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

Monarch7
9 days ago

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.

  • 0 5 days ago in reply to Monarch7

    BE and Glance are very similar. Glance shows more fields, while BE allows for a larger time field, and horizontal "meters" which is a cleaner look IMHO. but both are outstanding. glad to hear your son's watch is doing well too. I see you both rocking Ultrafit bands. they are my favorite too. I have green and blue and think I need to add a black one to my choices.

  • 0 5 days ago

    oh, one follow-up to the other post... since you weight train, do you use any of the time functions? the garbled/messed up beeping due to lag sounds awful for some users. have you experienced that or are you just letting it count reps when you do weights.

  • 0 5 days ago in reply to Radagast82

    I respectfully will pass to test as I sort of rely on this for daily training. I totally get your disappointment though and don't doubt your experience. I used and tested a 3rd party face called "Falcon X." I loved it - used it for a couple weeks. It displayed everything I wanted. Downside was it drained the battery noticeably faster and did seem to be less responsive (call it laggy). In the end, what I have works for me. I think the watch face you are describing is a Garmin face too which if it exhibits less than normal responsiveness, is unacceptable IMO. For a 3rd party face - you take your chances I would think. But for a Garmin face? It should be rock solid.

  • 0 5 days ago in reply to derek87

    I just let it count reps and go in after and clean up things as needed. It gets pretty close (sometimes perfect) for rep counting and getting the exercise. Most of the time I slightly adjust things a bit (say 20 reps instead of Garmin's count of 18 as an example).

  • 0 5 days ago in reply to derek87

    Yeah agree 100%. With the Feinx 3HR, I always used a standard silicone band. Never knew what I was missing. As much as I love the 'spark orange' color, the nylon feel and infinite micro adjustments you have make it a winner for both of us. My son has had the black ultra fit since day 1 and never wore the silicone at all. The only time I'd probably opt for swapping it out is if we went to the beach and did body surfing or something like that. The ultra fits are pretty secure but I wouldn't trust it for something like that. Then again, I think triathletes use them so maybe I'm wrong. 

  • 0 5 days ago in reply to Monarch7

    I too have found the rep count both reliable at times and wonky at others.

    I do a bunch of physical therapy/core strength training that requires a repeat timer so I would dislike it if the seconds counter beeping had problems as some here have suggested.

  • 0 5 days ago in reply to Monarch7

    I too am sort of worried about open ocean swimming with velcro even though I did that for many years with my old Timex Ironman which had a velcro nylon band called "The Band." I've been pool swimming with my factory silicon band just to avoid chlorinating my Ultrafit, and will likely choose to use my silicon band for beach adventures for safety and also not to get sand in the tiny spaces between the nylon fibers.

  • 0 4 days ago in reply to Monarch7

    That's the point, is not about 3rd party watchface but garmin preinstalled, and iron grit makes the watch being laggy also for countdown (buzz, beep and seconds count) during cooldown between reps. Changing the watchface among other garmin preinstalled improve the overall situation 

  • 0 4 days ago in reply to Radagast82

    I find it amazing that people are so passionate about their Garmin's on this forum, it's like it is their whole life. What a product that can engender such extreme reactions! For my part I have had every Fenix since the 3, including the Descents, Edge, and Approach. I have only once had a problem and the 8 51mm Amoled was replace within a week. I have gifted Fenix 8's to the whole family and they all swear by them (live by them). This forum seems to be populated, on the whole, by a few with excessive  gripes, ... which I think is great, they really care about the product. So for me an absolute thumbs up. Perhaps I live in the "Garminverse" Can't wait for the next release Slight smile

  • 0 4 days ago

    Mate you have completely stolen my thunder as I was just about to post something identical. 

    I got my F8 in February.  I’m a 52 year old who suffered major knee problems through my 40’s (multiple surgeries, failed ACL which has left me with no ACL in one knee), began my back to fitness journey in 2022 where I was basically initially just walking.  

    Had an Apple Watch which I kept until this year, and as I have got back to fitness and increased volume across multiple activities (triathlon training), was getting increasingly frustrated with the Apple Watch, particularly the battery life where I was basically charging it twice a day.

    Since I got my Fenix, it has been flawless.  Initial setup, all firmware updates, map updates have all just worked first time.  It is a joy to use on a daily basis, and does everything I want it to.  HR accuracy is great for me, I checked it for a while on both runs and rides with a chest strap, and basically its always within 1 or 2 bpm, so I don’t bother with the chest strap any more.

    Battery life is fantastic for me, I never actually have to fully charge it.  I basically throw it on the charger if I’m having a shave and shower for example and this gives me a 10-12% top up thats enough over the course of a week to keep it fully going except if for example, last week I used it for a 4.5 hour round of golf and later did a 2 hour ride with gps/HR and a swim.  IN situations like that I might leave it on charge for a bit while I’m recovering.

    The only thing I have missed compared to the AW is occasionally I’ve been out on a run or something and wanted to do something multimedia related……Apple does the iPhone integration thing really well.  However, here in Ireland theres a single carrier that offers AW with a SIM, so basically I always have my phone with me anyway, so this downside isn’t really a downside in practice.

    Another bonus is the ability to download Spotify tracks which is something that has been bugged on Apple Watch for years.

    Aside from all of the above, I love the Garmin ecosystem and for training its light years ahead of Apple, particularly the ability to create custom workouts from your phone and have them automatically appear on the watch etc etc.  I love if I’m doing a Zone 2 run that I can create a single large HR screen with nothing else (brilliant for my failing eyes!) and I don’t know why Apple doesn’t allow this.   There are too many to list but this is not Fenix specific and presumably is available on most Garmin watches.

    The only downside for me (although not yet, but I’ll be watching for feature creep/paywalling) is the Garmin Connect + thing.  I’m fortunately very comfortable and can afford whatever I want, but I still think that when you spend €1,000 on a premium watch like this there are certain degrees of features and support that you expect.  I’d be worried Garmin is about to go down the wrong path here, but its not affecting me right now as nothing included so far seems “must have”.

    Anyway, for me its been a 9/10 or 10/10 experience.