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The Garmin Fenix 8 Pro is the flagship watch within the Garmin range, and offers a couple of key upgrades on the standard Garmin Fenix 8, most notably satellite and cellular connectivity.
It’s undoubtedly one of the best running watches you can get, but the Fenix 8 Pro comes at a very high price, and there are excellent alternatives to consider if you that price is off-putting, including the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and cheaper Garmin models including the Fenix 8 and Forerunner 970.
Design & Key Stats
- Price: £1,029-£1199 / $1,199-$1299
- Size: 47mm x 16mm or 51mm x 16.5mm
- Weight: 56g (47mm), 65g (51mm)
- Display: 1.4in AMOLED
- Case material: Titanium bezel and back
- Screen material: Sapphire crystal
- Water resistance: 10 ATM
- Battery life (watch, always-on): 8 days (47mm), 15 days (51mm)
- Battery life (dual-band GPS, always-on): 23 hours (47m), 41 hours (51mm)
- Storage: 32GB
Garmin Fenix 8 Pro Review
What’s New?
Compared with the standard Garmin Fenix 8, the main upgrade you get on the Fenix 8 Pro AMOLED is cellular and satellite connectivity, which means you can stay in the touch with the world even when off-the-grid without a phone. You need a subscription plan for this, with Garmin doing this in-house and offering four levels starting at £7.99 / $7.99.
The Fenix 8 Pro also has a brighter screen than the Fenix 8, though is also a little thicker and heavier, and has slightly shorter GPS batter life than its predecessor, though is listed as lasting longer in watch mode.
There is also a MicroLED version of the Fenix 8 Pro, which is even more expensive and has shorter battery life than the AMOLED watch. It’s an ambitious and innovative watch, but our review will focus on the Fenix 8 Pro AMOLED — you can get more info and see the MicroLED watch in Mike’s first run video.
The Run Test: Likes
As the top Garmin watch available, the Fenix 8 Pro is loaded with the best sports tracking, training analysis and navigation features available on the market in general. It’s an incredibly comprehensive tracker, and the insights you get from the training analysis can help you train harder and smarter.
On the navigation front, Garmin remains ahead of the pack thanks to its routable maps that can help you create routes on the fly in new spots, or direct you home safely if you get lost along the way.
We’ve found the accuracy of the watch to be spot on throughout testing as well, both in terms of the GPS tracks produced by the Fenix 8 Pro and its heart rate tracking, which has consistently matched up well with a chest strap.
The new connectivity features on the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro make it a more adventure-ready watch than ever, and also make leaving your phone behind on day-to-day runs easier if you need to stay connected in case of emergencies. Nick tested the LiveTrack feature during the Loch Ness Marathon, and while it hits battery life hard it’s a great way for people to keep tabs on you during activities.
The design of the Fenix 8 Pro is also impressively durable and quite stylish, though the fact it is such a big watch isn’t ideal for those with small wrists. The extra girth of the 51mm watch in particular does yield excellent battery life though, especially given the bright AMOLED display and connectivity features on the watch.
Check out more of the best Garmin running watches
The Run Test: Dislikes
The Fenix 8 Pro is a really big watch, and Garmin opted against having a 43mm model of the watch, which it does have for the standard Fenix 8. This means those with thinner wrists could well find it a bit to bulky, and it’s thicker design is noticeable compared with the Fenix 8.
It’s also wildly expensive, with the price jumping from the Fenix 8, which itself was already a lot pricier than the Fenix 7 Pro. Garmin’s top watches are now hundreds more than the rivals from other brands, and even if you consider them the best, the saving you can make in getting a Suunto, Coros or Apple Watch is tempting.
You can also make a saving by getting a cheaper or older Garmin, without sacrificing too much aside from the satellite connectivity on the Fenix 8 Pro.
Given the high cost, it would have been good to see Garmin at least include free SOS messaging on the Fenix 8 Pro. Google and Apple have made this a free feature on their new watches with satellite connectivity, so Garmin requiring a paid plan for these emergency messages is out of step.
Finally, this isn’t a major dislike for us as we’re happy with AMOLED watches, but the fact the Fenix 8 Pro doesn’t have a memory-in-pixel model in the range is a shame. Some people prefer the longer battery life you get with a non-AMOLED watch, especially given that this is a device built for epic outdoor adventures,
Verdict And Alternatives
The Garmin Fenix 8 Pro might well be the best overall sports watch on the market, but its high price means that it will only be worth it if you value the satellite and cellular connectivity. If not, then the Garmin Fenix 8 is just as good and cheaper, and it’s a thinner and lighter watch to boot.
If you do want the connectivity features but can’t see yourself spending over a grand to get them, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is an excellent sports watch with great smart features. It doesn’t have the battery life of the Fenix 8 Pro, or as impressive an array of training analysis and navigation features, but it’s certainly a great running watch and considerably cheaper.
The Garmin Forerunner 970 is lighter and more comfortable to wear and has all the same sports features as the Fenix 8 Pro. Its design is not as durable, but the titanium bezel and sapphire display on the Forerunner 970 will be hardy enough of most runners, and it fits thin wrists a lot better than the Fenix 8 Pro.
Some older Garmin watches to look at include the Fenix 7 Pro and Epix Pro, which are not right up to date with all of Garmin’s new features, but offer outstanding sports tracking nevertheless and are often in sales. If you did want a memory-in-pixel watch, the Garmin Enduro 3 would be your best alternative to the Fenix 8 Pro.