Garmin Fenix 6 PRO Review + Our Day!

Good morning!

We started off our Sunday by watching the NYC Marathon and cheering like crazy for Jared Ward and Des Linden.

We are all celebrating that it is feeling like fall again.

We really took the day as lazy as possible!

My parents came over which made Skye’s life.   PS on Wednesday my parents will have known each other for 50 years!

My mom brought her dense and undercooked Ghiradelli brownies and they were fabulous.

And Skye found Brooke’s clothes again.

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Let’s just start this review off by saying that I have never loved a piece of electronics as much as I love the Fenix 6 PRO.  I feel like it is just on a completely different level than any Garmin I have had in the past and I’ve loved all of my previous Garmins (besides that touchscreen one that I had ((Forerunner 620))… yeah, did not like that one).  It has so many bells and whistles that my statistics/numbers loving brain absolutely loves.  It’s an over the top watch so if that is not your thing, probably skip this review ha:

Also, I started with the Fenix 6 but then realized that one didn’t have the music capability so Andrew sent it back a week later and got the 6 PRO for me.  I don’t race with music anymore BUT I want the option to if I ever want it for a track workout or a race where I can use music.

Andrew got down on one knee to present it to me when it arrived because he knew how much it meant to me ha.

Things about this watch that I absolutely love.

*MUSIC.  I don’t even really use music that much anymore but I love the option of having music on my watch.  You can store up to 2,000 songs on this watch through Spotify and listen to music with bluetooth headphones without having to have your phone with you.

*PacePRO!  <— An awesome way to pace yourself for workouts and races.  I haven’t used it in a race because I am practicing with it in workouts before I use it in a race but I think it is going to be really helpful for me to take out all of the math thinking when I’m racing if I am going for a very specific time.  It’s like you have the best pace band ever because it also adjusts to elevation gains/losses etc.   You can choose a course (via Strava) or create your own course.  You can choose what type of pacing strategy you would like as far as positive splits/even splits/negative splits and what your strategy is for hills (ie run a bit more conservative on the ups vs the downs).  I definitely want to run a bit by feel at CIM and with the pacers but I have a very specific time for a course that I’ve never run before so I want to make sure I’m as prepared as possible.  For the course that you have chosen you get to see the splits on your watch, the elevation plot and the map.  When you are using the course (as you are running it) the top of the watch will show you the pace you are supposed to run for the split, in the middle it will show you the actual split pace you are running and the bottom of the screen will show you how far off you are from the split.

It will calculate the pace that you need to run throughout the race so that you can hit the time that you are going for based on the splits that you have already done so far.  Super cool.

Here is what it looks like on my computer and it gives me my mile by mile split and will then give me those splits on my watch.  I set it for a little negative split and a little easier on the uphill effort.

*When I push the down button from the home screen it shows me all sorts of information that I probably don’t really need to know but I LOVE knowing—> weather, how long until sunset or sunrise, my current elevation, a compass, my V02 max along with race predictions, training status, my steps, my heart rate, my calendar, notifications etc.

*This watch has maps on it which is pretty cool but it also gives you routes that you can take when you enter in the distance you want to run for a round-trip.  So you can enter in that you want to run 10 miles, it will then give you a course that will go around in a circle to have you end at where you started.  I think this is an awesome option for when you are traveling and looking for a route or local paths that are popular in the area.  You can use your watch to give you turn-by-turn directions too if you put in a course that you want to run.

*The battery life isn’t quite as great as my last watch (Garmin 935) but it’s incredible and more than enough for me.  Battery life: 9 days in smartwatch mode & 6 hours in GPS mode with music!  I probably charge it 1-2 times a week at night.  The 935 spoiled me because it went up to 24 hours of a battery life in GPS mode so I felt like I charged it 2ish times a month!

*I love the customized screens that I can create… there are SO many options you can choose from!

*For those of you that love training based on your heart rate, this watch gives you all of the info that you need to know through the wrist sensor!  I don’t really look at my heart rate while I’m running anymore (sometimes I do during an easy run to make sure I am going easy enough) but I love looking at my resting heart rate whenever I’m sitting down.

*It’s a smart watch so you can get texts on your watch.  You have to be near your phone but I love this option because I don’t check my phone very often when I am wearing my watch.. it makes it so I don’t have to check my phone for notifications because I know when I am getting them.

*My watch has a ‘find my phone’ feature which I end up using more than anything else hahah.

*A reason Andrew really wanted me to get this watch.  The safety and tracking features.  I have it set up so that if something happens, I can just hold the power button for 5 seconds and then it will send a message to Andrew with my location!

*I really like keeping track of my period and different symptoms etc to better understand how it is effecting my running.  My watch has the option to see exactly where I am at on my cycle and everything that goes along with that.

There are many more things on this watch that I don’t use… Garmin Pay, Apps like Uber, the Pulse Ox Sensor (to see how your body is doing at absorbing oxygen), ClimbPRO feature, Golf Courses etc but I feel like with all of the things I do use on the watch… it is definitely worth it.  Happy early Christmas to me;)

*During a normal run I have my watch set to see all of this information on one screen which I love: Average pace (for the entire run so far), Distance, Timer, Pace (in the moment) and Lap Pace (the average of what you are doing that lap).  I can push the down button and see my heart rate, lap distance and lap time too.  I can push down again and see where I am at on the map too!  My addiction to knowing every different stat that I could ever want to know during a run is shown on here.

*I also just love the finishing screen of a run where it shows me all of this info along with a little map of where I ran and if I go to the next screen of the run it shows me all of the other details too like total ascent and descent of the run, an elevation plot, heart rate, cadence etc.

There you have it!  These are the things I love about this watch and I haven’t found one thing about it that I don’t love but if I do, I’ll let you know.

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What watch do you have? Do you love it?  Is there a watch that you are really wanting out there?

Anyone have a November bday or race?

What are you looking forward to this week?

On average… how many feet do you gain on a normal run in your area?