Garmin Fenix 6 or Fenix 6 Pro ?

[eddy]

I need a watch with the "Body Battery" function that is available on the Fenix 6.

The big difference between the 6 and the 6 Pro is that the former does not have the Pay, Music or MAP functions.

I won't miss the Pay or Music, but need to know what kind of navigation function is available ? 

Does this mean I can't load maps to nav with, but will be able to see my ride etc. after the ride in a map form, or not even the latter?

The price difference is big, and I have never used a map on my Edge, but obviously like to see where I had gone once loaded to Connect. Can I do this on a standard Fenix 6?

[Spinnekop]

Wait a month (or two) and get the Fenix 7.
Lot's of rumors running around about August 2021.........

[fanievb]

fenix 6 has garmin pay
navigation is via a "blue line" no map available

[Spinnekop]

On the maps with the 6.........
I have the 6X Saphire (Nowhere does it say "Pro".
All the normal mapping functions.  Can even see the map on the watch during the ride and after the ride in the summary.  

Hope that helps.

[MongooseMan]

Also worth throwing into the mix: the Forerunner 945.

Essentially a 6 Pro without a metal case, and far cheaper.

Has body battery, full map nav, garmin pay, music, alles.

[Matu]

Wait for the Fenix 7 to launch and buy the fenix 6/6x Pro, prices will drop nicely for the old line up

I have the 6x Pro and make use of the mapping/navigation features and other apps like komoot and strava

[Mountain Bru]

 

I have the 6 sapphire. I didn't pay for it though, which changes things a lot. (Got it on the ebucks shop on a sale at 40% off. Think it was R7000 in ebucks 2 years ago). From the graphic above, you can see the extra features per model.

I guess it all depends on what you do with the watch, and also what edge unit you have if you have 1. My 2c on the features:
It's pretty sweet to sync a spotify playlist to your watch, and then not take your phone with you when you run, if you like listening to music/podcasts when running.

I use the maps on the watch now and then. It's pretty awesome when hiking to have a full topographical map on your wrist. At the minimum, you want to be able to load a route, follow a breadcrumb trail, and see stuff like distance remaining, elevation plots etc. 

WiFi: Not a big deal in my opinion. I'm never in a situation where I have a saved wifi network, but somehow not my phone. It's not a big deal for me if my watch syncs marginally faster. 

Sapphire Glass: Probably not worth the money, but it really does work. Zero scratches on my screen 2 years later. 

Other thoughts:
I got an Edge 530 the other day. Now my watch feels super redundant, so I'm considering changing to a lower end forerunner just for tracking runs. 
Rumour has it that the Fenix 7 will be launched soon. If you can make do for a month or 2, the Fenix 6's will probably be on sale everywhere very soon before the 7 is launched. So you can either wait and save, or wait and get the latest and greatest F7 for probably similar money to what the F6 is now. 

 

[eddy]

1 hour ago, Matu said:

Wait for the Fenix 7 to launch and buy the fenix 6/6x Pro, prices will drop nicely for the old line up

 

This is why I am thinking of one now. There are some very good deals going on the 6.

[eddy]

1 hour ago, Mountain Bru said:

 

Thanks, very useful

I use the maps on the watch now and then. It's pretty awesome when hiking to have a full topographical map on your wrist. At the minimum, you want to be able to load a route, follow a breadcrumb trail, and see stuff like distance remaining, elevation plots etc. 

I can see that would be useful, 
 

Other thoughts:
I got an Edge 530 the other day. Now my watch feels super redundant, so I'm considering changing to a lower end forerunner just for tracking runs. 

Good point. I have an edge 530 and maybe I should just look at the Forerunner 945.

Rumour has it that the Fenix 7 will be launched soon. If you can make do for a month or 2, the Fenix 6's will probably be on sale everywhere very soon before the 7 is launched. It is on sale and there are a few good deals going, hence my interest. .So you can either wait and save, or wait and get the latest and greatest F7 for probably similar money to what the F6 is now. I probably wouldn't pay full list price for a 6, so would rather buy a discounted 6 than a full priced 7 unless the 7 comes standard with an extra 45w boost to my FTP.

 

 

[DonatelloOnPinarello]

7 hours ago, MongooseMan said:

Also worth throwing into the mix: the Forerunner 945.

Essentially a 6 Pro without a metal case, and far cheaper.

Has body battery, full map nav, garmin pay, music, alles.

This is the answer you wanted. Unless you plan on doing a lot of other hardcore adventure stuff, like whitewater kayaking, rock climbing etc, or you plan to use it for the next 10years or more,  where the sapphire glass and metal case matter, by a Forerunner.

 

and be honest, it’s a consumer electronic, your not gonna want to be using it 10years from now, because it’s going to be old and outdated.
 

The only real plus in the Fenix box is slightly better battery life, but in reality your not going to do any activities that will exceed the battery on the forerunner. 
 

Big plus for the forerunner, is it’s significantly lighter, and thinner, making it a lot more comfortable. The Fenix is very noticeable on your wrist in comparison to its plastic stablemate. 

[Mountain Bru]

6 hours ago, eddy said:

Good point. I have an edge 530 and maybe I should just look at the Forerunner 945.

If you have a 530, 90% of the features on a fenix are redundant and unnecessary. Unless you run or do triathlon or something. Like I said, since getting a 530, I'm basically only using my F6 to tell me the time and let me know when I can ignore a message or call. 

I saw though that you want the body battery feature... I think some of the cheaper forerunners have it too? No idea what you want that feature for though? It's not super useful to me. 

 

1 hour ago, DonatelloOnPinarello said:

The only real plus in the Fenix box is slightly better battery life, but in reality your not going to do any activities that will exceed the battery on the forerunner. 
 

Big plus for the forerunner, is it’s significantly lighter, and thinner, making it a lot more comfortable. The Fenix is very noticeable on your wrist in comparison to its plastic stablemate. 

On the battery - yes you won't exceed the battery life in an activity. But if the OP has a 530, he's probably not even gonna be tracking rides on the watch. I charge my F6 every 7 to 10 days. For me, this really matters. I can't imagine having to charge another thing every second day. I'm not sure how much it's worth in rands and cents, but I'd pay extra to for less charging.  

In terms of the size, yes smaller is better, but at the same time, after wearing a F3 (which was even chunkier) for a week, I forgot I was wearing it. And I'm not a huge guy with huge wrists. A small watch with a 2 week battery would be the best of everything though.  

[DonatelloOnPinarello]

15 minutes ago, Mountain Bru said:

If you have a 530, 90% of the features on a fenix are redundant and unnecessary. Unless you run or do triathlon or something. Like I said, since getting a 530, I'm basically only using my F6 to tell me the time and let me know when I can ignore a message or call. 

I saw though that you want the body battery feature... I think some of the cheaper forerunners have it too? No idea what you want that feature for though? It's not super useful to me. 

 

On the battery - yes you won't exceed the battery life in an activity. But if the OP has a 530, he's probably not even gonna be tracking rides on the watch. I charge my F6 every 7 to 10 days. For me, this really matters. I can't imagine having to charge another thing every second day. I'm not sure how much it's worth in rands and cents, but I'd pay extra to for less charging.  

In terms of the size, yes smaller is better, but at the same time, after wearing a F3 (which was even chunkier) for a week, I forgot I was wearing it. And I'm not a huge guy with huge wrists. A small watch with a 2 week battery would be the best of everything though.  

The difference in battery life between the two will be a matter of hours, not days. That said, I didn’t realise how deep the discounting on the Fenix is at the moment, 

At R6.5k for an F6 you can’t really go wrong here:

https://www.takealot.com/garmin-fenix-6-outdoor-smartwatch-47mm-silver-with-black-band/PLID55543318?gclid=CjwKCAjwxo6IBhBKEiwAXSYBswJModrgB_JxWd1Fgx3ovc2-xKBKAoNIfoEe3K4efQU6mj5Ai1P83RoCrm8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Jewbacca]

7 hours ago, DonatelloOnPinarello said:

The difference in battery life between the two will be a matter of hours, not days. That said, I didn’t realise how deep the discounting on the Fenix is at the moment, 

At R6.5k for an F6 you can’t really go wrong here:

https://www.takealot.com/garmin-fenix-6-outdoor-smartwatch-47mm-silver-with-black-band/PLID55543318?gclid=CjwKCAjwxo6IBhBKEiwAXSYBswJModrgB_JxWd1Fgx3ovc2-xKBKAoNIfoEe3K4efQU6mj5Ai1P83RoCrm8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

It is days.. Seriously.

The amount of way points you can load is also significantly less on the 945.

I sometimes do use the watch on things that far exceed it's battery life and the 945 wasn't an option. I got the 6x Pro solar. Re the weight etc. Realistically you won't notice it. 21 days in full sleep/body tack mode is awesome with the 6x and I think I got 50 hours out of it on full navigation and full tracking running most of the time before I had to charge it in May.

The 6x pro has topo mapping where as the 6 only has a breadcrumb feature. The breadcrumb feature on the 6 works without surrounding reference. However, it works brilliantly if you are following a pre programmed route. 

I'm not sure how much of the mapping you need. It will follow a pre loaded gpx file for 'self navigated' (hahaha) races or hikes/runs etc if you load a route.

IMHO for the body battery/sleep function the 6 at the current prices is 100% worth it. Not sure whether the actual tracking function is particularly accurate or worth it, but that is a debate for another thread. 

I'm super happy with my watch, the battery life and memory/mapping functions suit me and I will do my best to use it until the battery starts imitating an iphone and needs charging every 15 minutes.

 

[eddy]

15 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

I saw though that you want the body battery feature... I think some of the cheaper forerunners have it too? No idea what you want that feature for though? It's not super useful to me. 

 

 

Doing chemo, some value in tracking some of the less obvious physiological responses.

 

[Jewbacca]

1 hour ago, eddy said:

Doing chemo, some value in tracking some of the less obvious physiological responses.

 

The sleep tracking is also handy. If you run Pulse Oxidation all the time you will land up with a really good (if not entirely accurate but good enough) idea of where you are. 

Much like those days on the bike though, you know when you're run down, it's just sometimes good to be told you're running low.

The sleep function is also handy in that it made me get better at breathing exercises and 'meditative' (not a fan of that word) breathing that allowed me to relax enough to get quality sleep. Seeing 12minutes of deep sleep for 75 days in a row made me get off my arse and do something about the quality of my rest. 

I'm less anxious now and my concentration span has improved from 17 seconds to long enough to type this.

The knock on effects of the metrics are just as handy and important of the metrics themselves.

[IceCreamMan]

Had my 6 pro or nigh on 2 years now, still astounded at the tech on my wrist. Crazy to think we have more metrics available than being hooked up in a hospital could give us a decade ago.

I have not heard any rumours of a launch of a 7 as yet. It should be due as Garmin tend to a 2 year cycle but not sure how they will upgrade the 6. As a previous poster mentioned the battery life is superb even with all the bells and whistles. also use the music function from time to time it works well. 

I find the body battery a great source. And it’s generally spot on. I also use the sweat estimator in the connect app to understand how my body is working after a session. Having weighted myself before an after it’s pretty accurate too.

If it’s just the body battery needed that should be available in a cheaper watch in the range so maybe not a 6 needed at all. 
 

good luck Eddy, go well.