There’s a unhappy fact each outdoor particular person should face, which is that ultimately, you must transfer on out of your #vanlife and get an actual job. Even sponsored athletes get creaky or tear a rotator cuff ultimately. It’s a must to pay in your children’ ski classes someway.
Are you, like me, equally satisfied that you’re simply as excessive as you ever have been, and in addition capable of afford a $1,000 sports activities watch? Then, my pal, Garmin’s newest Epix Pro (Gen 2) is for you. It’s the very best multi-sport look ahead to an individual who has a variety of totally different out of doors hobbies and a little bit of disposable revenue. This 12 months, it has higher battery life and a wider measurement vary to accommodate smaller wrists. Not like the similarly-priced new Fenix 7 Pro ($900), it nonetheless has an exquisite OLED display you need to use to view many maps.
These maps—Garmin’s attractive, detailed, and easy-to-use proprietary offline maps!—and the higher battery life are the 2 the explanation why I’d nonetheless suggest a Garmin over the Apple Watch Ultra (particularly if you happen to don’t have an iPhone). I discovered final 12 months’s Epix to be a bit of bit annoying, however this 12 months’s mannequin is one among my favourite sports activities watches I’ve examined.
Variations on a Theme
Like most of Garmin’s sports activities watches, the Epix Professional is available in a number of iterations—a 42-mm, 47-mm, and 51-mm case measurement, plus the usual and sapphire lens crystal version. I attempted the Epix Professional Sapphire within the 47-mm case measurement with the silicone band, which inserts my 150-mm wrist. I did get the white band surprisingly soiled, which I by no means seen on the black watches.
The bezel is titanium, which I used to be shocked to notice as a result of I did bang it up whereas mountaineering and there are seen scratches. The sapphire crystal, nonetheless, has held up and continues to be unmarked—one thing to remember if one among your hobbies can also be scraping your arms in and round rock cracks filled with spiders. You may also flip off the touchscreen within the settings. I’ve a Fenix 7 Professional readily available right here and might report that the Epix’s AMOLED display is noticeably brighter and simpler to see, each inside and outside.
Garmin claims the battery life can final 16 days in smartwatch mode; with a number of tracked actions per day, like strolling, working, climbing, and ebiking, I extra generally get round 14 days. That’s completely advantageous! Not like the newest Vivomove Trend, nonetheless, you continue to have to make use of Garmin’s proprietary plug-in charger. It additionally does not have a photo voltaic charging version, just like the Fenix.
{Photograph}: Garmin
As all the time, the quantity and breadth of Garmin’s options is in depth, and a little overwhelming. The most recent ones on the Epix embrace a one-button LED flashlight on the prime of the case. You’ll be able to decide the depth and whether or not you need it to be white or pink. Its positioning makes it a way more handy and succesful little mild than those on different screened watches. I like not having to twist my arm round or scramble for my telephone or headlight whereas rummaging round a darkish tent.
