A Positive Fenix 8 Review (anyone else love their Fenix 8?)

I know this is a user forum where people (including myself) look for advice when things aren’t working as they should, but so much of what I read here are negative impressions, bug notices, quirks, and general unhappiness (some warranted I’m sure). I’ve now been wearing my Fenix 8 for over 6 months and I wanted to share how I’ve been using mine for whatever it might be worth to other Fenix users (or possible Fenix users). I may be an outlier, but for me, the Fenix 8 is a reliable part of my running/workouts, and daily health tracking. I average between 60-80mi per week running which translates to about 10-15hrs/week of GPS activity tracking/week. I don’t use it for cycling, golf, diving, or swimming so I can’t comment on how it performs under those circumstances. I do use it when running, weight training, walking, and hiking and have found it reliable across the board. I have my Fenix 47mm Amoled (non-solar/sapphire) set up as follows:

  • GPS: Auto-Select
  • PulseOx: Set to on-demand (off)
  • Always on display: Off
  • Touchscreen: Off (I prefer to use buttons)
  • Gesture: On
  • Screen Timeout: 4 seconds
  • Screen brightness: 2/3
  • Sleep Schedule: 10P-6A everyday (gesture and notifications disabled during sleep)
  • Temperature: Set to record 
  • Notifications: On
  • System Updates: Off, I manually update when new FW released
  • Music streamed from Fenix: No
  • FW: 13.37

I usually pair with an HRM Pro for most runs except when I’m wearing a running vest. I’ve done several races and used ‘Live Track’ every time with no hiccups. My noted contacts get their notification email and can reliably track my progress. The only issue I’ve had with LiveTrack was during a somewhat remote trail race. During that run, the Fenix 8 reported “Live Track Disconnected” or something similar several times over a 4 hour period. My impression was this was a cellular reception issue with my phone and not the Garmin. In any case, my contacts on the other end did not notice any break in the progress nor did my run activity stop or become hung up in anyway. 

Coming in a bit late to the game may have helped me avoid most of the initial bugginess (I purchased mine in November 2024). As I’ve mentioned on a previous post, I’ve had absolutely 0 issues, bugs, reboots, or battery drain anomalies. The only issue I noticed was the endurance score seemed to be stuck for about 2 weeks after a marathon in February. That seemed to resolve itself and appears to be updating as it was before. 

Things I’ve changed: Silicone strap and watch face. I personally find the nylon ultra fit bands super comfortable and highly adjustable to the perfect fit. My older eyes have a hard time seeing some of the info on the smaller fields so I opted for the ‘Glance’ watch face. I set colors to mainly white for info over black background. All I really want to see at a glance (pun not intended) is daily distance, weekly mileage, steps, heart rate, and of course time/date very readable. This setup works great for me. I’ve gone back and forth with other watch faces and few of the Garmin stock faces but always came back to Glance (ended up paying for the pro license to display weekly distance).

Battery impressions: I get comfortably 7 days and charge every Sunday for about 2 hours. I could probably get 8-10 days but find charging once per week to be a nice routine.

Overall Impressions: The Fenix 8 to me feels super solid and well built. The titanium bezel includes titanium all the way down over the top of the lugs (unlike the Enduro 3). The rear case I believe is also Ti. The only other Garmin I considered in place of a Fenix 8 was the Forerunner 965 and the Enduro 3. The Forerunner 965 was a fantastic watch and I tried it for several weeks. I honestly wanted a more scratch resistant screen and the robustness of the Fenix 8 and extra battery life made the choice easy. I actually bought an Enduro 3 and ended up returning it. I loved the build quality of the Enduro 3 and the battery life was a huge selling point (although he Fenix more than has me covered for the types of activities I do). All in all, none of that was a deal killer for me and the Enduro while bigger, actually felt better on my wrist. It was a bit lighter also. I’m one of those people who once they got ahold of an Amoled, I could never go back to MiP. I looked at them side by side (Enduro 3 and Fenix 8 Amoled) and the brilliance of the Amoled just made the decision. I know there are others who feel the exact opposite and I certainly respect that opinion. I spent years with the Fenix 3HR with MiP and it served me well.

So this was my 2 cents to throw out there for consideration. I know the Fenix has had more than their share of bugginess during the rollout. However, my experience since unboxing and using daily has been reliable, very durable, and pleasing to the eye on the wrist. Never had a hiccup on any activity. I love the look, feel, and performance in almost every aspect. It is also my daily wearer - I really only take it off to charge and clean the band occasionally.

Best wishes to everyone out there.

  • Just one update - I updated to v15.31 also and haven't had any issues. Run went great yesterday and have another planned this morning. Others have reported lagginess in the UI which I haven't experienced. Moving between screens seems to have the same responsiveness. Battery life seems to be holding at the same rate as well. Again, maybe I'm an outlier. No negative issues that I can observe (granted again, I'm not fully using every sport profile - just running, weight training, etc. along with daily fitness tracking).

  • Update is now using FW  v15.31 with no negative issues observed in the past 2 days.

  • "Everything is crap, don't buy it." Normally I don't respond to stuff like this as it sounds like a bot or someone just trying to sh*t post, but I don't understand comments like this if you are serious. I mean, what part of it is "crap?" I just completed a run and like the past 150 runs over 6 months, my Fenix 8 performed flawlessly. Running the latest firmware. No issues. 

  • They won't reply because they haven't got the intelligence to explain what the issues are,if any.

  • Agreed. I'm not doubting some people have/are experiencing glitches. But from my experience (call me lucky, an outlier, or tech savvy?), I have had 0 issues.

    I forgot to include in my original post, mapping and routes work great too - I've used them for training runs and in the Surf City Marathon in February. Simply create a route (or find them online) and import the GPX file into your Fenix. Voila - easy to now follow the route if you choose and have turn navigation in your ear as well. Maybe it's just that I went from a Fenix 3HR to a Fenix 8 - the jump in tech, screen, and performance was astronomical. If people are coming from a top tier Fenix 7, maybe they were expecting more. I don't know. Either way, I'm more than happy.

    I like to use On The Go Map to make GPX files if it helps anyone.

    https://onthegomap.com/#/create

  • have you noticed any slow down of the UI? which watch face are you using? I'm scared to update to 15.31 as 13.35 has fit my needs well and all the reports of lagginess has me on the sidelines. (along with the loss of the battery saver mode while sleeping)

  • I haven't noticed any slowdown under 15.31.

    I am using the pro version of "Glance" as the watch face. It displays what I want, is extremely readable, and does not appear to drain the battery abnormally. I've tried a couple other non-Garmin faces and the drain was much more noticeable. I guess it's your call on updating FW. Nothing wrong with staying with 1 gen lower, but from my experience, no negative issues. I just completed a 3hr activity today as well. No hiccups at all. 

    The only other comment I would have is I don't add too much 'bloat' to the Fenix. Once I found a face that worked, that's all I have installed. The only other non-Garmin item I have installed is the running data field "All In One." Not sure how much this impacts the UI and perceived responsiveness, but if it's anything like a Windoze computer, keeping things on the lean side for installed stuff may help. Good luck.

  • thanks . I appreciate your sharing your experiences.  we are of similar mindset. my go to watch face is Big Easy/Big Easy IQ from the same developer as Glance (I also bought Glance Pro and Easy Round, but keep going back to BE). for AMOLED, Big Easy is besting all the Garmin stock faces in terms of battery efficiency. (it was middle of the pack with my former MIPS FR955)  the two stock faces I like are Deep Sea and the unnamed analog face for a change of pace and these are reasonably efficient too.

    I'm glad to hear you have had no problems, but yeah, I think i may sit tight until we hear more about potential updates that cure this problem for others. I don't feel I'm missing anything from 15.31 based on my own needs and positive experiences with 13.35.

  • Thanks - I did download and try BE. It is a great face for sure. Similar to Glance. If I didn't already have a license I probably would be using BE :-) Love the colors and fonts you can do with it and still have an extremely easy to read face. I wish you luck - sitting out for the moment is never a bad choice. I'm sort of all in and update pretty quick with the Fenix. Generally speaking in the computer world, that isn't always the best approach though lol. 

    One more point. My son also has a Fenix 8 47mm Amoled. He also has not experienced any problems and puts in regular activities with a similar setup. Running FW15.31 also. 

  • if you can (and want) please set the Iron Grid as watchface for a couple of days and check if some lags appears in the UI, scrolling down the info, going back with the button or simply during a training (especially for countdowns).