Garmin Epix Gen 2 review: The ultimate fitness watch

There’s worth in realizing details about your well being. If you’re attempting to get in form, realizing your present resting coronary heart price can inform you a large number about your current stage of cardiovascular well being. Your coronary heart price additionally tells you a large number about how efficient your exercise is for burning fats, constructing endurance, and extra. Your Pulse Ox offers an estimation of the oxygen saturation stage in your blood, whereas your Respiration offers you a mean of how a lot you breathe from minute to minute.

The Garmin Epix 2nd Gen tells me all this data and extra. All I’ve to do is put on it. It’s one of many smartest fitness watches I’ve ever worn. With a number of tweaks and enhancements, it could possibly be the one greatest smartwatch I’ve ever used. The Garmin Epix is designed for critical athletes, but it surely additionally carries a critical worth level.

More well being data than I can shake a stick at

The primary goal of the Garmin Epix is to tell you everything about your personal health and fitness. It supplies a ridiculous quantity of data — in reality, extra data than I can actually use. For occasion, it contains monitoring details about diving and even golf — two sports activities I’ve by no means participated in.

All of the knowledge is obtainable on the Garmin Epix itself (known as “Glances”), however you possibly can see a extra detailed breakdown in your telephone by means of the app. The “My Day Card” reveals you data like what I detailed earlier than, however you possibly can add or take away information that you just aren’t excited by seeing. All of the choices embrace:

• Training Status: The Training Status metric makes use of your VO2 Max estimate, your warmth and altitude efficiency acclimation, and your coaching load to gauge how your coaching is progressing.
• Heart Rate: This measures your resting coronary heart price all through the day, in addition to the very best price you reached.
• Body Battery: The Body Battery takes numerous components like your stress stage, how properly you slept the evening earlier than, and your train all through the day and determines how a lot “cost” you might have left.
• Stress: The Garmin Epix makes use of coronary heart price variability to gauge an estimate of your stress ranges all through the day.
• Intensity Minutes: The Intensity Minutes metric measures how a lot time you spent in average to intense train.
• Steps: This one is self-explanatory — it’s a pedometer.
• Floors: This measures what number of flights of stairs you’ve climbed.
• Calories: You can join the Garmin Epix to MyFitnessPal to trace energy out and in.
• Sleep: The Sleep measurement breaks down how a lot time you spent in every section of sleep, in addition to how a lot time you spent asleep in whole.
• Sleep Score: The Sleep Score takes the Sleep measurement and offers you a grade out of 100, together with tips about enhance your sleep.
• Pulse Ox: The Pulse Ox setting measures the oxygen stage in your blood.
• Respiration: The Respiration measurement tracks your common breaths per minute all through the day.
• Weight: This is self-explanatory. You can manually add your weight, or it might probably connect with sure exterior units and be recorded robotically.
• Hydration: Your Hydrate measurement is the quantity of water you’ve had all through the day. You might want to add this manually.

All of that data is starting to make this overview really feel extra like a information, but it surely’s obligatory to clarify among the quibbles I’ve with the gadget. The coronary heart price tracker is spot-on; I measured it in opposition to a number of different trackers I’ve and located it to be inside one beat each time.

The Body Battery is an attention-grabbing characteristic. You aren’t going to drop when your rating is low (and in reality, I don’t suppose it might probably hit zero — mine solely went to 5 on the lowest.) You will certainly really feel drained with a decrease physique battery rating, although.

Most of the metrics are correct, or at the least inside cause. I’ve used the Garmin Epix for a bit over two weeks now and have had few complaints. The solely two that stand out are the Stress and Sleep measurements.

The Stress measurement doesn’t really feel correct within the slightest. It’s based mostly in your coronary heart price, so whereas exercising or exerting your self, your stress stage may be excessive. The watch instructed me I used to be beneath excessive quantities of stress when resting on the sofa one evening watching TV. Considering I used to be half-asleep on the time, I’ve to respectfully disagree.

The Sleep measurement is correct, however not a fantastic reflection of your precise vitality ranges. Lower quantities of sleep ought to translate to decrease vitality ranges, however there have been a number of nights the place it confirmed lower than 5 hours of sleep the place I awoke and felt nice. I observed that the sleep measurement stops if you’re awake for too lengthy at any given time, so it’d register much less sleep than I truly had.

More detailed data for people who need it

All of the above metrics can be found at a look, however the Garmin Epix supplies extra detailed well being data for people who need it. For instance, it supplies customers with a Fitness Age estimate that compares your precise age to your physique’s stage of health.

I’m 32, but it surely says my health age is 30. By rising the quantity of train I get every week, the watch says I may cut back that to the health stage of a 26-year-old.

You can measure your Lactate Threshold and HRV Stress ranges by means of the usage of the Epix, paired with a Garmin chest coronary heart price monitor. This isn’t included with the Epix and requires a separate buy. Garmin presents a number of coronary heart price displays, a few of that are designed for use by swimmers whereas others are for cyclists and runners.

Again, this isn’t important for regular day-to-day operation of the Epix — however critical athletes will admire the characteristic.

A loopy variety of coaching choices

Lots of customization, however not numerous selection

There’s quite a bit you are able to do together with your Garmin Epix from an aesthetic perspective. The face may be personalized by downloading a secondary app known as ConnectIQ from the App Store or the Google Play Store.

ConnectIQ permits you to browse dozens of various faces for Garmin smartwatches. Because it’s the catch-all app, not each face is suitable with each watch — however I not often encountered any that wouldn’t work with the Epix. The greatest drawback is that many of those faces are custom-made and can ask you to make a donation by means of PayPal; in case you don’t, the face will continually change and pester you for cash.

There are numerous utterly free choices, although. I settled on one which reveals an enormous quantity of data, together with the present climate, dawn and sundown occasions, coronary heart price, stair rely, step rely, and extra. The solely concern I’ve encountered with it up to now is that the temperature usually isn’t correct.

ConnectIQ additionally permits you to create {custom} watch faces by means of its Face It tab. If you’re the sort that prefers to make one thing utterly your personal, it’s value trying out. I didn’t have a lot luck, however then once more, my inventive abilities cease at Paint By Number books.

There are numerous faces to select from, however I discovered a lot of them to be so comparable that they made little distinction. The Garmin Epix is a coaching software, in spite of everything — even its bodily design is sporty. It gained’t pair properly with a blazer and cufflinks, so don’t fear about discovering a proper dinner-worthy watch face.

The ConnectIQ app isn’t only for discovering watch faces, although. You can join varied music apps straight to your Epix and obtain music to hearken to offline. You can join Bluetooth headphones to your Epix and hearken to music with out taking your telephone with you.

There are additionally different coaching apps obtainable by means of ConnectIQ, however not all are created equally. Many are community-made, and these apps may be hit and miss. Pay shut consideration to the score rating for every app. Some, just like the Hydration Tracking app from Garmin, solely scored 1.5 stars out of 5, whereas the Wikiloc Trails app had a 4 out of 5 from properly over 1,000 customers.

The Epix has some epic options

The Epix isn’t the primary Garmin smartwatch I’ve examined, but it surely’s by far the perfect. It has a few options I haven’t seen earlier than; for instance, it has a built-in altimeter and compass. It’s not a characteristic I anticipated to make use of a lot, however I’ve discovered myself pulling up the compass on multiple event.

The built-in stopwatch can be tremendously helpful, though I’ll admit I’ve used it for cooking greater than coaching. The Epix is simple to navigate and has turn out to be a lot part of my each day put on that I really feel unusual when it isn’t on my wrist.

The Garmin Epix can rise up to 16 days of battery life in smartwatch mode, however I discovered it nearer to 5 to 6 with the always-on display screen. Charging takes just a few hours. I discover I not often go with out carrying the Epix now. It’s waterproof, so you possibly can bathe with it (though I nonetheless can’t carry myself to bathe with a smartwatch after years of holding water removed from electronics.)

You can hyperlink your Garmin account to Facebook, Google, and your telephone’s contacts to search out different Garmin customers . You can share information and compete in opposition to them so as to add a extra social facet to your coaching — one thing that’s significantly good to have in a time when many individuals are nonetheless avoiding the fitness center.

If none of your folks use Garmin, you possibly can seek for public teams to affix. Some are location-based, however others are generalized teams that anybody can participate in. I discovered a number of for tennis and baseball. There are even teams for final frisbee.

Our take

The Garmin Epix combines the perfect options of different Garmin fashions into the last word health watch. It’s laborious to compete in opposition to, however there are a number of choices in case you’re keen to sacrifice options. The Garmin Venu 2 is a more-affordable $400 however lacks most of the superior instruments the Epix has.

The Apple Watch Series 7 has numerous health options however is extra smartwatch than health tracker. If you need to have the ability to reply messages or make calls by means of your smartwatch, you’ll want one thing just like the Series 7 — the Epix doesn’t have that performance.

How lengthy will it final?

The Garmin Epix is constructed like a tank. It’s comfy, however positively has a little bit of weight to it. The display screen is scratch-resistant and able to withstanding a beating, and it’s waterproof as much as 10 meters. I count on it to final for years to return, but when one thing occurs, Garmin presents a one-year restricted guarantee.

Should you purchase it?

Yes — in case you’re a critical athlete in want of an excellent health watch able to offering a slew of data. If you’re simply beginning out in your health journey, think about a extra reasonably priced various. The $900 worth level is steep for a health tracker that doesn’t have full smartwatch options.

Editors’ Recommendations