This robust Garmin smartwatch with stellar battery life is an incredible bargain right now

On Jul 8, 2022

Although Garmin is by no means the world’s most successful smartwatch vendor, the actual leader of the always thriving industry seems more focused than ever on improving both its software and hardware in order to appeal to professional athletes and extreme sports enthusiasts.

Those are obviously very much part of the core target audience of Garmin Forerunner and Fenix lineups, the latter of which includes an impressive device on many levels that somehow costs just $249.97 right now.

This completely unprecedented and presumably limited offer comes from Gamestop (of all retailers), slashing an incredible 300 bucks off the regular price of the Garmin Fenix 6 in a “Standard Edition.” Despite its advanced age and the fact that a Garmin Fenix 7 series is already a thing, this bad boy continues to fetch $549.99 through its manufacturer’s official US website.

Technically not marketed as a rugged device, the jumbo-sized 47mm intelligent timepiece on sale here at a lower than ever price does rock a stainless steel bezel and a premium case made from a strong material called fiber-reinforced polymer with a rear cover simply described as constructed out of “metal.”

The reasonably large 1.3-inch touchscreen with a… not-so-impressive resolution of 260 x 260 pixels is protected against scratches by Gorilla Glass DX technology, and the entire wearable setup is guaranteed to withstand water immersion, shocks of various types, and extreme temperatures.

Bottom line, the “standard” Fenix 6 (i.e. the version lacking extra sapphire protection against drops and other hard contacts) is unlikely to rival the durability and overall toughness of that upcoming rugged Apple Watch model… while costing many hundreds of bucks less.

Compared to the existing Apple Watch Series 6, of course, this thing is an absolute tank and its battery life is simply outstanding, at up to 14 days on a single charge in “smartwatch mode” and a solid 36 hours in “GPS mode.”

That obviously means the Garmin Fenix 6 comes with built-in GPS connectivity, not to mention heart rate monitoring, state-of-the-art Pulse Ox technology, and perhaps most importantly, “more running and cycling stats than you’ll know what to do with.” That’s a fairly unusual marketing angle, but we kind of like it… and it’s not completely untrue.

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