The Garmin Enduro isn’t the best watch in Garmin’s extensive collection of wearables, but it is the one with arguably the biggest battery life. If you’re willing to spend big to charge on a less regular basis and you want a good mix of sports and smartwatch features, there’s still plenty to like about the Enduro.
The Garmin line of watches
There are dozens of Garmin watches in the line, ranging from super simple, fitness-centric watches to sophisticated-looking smartwatches. Most of the watches have pretty big batteries — though not as big as the Enduro’s — and they all can track exercise and tell you the weather. The watches range in size from tiny, very easy-to-wear activity trackers to thick, somewhat conspicuous timepieces that are meant to be paired with other gear like bikes, wetsuits, and helmets.
What makes the Enduro special?
The most standout feature of the Enduro Smartwatch is that it can last for two weeks without being charged if you wear it the entire time. If you’re a mountain biker, triathlete, or runner, or you’re just super busy at the gym, the watch with that kind of battery life could be worth to try.
The running and triathlon software has been improved, so it’s also a solid choice for athletes. It has been integrated with Strava to give you Live Analysis, and Garmin Connect has been revamped, to make it a better coaching tool for swimmers and other athletes. It also comes with data from Race Monitor, which not only records your activities, but also does the math for you, so you can break down your runs into segments, so you can analyze what your pace has been and what else you need to improve.
Battery life and durability
Garmin claims that the Enduro will get nearly 24 hours of GPS use, not accounting for any additional activities that you might add during that timeframe. The water-resistant watch comes with a single 500mAh lithium ion battery, which lasts a day or more of constant use (Battery Life Up to 80 Hours in GPS Mode). It’s a bit more middling when it comes to wear time if you’re also considering GPS-powered watches like the Garmin Forerunner 645 and the Forerunner 735XT, which get about an hour more use.
Still, that’s more than enough life to get you through an entire workout session, a swim, or just a long hike without worrying about plugging in the watch. It’s also worth noting that Garmin has added the ability to automatically switch to the timepiece mode after 30 minutes of inactivity to extend the watch’s battery life.
Accuracy and connectivity
The Enduro is accurate, but it’s not the most precise GPS watch out there. If you’re setting your own pace and trying to nail a specific elevation, you might find the Enduro to have trouble tracking your pace and elevation changes. It will likely show a higher figure for elevation changes than the Garmin Fenix 5X, which has a higher water resistance and doesn’t include water resistance for swimming, but the Enduro will be in the ballpark if you’re using it for outdoor activities that you’d never run on a treadmill at a gym.
In fact, if you do have water resistance for swimming, the Fenix 5X will be easier to use on the trail. Speaking of running, the Enduro’s screen is easy to read outdoors and in direct sunlight. It isn’t the brightest screen you’ll find, but it’s plenty readable. Unless you’re an avid outdoor athlete, your mileage may vary in the choice of a smartwatch.
