Garmin Enduro review

Our Verdict

The Garmin Enduro is smaller, more stylish and less expensive than the fenix half-dozen Pro Solar, just it's still meant for a niche market

For

Battery life
Easy to utilize
Comfortable for its size
Less bulky than the fenix six Pro

Against

No music storage
Inaccurate altimeter

Tom'south Guide Verdict

The Garmin Enduro is smaller, more stylish and less expensive than the fenix 6 Pro Solar, but it'southward withal meant for a niche market

Pros

+
Battery life
+
Easy to utilize
+
Comfortable for its size
+
Less bulky than the fenix half-dozen Pro

Cons

-
No music storage
-
Inaccurate altimeter

Garmin Enduro: Specs

Size: two x ii x 0.6 inches
Weight: 2.5 ounce (Steel), 2.15 ounce (Titanium)
Display: i.iv-inch (280 10 280)
H2o resistance: 330 feet
GPS: Aye
Smartwatch compatibility: iPhone, Android
Heart rate sensor: Yes
Smartphone notifications: Yes
Battery life: 50 days/65 days with solar

The Garmin Enduro sits a shelf below the beastly Garmin fenix 6 Pro Solar. The Enduro is a flake smaller, a bit more than comfortable and a bit less expensive than the fenix half-dozen series. Otherwise, information technology offers the same specs, a multitude of sensors, a battery that tin can last for months and almost (but not all) of the smartwatch features that come standard with higher-end Garmins.

Like Garmin's other run a risk watches, I learned during this Garmin Enduro review that it's meant for a adequately small market. Solar charging is great, just y'all demand to be outside for hours at a fourth dimension to brand the most of it. Information technology'south also a rather bulky device that would plow heads in the office or at a bar. And priced at $800, the Enduro costs hundreds of dollars more than many of the best Garmin watches and best sports watches with comparable features.

As well note the Garmin Enduro won a 2021 Tom's Guide Honour for Health and Fettle. We named it the best smartwatch for the outdoors overall.

Garmin Enduro review: Price and availability

The Garmin Enduro is available now in two versions. I reviewed the Steel with Gray UltraFit Nylon Strap ($799), which has a stainless steel bezel. At 2.5 ounces, information technology's a hefty watch, though it'south not quite as large as the Garmin fenix 6X Pro Solar Edition ($899 to $i,049), which is 2.ix ounces and is otherwise the same size as the Enduro.

The other version, the Carbon Gray DLC Titanium with Black UltraFit Nylon Strap ($899), comes with a diamond-like carbon bezel. This example checks in at 0.35 ounces (10 grams) lighter than the Steel version.

Otherwise the specs for the Titanium watch are the aforementioned as the Steel. Both come with a Power Glass lens, a nylon ring, and a fiber-reinforced polymer example with metal rear cover. The internal sensors and smartphone connectivity options are the same as well.

Garmin Enduro review: Pattern

I was initially apprehensive about the Garmin Enduro's pattern. I accept pocket-size wrists, and big watches tend to be uncomfortable. Either they slide around my wrist when I article of clothing them (specially when I'm sweaty from running) or I habiliment them too tight that I finish up with clasp indentations or rashes on my wrist.

The Garmin Enduro surprised me. It's rather comfortable for a lookout that weighs ii.5 ounces. I credit the 26-millimeter nylon strap, which clasps together with Velcro on the outside, away from the peel.

The pare-facing part of the strap is a unmarried slice of material, with no metal clasps or holes. I could comfortably tighten the strap, and I didn't even heed wearing the Garmin Enduro in my sleep. This gives the Enduro a leg up on the fenix vi Pro Solar, which comes with silicone or titanium bracelet straps.

Overall, the Garmin Enduro is yet more functional than stylish. The visible spiral heads in the bezel and the button labels make it articulate that information technology'southward meant to be a rugged sports watch. If you wear the Garmin Enduro to the part, be prepared for your coworkers to discover it and ask almost it.

Simply it's not really an office watch. Instead it's designed to withstand the outdoor elements. It comes with a Military machine Standard 810 rating, meaning it can take farthermost heat, cold, and submersion in water up to near 330 anxiety.

Garmin Enduro review: Activity tracking and sensors

The Garmin Enduro tracks a range of activities, with a nod toward trail running, cross-land skiing, and other "outdoorsy" sports. The lookout lets you set Favorites for tracking; that way, if yous do yoga frequently, you don't accept to scroll all the style to the cease of the alphabetically-ordered carte to find it.

Like most Garmin watches, the Enduro is piece of cake to use for tracking runs. Information technology finds a GPS betoken quickly, pauses and resumes runs with a single button push, and provides audible beeps at each mile mark. The watch was comfortable on my long runs, and despite its size I barely noticed it. (Unfortunately, COVID-19 travel restrictions prevented me from testing the watch deep in the woods, and it was a bit as well cold in early March for kayaking.)

The Garmin Enduro comes with a range of sensors you might find on the best fitness trackers, including an altimeter, compass, accelerometer and thermometer. The weather condition information read consistent with my smartphone'south forecast, though sometimes information technology needed a transmission refresh to update. In addition to weather tracking, the Garmin Enduro will tell you sunrise and sunset times. Anyone who tries to sneak in a workout before it gets too dark in the evening will appreciate this feature. I used information technology much more often than I expected.

On the other mitt, the altimeter underwhelmed me. Over the course of two weeks of wearing the watch, the Garmin Enduro showed the elevation at dwelling at anywhere from -50 feet to more 200 feet. The bodily height in my neighborhood is virtually 30 feet. It's possible to manually recalibrate the altimeter, and it wasn't a big deal for city running, simply this could be an issue for anyone hiking or biking in the mountains and relying on authentic superlative data for navigation.

Garmin Enduro review: Smartwatch features

The Garmin Enduro comes with many of the same smartwatch features of newer Garmin models. Mobile payments are supported through Garmin Pay; you tin can as well receive smartphone notifications. (Android users also have the power to answer to text letters and decline telephone calls.) Y'all can too sync with Garmin Connect IQ to download watch apps, though options are limited mostly to wellness, fitness and music apps.

Music storage is another limitation. The Garmin Enduro can control music playing from your smartphone but doesn't have native music storage, unlike less-expensive Garmin watches such as the Forerunner 245 Music ($349), the Precursor 745 ($499) or the Forerunner 945 ($599).

Compared to leading devices such as the Apple Watch Serial 6 ($399) or Samsung Galaxy Watch iii ($399), the Garmin Enduro isn't the most well-rounded smartwatch. And then again, the Enduro hasn't been designed for the smartwatch oversupply.

Garmin Enduro review: Battery life

According to Garmin, the Enduro's battery will last 50 days in smartphone manner on a single charge. Solar charging will boost the gauge to 65 days. The watch volition last lxx hours in GPS mode, or 80 hours with solar charging. When you're starting to runway an action using GPS, the watch provides an indication of how long the battery will last in GPS mode, which is a nice touch.

Later one calendar week of wearing the Garmin Enduro, which included roughly 4.5 hours of outdoor running, the bombardment was still at 80%, or 40 hours remaining. Afterward two weeks, the battery had 31 days remaining. Extrapolating, this means I'd exist able to go more than a calendar month before charging the Garmin Enduro, which is fairly consistent with the manufacturer specs.

The Garmin Enduro has a few dissimilar bombardment-saving options. Max Battery GPS Mode pings a satellite less frequently, while Expedition GPS modepings a satellite only once an hour. These settings are conspicuously meant for multi-twenty-four hours adventures. Jacket Mode, which can exist enabled if y'all plan to wear the sentinel over clothing, will disable the middle rate monitor and extend the battery life.

The nautical chart beneath compares the battery life specifications for the Garmin Enduro, Instinct ($399), and fenix Pro 6 Solar. By and large, the Enduro tops the chart, though Garmin says the Instinct volition never need a accuse if you leave it in Battery Saver style.

	Enduro	Instinct	Fenix half dozen Pro Solar
Normal use	50 days	24 days	21 days
Normal utilize with Solar	65 days	54 days	24 days
Battery Saver	130 days	56 days	lxxx days
Bombardment Saver with GPS	1 yr	Unlimited	120 days
GPS	lxx hours	30 hours	60 hours
GPS with solar	80 hours	38 hours	66 hours
Max Bombardment GPS	200 hours	70 hours	120 hours
Max Bombardment GPS with solar	300 hours	145 hours	148 hours
Expedition GPS	65 days	28 days	46 days
Trek GPS with solar	95 days	68 days	56 days

Solar charging is definitely a plus, but at that place'due south a catch: You lot demand to vesture the spotter exterior at least three hours per mean solar day in 50,000 lux weather, which equates to an overcast twenty-four hour period. (The same is true of the fenix 6 Pro Solar.) This is a handy feature for those outdoor excursions hours away from a wall socket, just it'south unlikely to extend the bombardment of the Garmin Enduro if yous're sitting at a desk-bound all solar day and only heading exterior for shorter runs or rides.

Garmin Enduro review: Verdict

The market for solar-powered sports watches remains limited. Many are designed for remote adventures like deep-body of water diving, and while GPS and weather sensors are common, heart rate monitors are hard to find. The Casio Chiliad-Daze GBDH1000-1 ($399) combines a centre rate monitor and GPS with solar charging, simply the battery life in GPS mode is 18 hours at best. Meanwhile, y'all tin can become xx days of bombardment life (and twenty hours of continuous GPS use) for just $109 with the Military Standard 810 rated Amazfit T-Rex, even though it lacks solar-charging capabilities.

The Garmin Enduro is in a small course. Its closest competition is Garmin's own fenix 6 Pro Solar, which is larger, less stylish, and more expensive. The Enduro is a solid and functional sports watch - information technology'due south a Garmin, after all - but similar the fenix 6 it seems to exist designed for a very specific type of athlete who spends hours, days, and even weeks in the outdoors.

Most users, though, won't reap the benefits of solar charging or Trek GPS way when they wear the Garmin Enduro every day. Unless you truly need a watch that you only have to accuse once a month, other Garmins will practice just fine.

Brian Eastwood is a freelance writer for Tom's Guide, focusing primarily on running watches and other article of clothing tech. Brian has been a professional person author and editor since 2003. He has covered healthcare tech, enterprise tech, higher education, and corporate leadership for a range of trade publications. Brian is a lifelong Massachusetts native and currently lives exterior of Boston. Outside of work, he enjoys running, hiking, cantankerous-country skiing, and curling upwards with a good history book.