What was the reason for not including maps on Enduro?

I am exactly the kind of user who Garmin is targeting with Enduro. Initially I was very intrigued by Enduro, yet I think Garmin has made a mistake by not including maps. Training for ultrarunning involves very long runs in remote areas on trails where navigation is an essential part of experience.

Without maps, by relying only on turn-by-turn directions, navigation is much less reliable. Turn-by-turn directions simply don't work on trails because there are often trail junctions at odd angles that aren't detected as turns. At the same time the watch produces a lot of useless turn notifications at every sharp bend of trail where there are no actual turns. Maps are pretty much required to see the course relative to other terrain features - other trails, creeks, lakes, summits, etc.

So I wonder what was the rationale for excluding maps?

  • I can't see any images of the Enduro with maps on that page.  Are you confusing the little diagram of the Run activity summary, that shows the plot of a run just complete, as a map?

  • The photos are wrong / or not correct anymore. Garmin has decided to release the Enduro without maps (and music and WiFi) functionality. This product is not for the masses (of course if you want it, you can buy it), but for long distance use for a special group of athletes. For example, the Fenix6xPS got via fw update all Enduro features; only the larger battery and new solar hardware/sw  and processor are mising. If your 6xPS is to heavy, you can buy the ultra fit nylon strap and get almost the Enduro weight.

    I really don´t understand, why so many cry here. Nobody is forced to buy the Enduro!

  • They have changed the banner since my post. This was the original picture:

  • I really don´t understand, why so many cry here. Nobody is forced to buy the Enduro!

    Agreed. It looks like the only people whining about the watch have little to no use for it.

  • while keeping the weight and the consumption low.

    The weight saving is actually only 2 grams if we look at the body only: 52 grams for Enduro Titanium vs. 54 grams for 6X Solar Titanium. 6X users can buy the same nylon strap which will make their watches pretty much as lightweight as Enduro.

    The battery consumption improvement during activity isn't that significant as Garmin is trying to make it look - 70 hours without solar charging for Enduro vs. 60 hours for 6X. That is roughly 16-17% improvement. 

    But OK, if there are people who are willing to spend $900 on this, why not? As I said before, I am pretty much the target user for this device, but I won't buy it. I would consider it even without maps if GPS was noticeably more accurate on trails, but with the same GPS chip and antenna, and no maps, it just doesn't make any sense over 6X.

  • Exactly my thoughts. No new tech, trimmed down 6x pro without maps. Can’t wait to see that the Fenix 7 will bring. 

  • Enduro is not for me. (even if I have the money for it :-)

    Like most trail runners here, on board maps is adefinite plus which I am very happy with on my F5x+. the F6x w/ the additional screen size even better but this enduro, w/o maps seems like something some will be happy with and some won't. 

    So, wait for F7 and then get the F6x :-p 

  • I can translate it for you!

    "We want battery life look amazing and ensure no one will complain about battery drain. So we cut everything may impact battery life."

  • The lack of maps was wonderful for me.  I'm no longer tempted by this watch, and can patiently wait for the Fenix 7.

    Well, I'm trying for patience.

  • I feel the map thing is absolutely a miscalculation. There are multiple ways they could manage the entire storage vs power vs compute dilemma. They just choose to drop one of the most important features completely instead. They perhaps forgot they are a navigation company from day 1. That is the core value in this company's gene.

    Another thing I am interested to know is the platform. It was reported that they are using a brand new platform. So I wonder if this is going to be the new bases for upcoming watches like Fenix 7. It makes more sense to me, otherwise why not just to create a trim down version of Fenix 6 by simply drop the unnecessary peripherals and add bigger battery on it