Where Garmin focused on adding smart features with the Fenix 5 Plus, it’s all about sports performance with the Fenix 6. There are three new features I’m especially enamoured by – one small, one that’s new to the Fenix but has already been seen on other Garmin devices, and one new biggie. Essentially it’s as if Garmin is refreshing the base Fenix 5 lineup with the base Fenix 6 lineup, while the Fenix 5 Plus becomes the Fenix 6 Pro series. Roughly. Data include pace, and distance time information. – but also lap data, cadence, heart rate, zones, and more. It’s a top-running experience, but no different from top-end Forerunners as we’ve already mentioned.

The buttons also sit nearly flush with the casing, and I didn’t have issues with them digging into my wrist. It’s a nice change from previous Fenix models, where the oversized buttons were quite literally painful. Despite having smaller buttons, they are still easy to locate them without needing to look at the watch. Pacing Like a Pro When you are ready to run, you can load this PacePro data and use it to monitor your pace in real-time. The display will show your target split pace, your current split pace, and how far off you are from your overall goal. You also can see the distance remaining on the current split. PacePro was immensely useful during my runs, keeping me focused on a single lap at a time instead of the total length of my run. It also helped me slow down on steep mountain runs allowing me to conserve energy on the inclines and make up time on the downhills. For mountain runners who want to take the guess work out of pacing, this feature is a godsend. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I used to walk a lot each day as part of my commute. But since I’ve been working from home over the past year and a half, my daily steps have decreased dramatically. Note that when doing it from the watch (versus Garmin Connect Mobile), you can’t adjust the various sliders that you see down below. As such, I’d really just recommend doing it from the app and sending it to your watch to execute.

In any event you can also overlay the ski resorts mode too – which shows you ski lifts and ski runs from some 2,000 resorts around the world, including the ones I was at. Admittedly, it’s a bit hard to see in this photo. The Fenix 6S Pro also has a new row-based widget interface, which is markedly different from the full-screen widgets in previous Fenix models. Instead of scrolling through several distinct screens, the widgets are arranged in rows that allow you to see the previous and next rows as you scroll. Each row provides a summary of the data, and you can select the row to view additional details. Because the Fenix is an outdoors-focused watch, the widgets include weather, sunset/sunrise times, a digital compass, as well as traditional fitness metrics. The first thing you notice about the Fenix 6 series is its small bezel and brilliant sunlight-readable display that is up to 36% larger than previous Fenix models. Though it has a bigger screen, the Fenix 6 is 10 to 15% slimmer than the existing Fenix 5 series. With a choice of either a silicone band or a new nylon band, the 6 series has a comfortable fit that'll make you forget you are wearing a rugged, multisport, adventure watch.

It’s organized by sport type. So running vs cycling, etc… But it’s also not quite that simple either. See, it’s also displayed on the nuance of hiking versus running. I see that as a bit of a challenge, and it was super obvious in the area around Chamonix. When I used the ‘hiking’ data sets, almost nothing was visible. Whereas when I used running, there was tons of data. This is likely because most Garmin users would just default to using run no matter what for such activities. The other challenge is that the zoom levels make the feature semi-useless. I can’t zoom more than 0.5mi out (on scale). So basically I can see where people are running down to the end of the street, but not beyond that. I can’t really get the full picture. In the event you want to dig into another NYC run, I’ve got this one here on the DCR Analyzer. The Fenix 6 did struggle a bit to stay on the path, but did better than the FR935 once I got into the main building portion of the city.You get running (trail, indoor, outdoor, treadmill), biking (indoor, outdoor, MTB), pool and open swimming, climbing, skiing and snowboarding of all types, triathlon, strength, SUP, rowing, kayaking, golf, hiking, yoga and even more via the Connect IQ platform of apps. Next, we’ve got a much more intense run, albeit also around Central Park. This was using PacePro as my base, so it was more or less full throttle the entire time. Here’s that set. If you select the highlighted widget, then you’ll get the full widget that you previously knew and loved, such as this: At first, I was alarmed and thought it might be physiological but then compared with a chest HR band. I run a few times a week outdoors. I loved my old Forerunner 10 for runs, but the Fenix 6s Pro far outstrips it. The GPS locator is fast, even when you’re in an unfamiliar area. It also had no trouble finding me whether I was at home or someplace new.

The overall size of the watch is designed specifically for smaller wrists from 4.25 to 7.16 inches (10.8 to 18.2 cm). I liked that I didn’t have to do anything special to enable sleep mode — the sensors automatically figure out when you fall asleep and wake up, as well as when you’re in light sleep, deep sleep, and rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep. Last but not least on our pile of basics is smartphone notifications. The device will display any smartphone notifications from any apps on your device, it’s not limited to just texts or calendars or such. You can configure whether or not to display these, as well as whether or not to display them in a workout. When a notification comes in, you can either cancel/clear it immediately, or you can open it up to get more information: The popularity routing is also new here. Previously on the Fenix 5 Plus series Garmin baked in their ‘Trendline Popularity’ data, which is basically the culmination of millions of activities on Garmin Connect. Essentially heatmap data. But you couldn’t actually see the ‘heat’, it was just data under the covers that the unit would route you on. Now however, you can see the purple heat. However, it’s extremely power efficient and always-on and this sacrifice in aesthetics enables some of the Fenix’s best features.

According to Garmin, the stress level is calculated based on your heart rate variability in a given day. I was a little skeptical at first, but looking through the data changed my mind. I found that on days that had felt particularly harried, my stress score was higher. And on days that felt pretty low-key, I ended up with a low stress score. Related to body battery is sleep metrics. The unit will automatically record your sleep each night, and supposed sleep phases. While I can validate that the sleep times are usually within a couple minutes of my actual fall asleep/wake times, I have no method of validating the sleep phases bits. The sleep metrics are displayed on the app:

The Fenix 6 Pro watches all have the same five-button design you’ll find on most Garmins, and the overall look hasn’t changed much from the Fenix 5 Plus series. The watches are chunky, and have exposed screws on the bezel. However, Garmin has increased the screen size on all of the watches besides the 6S versions, which still have the same 240 x 240 1.2in panel as the Fenix 5S. The 6 and 6 Pro watches have a 260 x 260 1.3in screen and the 6X Pro and 6X Pro Solar both have the same impressive 280 x 280 1.4in display. GPS accuracy can be looked at in a number of different ways, but I prefer to look at it using a number of devices in real-world scenarios across a vast number of activities. I use 2-6 other devices at once, trying to get a clear picture of how a given set of devices handles conditions on a certain day. Conditions include everything from tree/building cover to weather.The other thing that this release does is close the gap between the release cycles of the high-end Garmin Forerunner series (FR945) and the high-end Fenix series. Previously that timeframe was upwards of a year or more. Now we’re down to about 4-5 months. It behooves Garmin to get these as close as possible so that people are making decisions not so much on features (which would mostly be the same), but on material and styling choices. Rather than have someone buy a FR945 and then realized they could have gotten a swankier Fenix 6 just a few months later.