Garmin Fenix 7 – Buying guide

Tags: Selection Guide | Garmin | Smart

23.8.2022 | 3 MIN

The Fenix 7 is just one model, but it does have 22 variants. Who wouldn't get them mixed up, right? This article will hopefully help you.

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1) Choose your size (and battery life)

The Fenix 7S (42 mm / 1.65") is the smallest of this trinity, and it is usually chosen by women. That's also why it comes in the most interesting colour combinations.

It is also the choice of men with slim wrists or sportsmen who need a light watch. The smaller the case, the lighter the watch.

The size of the Fenix 7 (47 mm / 1.85") is generally considered somewhat a unisex size, but I think that the diameter would suit a man's wrist better.

The Fenix 7X (51 mm / 2") is, at its whooping size, an absolute best seller. It is (usually) only men who take it home. The reason is simple. Larger case, larger display. And... this model is the only one with a built-in LED light, which I personally use every day.

Not to forget that in a bigger case fits a larger battery. Speaking of...

Depending on the size of the watch, the size of the strap, display, and the battery life change.

The numbers with the asterisk are true for the Solar version, which, if a good light source is available, is able to prolong the battery life.

Just between us – all the variants come with an exceptional battery life, so choose a watch that will feel good on your hand.

2) Choose the glass

I'm writing about this right from the beginning. Besides the material of the glass, you also choose the features because the sapphire versions have some features added, which the basic versions do not have. But more about that later on.

The Fenix 7 is made with two glass types – mineral and sapphire. Generally, the sapphire one is considered to be better as it is basically impossible to get a scratch on it. So, you don't have to worry about grazing your watch and you don't have to use the protective glass.

However, this glass might be resistant against scratches, but not so shock resistanst as the Gorilla Glass is. It might not be as "scratchsistant", but when it comes to shocks, the winner is definitely the Gorilla one.

So, if you know that your watch will be often exposed to risks of shock (like, for example, when biking), choose the Gorilla glass and apply protective glass.

Other than that, I would recommend sapphire because this version has twice as big storage (32 GB) and multi-frequency GPS receiving, which makes the watch more accurate when tracking your tracks.

A bigger storage is an advantage for anyone who needs more maps in their watch.

3) Decide whether you want solar charging

If you decided you want a sapphire in the previous step, then this one will be easy peasy. Sapphire models always come with solar charging.

The page showing the sunlight intensity, sunrise and sunset.

When it comes to the Gorilla Glass, you can choose whether you want to pay for solar charging or not.

Effective solar charging can add several days of the battery life in standard usage and several hours in GPS mode. It's not like the watch runs solely on solar energy, it doesn't work like that.

In order to prolong your battery life, you must expose your watch to a light source of 50 000 lux. In July in the Czech Republic, I got up to 34 900 lux a day on average, and I was mostly in my office on work days and in the mountains on the weekend. And on the weekend, I managed to get up to 120 000 lux. So, if you're outside more than me, you can charge your watch really effectively.

4) Enjoy your new Fenix 7

This step is purely between you and your watch. :)