Garmin Fenix 8 and Fenix E Retailer Leak
source: multitronic.fi
via: Reddit (u/pastsession9474)
More: my latest intel on new 2024 Garmin Models
Another month, another leak.
There have been several rumours of the Fenix 8’s arrival over the last 6 months. Those rumours have been confirmed with the 4 seemingly plausible retailer listings above. The release dates were only ever going to be August(ish) or the start of 2025. The latter was my favourite but as you can see from the images it looks like a July/August announcement with shipping in early September just before the Apple Watch 10/X launch and before IFA Berlin 6th September.
Note: check out @fttest_en on Twitter. He gets some good original leaks that often are differently sourced from those that I publish here.
Let’s dig deeper.
What Do The Images Show
- Fenix 8 in 3 case sizes
- A new small size of 43mm (was 42mm)
- 2 base colours – slate grey steel and stainless steel black
- 2 band colours: black and whitestone
- In finish: Arvioitu toimitus etc (translation: estimated delivery, ordered from the supplier, other versions available) – Wed 4 September – Friday 6 September
- Fenix 8 Pricing: 1095.9€ (51mm), 995.9€ (47mm) and 995.9€ (43mm)
- Fenix E pricing: 797.9€ (47mm)
- Valid product codes are also shown eg 010-02904-00
- Oh….and BY FAR the most interesting; a wholly new model Fenix E. More on that in a minute.
What We Can Take From This – Basic Analysis
Do we compare the pricing to the Fenix 7 and its slightly older tech or 7 Pro solar? Solar isn’t mentioned in the new listings so I’m not entirely sure of the magnitude of the price bump on a like-for-like basis. It’s not unreasonable to assume that the new model is simply ‘assumed’ to have solar. Solar is not as big a selling point as it once was, in which case 7 Pro solar is 749,99€ and so Fenix 8 47mm at 995.9€ is a pretty huge price bump. I’ll speculate on the ‘Why’ further below.
Fenix E is coming at the kind of price level we see for a wholly different tier of tech. A Theory could be that Fenix E is Fenix Enduro, effectively becoming Enduro 3 (Enduro 2, 51mm is the only size available at 849,99€)
Q: What does E stand For? (Fenix E)
A: The most obvious answers are Economy or Enduro. I’m not happy with either. An 800 euro watch is hardly economy and the Enduro sits in Garmin’s other product time ie NOT with the Fenix people.
AMOLED & Solar
For the last few years, Epix and Epix Pro have proven Garmin’s AMOLED tech on one then three display sizes and I’d say it’s gone well. In parallel, we have seen Fenix 7 Pro introduce solar charging in all its display sizes. Again, that seems to have gone well. Garmin has not yet combined AMOLED and solar.
One ‘obvious’ jump to make is that AMOLED and Solar have been combined on one watch but it’s not so simple. Garmin’s solar tech can be found inside the display as well as around it. I would have thought it a pretty fundamental change to integrate these two technologies.
Thankfully for us, Garmin files for patents. Back in 2022, Garmin filed patents for OLED Solar. I reckon we are seeing something like that here in the Fenix 8 ie new SOLAR-OLED tech.
Increase in Size
The increased size of the smaller model from 42mm to 43mm is significant.
I doubt the reason is aesthetic and I doubt it will be to include a larger battery. Perhaps Garmin can make a 43mm case size with a smaller bezel and so squeeze in the same screen size & resolution as found on the 47mm model? ie Epix 2 Pro 42mm is 390x390px and 47mm is 416x416px. Maybe Fenix 8 43mm boasts the 416px size and needs the case to be a bit stronger/wider?
LTE Technology
By coincidence, yesterday Garmin released a chunky new smart dog collar (bear with me!). I thought of covering that but only because it has inbuilt LTE functionality and that might signal a rekindling of Garmin’s interest in LTE on its other products. If only I had written it you might have believed my presence 😉
Watches first meaningfully saw LTE on the Forerunner 945LTE which, in hindsight, seems more like a proof of concept or experiment by Garmin. After that, the tech came to kids’ watches and, well, to hunting dog collars too. I had expected to see LTE in the Edge 1050 but…nope. That was perhaps the one product where it would be a sensible addition not least because it would also support Garmin’s renewed interest in GroupRide features.
Maybe there will be an Edge 1050 Pro/LTE a few months down the line?
Anyway, Edge’s GroupRide feature is also being rolled out to watches. So why not to a new LTE-enabled watch?
LTE is a funny feature. In essence, it means you can leave your phone at home and still make and take calls if you are in cellular range (but Garmin won’t be able to do ‘calls’ unlike Apple). But it also has the safety potential to give more scope to transmitting a cry for help and your location when you need it. Garmin, of course, knows that; its adventurer clientele goes off-grid and so needs the satellite connectivity that its inReach products offer. With pseudo-competitors like Apple introducing satellite messaging features into iPhone, that starts to negate a lot of what Garmin is doing – instead of the inReach subscription, take your iPhone into the wilderness, and use its satellite link.
The Garmin developer conference in mid-2023 introduced new capabilities geared toward LTE and that’s usually a signal that hardware (dog’s collars!) follows the subsequent year. Again, that points to LTE in a Fenix and maybe an Edge.
LTE might require an increased size for either the chip or aerial. That might go some way to explaining the larger 43mm case model and maybe also including an elemnt of the price tag to give you, say, a year’s free subscription to inReach.
The bottom line for LTE and Garmin is that their unique uses are limited to simple data sharing of positional information and the interrogation of live, web-based services like weather.
What I think: My heart hopes for LTE on Fenix 8 but the brain says NO. I’m torn.
Why the price bump
Garmin tends not to make such large price jumps on a like(ish) for like(ish) model.
One explanation could be that Fenix 8 is the Epix 3 ie AMOLED is now standard on Fenix. Epix 2 Pro 47mm is 849,99€, so the price bump from there to 995.9€ is still pretty huge
Then we see that Fenix E is priced similarly to Fenix 7 Pro 47mm, a price bump of a mere 50€ up to 797.9€. I like that explanation but it does not explain why there is only one size of Fenix E, maybe the other sizes just weren’t listed?
Another explanation for any price bump would be a Sapphire lens as standard which is associated with some previous $100 price bumps ( Epix 2 Pro Sapphire: 51mm 1.099,99€, 47mm 949,99€, 42mm 949,99€)
What I think: Fenix 8 is the Epix 3 (AM)OLED Solar Sapphire. Including (AM)OLED, solar, sapphire crystal and inflation explain most of the price bump compared to Epix 2 Pro and Fenix 7 Pro.
Important Note
Model Number: A04674 – this has been registered on the FCC however it’s the dog collar.
A Controversial Opinion
Is Garmin Fenix dead?
In 2022 I said that Garmin Fenix would become Epix (either replaced in name or transformed in nature). I perhaps didn’t expect it to happen quite so soon.
Maybe what we are seeing here is a significant rationalisation of Garmin’s HIGHLY confusing line-up.
Fenix 8 is now effectively Epix 3 in all but name. The Epix branding will cease.
Fenix E is effectively an uber-batteried Garmin Enduro 3 cum Solar-MIP-based Fenix, now in a mid-size (the Enduro in its large size will continue to exist separately)
This post will be refreshed daily as new details emerge
Next: Garmin Instinct 3 solar leak??? A: Nah
Garmin Instinct 3 Solar 45mm Images “Leaked” – Fake, Fab or Fugly?
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Any possibility that they phase out the Enduro Brand and name it Fenix E(nduro)?
My thoughts exactly:
Fenix 8 = Epix 3
Fenix E = Enduro
agreed
but Enduro is 51mm reflecting the need for a large map
@th5krunner I don’t think Enduro got this big because of the map, the first one had none. I think it was about the bigger battery and in generation 2 there was no excuse left to not implement maps.
The Suunto Vertical is about that size so perhaps the Enduro 3 is shrinking to that size
I also think the fenix 8 is the successor to the epix pro series and they have decided to end the experiment with the Epix brand. I suspect the fenix E is positioned like an Apple Watch SE. It’s a cheaper version with the old (MIP) display technology. Maybe they position it as the new Enduro but at 47mm I don’t think so unless there is also a 51mm version.
I expect this is a hedge for the portion of the market who want to buy something like a fenix 7 non-pro and they judge it to be that market is the mid-size device market.
This strategy only makes sense if they stop manufacturing the fenix 7 / 7 pro and epix 2 / 2 pro series.
I think the removal of the X and S size branding is also evidence they found that stating the sizes on the Epix worked better.
These are clearly not all of the watches because there surely will be more colors and a titanium version.
I would expect the fenix 8 52mm to be AMOLED (or something similar) and have battery life range equivalent or exceeding the fenix 7X solar in realistic scenarios but will not have solar. The Epix 52mm is already pretty close. There is energy savings to be had with chip process improvements and more efficient displays as well as an opportunity to just choose to fit a larger battery capacity. This seems very doable for Garmin.
I would not be surprised to see LTE worldwide messaging built in that ties to the new Messenger feature and has an optional subscription component to InReach that operates as a virtual worldwide carrier and does not require tying the watch to a carrier.
Unless the 52mm fenix 8 has phenomenal range that blows the doors off of anything previously seen for AMOLED and is plausibly within ~10% of the Coros Vertix 2S and Suunto Vertical, I don’t think they will kill the enduro because it already makes very little sense as a product. I think it’s a pride-driven thing that they want to have bragging rights in all feature categories. If they can’t get there with AMOLED I bet within 6 months I bet they will offer a MIPS-based enduro 3 that is otherwise almost a fenix 8 52mm platform that finds a way to cram a large enough battery in to exceed a Vertix 2S and Suunto Vertical in range.
yep pretty much agree with that Brian
and this: “These are clearly not all of the watches because there surely will be more colors and a titanium version. “
Exciting bit of news! Just got an Edge 1050 so I don’t necessarily fancy upgrading my 51mm Epix 2 Pro. Let’s see what the complete package is…
Whoop whoop, let’s go. Best time of the year when the Fenix leaks are rolling in.
FENIX E = ECONOMY
maybe, but i think that is the wrong word for the price point
Yeay, maybe it will be smth like 955, light plastic, not (that) bulky, with fenix software and led light ofc:)
200EURO LESS THAN OTHER MODELS
THE GARMIN ENDURO 2 IS SOLD AT THE PRICE OF 999 EUROS ON THE GARMIN ITALIA WEBSITE
UK £729.99
US $999.99
DE 849,99€
IT 999,99€ https://www.garmin.com/it-IT/p/854515/, very strange !
Some further digging using model ID shows a different cached delivery date at the same retailer website:
> Estimated delivery: 07.08 – 09.08.
Small correction: There was only a 945 with LTE available and no 745.
Regarding LTE: I’m sure we’ll see it someday but I doubt they would make it a standard feature. People would be pissed having to pay for it and not needing / using it.
ha ty good spot
Yeah, and Apple has already proven that the market is there for an LTE and non-LTE SKU to exist side-by-side.
I have and use the LTE Apple Watch. I’ll upgrade to another LTE one in september. Its features are ok and i like them but i’m not super wowed by what’s on offer by Apple. The features come in handy occasionally, mostly around me not taking a phone when i go cycling or sending a text from somewhere unusual. LTE kills the battery.
I’m just not convinced garmin can do ANY of those features (other than killing the battery)
sure i’ve included an image for garmin messenger in the article but i doubt that will integrate with Apple iMessage, it might with Google’s equivalent. so it’s pointless for me for messaging.
other than up to date wind or positions in a group ride i’m struggling to find LTE’s usefulness for me on a Garmin.
Yeah, I agree that Apple’s LTE is meh, mostly because neither Apple nor any developers seem interested in doing much with it. I’m consistently amazed by how many apps won’t work without being tethered to the phone. Heck, there isn’t even a good method of livetracking on the Apple Watch (at least as of a year or two ago).
I still think that there’s a plausible use case for a Garmin with on-wrist messaging, even with Apple shutting the door on Messages (and it’s not certain that state of affairs will continue). Most people care about wrist messages from spouses, partners, or the rare individuals who care where you are from hour to hour (personal assistant, business partner, etc.). It’s not a huge ask for those few people to have one extra app to reach you when it’s urgent. For your group text of university friends who are talking about football…yeah, I can wait till I get back home to respond to them.
As for battery, my experience with the (very buggy) 945 LTE was that the battery life was absolutely fine. LTE-M doesn’t take much power, and it has enough bandwidth for voice. And you can always turn it on and off as situations warrant.
JR,
> It’s not a huge ask for those few people to have one extra app to reach you when it’s urgent.
The problem is how are they to know that it’s one of those times to use the extra app?
If I’m on a multi-day canoe trip in the north woods? They probably know. If I’m on a multi-hour bike ride? My spouse knows because of live track, but my business partner likely won’t. There’s a lot of friction involved in adding yet another channel of communication, especially when it’s one that is only sometimes appropriate.
Given how many ads I see for Garmin Messenger in Facebook and Twitter now, I’d be surprised if the new watches *don’t* offer LTE.
that’s defintiely a great point !
actions speak louder than words (or leaks)
It is essential that Fenix 8 provides access to ECG functionality worldwide, i.e. outside the US.
Does this affect your view on new Forerunners?
if the “E” is enduro 3 then it would. Lets wait for more info
Wohoo, go go go Fenix 8! Still rocking my (original) F7 (non-pro), but it is due for an upgrade. Well, not if it’s like the 1040→1050 one, but a real upgrade! Yay happy yay, would be just in time for autumn races.
I don’t know what you are speculating about here. If the Fenix 8 will have an Amoled display, then the price exactly corresponds to the current prices of the Epix Pro (Gen2) models. In that case, I wouldn’t expect any major news. Maybe the mentioned solar charging.
If it stays with MIPS, I expect more HW news :-). Larger, better display and ideally LTE with eSIM support and two modes. On request – activation when detecting an accident and sending messages, and the second mode is always on.
Sorry, corresponds to Pro sapphire… So my thoughts could be completely wrong 😀
As above:
What I think: Fenix 8 is the Epix 3 (AM)OLED Solar Sapphire. Including (AM)OLED, solar, sapphire crystal and inflation explain most of the price bump compared to Epix 2 Pro and Fenix 7 Pro.
tfk, the5krunner,
> What I think: Fenix 8 is the Epix 3 (AM)OLED Solar Sapphire. Including (AM)OLED, solar, sapphire crystal and inflation explain most of the price bump compared to Epix 2 Pro and Fenix 7 Pro.
I think it’s good to consider why the Epix Gen 2 and Epix Gen 2 Pro weren’t available in Solar.
because there was no solar amoled tech.
as above, there are garmin patents for solar OLED tech.
If they make Fenix AMOLED only they will loose a ton of customers and I don’t think they will gain that many. Why not stick with both variants (Epix and Fenix)? Battery life isn’t MIPs display’s only advantage, they should simply make it higher res and a bit more visible like Fenix 6 was.
I like you theory that they hide lte testing for fenix in alpha. Even is not true, it’s so funny imaging early testers (rainmaker) wearing alpha as proof of loyalty for Garmin 🙂
hidden hardware features have happened before eg ECG
I won’t buy another Garmin watch until it has at least the emergency LTE features of 945LTE. As a hardcore runner, I go for long runs and I do not / will not carry a phone on runs so this is MUST have functionality.
But what new hardware feature are going to be in an 8? Glucose or BP…most likely not. A new HRM? The Pro just got the Elevate 5. Maybe a flashlight with a red and green LED, a new case design, a MARQ charging port, a better, brighter screen? I am not sure that would be enough to make me sell my Epix Pro!
new feature: amoled solar.
maybe Qi charging
as y ou say elevate 5 is ne. it wont be repalced thsi year.
Fenix E must be Fenix Epix 🙂
ha !!!
but no 🙂
And then, When Fenix will be new Epix, Epix become ractangular again like oryginal Epix 🙂
What about the charging standard? I hope it’s going to be USB-C but no idea if there’s room for a port. Otherwise it would have to be wireless to comply with EU regulations I believe. I so hope it’s USB-C but I think chances are slim as there’s just not that much space…
95% there will be no change. 5% chance of QI
> Otherwise it would have to be wireless to comply with EU regulations I believe.
Nope.
The EU mandate only applies to Phones, Tablets, Cameras, and come 2026, Laptops.
I forgot to mention video game consoles, headphones and speakers, mice/keyboards, portable navigation systems.
While watches are not explicitly exempt, they don’t fall into any of the defined categories
thanks for adding the missing info. with the 6X I have to charge every other week so not something I think about daily. Would have been a hassle with wireless, so glad that is not coming. USB-C is everywhere in our household and/or office so was hoping for that if they were to change it. no change is welcomed as well.
manufacturers all seem now to be issuing charging cables that have usb-c on the charging end ie the that attaches to the adapter rather than the watch
as you say, the other end is exempt
probably they are doing that just for the sake of future capatability??
What’s your thoughts about the new watch containing new heart sensors?
unlikely
what would elevate 6 sense that elevate 5 cannot?
There are several answers to that but there is little chance that Garmin has the first commercially available product to deliver on them
Only LTE will save this watch for me. I’ve been with garmin devices since decade. But at the same time I have apple ecosystem. WatchOS 11 and iOS 18 make a huge difference in Apple Training. Apple is way smoother than any garmin watch, and the OS is way better (I had all fenix-es, enduro 2, tactix delta, epix 2 pro 51 mm, now with 7x pro solar sapphire). I cannot understand why they push garmin pay to edge 1050, when you still need to take a phone with you, to have live track. Apple Watch has check-in without any phone, through LTE connection, what is brilliant. For those who finding it quite stupid – try to run 20-30 km with you phone, at your back/arm whatever in 30+ Celsius or below 0. Phone just looks like a trash, after this training.
i use apple similarly to you and totally echo the point about carrying a phone.
Wouldn’t CheckIn be awesome if you could automatically tie it to points of a route? ie multiple checkins.
I don’t necessarily agree Watch OS is better per se. sure it looks better and more consistent but, as we’ve seen over the last 2 years with new sports features, it struggles to handle introduced complexity. And that complexity (or feature richness) is what lots of garmin peopel need (or want)
I use the LTE regularly and will keep using it but dont find it value for money. It also kills the battery so probably needs some cleverness in how it turns itself on and off (I have to do that manually to save juice)
True – but it is always better to have any option, than not have one. In my case, Garmin OS – fenix/edge/garmin connect, still need someone, who will show the right direction. Right now they try to put smart functions which are still very bad, comparing to true smartwatch, and as a result sport function working really bad. Since 3 os update in my edge 1040 solar, the edge freezes, restart randomly, during trip, and after finish it cannot sync data with fenix 7x pro solar sapphire and garmin connect – wrong burned kcal and total active minutes. The way how apple os – watch os and ios is developing shows, that in future garmin will lose this battle, especially when devs will develop API in application and combine it with native training apple app – like training peaks etc.
yep!
Totally disagree. Apple’s tempo of implementing features takes forever. And it still gives us just the basics. Don’t get me wrong, I love Apple but the Apple Watch feels as a expensive toy compared to my garmin epix. Just back from hiking the Dolomites and the epix is such a fantastic tool for planning routes and seeing how your body reacts to running/ hiking several days in the mountains. Altitude- heat – hrv, everything changes. I love it. All the crap apps you need to have and pay for on the Apple Watch to make it work. Nobody has an Apple Watch up there, nobody!
Yes, ‘proper’ adventure usage will always have proper tools. epix is clearly one of those. On a multi day trip to the dolomites I’m with y ou in the Epix camp.
however…
Apple tends to implement the framework upon which apps can build deeper insights. Many apple apps are based on good science, apple underlying data is usually scientifically validated (some big published studies), apple tends to avoid made-up composite metrics. Apple definitely is more reliable than Garmin, though Garmin has improved. Yes it’s a faff to curate your own collection of apps on Apple, yes Apple is always behind the innovation curve (Training Load being a prime example)
As i’ve said before, Apple is perhaps for weekend warriors and not adventurers
did you plan your routes solely on the Watch? 😉 Sorry, that question was to illustrate that Garmin still has a way to go and that, indeed, perhaps a watch will never quite do the whole piece as our smartphone are a much better size for things like route planning!
thank you for sharing
Of course you are absolutely right if we are talking about professional sports. Days/weeks in mountain or ultra races only with garmin devices. But it is, in my opinion, maybe 2-3% of people who use garmin daily. Rest, without any doubt, can choose Apple Watch, if the have apple eco of course. About metrics – watchOS 11 and iOS 18 made big step. Additionally you can use apps from store, like workoutdoors, athlytic, training today, even cadence for cycling. All stats, which I have from garmin, in 99% I receive from this apps. They are paid – one time or subscription, but still, this is years of paying, comparing to price of edge or Fenix.