My Fenix 7 was amazing. It truly empowered me in 2023 when I ran around Mt. Hood and The Timberline Trail. 42 miles (67K) alone with 10,617 ft of vertical gain in one go. Without GPS and navigation I believe I would have got lost many times on side trails. On that long of a distance you can’t afford mistakes. I’m not saying you should only rely on your watch. I bring a compass and printed map with me in my first aid kit. I study turns, crossings and intersections ahead of the run. But even so the watch is what saved me when it was correctly vibrating and beeping “you are off course” 🙏
But the Fenix 7 was more than just a GPS. It also tracked my steps, my workouts, and my runs. My health: calories burned and sleep score. It is a smartwatch so I could keep my phone permanent muted. All this while being super rugged and tough. I swam with it and I crawled in the mud with it during a spartan race and it survived the daily steam sauna.
MAY 2026
My Fenix 7 is for sale! — I purchased a Garmin Venu X1 😎
Why now? The Venu X1 has finally dropped in price 👉 $599 💸
Fenix Vs. Venu X1 🥊🥊
Ultra-Marathons / Triathlons: Fenix wins with better GPS and battery.
Everyday use + Everything else: Venu X1 wins! Weight, Price, Smooth Features.
Venu X1 delivers everything I was hoping and expecting from the Fenix 8 series. See the videos below!
» Design and style ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
» Athletes/Runners love it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
» Geeks love it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
» VERDICT AFTER 3 MONTHS
When I switched to Garmin Fenix 7 ($500) I did it after been wearing a Samsung Galaxy smartwatch. I had to give up some slick features and a nice screen. The Galaxy had smoothness the Fenix 7 did not have. I had great hopes in Fenix 8 with its fancy screen, but its smoothness was not much better than a calculator with visible lagging and known bugs out of the box. Fenix 8 = $1,000!
PRAISE
Venu X1 is the answer to my dreams! Best screen you can buy, a great flashlight, smooth user experience, light weight on the wrist and it gives me the cool new sensors / training data the Fenix 7 is missing out on! 😍
In July I hiked around Loowit - 33 miles GPS navigation and still had over 20% battery left after! 💪 — I have “always on” screen turned off on activities.
Amazing smartwatch with big bright screen and a cool flashlight
All the new Garmin training data and sensors you want
Super fast charging⚡️
You can rely on it for navigation on a 50K run
CRITICISM
The Venu X1 comes with this cool watch face... I was thinking the M T W T F S S was part of the graph it displayed. This is just cosmetics to display what day of the week is: M T W T F S S = it is Monday. While the graphs can show 7 days of data it is not correctly tied to the weekday displayed above.
I like my old “Falcon Z” watch face, but I am just happy to switch it around.
