Bright OLED screen, voice control and a torch only add to go anywhere, track anything ability, but price increase stings The Fenix 8 is a landmark moment for Garmin. By adding voice control, an OLED screen and other niceties, it has merged its top Fenix and Epix adventure watch lines to better compete with increasingly advanced smartwatches from Apple, Samsung and other major players. The Fenix has always been where Garmin debuts its technology and features first before trickling them down into other products, such as the popular Forerunner series. It certainly feels more modern, but at £870 (€1,000/$1,000/A$1,699) – a £120 or so increase over its already pricy predecessor – these new advances including diving tracking and AI assistant access do not come cheap. Continue reading...

Squeezing high-end features into a more affordable frame makes for an excellent mid-range smart sports tracker Garmin’s latest smart sports watch condenses all the great features from its higher-end Forerunner models into a cheaper, simpler running tracker with a bright OLED screen and long battery life. The Forerunner 165 is the new base model in Garmin’s new lineup, priced from £250 (€280/$250/A$429) compared with the £430 Forerunner 265. Screen: 1.2in AMOLED Case size: 43mm Case thickness: 11.6mm Band size: standard 20mm Weight: 39g Storage: 4GB Water resistance: 50 metres (5ATM) Sensors: GNSS (GPS, Glonass, Galileo), compass, thermometer, heart rate, pulse Ox Connectivity: Bluetooth, ANT+ (wifi with music) Continue reading...