Should I wait for fenix 7 or go with 6? Thx

My experience with Garmin (F3HR, F5X+, F6PSo, Edge Touring Plus, VIRB XE, VIRB 360) is that they are riddled with bugs upon release (less so the cameras) and it takes a year or so to actually get them into a state of acceptable performance.

I recall buying my 3HR just a couple of weeks before the 5 series hit the market. Even so late in the lifecycle the GPS tracks were terrible and over the next couple of years they finally became acceptable following additional firmware updates.

I also bought the 5X+ only months before the 6 series came out. Similar story on that watch.

The 6 has been out for around a year now and I waited until December to buy mine. For my use I would say that it has only recently reached stable and satisfactory performance, but others still have a raft of complaints, so I guess the 6 series has not yet fully matured.

Regarding its successor, will Garmin have learned a thing about software quality and customer satisfaction or will the same story repeat once again? The track record is not encouraging.

Just increase the processor power and the screen resolution of the 6 series and I will be happy. Compared to the likes of Apple, these £600 Garmin watches still feel like 10 year old technology in operation. Surely given what Apple have done with the speed and smoothness of their mobile devices from the last couple of years (iPhone/iPad Pro) you would think that Garmin would be able to beef up the processing power to make scrolling through simple text menus and widgets feel a bit smoother and responsive without compromising battery life.

I bought the F6x the day it was released, and I have been extremely happy with it ever since. I wear it every day and use it for multiple different activities. I upgraded from a F3, and have really benefited from the increased screen size (!) and the OHR (although I use a chest strap for HR intensive activities).

If it were me, I might wait for the F7, but then I would buy it right away. Whatever the F7 brings, it will be better than the F6, and I probably couldn't bear to spend $1,000 (or close) on a watch and not get the latest and greatest. Given how long I will use the watch (several years, probably), the extra couple hundred bucks doesn't matter much to me.

Anybody who waits for the next latest and greatest bit of technology is destined never to own a watch, or phone. or PC,or laptop, or TV, or printer, or camera, or GPS or even a bottle opener.

Sit on the side and be evnious and miserable, or jump in and embrace the now, knowing full well in 3 years times it will in the land fill :-)

I'm not even sure what a 7 would add to the mix.  Even the 6, which really is better than the 5, or 5+, isn't better in such a significant fashion that it was a must upgrade.  There was what, Solar, better form, larger screen, pulseOx, a couple of other things, but nothing that was really a must have where your device was made useless, at least for 99% of us.

Also, you can buy a 6, if the 7 has some magic, flip it on eBay for 50% of what you paid for it.

I agree. At this point, the 6 has so many features that I can't even imagine what's left for them to add on a Fenix 7. Even if it has a longer battery life, that's not enough of a difference to matter to me - my watch already goes almost a month without being charged, what's an extra couple weeks worth, really? It's not that inconvenient to have to plug in my watch once a month. I have to do that for beta updates anyways.

All the new features that have been introduced on newer models (735, VA4, etc) have already, or will soon be, added to the Fenix 6. They've added solar charging as an option for all the 6 lineup. They've already got 100% of the FirstBeat algorithms that are available. So what's left?

The only features it lacks that it could potentially add, are things most of us don't want. LTE, AMOLED, touchscreen, etc. Those are all features that, if added, would most certainly make sure I'll not be getting a Fenix 7. As it stands, unless the Fenix 7 somehow blows us all away with a multitude of never-before-seen features, I won't be bothering to upgrade. I love my 6.

So, with that... if the Fenix 6 has everything I want in a watch, why wait for Fenix 7? It should also be noted that there's zero indication that a Fenix 7 is even coming out this year. They just revamped the 6 lineup with solar a couple months ago. Would they have bothered if a 7 was imminent? My guess is Fenix 7 isn't coming out for at least 6 months to a year, and I'm also guessing it won't add much feature-wise.

Apple has 18 hours of battery power and this is absolutely ridiculous

We're about to get Track Mode (for running tracks), and Suggested Workouts added to the Fenix 6 (like on the new 745)

so... what features do you think (or desire) the 7 will have... that you might want, that the 6 doesn't have?  

I suspect that for most people the feature set is rich enough, but it would be nice if Garmin could tighten up on the quality of the data sourced by the watch such as....

WHR

Track recording accuracy, including removal of the left shift when the watch is worn on the left wrist

Distance

Pace

Altitude/ascent/descent

Body battery and stress

Sleep stats

Pulse Ox

I'm not saying that these things are terrible as they are, but I have no doubt that there is room for improvement.