Garmin’s ultimate watch for endurance athletes Matthew Miller/ZDNet
Early this year, I had the chance to try out the fantastic Garmin Fenix 7X Sapphire Solar watch and loved that I could train, play, work, and live with the watch mounted on my wrist for weeks. The Fenix 7X is built for multisport athletes, while the new Garmin Enduro 2 is optimized for endurance athletes who need a wearable that will track performance for the longest ultra races.
The Fenix 7X Sapphire Solar is advertised to provide up to 122 hours of GPS tracking with solar charging. The Garmin Enduro 2 adds more than a day to that with a battery life of up to 150 hours of GPS tracking, more than 40% of that provided by the original Enduro announced in early 2021. The Enduro 2 is clearly not built for casual athletes but for those who participate in the most grueling races today. Ultrarunning events are longer than marathons, typically at least 50km and even over 100km. There are also 100-mile races and even multi-day races with the Garmin Enduro 2 helping these endurance athletes train for and track these events.
The Garmin Enduro 2 sports the familiar standard five-button Garmin user interface with a new touch screen display for the Enduro series. Solar charging is a staple of the Enduro line and continues with the entire 1.4-inch Power Sapphire glass display harnessing the power of the sun.
While the watch is large with a 51mm diameter and 26mm watch band, it is fairly light and comfortable thanks to the titanium bezel and rear case. So far, I love the Ultrafit nylon band that ensures a perfect fit. The Enduro 2 package includes the Ultrafit nylon band along with a 26mm Quick Fit silicone band.
The LED flashlight was one of the coolest new features on the Fenix 7X Sapphire Solar. Garmin includes this flashlight on the Enduro 2 and also made it the brightest Garmin flashlight ever, with twice the brightness of the 7X. You can use the white LED light to expose the night or turn on the red light to help you maintain your sight at night. A strobe mode also matches your cadence so people can see you while running on the road or on the trail.
Some of the new training features that are present on the Garmin Enduro 2 include:
- NextFork: Map guide that shows the distance to the next trail intersection, as well as the name of the upcoming trail. Very handy for national parks and other areas where multiple trails can cause confusion.
- Grade-adjusted pace: I live on a hill, so every single time I run, I am going up and down hills. This feature displays an equivalent running pace on flat ground to help you adjust your pace and maintain your stamina.
- Visual race predictor: This pacing estimator uses your running history and overall fitness level to show you where you could finish in your upcoming event. It’s great to watch this time fall as you train more.
- Automatic rest timer: Ultrarunning races are long and hard, so that you may spend some time on a break for replenishment or first aid. The automatic timer logs these breaks without requiring you to pause your run.
- Adventure racing activity profile: This ARWS-approved profile tracks heart rate, elevation, segment times, and other metrics for post-race viewing. A summary screen also helps verify a finish time with the race committee.
Since the Garmin Enduro 2 is optimized for endurance athletes, it comes preloaded with TopoActive maps with multi-continent coverage. Garmin’s new SatIQ technology that dynamically determines the best GPS mode necessary to maximize battery life and positional accuracy is present on the watch. Golf course maps and SkiView maps are also preloaded on the watch.
Also: The 5 best Garmin watch models: Which is right for you?
We saw some exciting new software features on the Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar, but those are not yet present here on the Enduro 2 review unit that just arrived. These include training readiness, Morning Report, HRV status, running power (with a compatible accessory), and real-time stamina. I understand many of the newer Garmin watches will be receiving these features in upcoming software updates, so stay tuned for more on those updates.
All of the great Garmin 24/7 health and wellness features are also present, so you will have heart-rate monitoring, blood oxygen measurements, Body Battery, fitness age, sleep score, sleep stages, and more. A new Health Snapshot feature will record and generate a report of key stats that includes heart rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygen level, respiration, and stress. Recovery advisor and daily suggested workouts are also found on the Enduro 2.
Garmin Pay, offline music support, multi-GNSS support, incident detection, and everything Garmin offers is found on the Enduro 2. The Garmin Enduro 2 is available now for $1,099.99 in one size and one color.
We have a review unit mounted on our wrist and will be testing it for the next few weeks so if you have any questions or functions you want us to try out, please leave a comment below.