Fenix 8 Bells and Whistles

You're not going to get 1 because a watch is way too small to get a satellite signal for communication. Look at the size of the antenna on the inReach.

Make the unit bigger, like the FR 310XT. I would like a bigger watch anyway.

And regarding the recovery metrics - a lot of people seem to think they mean not to do anything during the recovery period - basically, its the time till you're back to where you were before, and its often recommended to do lower intensity stuff during that time to suplement it. Its not a ban on exercising during that time, just a warning that higher intensity stuff during that time will be sub optimal

You'd have to make it huge to get inReach. Plus theres the power requirements. And bigger watches suffer even more with wrist HR problems as they move.

Plus its a bad idea to chuck all your eggs in one basket re satellite stuff. Having a seperate unit for that makes sense in that if your watch fails, the iR is still able to get you out of trouble

Well there ya go....

Epsilon, thank you for the insight.

I'm just hoping for a good reason to upgrade.

Personally? Look at the progression from fenix 5-6-7 and you se its becoming more evolutionary then revolutionary. Even look at the changes between the 7 and the pro and I think the problem is that its getting harder to chuck more into these watches... thats why I suspect the fenix 8 wont have as large a jump between it and the 7/7 pro did compared to say the 6 and the 5

Look at the Apple watches models and the hardware and software changes arent great. Personally Id prefer a longer time between models and more support over that time. Paying a thousand bucks for a watch and then expecting it to only have a year life till the next model comes out is a bit of a PITA

The very first GPS tracking I had was over 20 years ago and was worn on the upper arm separate to the watch. If memory serves me right it was a NavMan system. Had it for only a short while before buying my first Garmin wrist-worn a FR305. 

NinjaJedi25 said:

1) InReach capability

Won't happen due to the power needed (it's over 5 watts and absolutely decimate the battery)

NinjaJedi25 said:

2) Heart health monitoring

ECG is already on 7 Pro. Not sure what else you may want. Do you have suggestions?

NinjaJedi25 said:

3) Metrics that are accurate

Mine are accurate. Yours aren't? Which aren't accurate for you?

Ɛpsilon said:

And regarding the recovery metrics - a lot of people seem to think they mean not to do anything during the recovery period

Or some people think that it's the watch telling them that their body isn't capable of a hard workout and they mistrust it because they feel that they are. What those people don't realise is that you need that rest in order to have an adaptive response to the prior training session in order to come back faster/stronger etc. They end up plateauing because they don't give the body enough time to adapt between the big efforts and then probably blame the watch for that plateau as well 

Perhaps Garmin could be stronger with the wording on recovery time. Maybe call it "adaption time" and have a little blurb about how the response works and how they're actively working against it if the user chooses to go out and smash back to back max efforts.