I do not like it. The other question to Garmin why on earth it uses a very thin part of the bezel for the solar panel? why it does not use the whole bezel?
@@wiggle I currently have the instinct in the yellow color and it's awesome but I wanted the Fenix just couldn't convince myself to spend the money, I just wish Garmin had cool headphones to go with the watch. But this one looks soo nice I may just do it and trade in my instinct for a credit toward the purchase of the 6S solar.
@@swil8622 After testing both the Instinct Solar and the Fenix 6S Solar... they are both amazing. The Fenix has those extra features but the battery on the Instinct solar is insane! If your the kind of person that would use everything the Fenix has to offer i'm sure you wouldn't regret it!
Thanks for the review! it's always good for me to see these reviews on the smaller sized watches. Since I have a thin wrist it helps me gauge how it may look on me.
great review and definitely pushed me to buy . Even though the solar does nothing for me but seems to have a few extra small extra features but in my opinion it looks better. I have gotten bored with black fitness trackers how would you rate this shale grey colour? also do u think it would mix well with other colour bands ?
Hi Warren, thanks! Great watch and sure you won't be disappointed. We're a big fan of the more subtle and less "sport watch" look too. The grey is a fresh look over the usual black too. As its a neutral colour it should work well with most straps! Hope that helps...ENJOY!
Hi Eddy, thanks 👍 The 5s is still an absolutely smashing watch and probably not worth the upgrade (depending if you'd need/want to solar charging function too). Hope thats helps 👍
@@wiggle thanks for the reply. Yes I agree, the 5S is an amazing watch, and it wouldn't be responsible of me to upgrade,, but I want to so much lol. Thanks again and keep up the great work :)
Hey I really like your video! I just have quick question: I was just about to hit the buy button on the 6s pro solar when I accidentally saw that it's 14.2 mm thick (vs 13.8mm for the 6s pro). Is this due to the solar panel and doesn't that make the watch even bulkier than the 6s pro?
Wiggle Hey thanks for the super quick answer! Yes that’s really helpful. Helped me make up my mind for the solar one. Besides the longer battery life I also think the color options are much better with the solar version.
Wiggle just wanted to give a short feedback after wearing the 6s solar for a few weeks now: the thickness is indeed hardly recognizable and although I have a very thin wrist, the watch fits perfectly and I‘m super satisfied. The solar function is also more useful than I at first thought and prolongs the already gigantic battery life even longer. I can do two 8 hour hikes in a row with full GPS mode and still have days of normal smart watch mode left. Awesome watch!
The app & watch face slot limit must be removed. It isn't perfect by any means, but is among the best in class: considerably better (and much pricier!) than its predecessors. For those wondering, a screen protector does not appear to affect the solar charge. Garmin Express will indicate that updates are due and may take a hundred syncs, updates, disconnects and reconnects to change the status to "up-to-date". Very clunky. Ski maps (and I believe, Golf courses) can be deactivated if unneeded. But that's not good enough for Me. I wish they could be removed altogether to empty storage. It's also rather unclear what the differences between the pre-installed maps and Garmin's City Navigator and Cycle Maps are, and whether City Navigator & Cycle Maps can be installed on the device. I haven't tried, as I have not the maps in question.
Hi Leo, Great to hear the solar works with a screen protector 👍 It would be great if we had more room to cut software we didn't need in the watch, but as you say a vast improvement over past models. Both City navigator and cycle maps can be installed to the Fenix 6S Pro Solar 👍 Hope that helps
It's to allow the watches to work well in outdoor conditions (rain, big winter gloves) and the buttons are easier to function on the move 👍I actually rate the way Garmin have done this
Great point, I love the physical buttons on my Garmin, they make it so much easier to operate common functions without seeing the screen, but I think they should consider adding touchscreens as an option for people who prefer it on their premium watches.
Hello mate, thanks for a good review. May i ask a few follow up questions ? Im thinking of getting a Garmin 6x pro for hiking, but i was wondering if it can be recharged by a power bank, and does it take long to recharge , do it require a lot of power to refill.
Hi, Yes they can be recharged from a power bank and it generally works well. I'm guessing it's pretty similar to the wall charge time but would depend on the power bank. doesnt require too much either...less than a modern smartphone! Hope that helps
@@wiggle Hello fri3nd, It does. Couse i see lots of people are selling their 6x pro to a decent price... due to the new relase , I was thinking it be worth saving those extra 100 bucks, and just bring a power bank , im a poor little camper XD
I’m looking to replace wearing both an Apple Watch and a Whoop and think this might be the one. Are you familiar with the Whoop and would you say this is comparable and would work well by replacing both wearables?
The Fenix is not comparable with a Whoop watch... it's so much better 🤣It covers most of what an apple watch does too. If I had to choose one watch for everything, it would be the Fenix 6s Pro Solar. Let us know what you end up going for👍
Thanks, very informative video! Regarding "the bad side" (8:08) to strapping the watch on the bike, i.e., not getting heart rate, there's a solution: wear a chest strap HR monitor. It can report to the watch.
I accidentally buy that since fenix 6 and 6x is to big for me. By god, I have this, and I have to say.. it was so beautiful if you look it for yourself rather than in video. The gold is for the girl, but the gray one.. definitely for a male. 👍
Actually this review was better than 99% of other smart watch "reviews" blabbing about pay with your smartwatch nonsense. I need outdoor, sports function! So many important informations in this review. Thank you.
Nice video, gr8 review, love this watch i have the fenix 5s and I'm tempted to upgrade for the solar capabilities. One thing i noticed they used springbars now instead of screw in bars like in my 5s... 🤔 Not sure if thats an improved feature or not.
Thanks Andrew. I love the solar update and although not ultra necessary, I can't help but love it. Never had any issue with the springbars and seem do the trick just as well 👍
I am switching from the Apple Watch 5 to either the Instinct Solar or the Fenix 6s Pro (solar), which one do you recommend me? And if I chose the Fenix, is the solar edition really worth it?
The Fenix has far more features than the Instinct, If replacing from an Apple watch you may find you'd want some of them. The solar is a nice touch in both watches, but we'd only recommend if you spend lots of time outdoors. Hope that helps
Have owned this almost a year and love it except for a couple of huge frustrations. 1) I got the Titanium one and that was a huge mistake because it scratches really easily.. I wear it 'full time' and very active... this is not the model to get for active people... I'm starting to feel embarrassed when I go out because at this point the watch looks like trash ( still works great but scratched bracelet and bezel ) 2) when I ride my bike I have several connected devices... I have a power meter, my headset for music, my phone , and HR monitor and Garmin radar ( Varia ) . Ever since I added the Varia I can no longer listen to music and have the Radar connected at the same time. This is annoying as hell considering i paid 1K for this gadget. This is clearly a known issue form garmin since this is a well documented issue that lots of folks are reporting.. unfortunately there is no fix to be found. Overall I love this device and the Garmin ecosystem, but for 1K i expected a more rugged watch.
Hi Jacques, great to hear back from a long term user. Shame the test of time hasn't agreed with the titanium bezel. Garmin must resolve the Varia issue in then next watch (surprised an update hasn't fixed this already). Are you conneting the Varia via ANT+ or bluetooth as I know bluetooth has it's connection limits?
Great watch and almost perfect. Just don't understand why they would waste space with a compass on the bezel that could have easily been etched into a much wider photovoltaic bezel instead.
Hi Devon, I beleive the bezel space is needed to keep the face protected. Be so good to see more 100% photovoltaic space. Imagine the day when we hardly have to charge our smartwatches!
Thank you for the good review. Question: if the battery is completely drained can I use the solar power only to charge the watch without the power cable and how long it's going to take to get enough power and use the watch again let's say for day or two? Thank you!
To your comment about attaching the watch to your bike’s handlebars but having to do without heart rate monitoring. You could wear a chest strap and monitor you HR that way, correct? Or were you saying that if the user is in the turn by turn map mode that they just wouldn’t be able to see their HR? Thanks, in advance.
Hi Rana, I should have been more clear on this. You can certainly get the HR data from a chest strap when using it in Navigation mode. There is even a dedicated bike mount available to make it less of a bodge too. Hope that helps
Im still waiting for the most important Feature ,That gives me a 3 minute warning,when im going to have a Heart Attack,and Direct me to the Nearest Defibrillator ,Man the person that comes up with that,is going to be Seriously rich 🤑
Hi Salmann, No inbuilt mic on the Fenix range. You can answer calls but still have to use your phones mic to speak. You can reply to any comment on here 👍 Hope that helps
@@salmaanahmed8872 No Garmin watches feture a mic, so you would have to look at other brands to get one (but most other watches don't feature eveything the fenix 6 pro does) A tricky choice!
Does the 6s Pro Solar comes in black? Most of what I saw sold on REI, Best Buy, and Amazon in the U.S. are grayish. The face also says "Women of Adventure" (I'm assuming this can be changed.)
Hi, Not seen the face saying "Women of adventue" on my grey model...but the 6s isn't available in black. I actually like the grey but you'd have to jump up to the 6 or 6X to have a Pro Solar black option. Hope thta helps
Looks great, and I'm considering buying the watch. But curious about the swimming features. Did you test it for pool swimming? I have the polar V800 now, so this would be a big upgrade.
1:38 100% photovoltaic doesn't mean that it will convert 100% sun energy into power. There are no panels that has 100% efficiency. Most of the sun energy is reflected. Only small amount is turned into electric power. 100% photovoltaic means nothing more than 100% photovoltaic. Real photovoltaic efficiency is around 30%, any other number is only marketing :P.
I bought this watch recently... After first charge with a USB cable on the screen I got notification : 9d ( nine days battery life). Next day I placed it under the sun to charge it from sun energy but nothing had changed - still 9 days of battery life remained. What benefits the sollar charging has if battery life is not changing ?
I had Casio G-5000 with sollar charging for five years . I have never replaced the battery and it was charging with sollar power. I thought Fenix 6s pro was the same. Sollar power doesn't affect battery charging.
Hi I’m considering getting either the Fenix 6 or 6s but not sure which one would look better on my wrist. I have relatively slim wrists at 16.5cm. I noticed the 6s looks kind of small on your wrist so was wondering what size wrists you have? Thanks.
Hi Finn, Thanks 👍 Garmin offer a few free Surf trackers in their IQ stor which you can download directly to the watch interface. WAAHHPAAA GET PITTED 🤙🤙🤙
As Sim mentioned...not on this one...(not a bad thing as most smartwatch touchscreens are pretty annoying to use in activities/in the rain/with gloves on bla bla bla)
Great review. Quick question, do you get the blue-ish screen issue? Like the backlit got washed out, quite a few reported but only in sapphire version I think
@@wiggle Hi cheers, sorry it was the sunset widget :D. Can I ask though, how do you get MTB dynamics to work on these things, theres nothing in the instructions and from my understanding its meant to be a case of seeing the metrics in Garmin connect but on my ride at Greno woods (sheffield) yesterday I don't see anything :s. I did click navigate a route I sent from komoot, love the watch other than that, its just a shame its not touchscreen on the map but as a fallback I think its alright. I find for trails I'm still using my mobile for apps like trailforks, and just having komoot speak out the directions is quite handy too.
@@carlsmtb3171 As far as I know the MTB dynamics work automatically (as long as you choose the MTB profile, not the cycle/road one) Sadly no smartwatch is perfect for trail routes yet, but it doesn't get any better than the Fenix! Yes! Greno is a great spot 🤘
Still going strong! do you mean the backlight? I'd double check you've got your settings right...if you do have a chat with the retailer you bought it from for a warranty claim!
Hey James! Great video. I am considering picking this up but have 2 questions: 1. Does this model have the same "bluish tint" backlighting display issue as the other 6S and 6S Sapphire have? 2. Does the Amethyst steel look very purple in person? Wish they had solar in black :/ Worried this will be too purple but hard to tell. Thanks in advance!
Hi, thanks for the feedback 👍 The test model we had had no blue tinting, go as far to say the screen was pretty fantastic. The Amethyst steel is pretty much colourless, would agree a black or darker grey would have been a better choice. Hope that helps.
Can I also ask, as clearly you like your mtb, what is the best widget to use for following routes and finding good trails? Is it possible to bluetooth to some headphones directions or get the garmin to talk instead, wouldn't need to look at the watch then. I've been using Trailforks with a garmin edge but just bought this solar watch, will sell the computer now. In the end my iphone with komoot was best for navigation but rubbish at finding trails, there doesn't seem a perfect solution to find techy trails
Hi, You can use Trailforks on the Fenix via downloading it from the Connect IQ App. Komoot is great for routes but like you say, rubbish for local trail finding. Decent trails are always hard to find! best stick with Trailforks 👍
@@wiggle can’t find it on connect IQ oddly, could find on the Edge explorer though. Just on mtb dynamics, is this just when you click mtb mode and record laps etc, like I couldn’t see it record anything in navigation mode interestingly, just trying to check it works right
Nearly 13 minutes, you never actually tested whether the solar actually charges the watch or not. If one pays a premium for solar charging, i would like to know if it solar charges? How fast? In what conditions? Or is it so minimal you could tell it actually charges at all?
Hi Yanassi, we have just released a video on how the watch solar charges here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--F7oaGfG9-4.html Hope this helps
@@scotthunter4 but then i would have to carry a solar charger around... i prefer to have the solar to top it up while im out and about without having to think about it or take it off to charge it
is there any way you go on an expedition or hiking adventure where the activity takes longer than 80 days to turn off the watch completely and just wear the watch and charge it? maybe attach the watch to your pack and let the sun charge it to full status. if so im sold on this item. otherwise how can i use it when im lost and the watch died. at least there could be a way to charge and revive this.
Hi Schizo, Good question. It will charge when off but will be a very low trickle charge. Although a hassle on a big enough adventure, having a battery pack would be the best idea 👍 Hope that helps
Thinking about upgrading my Forerunner 235 (about 5 years old at this point 😳) to this one! I might have to relearn all the fancy new updates since my current one doesn’t have half these features!!
Or just buy the cheaper more scratch resistant DLC model and a £10 Anker powercore+ mini usb battery which will give you about a hundred times more battery life
Another thought, since the Fenix 6 series has already been out a year it would be sensible just to buy the cheapest that will do the job. In 12 months time these will be obsolete and not worth much! So the £502 F6S Pro on Amazon for me. Save your money :-)
Hi Tony, They are both great watches. The Pro watch has a few extra premium features such as Trendline Popularity Routing, PacePro, ski maps and the ability to preload music. If you don't need these (or want the extended colour range of the pro) then go with the standard one to save money 👍Hope that helps
Thanks for the quick response. Yea you are right , I don’t need most of them as my main focus is triathlons.However I do need the map for running up the mountain, which is one of the missing feature on the 6s solar. It seems like I have no choice but only could go for the 6s pro solar. Please correct me if I was wrong.
I have my eye on a 6s Pro Solar with Slate Grey strap for £480. Bit worried that the 6s strap won't fit my wrist, as it looks like it is aimed at women. Anyone have issues?
Thanks for the great review! do you find the 6s to be as comfortable during activity/sleep as the forerunner 945/745? I'm debating between the 6s sapphire and the forerunners.
@@orismj My favourite watch to date is still the Fenix 6s...or to be honest an apple watch (Garmin for sport and outdoor activities, apple as a smartwatch, but both work well for everything too!) I really don'y think you'd be disappointed with either a Fenix or FR 👍
Just be aware that is just BS and gimmicky ! Just buy a normal fenix and save money ! Those endorsers are paid to talk and overhype those watches ! Just do your own research about and visit the Garmin Fenix 6 forum to see for yourself about how faulty and unreliable data those watches provide !
Hi, we can assure you no payment was taken to make this review. We're a big fan of the solar system think most active outdoor users would like it too. We even did our own test (unendorsed and not overhyped) and the results were pretty interesting ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--F7oaGfG9-4.html Hope that helps
Hi , Recently we lost famous person during his workouts with heartatack. Is this watch help people to avoid or give alerts . In what type of watches will give this type of alerts so that it will help every one
Sunto make great watches and would be a great choice too. I'd just look at which system you prefer and what functions you really want...then mak your choice. Hope that helps
Don’t reply to me and say I’m being a mean person I’m just curious I don’t know if it is just me but is your left eye looking right and your right eye is facing the camera
Hi athletemv, thanks for the comment. They sure do, and It would have been worth mentioning in the video 👍 nice little hack to saving money on buying 2 units
Thinking about to choose this one, but got the feeling that the colour is a bit purple?! Or is it more grey? Theres no Chance to see it in real here, so someone might help? Would be Great!
Hi Adam, It might do... but I think the Fenix range will stay clear of touchscreens as they aren't that functional in the outdoors (rain, wearing gloves, etc) Looking forward to it either way 👍
@@wiggle I can understand if you're out jogging or scuba diving and have sweaty fingers, it is difficult to swipe/pin & zoom screen, but in a normal daily use, touch screen works wonders, not sure the power glass can adapt to the touch screen. I have a fitbit versa, it is a lovely watch with touch screen.
@@ButchCassidyAndSundanceKid Absolutely, for day to day life touchscreens are brilliant. I mean take the Apple Watch for example 🙌. I just think the Fenix series will aways be designed foremost for the ultimate practical use in the extreme outdoors...but time will tell 👍
@@wiggle Also having ECG would notify the wearer has atrial fibrillation. It might not be as good as the medical grade ones, but at least it will give you some idea. Apple and Samsung watches have this functionality.
I've been using the normal 7 solar sapphire and new instinct 2...both have been amazing...but in all honesty not massivly noticed much difference from the 6s. Hope that helps
Is a really good watch! Battery rated for 4 days but i used it for almost 7 days w out recharging but it got some cons like i wish it focus on counting steps cause when i dont bike thats what i focus on. Samsung does this count steps perfectly
Hi Apichar, it's an absolute cracker of a watch 👍 You can have a mini widget devoted to step counting if that helped? the battery on them is awesome too 👍
@@wiggle i do, but having it on some exercise modes like samsungs treadmill run or walk modes is more helpful as well. Their great watches! Some plus and minus due to feature programming. Samsung watch three when ur walking the watch detects when ur walking even if you dont turn on the feature, i like that. I use samsung phone so a watch is advantages. Eg if ur using iPhone apple watch is advantages to u
So you pay £740 and don’t even get the DLC coating on the bezel or Sapphire glass which you get on the cheaper model? No thanks. And the battery life on the 6S is already good enough for 95% of people, unless you’re planning an expedition to Everest and really need that extra 1% per hour (in which case you would probably have a USB power bank with you anyway). I have the 6S Sapphire and did a 125 mile bike ride once and still had 50% battery left...
Hi Scott, Interesting points 👍 Some people who spend lots of time outdoors will notice the Power Glass makes a considerable difference to battery life. Although no Sapphire is featured, Gorilla Glass is sufficient for most users. We are releasing a video test on how the solar screens perform tomorrow 👌
Wiggle I’m not too bothered about the sapphire glass. But the DLC coating on the bezel really should be standard on a £740 watch as you are more likely to pick up scuffs on the bezel than get a scratched screen from personal experience of owning several Garmin watches. I think Garmin should have pulled out all the stops on this edition given the asking price. You have to ask yourself if you would rather pay another £140 for solar or another £100 for DLC bezel + sapphire over the £600 Pro model. I think most people would benefit more from premium materials / durability than very small gains (in ideal conditions) in battery life. And as I said you would probably be carrying a USB battery for your mobile phone anyway.
