I’m trying not to feel underwhelmed by this $1100 watch

I’m not comfortable reviewing my Garmin Fenix 8 yet. It’s Garmin’s most densely packed watch yet, with enough features that it’ll take me a couple more weeks to give them justice. But after years testing $400-ish Garmin watches and waiting years for my first Fenix, the Fenix 8 hasn’t fully lived up to my sky-high expectations.

I received and unboxed my Garmin Fenix 8 later than most, still getting my bearings while Fenix 8 owners noticed it crashing in cold water or showing thousand-hour naps (or naps when they weren’t napping). Annoyed Garmin forum users spotted a bevy of other software issues, some niche but others widespread.

By October, the Fenix 8 had received some useful patches, but I still encountered problems like input lag when navigating the main UI. When I tried to end a two-mile walk activity, the watch froze on the “Saving” screen for hours and refused to factory reset until I plugged it into my computer. Then, the battery drained at an insane rate (about 85% in under two days) until I charged and restarted it.

Things have calmed down for me since then, both for battery life and general navigation. But it still seems evident that Garmin must have been on a time crunch to release the Fenix 8 on schedule — possibly shareholder-related considerations — given the number of Fenix 8 glitches that went unresolved until after launch. And that’s not a great look when you’re charging more money than any other fitness watch brand and much more than the Fenix 7 series (which started at $799).

I’ll point out now that I like the Fenix 8 thus far. For starters, the revamped UI improves on what I saw on the Garmin Venu 3 last year, particularly seeing suggested workouts and courses directly under the activity start menu. I appreciate the AMOLED/MIP options so you can prioritize battery life or better visual quality. And despite the plastic-to-titanium swap, my 47mm unit doesn’t feel overly heavy at 73g.

In terms of new features, the Fenix 8 added strength coaching to Garmin Coach about six months after I wrote a piece demanding Garmin make indoor workouts better with tailored suggestions. As a runner, I’m still easing into strength training, but it’s already a step over what most fitness watches offer for reps and beginner guidance.

You also get a microphone and speaker connected to an offline voice assistant, which is no longer restricted to passthrough commands to your smartphone. You hold down the Start button, say a simple command like “Start a Voice Note” or “Show me the weather today,” and see the relevant app or widget in a few seconds. I still recommend using watch face shortcuts to pull up relevant data since the processing is a bit slow, but it helps avoid searching through menus.

While I usually rely on AllTrails on my phone for picking hiking trails in advance, Garmin’s new round-trip routes let me look for alternate side trails that’ll take the same amount of time but let me check out new scenery, and it’s a nice change of pace!

Plus, you get the same revamped health sensor suite as the Venu 3, similar dive features to the Descent MK3 with leak-proof hardware, dual-band GPS accuracy to match the best Forerunner watches, and a built-in flashlight that’s quite similar to the one I tested in the Instinct 2X Solar. Its 17-day battery life isn’t much higher than other Garmin watches, but its 35-hour multi-band tracking is excellent.

Again, these are welcome additions! Garmin threw everything it had into one titanium package, so you can go from hiking to running to diving to skiing to golfing and have pretty much everything you need.

But I bring up past Garmin watches because many of these old features feel virtually identical to the cheaper watches. For example, the Fenix 8 LED is nice for emergencies but not especially bright, burns through your whole battery in a few hours, and makes you hold your wrist at an unnatural angle to illuminate what’s in front of you — just like the Instinct 2X Solar flashlight.

The Fenix’s new mic and speaker enable impromptu calls without grabbing your phone, but just like the Venu 3 and Venu 2 Plus, you’ll sound quiet on the other end, and you may need to hold the speaker close to your ear if you’re anywhere loud.

I’m not a big fan of MIP displays, so I’m fully on board with the AMOLED switch. That said, it has the same size and PPI as the Venu 3 or Forerunner 965 displays, and I think the brightness and refresh rate are identical, too. In particular, I dislike the little delay you see when scrolling through widgets with the touchscreen.

In terms of accuracy, the Fenix 8 GPS has been predictably hyper-accurate thus far, but that also applies across the board down to the $350 Forerunner 255 with dual-band tracking. And while its heart rate tracking did excellently against my COROS optical armband in most cases, matching its average and keeping up with quick HR changes, it has the same infuriating issue as my Forerunner 965: When I start a hard track run without ramping up, it’ll spend the first lap failing to register my faster heart rate by about 20–30 bpm, forcing me to pause and give the Fenix 8 time to find the correct data and skewing my aerobic/ anaerobic load totals.

I suspect many well-off Fenix 8 buyers choose the flagship version as a combination status symbol and catch-all fitness tool. They like its titanium style and that it can handle every sport under the sun, even if they only go diving or skiing once a year during vacations and mostly run, bike, or hike with it. Better to have and not need than need and not have, right?

In my case, the Fenix 8 may end up being my favorite Garmin watch because it collects the best bits from the Forerunner, Venu, and Instinct lineups. But is that enough to say the Fenix 8 is “worth the price,” as a lot of current Fenix 8 reviews say?

The Garmin Fenix 8 isn’t a cheap watch, but it’s ultimately up to you to determine whether it’s worth the high price tag.

When journalists and tech YouTubers say a device is so good that they’d spend $1,000+ on it, they probably mean it. But they didn’t; they got it for free. We generally try not to let that impact our recommendations, and there’s no pressure to justify or nitpick an expensive purchase like regular consumers feel. But it’s still hard to say if something is “too expensive” when your budget isn’t affected.

When I reviewed expensive smartwatches like the $650 Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra or $800 Apple Watch Ultra 2, I had to carefully judge their true value when you can spend half as much on their siblings and get most of the same features (like the Fenix 8). They’re great watches but too expensive for many people, and the Fenix 8 deserves that scrutiny, too.

One point in Apple and Samsung’s favor was that their flagship watches were technically “standalone” thanks to built-in LTE support. Since Garmin hasn’t offered LTE outside of the Forerunner 945 LTE and Bounce LTE for kids, your Fenix 8 still has your short-lived smartphone as a pain point for staying in touch on long excursions.

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In my case, the Fenix 8 is very nice to have, especially the new navigation features. But I don’t “need” it, and if I were shopping for the best Garmin watch for my needs, it’d be hard to justify spending that extra $500 for streamlined software, voice commands, and dynamic routing when the $600 Forerunner 965 has most of the same essentials.

I’ve hyped up the Fenix in my head for a while, and an $1,100 price tag implies a certain level of greatness. But the familiar tech, buggy launch, and lack of emergency cellular combined with that price are enough to offset slightly just how fantastic a fitness watch this is.