulse Ox2 to gauge how well an individual’s body is absorbing oxygen and Body Battery to optimize body energy reserves through health monitoring metrics.
fēnix 6 Series – Solar Editions
The fēnix 6S Pro Solar and fēnix 6 Pro Solar are the newest members of the Garmin flagship outdoor GPS smartwatch line. Featuring Garmin Power Glass™ solar charging lens and a customizable Power Manager mode, fēnix 6 Series – Solar Editions harness the power of the sun to stay on and remain performance-ready for weeks, so users will have more on-wrist time to enjoy their activities, training features, onboard mapping, music streaming and much more. Expanding the robust activity profiles included in the fēnix series, the fēnix 6 and 6S Solar editions come surf, mountain bike and indoor climb-ready. The smaller-sized fēnix 6S Pro Solar adventure watch also features an exclusive Women of Adventure design option.
- Surf: Using a Surf Activity profile, also found on Instinct Solar – Surf Edition, fēnix surfers can track total waves, surf time, total time, max speed and their longest wave. When surfing in front of a Surfline® camera, users wearing fēnix or Instinct surf-compatible watches can upload their surf data to their Surfline account and later view video of that surfing activity through Surfline Sessions™.
- Mountain Bike: Track the details of every ride with mountain biking metrics plus specialized grit and flow measurements that rate trail difficulty and how smoothly a user descends, giving a score to beat next time.
- Indoor Climb: The indoor climb activity profile allows climbers to track their sessions at indoor facilities. Metrics include the number of routes, vertical distance climbed, climbing time, difficultly of each route and more.
The fēnix 6S Pro Solar battery performance in smartwatch mode is up to nine days indoors and up to 10.5 days with sufficient solar exposure, while battery performance for the fēnix 6 Pro Solar in smartwatch mode is up to 14 days indoors and up to 16 days with sufficient solar exposure.
The fēnix 6 Series – Solar Editions also includes Advanced Sleep Monitoring, which provides a detailed breakdown of a user’s light, deep and REM sleep stages as well as Pulse Ox and respiration data. This can be viewed on a dedicated widget that includes your stress score and sleep insights. Out of the box, the fēnix 6 series includes topographic maps for outdoor adventures, ski maps for over 2,000 ski resorts worldwide and over 41,000 golf courses. The fēnix 6 series features Garmin Pay™ and on-device music storage of up to 2,000 songs, allowing users to sync playlists from several of the most popular music services (subscription may be required), no phone required.
tactix Delta – Solar Edition
The tactix Delta – Solar Edition is the fourth generation of the tactix family, which is developed on the fēnix series platform. Built to military standards (MIL-STD-810), the tactix Delta – Solar Edition uses solar charging to extend battery life and Power Manager mode to provide up to 21 days indoors and up to 24 days with sufficient solar exposure.
Mission-ready features on the tactix Delta – Solar Edition include stealth mode, which disables location sharing and wireless connectivity, and a kill switch to wipe all user memory. The rugged, sophisticated design features an always-on 1.4” display, scratch-resistant sapphire lens, black DLC-coated steel bezel, black PVD-coated steel rear cover and all-new military-inspired black tactical nylon QuickFit® band with reinforced stitching and exposed black metal hardware.
With specialized tactical features as well as mapping, music, advanced training and the same smart features from the fēnix 6 family, the tactix Delta – Solar Edition is built for demanding field use and everyday wear.
The Instinct Solar, fēnix 6 Series – Solar Editions and tactix Delta – Solar Edition represent the continued innovation of Garmin solar technology initiative and are available now. The complete line of Garmin solar charging smartwatches also includes the fēnix 6X – Pro Solar and quatix® 6X Solar. Suggested retail prices start at $399.99 for Instinct Solar, $849.99 for fēnix 6 Series – Solar Editions and $1,099 for the tactix Delta – Solar Edition. View these new solar wearables in action here. For more information, visit www.garmin.com.
1 All battery life numbers assume 3 hours per day outside in 50,000 lux conditions
2 This is not a medical device and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or monitoring of any medical condition; see Garmin.com/ataccuracy. Pulse Ox not available in all countries.