Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) Review

Verdict

The Garmin Epix Professional (Gen 2) is a good sports activities watch, however when you’ve already bought an Epix and don’t massively care a couple of flashlight or hate the scale of it, then there’s not an enormous purpose to improve.

Introduction

The Garmin Epix Professional (Gen 2) sees Garmin proceed the development it began with its Fenix vary by including a mannequin of its out of doors watch with an AMOLED display, whereas additionally providing some software program and {hardware} upgrades on the non-Professional Epix, which launched in 2022.

The Professional now sees the Epix match the three measurement choices of the Fenix collection, including new coronary heart fee sensors and new metrics that need to let you know whether or not you possibly can simply run up these hills and go the extremely distance.

Garmin’s additionally including a function that was beforehand solely out there on the Fenix 7X and is including options to its already spectacular mapping expertise. So is the Garmin Epix Professional (Gen 2) an epic watch and is it a watch Epix house owners ought to be envious of? Right here’s our take.

Design and display

• Now is available in three fashions 
• AMOLED touchscreen show
• LED flashlight

The large information right here is that Garmin has determined to supply the Epix Professional within the three case sizes, matching the 42mm, 47mm and 51mm supplied with its most up-to-date Fenix collection watches. I had the 47mm model to check, which matches the scale of the unique Epix and measures in on the identical 14.5mm thickness.

To complicate issues, Garmin presents the Professional in normal and sapphire editions, with the latter model getting you a sapphire crystal glass lens, titanium bezel and the essential addition of TOPO maps. That pushes the worth up by £100/$100 for these extras.

Garmin nonetheless opts in opposition to including photo voltaic charging powers, which was absent from the unique Epix as effectively, however does now add in an LED flashlight, which does appear a contact brighter than the one which debuted on the Fenix 7X.

The LED sits on the prime of the watch case and has 4 white LED mild brightness settings with an extra purple LED flashlight mode. You can even set the flashlight to totally different modes together with a strobe, beacon, pulse or blink and it may be arrange to make use of when you’re in monitoring mode as effectively.

Outdoors of that, that is each bit the watch we bought with the unique Epix. The QuickFit strap has been snug to put on, there’s array of bodily buttons and whereas not an excellent mild watch, it by no means felt like a hulking watch to put on – aside perhaps from when you could take it to mattress.

On the 47mm model, Garmin has caught to the identical 1.3-inch, 416 x 416 AMOLED touchscreen show, which is properly responsive to the touch, presents wealthy colors, deep blacks and has been completely positive to look down at open air and within the water.

That water resistance ranking stays the identical, letting you submerge it in water as much as 100 metres depth, which ought to be greater than sufficient for many, until you’re a giant into your deep sea diving.

Software program and smartwatch options

• Works with Android and iOS
• View and reply to notifications 
• Lacks voice options from Venu 2 Plus

There’s little change by way of what you get on the software program and smartwatch entrance on the Garmin Epix Professional (Gen 2) in comparison with what we noticed on the Epix.

This watch is a reasonably slick performer by way of interacting and getting round, however the sheer degree of options and settings Garmin presents on watches just like the Epix means you would possibly have to mess around with it some time to totally get a way of what it’s able to.

That’s very true of latest options just like the flashlight and discovering its a number of modes, or enabling the purple shift mode that turns the display and interface purple. It’s the same story for the busy Garmin Join app and the separate Join IQ Retailer app that you simply want in your cellphone so as to add extra watch faces, knowledge fields, widgets and a small assortment of apps.

That Join IQ Retailer entry is considered one of handful of smartwatch options you get on the Professional, which collectively doesn’t fairly rival the slicker Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy Watch. Cost assist isn’t as intuitive as methods like Apple Pay whereas those that just like the voice options on the Garmin Venu 2 Plus might be disillusioned to see that performance doesn’t make the lower.

If you happen to like having good notification assist, effectively built-in music controls and music participant and helpful options like climate updates and the Morning Report function – which was really a function that grew on me over time – it does provide a greater smartwatch expertise than different sports activities watches.

Health monitoring 

• Upgraded HR sensor
• Endurance and Hill scores
• Aid shading and climate overlays on maps

The core monitoring expertise that you simply get from the Garmin Epix Professional (Gen 2) is sort of similar to the Epix Gen 2. Whether or not it’s monitoring out of doors runs and actions with the extra correct multiband GPS or just monitoring every day steps and sleep, the Professional will serve you effectively.

It’s an ideal sports activities watch, it covers a big assortment of actions, each indoors and open air, and also you’ve bought metrics aplenty, third-party app assist and a degree of coaching and evaluation that may attraction to those that need a richer degree of information.

There are some new options right here, some that may roll again to the older Epix and one which gained’t. I’ll begin with the one which gained’t and that’s the brand new optical HR sensor, which Garmin says is constructed to be a greater match for monitoring exercises. Optical sensors like Garmin’s one usually stutter throughout high-intensity train, in order that’s what I’m actually taking a look at right here.

In observe, I’d say that the brand new sensor has carried out effectively in my testing for runs and indoor exercises, however I haven’t seen sufficient to recommend that it’s going to be as dependable as a  devoted coronary heart fee monitor.

It carried out effectively typically, however I nonetheless noticed the odd excessive spikes in knowledge and that was in opposition to Garmin’s personal HRM-Professional Plus chest strap. It’s not an enormous secret that delivering coronary heart fee from the wrist is finished for comfort versus delivering optimum accuracy outcomes, and this sensor doesn’t change that. It’s fairly good, however not good.

Onto the options that may come to the primary Epix Gen 2 and we’re now getting new mapping options like the flexibility to view climate overlaid on maps like temperature, rain, and wind.

This isn’t constructed into the real-time monitoring, nonetheless, and is as a substitute discovered within the climate Look (widget) outdoors of the exercise monitoring display. Aid shading provides richer element for navigating off-road terrain to make Garmin’s already nice mapping assist even better-looking on that AMOLED display.

There’s two massive metrics added into the combination with Hill Scores and Endurance Scores. Each take a number of weeks to start out delivering these scores, and the way helpful they’re actually will depend on how a lot you care about tackling hills or getting a clearer thought of your endurance ranges.

Hill scores need to assist you to enhance your hill working, climbing or strolling skills so it analyses actions with a gradient of two% or extra, and in addition seems to be at historic knowledge to assist generate these scores. I’ve simply been build up my coaching once more and have been tagged with a forty five rating out of 100, with the recommendation that including extra hills to coaching will assist enhance the flexibility to deal with hills. There’s an additional breakdown of hill power, hill endurance and Vo2 Max scores, which contribute to that general rating taking the same method to Garmin’s Coaching Readiness the place you possibly can take the easy essential rating or drill deeper. 

Subsequent is Endurance scores and it’s a reasonably self explanatory one. It is a rating that wishes to present you a quantity to point simply how effectively tuned you’re to keep up effort over lengthy durations. VO2 Max is usually the barometer for this, and Garmin makes use of that metric after which seems to be at your exercise historical past each quick time period and long run (3 months) to know when you’re constructing endurance base.

I’ve been constructing my coaching time after harm and may see fairly clearly within the Endurance Rating widget that my standing is bettering, indicating my long-distance working capability has improved. 

What Garmin is aiming to do, together with all the opposite options it presents, is to bundle up present metrics and insights in a extra digestible approach. So when you care about in case your endurance ranges are bettering or dropping off otherwise you’re doing sufficient hill work to deal with an upcoming hilly race course, these may very well be helpful metrics for you.

Battery life 

• As much as 16 days in smartwatch mode
• As much as 6 days in always-on mode
• As much as 20 hours in prime multiband GPS mode

Garmin’s transfer so as to add AMOLED screens to its watches has seen the battery life endure, nevertheless it’s not suffered as badly as many might have anticipated. It managed to efficiently add in additional power-hungry show expertise, and nonetheless provide sturdy battery efficiency with or with out that display set to always-on.

The numbers haven’t really modified for the 47mm Epix Professional in comparison with the non-Professional Epix. It’s as much as 16 days in smartwatch mode, which drops to six days in always-on mode. If you happen to’re utilizing the GPS monitoring solely, then it’s nonetheless the identical 42 hours, whereas utilizing the extra correct multiband GPS mode sees monitoring battery drop to twenty hours.

It’s the larger 51mm Epix Professional that sees the most important battery positive factors, the place the 47mm Epix Professional presents a lot the identical because the Epix. With the display set to always-on I noticed a every day drop-off of 10%. With added monitoring that may after all be larger, however the battery nonetheless holds sturdy.

With the display set to always-on for just below two hours of monitoring within the prime multiband mode, the battery dropped by 10%.

If you happen to select to depend on the increase to wake as a substitute of the AOD mode, you’ll get longer, however even with it enabled the battery on the Epix Professional battery continues to be very spectacular.

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