But it also steals another of the Fenix's former exclusive points, too, with each Epix Pro model featuring the flashlight that was previously only found on the Fenix 7X. As we mentioned in our Fenix 7 Pro review, our only concern is the potential for accidental light-ups. With the Epix Pro, the flashlight has arrived to the Epix camp. Previously, it was only available on the Fenix 7X and Instinct 2X, but now it’s available on not just all Fenix 7 Pro sizes, but also all Epix Pro sizes. You can see your historical Endurance Score, though how much you see is super variable on a painful amount of Garmin platform wonk. Basically, the first time you use the watch, it’ll pull your previous 30 days of historical data (maybe, that too depends on which watch you had). And then populate the graph. To be super clear here – while the hardware is capable of it (whereas the previous Epix/Fenix 7 didn’t have the hardware inside), Garmin, from an FDA compliance standpoint, legally cannot discuss any ECG plans on the Epix/Fenix 7, until the device is certified. Thus , if or when ECG gets lit up remains an unknown. Obviously, as Garmin has said previously on-record, they want to expand ECG access as much as possible. And given this unit has the hardware, it’s the certification aspect which remains outstanding.

Epix Pro (Gen 2) review: overwhelmingly good | Digital Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) review: overwhelmingly good | Digital

The Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) is far more capable and has substantially higher sporting credentials than I. It’s hugely customizable, the Garmin platform is comprehensive and free to use, it’s built of high-quality materials, comes in different sizes, has a cool design, and is powerful enough to meet new challenges as your own goals evolve. It’s excellent, but make sure you’re really going to use it before paying the high price. I think the flashlight is one of those features that, given a few years, we’ll see it on everything – beyond Garmin’s own offerings. For example, I could see the flashlight easily fitting into something like the Apple Watch Ultra range, or watches from Suunto or Polar. It’s just super effin’ functional and useful day-to-day, with just as much utility as the flashlight on your phone (if not more, since your hands are still free). Sports Usage: Why on earth they can’t pull 90 days is beyond me. Garmin says it’s because they calculate it on the watch, and that’s resource intensive (both transferring the files to the watch, and then calculating). To which I say: Isn’t that the entire flipping reason you just spent a year re-architecting Physio TrueUp to be Unified Training Status? And isn’t that why you bought FirstBeat – to make this all seamless?

The Garmin Epix Pro is a lot more of the same, but still top-notch

Likewise, Hill score encouraged me to try hill-sprinting for the first time in a very long time, to try and build up my uphill power. Two very different kinds of training there, pairing together to help you achieve all-round improvement. And again, as a reminder – every single software feature outlined above is coming to the existing Epix & Fenix 7 series units. Note that Redshift is only on Epix series units, not a Fenix 7 series display thing (either base or Pro models). As with all of Garmin's mid-cycle updates, the Epix Pro 2 looks pretty identical to the Epix 2, though there are a few key differences to be aware of. Despite this being a bit of a win for the Epix, then, we'd also caveat it by saying the FR965 performed similarly well in most of these higher-intensity interval or tempo workouts. The high price stings too, but there’s so much longevity in a product like this that it’s unlikely you’d need to upgrade for years. Garmin’s platform logs everything and shows your trends and key performance information, such as VO2 Max, so you can measure your improvements over time. Equally, if you own a first-generation Epix Pro, there’s not a lot here to convince you to upgrade.

Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) review - Wareable

That water resistance rating remains the same, letting you submerge it in water up to 100 metres depth, which should be more than enough for most, unless you’re a big into your deep sea diving. Software and smartwatch features The Fenix and Epix series of watches have always been Garmin's most complete when it comes to sports profiles - and the Pro edition adds even more over the original Epix 2. Within the custom mode, you can change the mode type (Blink/Blitz/Beacon/Pulse), the speed (slow/medium/fast), and the color (red/white). We wouldn't say it's on par with the industry-leading Oura Ring Gen 3, but it is comparable to what we find on our Whoop 4.0 or Fitbit/Google wearables. To begin, the Epix follows the standard Garmin 5-button design, but with a full touchscreen display as well. Garmin’s approach for this layout is that you can do any function you want via either touch or buttons. If you hate touch, you never have to use touch. If you hate buttons, the only time you need buttons is to start/stop/lap an activity. Equally, if you love touch for daily use but hate it for sport, you can even disable it during sports. Or disable it for running but keep it for hiking. The world is your oyster here.

Once a course is loaded you’ll get prompts for turns as you approach them. For hiking/running/etc it’ll be about 50 meters out, and for cycling it’s about 150 meters out. You can see this here as I hike up an 8,000ft mountain on a 35km or so route: If you miss a notification and want to retrieve it, you have to once again grapple with another menu. This time you swipe up on the screen to show Glances, Garmin’s interpretation of Wear OS’s Tiles. Glances aren’t quite as intuitive or fast as a watchOS or Wear OS’s systems and are really tiny snippets leading to more detail after a tap. Data shown in Glances includes step count, Garmin’s excellent Body Battery stat, weather data, heart rate, and more stats related to specific activities. Here’s the full list of sports profiles available on the Epix Pro & Fenix 7 Pro (note: the last few show up under ‘sports’, so I added them here too):

Pro and Epix Pro smartwatches feature New Garmin Fenix 7 Pro and Epix Pro smartwatches feature

In addition, your current VO2Max is also utilized as a foundational element for determining your score. For the initial Hill Score instantiation, you need about two weeks of data. Albeit, that can be jumpstarted with other higher-end and recenter firmware Garmin devices like an existing Fenix 7 or Forerunner 965. Till then you’ll just get a message to keep running. I won’t be listing every feature the Garmin Epix Pro offers here due to the fact we covered so much of it in our original Garmin Epix (Gen 2) review, but suffice to say there’s some new stuff on offer. Topographical maps features now offer real-time weather information, and updated heart rate sensors are said to increase accuracy thanks to a new set of “spacially diverse optical sensors”, meaning they can cover more of what’s happening beneath your skin to provide a more accurate picture of your heart rate.

Price Details

To use the flashlight in a general purpose mode, you can either double-tap the upper left button to instantly turn it on (at any time), or long-hold the upper left button to access the controls menu, then the flashlight option: Outside of those two, the biggest component I tend to look at training-wise is my Acute Load. At first glance, you might think this is just 7-day Load renamed, but that doesn’t really cover what it actually does. Yes, it shows your 7-day load, but load burns off dynamically. In years past, if you had a big ride 6 days ago, that load would be factored into your total 7-day load duration as if it just happened yesterday. Versus with Acute Load, it’s weighted to burn-off within a few days, as is logical. That’s because a week later it’s unlikely that big ride is still impacting you. The point of this is to reduce the massive swings that used to occur in the Training Status panel when a big workout from a week ago disappears, making you go instantly from Productive to Unproductive in a matter of seconds. This is roughly the kind of burn we saw from the standard Epix 2, and we should also note that the flashlight will see this estimation drop dramatically, too.

Garmin Epix Pro review: One of Garmin’s best - TechRadar

Hill score is a little different, calculating how effective you are at running on inclines. Garmin says the Hill score is “calculated by using a combination of fitness and performance data. Higher scores indicate more skillful ascent running. Your score is also classified from recreational to elite, relative to others of the same age and gender, ensuring the progress you see is personally meaningful.” I love it as a feature; it’s eminently usable, and it’s even split into multiple sections – hill endurance, hill strength, and VO2 max – to help you understand how the hill score is calculated.

However, at the moment, we're just not really sure how to use it as a tool in the same way as we do with features like Training Load Focus or Training Effect. Whether this is worth it for you, then, entirely depends on whether you believe the differences we'll outline below are worth it. That’s changed now. With the Epix Pro & Fenix 7 Pro, the company has added 30 new highly requested profiles – with the bulk of them more simplistic. These are primarily used for categorization purposes, and don’t have any sport-specific data behind them. You can customize them as you see fit, like in the past, but there might not be unique metrics. Garmin says the goal is that they’ll look at usage data for these sport profiles, and then figure out which ones make sense to build out more fully with added data. The touchscreen is only one part of the way you interact with the Epix Pro (Gen 2), as it also has five buttons on the side of the case. The layout and basic functionality are clear, but it does get confusing as you dig into menus, and when you press a button in an activity expecting it to do one thing, it does another. The on-screen details are often confusing, too, with acronyms used or numbers presented without much explanation. Andy Boxall/Digital Trends In any case, to start a sport, you’ll tap the upper right button, which shows the sports menu. The sports you’ll see initially are those that you’ve favorited (and you can customize/re-arrange/etc. this list):