After owning an EPIX 2 Sapphire black titanium that had various problems which could not be solved in the 4 weeks I had it, now owning an EPIX 2 slate steel (second chance for the EPIX 2) as well as reading here and elsewhere on the I-Net about problems that people have with the EPIX 2, I have come to the conclusion that GARMIN doesn't have a great QM and the series scatter is terrible.
Looks like the EPIX 2 benefits from the established and good features of the acclaimed Fenix, but lacks on newly introduced features
The good news is, that now I have no more interruptions when starting an activity and listening to music at the same time. The BT connection to my headphones is now stable. After having tried so many things to solve this on the EPIX 2 Sapphire, I suspect that the new Multiband GPS somehow interferes with the BT connections. Because that is the only difference between the two EPIX 2 that could have actively caused this. Or it was just a faulty unit.
Common to both is still not having faultless touchsreen operation throughout. If e.g I try to swipe to the left to open the menu for a message (answer / delete etc.) it works 2 out of 10 times. Usually just jumps back to the text of message. So one has to rely on the button a lot here. But these minor glitches GARMIN should (hopefully) solve within upcoming updates.
Common to both is, that they don't like big playlists. Only the first two songs are listed on the EPIX 2 when choosing such a playlist
Unlike others, who complain about the music quality, the music quality on both was and is excellent. But then I don't stream. I only use offline music on the watch.
Still it's sad that there are so many faulty units out there and that the customer is the beta tester with no help from GARMIN.
So why is the EPIX 2 slate steel the better watch - for me?
- In real life it definitely looks better - for me. Marketing images don't do it justice. There the black titanium looks better, which is why I went for that the first time. But I prefer the look of the slate steel in real. Actually dig the white titanium a lot, but I think that is an unfortunate color for an everyday fitness tracker.
- I see no difference in GPS. I run in the city between tall buildings and in a park. So multiband GPS here is just a nice to have feature, but brings no advantage for me
- Only 16GB? Well yes. After loading Central Europe and 854 MP3 songs I still have 1,3 GB of memory left. Since I don't go to sleep and surprisingly wake up in another part of Europe or the world for that matter, I fail to see the need to have all maps stored on the EPIX 2. I also don't need Golf maps (seriously, Golf maps?) or skiing maps, but haven't yet found a way to delete them. So if anyone knows how to do that, please share your knowledge. Downloading and installing the 6,4GB for Central Europe took about 15 - 20 minutes. I used Garmin Express for that.
- I can start a workout and listen to music. Something that was impossible on my first EPIX 2 without losing the connection to my headphones during an activity.
- Stainless steel is probaby less sensitive for scratches or dents than titanium. At least the density suggests that and reading a bit about metallurgy I don't think I am too wrong there. And 6 grams of more weight is really insignificant. I saw a white titanium the other day which looked terrible on the bezel after having been worn for just a few hours. Full of tiny scratches. So there the DLC coating on the black titanium is probably an advantage
- The buttons don't feel so dodgy (undefined) on this EPIX 2. They have a more defined pressure point.
I put on on a screen cover after a few days. Works, fits perfectly and doesn't interfere with the touchscreen operation at all. Even though I think the Gorilla glass is durable enough.
I still don't agree with how GARMIN support (Germany / Austria) handles issues with the EPIX 2 and GARMIN could definitely improve on QM and reduce the series scatter, but for now I am quite satisfied with my second EPIX 2.
