Garmin Enduro Review | Best Ultra – Trail GPS Running Watch

Garmin Enduro is the most expensive running watch ever and in this review, I look at the new ultra and trail running features that have been added to make this just a little bit more special than the existing Garmin Fenix 6 upon which it’s based.

“It’s just a cheaper Fenix 6X Solar with no music & maps” will come the cry and there’s some truth in that.

OK, there’s a LOT of truth in that. However, I kinda like what I see despite the usual caveats, let’s start with a summary review of the Garmin Enduro and then on to some more detailed background info and a look at the super-new Garmin trail features.

Background

Let’s quickly recap what the Enduro is intended for and what’s new.

In a nutshell: It is a Fenix 6X Solar GPS watch with a lightweight strap and improved battery life. It’s a non-pro version and, as such, omits maps, WiFi & music.

It has 3 new software features which are Trail VO2max, Trail rest timers and ClimbPro trail enhancements. These will find their way to Fenix 6, MARQ and 945/745.

• VO2max – it’s difficult to get an accurate VO2max estimation when running trails and VO2max on the trail can still be disabled. The terrain impacts the ability to get a sufficiently long and accurate series of data points for the Fristbeat algorithm. The new algorithm has been modified to understand when you are working harder due to terrain variations over parts of your run ie conditions underfoot rather than elevation which was previously incorporated
• Ultra Run Profile with Trail Rest Timer – this is a minor update to existing ‘pause’ functionalities and it’s designed to account for rest stations on longer runs. Just as in a transition in a triathlon, a trail rest still counts towards the full race time but you might just simply want to see the real amount of time you have spent running.
• ClimbPro Trail enhancements cover flat and downhill sections of your route. You are alerted (via configurable ClimbPro Alerts!) to uphill/downhill sections and now the ClimbPro hill profile is shown for downhills.
• Oh there’s also a tweak to the end-of-training summary screen with weekly summary data

Thus the two Garmin Enduro models we see are highly similar variants to the Fenix 6X Standard & 6X Solar, the difference being they have a lightweight strap and yellow detailing.

The new UltraFit nylon straps are super-light, coming in at just below 6g. However, this is still a fairly heavy watch with an overall weight of 70g. Well, I guess it’s heavy compared to a plastic one but light compared to a metal one and the metal part of the construction is considered important to the perceived need for an ultra/trail watch to be durable.

Racing A Trail Course

You can follow a course that a race organiser might create or you can make your own easily enough from the Garmin Connect mobile app and quickly sync it to your Enduro. You can see the climb profile and also check the popularity of the trail segments on the route and there’s also a nice, pacing feature where you can automatically create different pace targets as the challenges of the course vary with the terrain.

That all looks great on a smartphone but the reality of following a breadcrumb route gives you a feature that is no better than found with competitors like Suunto 9 or Polar Grit X. Sure, you are given the distance to the next turn, your heading and you can control the amount of zoom on the screen but you do not have the context given by a map which helps you orient yourself based on terrain indications around you.

Garmin Enduro – Running with the new ClimbPro descents & alerts

To compensate for the basic routes, Garmin gives you new hill features that offer a customisable alert to signal an approaching hill as well as ascent and descent profiles of all the key hills on the course you are following.

I found that trees tended to throw off the distance on the GPS-based alert feature for upcoming climbs but it didn’t really matter that I was alerted 60m before the ascent rather than 40m.

The climb/descent feature itself is pretty cool and I’ve used the same feature a lot on Garmin’s bike computers. The key hill info is nicely displayed alongside a useful graphic of the profile. It IS a useful feature, however, some of that usefulness is tempered when you are running. Simply put, it is sometimes unwise to keep glancing at a wristwatch when running, with a bike computer it’s a more natural and easy thing to do (in my opinion). That said, seeing the profile and knowing how long until the end are great bits of info.

Garmin Enduro – Trail VO2max

Previously, VO2max was inevitably calculated too low when running on trails. The old calculations didn’t take into account the extra difficulty of trail conditions.

There is now a new calculation for VO2max for the TRAIL running profile where better estimates are made for the terrain, as sensed by the onboard accelerometers.

You can still manually disable the new calculation.

Garmin Enduro – new Rest Timer

A simple way to manually log your time at rest stations.

Coupled with the auto-detection of walking in the run/walk feature then this is a great way to see your true efforts in your post-race analysis.

Garmin Enduro – new Nylon strap

The new Nylon strap is ‘quite’ good.

It differs from similar ones by Coros/Apple as it has velcro-like tabs at either end rather than just one end. I have used this kind of strap a lot and Garmin’s innovation of the double-ended velcro is a retrograde step. But, hey…it’s just a strap.

The strap is slightly harder to get on and more easy to pop out at one end and BANG, you’ve dropped your very expensive watch on the floor. The way Coros, Apple and others work means that it is simply not possible to accidentally drop the watch as the strap cannot come undone.

The big advantage of Garmin’s approach is that the metal pins are not part of the nylon strap. Thus the Enduro is QuickFit compatible and an old QuickFit strap can be easily added on.

Anything else new? Is it the Fenix 6.5?

We don’t know too much about what components are new under the hood.

The battery has a slightly better capacity (it’s slightly physically larger) and also benefits from improved efficiencies from ‘other components’.

However, the memory available to CIQ is lower than the earlier PRO and PLUS model ie lower than the 6X.

Enduro comes at the end of the Fenix 6/Fenix 6 Solar product cycle. We can expect a Fenix 7 in the fall/autumn of 2021 and, in the past, a minor release with this timing might contain upgraded internal hardware components that are tested out prior to inclusion in the MARQ2 or Fenix 7 – effectively this could be a Fenix 6.5. Improvements to the battery reliability, Solar efficiency and CPU power are plausibly likely but there appear to be no big-ticket items like the latest Sony GNSS chipset nor an Elevate Gen 4 oHR sensor.

Garmin Enduro – Review Negatives

The initial concerns at launch (Feb 2021) are stability, GNSS accuracy and oHR accuracy.

I’ve put these first negative impressions of Enduro in a separate post. Partly for the sake of completeness, partly because many readers don’t like negativity and partly because Garmin will address many of those points in relatively short order.

Garmin Enduro Headline Specs

• Dimensions: 5.1 x 5.1 x 1.49 cm (Same as 6X)
• Screen: 3.6 cm diameter (1.4″, same as 6X)
• Lighter Weight: 72 gram, the case is 66g or 58g/52g for the steel (6X is 54g titanium case/66g steel case)
• New UltraFit nylon strip (under 6g, 26mm QuickFit compatible)
• Case options DLC coated Titanium (same as an F6X option) plus Stainless steel option (same as F6X option)
• S$/Eu799.99 & US$/Eu899.99  (F6X Solar Pro is $1099)
• Memory 64Mb (DEcreased from F6X 32Gb)
• All CIQ Memory DEcreased eg Datafield is 32768bytes from F6X 131072bytes
• Up to 70/80 hours battery in GPS mode (6X claims 60 hours +6 hours)… improved
• Up to 200/300 hours battery in “max battery, GPS-on mode” (6X claims 120 hours +28 hours)
• Solar cell to recharge the battery Up to 65 days of battery when used as a smartwatch (6X claims 21 days +3 days)

Headline Features, not necessarily new:

• Power Glass Solar charging extends GPS-battery life to 80 hours.
• Power and battery management features can toggle features during the run
• Trail Run VO2max
• Ultrarun rest timer
• ClimbPro trail enhancements (adds descent/flats info)
• Run/Walk detection & logging
• Latest recovery advisor
• Next daily workout suggestions
• Recovery time enhanced by sleep & wellness data
• Compass, barometer and multi-GNSS support (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo)
• Expedition mode sports profile

Enduro has the new Sleep Stage widget! PacePro and Climb Pro REMAIN and require a pre-loaded course

These are removed

• Maps & features that require an onboard map including those that are used in golf and ski modes and certain aspects of ClimbPro and PacePro
• All music features
• Wi-Fi

Garmin Enduro Battery Life Review

There are an incredible 70 hours of GPS battery life with an extra 10 hours if sensible sunlight conditions also exist (you could get more).

The following charts show an image of Garmin’s detailed battery life claims and then a chart of battery life I experienced with various combinations of GNSS, some backlight, a few sensors and sunlight. As you can see, the battery life can drop dramatically without very careful management. Garmin’s claims seem broadly realistic for the GPS battery life.

Luckily, Garmin provides you with the POWER MANAGER feature where you can turn off/on key features like BLE, NAT+, SpO2 (and more) to save battery. Some of these will make significant improvements to several 10s of per cent increases in battery life.

Garmin Enduro – oHR Accuracy

I’ll add some more images to the review over the next month, typically all the Garmin Enduro oHR tracks are not as smooth as they should be and numerous small peaks make the average for the whole track too high (aka ‘wrong’). It’s the same picture for a long, fairly hilly road ride where the small peaks and general ‘noise’ spoil an otherwise acceptable HR track.

Garmin Enduro – GNSS Accuracy

GNSS accuracy with GPS+GLONASS and GPS-only is unacceptable at times. For much of any individual run, the track is fine in a normal sense but then craziness ensues, which other reviewers have also found. It’s simply not worth my while spending any more time looking into this until the GNSS firmware is sorted out. If you want accurate pace, get STRYD and don’t rely on GPS/GLONASS.

Is there anything to be excited about?

If you’re in the market for a high-spec, frills-free ultra/trail running watch then a resounding “YES” is the answer.

If you want a watch whose battery longevity is unrivalled then get VERY excited. This is it

Perhaps you also like the larger-format screen to cram more metrics onto? Perhaps you like the new velcro-Esque strap? Perhaps you want a serious trail watch but have no need for a map?

If any of those tickle your fancy then get your AMEX card out and get spending. Actually, ALL those reasons plus the Enduro’s ability to be a fully-featured triathlon watch are the reasons why I got one. But, to all intents and purposes, YES – it is just a slightly cheaper non-Pro Fenix 6X Solar with a new strap. The unique selling point is simply battery life…and that is awesome.

Buy a Garmin Enduro, here are the prices and links to retailers

• Enduro Steel with Gray Ultrafit Nylon Strap – US$/Eu799.99, £700
• Enduro Carbon Gray Diamon-Like Coating (DLC) Titanium bezel with black Ultrafit Nylon Strap – US$/Eu899.99, £800

Garmin Enduro: Buy a Garmin Enduro HERE when available from one of my partners (or from the blue banner below).

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