Garmin Launches the First Solar-powered Smartwatch

Garmin’s new Fenix 6 series smartwatches are here. The new series brings all the improvements you’d expect including a larger display, extended battery life, and more accurate performance tracking.

The biggest highlight here is the Fenix 6X Pro Solar, which is the world’s first solar-powered smartwatch.

The solar cell forms a transparent layer on top of the display, which Garmin calls Power Glass. It extends the watch’s 21-day battery life by up to three days or up to 6 hours with GPS usage. The solar option is only available in the larger 2-inch variant, called the 6X Pro Solar.

Standard Models

Joining the 6X Pro Solar are the two standard 6 and 6X. The standard editions have 1.3 inch and 1.4-inch displays with 280 x 280 pixels resolution. The displays are equipped with a sunlight-visible transflective layer which makes the watch easier to use in sunlight. You can also choose the Fenix 6 Sapphire Edition, which outfits the watch with sapphire glass for extra durability.

The watch uses GLONASS, and Galileo to track your location and provide turn by turn navigation, topographical tracking, ski maps and more. Features like heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen tracking, and sleep monitoring are included as well. It can also provide weather alerts.

Water Resistance and Large Storage

The watch is rated for 10ATM water resistance, which means that you should have no problems taking it with you for a swim. This is higher than what most smartwatches offer (5ATM) these days.

There’s 32GB of storage on board which you can use for Spotify, Deezer and Amazon Music and listen to music through your Bluetooth headphones. You can check your phone’s notifications through the watch as well.

The Fenix 6 series is on sale already, starting at $599 and going as high up as $1149 for the Fenix 6X Pro Solar edition.