The touchscreen works well in wet conditions for the most part, though it’ll struggle a bit if you have hard water streams like a shower nozzle directed towards it. But interestingly, it won’t tend to ‘go crazy’ in the shower, as Garmin appears to have some slight bit of logic that requires a more firm human touch before it starts reacting under water pressure. But for normal rain/sweat/etc. usage, no problems in typical rainy Amsterdam training, nor racing in the rain for 5.5 hours, or umpteen other water situations I’ve had with it: Designed for all-day wear, epix Pro Series includes advanced health and wellness tools, as well as a suite of smart features to keep users connected while on the go. Loaded with 24/7 health monitoring features, epix Pro Series includes a wrist-based Pulse Ox sensor 2, Body Battery ™ energy monitoring, jet lag adviser, advanced sleep monitoring and sleep score, and more. Users can also create a customized look at last night’s sleep, their training outlook, Heart Rate Variability (HRV) status and more as soon as they wake up with the morning report feature.

Epix Pro review: smaller size, bigger appeal - The Verge Garmin Epix Pro review: smaller size, bigger appeal - The Verge

If you're interested in the full, detailed analysis of what the Epix Pro offers, we'd suggest jumping over to our in-depth Epix 2 review. And you can see a breakdown of all the minor changes in our full Epix 2 and Epix Pro comparison. This will obviously be of huge interest to trail runners out there, and, considering we tend to avoid big inclines/declines during our runs, we feel like our mediocre Hill Score is about right. 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.

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. I haven’t scratched the surface of what the Epix Pro (Gen 2) can do, but because it hasn’t constantly pushed me to do anything, it has still been a friendly, reliable, comfortable, and informative smartwatch partner. This is important because it means you’ll be able to live with it on a daily basis. If you want motivation to do things, Garmin’s platform isn’t one to nag, and it expects you to want to put in the work. My short workouts, long walks, and golfing activities don’t stretch its ability, so it’s overkill for me, and if you’re similar, an Apple Watch Series 8 or an Apple Watch Ultra would likely fit your lifestyle far better. Andy Boxall/Digital Trends There are a couple of omissions, though. The ECG tech currently only available on the Venu 2 Plus is built into the Epix Pro, which should be a huge win, but, at present, it's not available. 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.

Garmin epix™ Pro Sapphire Edition | Multisport Smartwatch Garmin epix™ Pro Sapphire Edition | Multisport Smartwatch

With everything all configured, you’ll get ready to start your workout. If doing a structured workout, you can load that up. Same goes if doing some sort of navigation (which I’ll cover down below under the ‘Navigation & Routing’ section). Additionally, the watch will offer Daily Suggested Workouts for both Running & Cycling. These can be general in nature (without a goal), or can be driven by a specific goal race on your calendar. Here’s my Acute Load. You can see the last two days are quiet, as I traveled across the pond on Saturday and landed Sunday. I haven’t worked out yet today. The green portion is my ‘tunnel’, which is basically my safe training load zone (high and low).Recovery time: This looks at your Recovery time in hours (based on workouts, but can be sped up with good recovery) The most notable new additions are the Hill Score, and Endurance Score features. Hill Score is running-specific – Garmin claims running is the most popular sport among their users – and both provide new ways to understand performance. There's no doubt that the newer Epix Pro 2 is the better watch, owing to what appears to be an improved heart rate sensor and new safety features, as well as a few exclusive software extras.