Review Fenix 6S Pro: Small-Sized But Valuable
The Fenix 6S Pro may be the smallest watch in Garmin’s latest Fenix 6 series, but its features include a very nice and solid battery compartment that also supports a USB charging cord. A removable waterproof case, a durable alligator leather band and a comfortable lugs will leave you confident and satisfied when you take it to the trail, road or just on a run.
As a sport watch, the Fenix 6S Pro delivers a pretty solid look and feel to the wrist, although that isn’t always true and can become a little more attractive when you have a leather band. The stainless steel case with water absorption coating is the way to go here. While not the fastest watch, this one will do a fine job in day to day activity as a watch that will stand out but won’t distract from your daily activities.
The display is an IPS display, with a wide viewing area of 16.3 inches. The LCD has a very bright backlight and the display itself is bright. I found my eyes could tell the time without any problems but that is still a step or two off for me.
Design
The body of the new Fenix 6 Series is very similar to the Fenix 3’s with the size and weight increase from 50g to 57g, but also the addition of more flex in the design making it lighter and more agile. Overall I see a very similar user experience to the previous generation Fenix 3 with a more compact body shape with a smaller size (6″, not 5.0″) with almost the same features (including the dual-sided GPS/Voice/Lightweight), with a wider, more capable battery pack and improved ergonomic design.
PacePro feature in Fenix 6
New to the Fenix 6 Series is a feature called PacePro, a heart-rate and pace monitor that shows your heart rate (HR) while you run. With this feature you can check how fast your heart is beating and adjust the pace at which you run.
The Fenix 6 Series has three modes of “Quick-Pace” which is what I call “the speed I would run at now”. In Quick-Pace, your HR can be adjusted with a button press and it will automatically fall off to a slow pace, and then a normal pace with your button press. Quick-Pace goes back off to a normal pace and your HR can be raised to higher levels.
This can reduce stress and improve pacing (your HR will not increase when you do not require it to get to your goal). Once you have set your pace you can increase it. Then at the end of a run your HR will remain at the same level. By default, the Fenix 6 Series runs at 60 beats per minute, which is the target you set for yourself.
Navigation
Navigation is one of the strong points for Garmin watches, and is one of the core features of the Fenix series. The Garmin Fenix 6S Plus does not provide a GPS location, but it does provide real-time position updates at 3.6km/h. This means if you get a turn of a hill, you’ll see a position update within just a couple of seconds. As soon as I saw this update, I knew I was heading uphill: it was a steep climb with a long way ahead. Fortunately, the Garmin Fenix 6S plus had a compass that could tell me the distance of the climb and the incline: I just needed to know where the turn came from. Luckily I had an easy-to-read road map on my phone (it has a built in GPS), and I was able to find my way back home, without me having to know much about how I could navigate back uphill. There seems to be a flaw here.
Price
It is available in $700 on Garmin and other online platforms like Amazon and Best Buy. You may find it costly but the Fenix 6S pro is the only cheapest watch in Fenix 6 series
Pros:
- An excellent GPS for the price.
- The 6 has all of the features of the 5 without the additional bulk or weight.
- GPS Accuracy: 4/5 Speedometer Accuracy: 4/5 Lap/Stripes Accuracy: 4/5
Cons:
- A bit of a pain to set up and use
The Garmin Fenix 6 has great GPS reception, but it does not offer as-good accuracy as that of the Garmin VIRB 7 or VIRB Ultra. The Garmin is also slightly more expensive than the Garmin VIRB, which means it will usually set you back more money up front.
Final Verdict
The $700 Fenix 6S Pro is built using a new generation of the same mechanical watch movements known as Seiko’s PAM 7. Its design is said to be similar to the Fenix 3, but it uses a larger (34mm) screen, a larger battery, a built in battery, a larger number of display bars and its power reserve is said to be twice that of the 3.
The Fenix 6S Pro watch is an excellent smartwatch. My first impression was that, unlike the LG G Watch R and Samsung Gear Live, it wasn’t ugly, or “just a watch” as people called them, with the only problem being that it was a bit smaller than the iPhone 6 Plus.
If you’re looking for a solid value watch, this might be the one for you. It’s not going to be expensive or particularly heavy, if you’ll use it a couple of times a week then you’ll probably not even notice.
Read Next: Garmin Approach S20 Review – The Perfect Golf GPS Watch
