Smartphone makers had started to encroach on Garmin’s satellite messaging devices by adding satellite capabilities to high end smartphones. More recently, Google released the Pixel Watch 4, the first smartwatch with satellite SOS. What’s Garmin to do? Well, release a watch with LTE and satellite connectivity of its own, of course. Meet the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro.
The Pro has LTE, allowing it to do voice calls and texts independently of a smartphone. Additionally, the LiveTrack location sharing feature can work over LTE and can deliver weather forecasts – again, all without a phone.
Note that this uses the Garmin Messenger app on the watch and requires a subscription through Garmin, not your mobile carrier (this will be a bundle with inReach satellite messaging). Interestingly, the watch uses an LTE-M network, which is designed for low-power operation.
And when you are outside of cell coverage, Garmin’s inReach system kicks in, allowing you to send short text messages. By the way, Google has partnered with Garmin to provide its satellite SOS feature.
Anyway, there is another innovation here – the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro has a version with a microLED display. This is supposed to be the next big thing after OLED, though this first implementation may be a bit rough. The microLED display boasts up to 4,500 nits of brightness – that’s a lot, but OLED-based devices like the Pixel Watch 4 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 can reach 3,000 nits already.
And battery life is a disappointment – the microLED version is available only in 51mm form and can last up to 4 days with Always-On Display (AOD) enabled. For comparison, the OLED version of the Fenix 8 Pro is available in 47mm and 51mm sizes, which last up to 8 days and up to 15 days (!) with AOD on, respectively. Comparing the same size models, the difference is massive – from half a week to two weeks between charges.
Speaking of battery life, Garmin is well-known for its solar-powered watches. Unfortunately, the Fenix 8 Pro doesn’t seem to have such a version, so you don’t get to extend battery life with the power of the sun.
Anyway, LTE and inReach aside, these appear to be basically the same as the original Fenix 8 model. This includes advanced health and exercise tracking plus great offline navigation whether on foot, on skis or whatever.
Garmin Fenix 8 Pro (47mm)
You can find more on the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro here and the microLED version here. A warning before you click on these links – the Fenix 8 Pro is $1,200 for a 47mm version and $1,300 for the 51mm model, $100 more than the base Fenix 8. However, the microLED version is, gulp, $2,000.
Then there is the matter of a subscription. First, check for LTE coverage in your region. Also note that these use a different satellite constellation from other inReach devices and have a more limited coverage. Next, pick a plan – Consumer: Enabled is $8 a month, which offers basic emergency SOS, but check-in messages are $0.10 each, satellite text messages are $0.50 each. Even with this most basic plan, you get unlimited text and voice messages and voice calls over LTE (plus unlimited location sharing – over satellite that’s $0.10 per update).
You can go up to the Consumer: Essential plan – for $15 a month, you get unlimited check-in and 50 text over satellite. There are higher tiers with higher allotments (up to unlimited text messaging). And, as you can tell by the naming, there are plans for teams and companies too. More details here.