Garmin fenix 7S Solar, Smaller sized adventure smartwatch, with Solar Charging Capabilities, Rugged outdoor watch with GPS, touchscreen, health and wellness features, slate gray with black band

I have been waiting for this watch for a long time and was happy when it went on sale. Before that, I used the Phoenix 5X for 4 years and was in love with this watch, but the 7X version attracted new features and a touch screen. I finally bought them and was very happy. But soon after the purchase, I discovered a feature that upset me insanely - I have tattoos on my sleeves and you know what? The sensors doent read the heart rate through the black tattoo on my wrists! I didnt understand what was going on, I thought I got damaged product until I found the source of the problem. I do workouts and my activity indicators are very important to me. And now how do I know how many calories I burned during the day if all my data is incorrect?! I set the Strength Training mode during the gym session and the watch does not count the calories I spent! My entire training process is flushed down the toilet because Garmin has updated the optical sensor on the watch. I checked the watches on the hands of my friends who doent have tattoos and they work for them. I read on the Internet and found out that this problem exists in people with dark skin. A large amount of melanin is now a problem! I repeat, everything worked perfectly on the Phoenix 5X. Dont you think it smells like racism? How do I wear this watch now? Do I need to cut out the skin on my wrist for the watch to work on me?

The physical design is nice, the functions seems excellent, but navigating the device is extremely unintuitive. I cant return it, as I didnt realize the seller also shipped the product, not Amazon (my mistake, I usually wont buy from sellers like Instadeals). Since I cant return it, Ill have to read the manual, which is unusual for a smartphone-connected device in 2022. It has a touchscreen and 5 buttons (too many, it defeats the whole purpose of a touchscreen!). A big display and a touchscreen should mean you dont have all these unlabeled buttons. Also, most infuriating is the display brightness by default is very low, which makes the display UNREADABLE. And its not remotely obvious how to increase the brightness. Because the watch has a lot of functions, the app is not simple, either. it took a while to find settings (I buy way more gadgets and electronic products than anyone I know). If Garmin can develop the software to provide all of these functions, they should be able to create a more intuitive UI.

This is the great all purpose watch

I ended up returning this after seeing what the screen looks like in real life. Almost like a retro game or some kind of graphing calculator, very poor quality “graphics” and it really ruins the watch. Feature wise, it’s incredible.

Great watch. I had the fenix 7 solar sapphire, however it was really too big for 6.5 wrist (subjective of course). The only real grip I have is that the band choices are very limited compared to the larger watches in the fenix line up. Why no titanium bracelet options? I get about a week of battery before Im down to 20%. Run, golf, ride, workout tracking...etc. Seems slightly less then the larger Fenix 7, but not by much. side note, purchased additional Nylon black strap from Garmin. I do like it, just would like a titanium band as well.

Best features from Garmin, 20 days to a charge, solar, and even includes an incredibly useful flashlight by double tapping the light button.

Excellent watch easy functions long life battery