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Garmin has overhauled the Fenix range top to bottom with titanium builds, brighter, bigger screens, smarter maps, a new Epic tool for tracking multi-day adventures and some improved stamina effort-management features.
So where does this sit among the best Garmin running watches? The Run Testers were in Chamonix for the launch, among the first to run with the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro 51mm AMOLED. Here are our first impressions, GPS and battery results, and early verdict on what Garmin hailed as the “most comprehensive Fenix update to date.”
Design & Key Stats (Garmin Fenix 9 Pro AMOLED 51mm)
- Price: £1029.99 / $1,199.99
- Display: 1.5in AMOLED (3,000 nits)
- Storage: 64GB (Music & Offline Maps)
- Weight: 99g
- Battery Life (Watch): Up to 31 days
- Battery Life (GPS): Approx. 45 hours runtime (max accruacy)
- Features include: Offline Maps, InReach connectivity tools, Mic & Speaker, ECG
- Sensors: Heart rate, SpO2, Stress, Skin Temperature, barometric altimeter, depth sensor
Garmin Fenix 9 Pro First Run Review
What’s New With the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro and Fenix 9?
Garmin has refreshed the Fenix 9 Pro and the Fenix 9, with new models across to supersede the Fenix 8 Pro and the Fenix 8. As ever with the Fenix, there are many variants across the Pro and non-Pro. I counted a total of 21 watches, too many to go through here, but we’ll give you a whistle-stop of the headline updates, design details, new features and key specs, largely focusing on the Fenix 9 Pro.
First up, let’s talk about design. The Fenix 9 Pro and Fenix 9 models now have a titanium case — there’s no stainless steel option — and Garmin says the new watch is thinner, stronger and more durable.
The Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro come in three sizes: 43mm, 47mm and 51mm. The 47mm Pro is 16% thinner than the Fenix 8 Pro 47mm. The largest 51mm Fenix 9 Pro has the largest display to date. It’s the first 1.5-inch AMOLED on a Fenix, 15% bigger than the Fenix 8 Pro, but at the same brightness of 3,000 nits.
It’s a whopper of a screen. Interestingly, there’s no MicroLED version this time, unlike the Fenix 8 Pro.
All the screens have sapphire lenses, plus new, more prominent buttons and a redesigned sensor guide. They all have a built-in mic and speaker for things like voice messaging and voice controls.
The largest 51mm watch weighs 99g, lighter than the 51mm Stainless Steel 8 Pro, but still a shade heavier than the 51mm Titanium 8 Pro at 92g. There are two solar models of the Pro, with 1.3-inch and 1.4-inch Memory-in-Pixel displays. The Fenix 9 is AMOLED only. There’s no solar option.
On connectivity, the Fenix 9 Pro has built-in cellular (LTE), but the 9 does not. All the 9 and 9 Pro models have more memory, up to 64GB, 50% more than the Fenix 8, enough room for up to 7,000 songs, and also there to help improve mapping.
Battery life on the 51mm Fenix 9 Pro is now 31 days smartwatch mode, up from 27 on the Fenix 8 Pro 51mm, then up to 45 hours in max accuracy GPS mode. Though it’s not specified if that’s with Always On. That’s down from 53 hours on the Fenix 8 Pro AMOLED 51mm without Always On, though you got 41 hours on that model with Always On.
The flashlight on the Fenix 9 Pro now has a green light mode to help with night visibility — that alone might be all you need to upgrade.
Great news for fabric strap fans: there are new comfort-fit accessory bands, quick-fit fabric bands, in lots of colours. That gets the Run Tester seal of approval.
On price, the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro’s cheapest model starts at just shy of £950. Prices jump across the Fenix 9 Pro models if you opt for InReach connectivity and the priciest Fenix 9 Pro lands at just shy of £1,120.
The Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro Line-Up
Check out the Best Garmin Running Watches
The New Features
Then onto the new features and the Fenix remains the most comprehensive watch in the Garmin range. The good news: pretty much all the features outside of the InReach safety and connectivity tools will hit both the Fenix 9 and the Fenix 9 Pro.
The headlines here are new, improved maps, enhanced stamina tools, and a new Epic feature that lets you group multiple activities together for a holistic view of a training block or multi-day adventure. You also get Garmin InReach connectivity on selected Fenix 9 Pro models, with things like SOS messaging, Garmin Response, and new LiveTrack smarts.
Let’s start with Garmin Epic. The idea here is that you can start an Epic, and all activities you log for up to 92 days will be grouped together to create a holistic story detailing metrics, trends, patterns and insights.
For example, across a training block or a multi-day adventure. You can also create them retrospectively for any 92-day window, and it’ll include things like sleep, recovery and HRV, plus maps that stitch activities into one combined map. You can also add notes and photos, curating a story to relive.
Mapping gets some updates too. Garmin says the map engine has been improved to bring smoother, faster and more intuitive built-in, phone-free routable maps. In practice, that should mean 30% faster map panning on the 9 and 9 Pro, smoother zoom, and quicker heading adjustment. There’s also a new tilted perspective view that adds some visual depth to what you see on screen, in a bid to help you better anticipate what’s coming next.
The Stamina tool gets some new metrics with Stamina Curves and Stamina Zones. Garmin told us these were designed to “show athletes how their endurance changes over time based on fitness gains and training history,” helping improve pacing during runs. Some of the details you’ll get in post-workout stats include maximal tolerable distance, tied to your personal stamina zones.
Stamina Curve estimates how long your stamina can sustain different effort levels. The idea is to reveal things like what pace or power you can realistically hold for a given duration, whether your planned workout or race strategy is sustainable, and how your endurance has improved over time.
Stamina Zones give you personalised intensity ranges with five zones, from easy to maximal effort, and the pace ranges adjust over time as your fitness evolves.
Then onto connectivity and InReach tools where the Fenix 9 Pro gets three new connectivity features: LiveTrack notifications through Garmin Messenger; Garmin Locate, which lets friends and family check on your location via the Garmin Messenger app; and weather over satellite, where you can get weather updates for your current destination or upcoming waypoints.
Oh, and there are new sport modes for rucking and indoor rowing.
The First Run Test
Onto the first run, then. I took the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro 51mm for a 2-hour run in the mountains around Chamonix. I also wore the Fenix 8 Pro and the Fenix 8 to compare the GPS, battery life and heart rate, take a look at the mapping updates, get a feel for the design, and try some of the new tools. I also threw in a short walk to test the Epic multi-activity feature.
Big caveat here: some of the features were clearly still rolling out, so this is a very quick initial look at the Fenix 9 Pro. Much more testing is needed before we deliver a verdict.
On design, I was strapped into the largest of the new Fenix 9 Pros, with the regular strap rather than the fabric one.
As you’d expect, this is a big, rugged, good-looking adventure watch. It’s well built, with all the premium finishes. That 1.5-inch screen is big, meaning loads of real estate for maps and stats.
But there’s a compromise: although it’s thinner and sits closer and marginally more comfortably on the wrist than the Fenix 8 Pro AMOLED, with less of that big-watch tug, this remains a big old watch at 51mm. It dwarfs the 43mm, which will definitely suit smaller wrists much better.
Brightness and visibility were on par with my Fenix 8 Pro AMOLED, which is excellent. I did experience a bit of lag at times, but I’m putting that down to this being an early, just-launched model. The buttons are more prominent, and I found them easier to use on the move. I also think they’ll be more glove-friendly, though they might be easier to hit accidentally too, something we’ll test for the review.
On battery life, I set all the watches to the same settings, with max brightness and max accuracy GPS. Over the 2-hour run, the Fenix 9 Pro burned 4% — a pretty good performance that should scale to the 45-hour official battery life. The 8 and the 8 Pro burned 5%.
On GPS, the 9 Pro and the 8 Pro came in identical. The 8 was a little off, but that was strapped to my run belt, so no surprise there.
On heart rate, the Fenix 9 Pro and the Fenix 8 Pro optical sensors came in almost identical on max and average — almost beat for beat. So accuracy seems solid, and on par with the Fenix 8 Pro.
Looking at some of the new features, the Epic tool was the one that jumped out at me. I like the idea of being able to group lots of activities into one report — it would have been ideal for my 67-day walk along the Danube, or the 3-day, 100-mile loop of Lake Garda. But there’s clear potential for keeping track of and looking back on marathon training blocks too.
For this first, very brief test, the maps were quick and smooth — a little snappier than the Fenix 8 Pro, helped by the extra screen real estate, and the perspective mapping does add something extra too. I’m not sure the difference would make me rush out and buy a 9 over the 8, but more testing’s needed.
I also need more time getting to know the stamina tools — it needs more data, but the principle of managing a run by looking at stamina zones is intriguing.
I also didn’t get into the InReach tools — didn’t have time to set that up in the narrow testing window, but we’ll get into those for the full review. This is one area where Garmin is already a long way ahead of the rivals, and they look to have finessed things a little more still.
First impressions
One run doesn’t make a review, so we’ll keep testing to bring you our in-depth multi-tester verdict in the full Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review. But based on that first run and what we know so far, the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro looks like it brings some interesting new features, and the titanium is a decent step up on the old stainless steel models. If you were hankering after an even bigger display, the 51mm 1.5-inch is generous, so this’ll satiate those giant-screen needs.
As ever, the big question is whether there’s enough here to warrant an upgrade. If you’re a Garmin Fenix 8 Pro owner, on first impressions, I’d say probably not. If you’re on a Garmin Fenix 7, it’s going to be a toss-up between this and the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro. My instant reaction (and I reserve the right to change my view once we’ve done more testing) is that the Fenix 8 Pro will become the better value, with enough firepower for most. Though the Fenix 9 Pro is a step on, and the snappier maps and better wearability might be a deciding factor for some.