Garmin Enduro 2: 150 hours of GPS monitoring and coaching capabilities for endurance athletes

The Enduro 2 is Garmin’s ultimate watch for endurance athletes.

Matthew Miller/ZDNet

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to try out the fantastic Garmin Fenix ​​7X Sapphire solar watch and loved that I could workout, play, work and live with the watch on my wrist for weeks. The Fenix ​​7X was designed for multi-sports enthusiasts, while the new Garmin Enduro 2 is optimized for endurance athletes who need a wearable that tracks performance for the longest ultra races.

The Fenix ​​7X Sapphire Solar is said to offer up to 122 hours of GPS tracking on solar charging. The Garmin Enduro 2 extends that by more than a day with a battery life of up to 150 hours of GPS tracking, more than 40% of the original Enduro announced in early 2021. The Enduro 2 is clearly not built for casual athletes but for those competing in today’s most grueling races. Ultrarunning events are longer than marathons, typically at least 50km and even over 100km. There are also 100-mile races and even multi-day races, and the Garmin Enduro 2 is designed to help these endurance athletes train for and track these events.

The Enduro 2 is a big upgrade over the Enduro, with built-in music, TopoActive maps, Wi-Fi and more. It offers everything the Fenix ​​7X Sapphire Solar watch can, plus even more features and longer battery life. For endurance athletes, the $100 premium over the Fenix ​​7X is great value.

The Garmin Enduro 2 features the well-known standard Garmin user interface with five buttons and a new touchscreen display for the Enduro series. Solar charging is a staple of the Enduro range and continues with the full 1.4-inch Power sapphire crystal display that harnesses the power of the sun.

While the watch is large at 51mm in diameter and on a 26mm strap, it’s fairly light and comfortable thanks to the titanium bezel and rear case. So far I love the Ultrafit nylon strap which ensures a perfect fit and a more reliable heart rate reading. The Enduro 2 package includes the Ultrafit nylon strap along with a 26mm QuickFit silicone strap.

The LED flashlight was one of the coolest new features of the Fenix ​​7X Sapphire Solar. Garmin integrates this flashlight into the Enduro 2 and has also made it the brightest Garmin flashlight ever, with twice the brightness of the 7X. You can use the white LED light or turn on the red light to keep your vision at night. A strobe mode also adjusts to your cadence so people can see you as you run down the road or trail.

New training features on the Garmin Enduro 2 include:

• NextFork: Map guidance showing the distance to the next crossroads and the name of the next path. Very handy for national parks and other areas where multiple trails can cause confusion.
• Incline-adapted pace: I live on a hill, so every time I run I walk up and down hills. This feature displays an equivalent running pace on flat ground so you can adjust your pace and maintain your endurance.
• Visual race prediction: This pace estimator uses your running history and overall fitness level to show you where you could finish at your upcoming event. It’s great to see that time drop as you exercise more.
• Automatic sleep timer: Ultrarunning races are long and hard, so you can spend some time in a break to recover or do first aid. The automatic timer logs these breaks without you having to manually interrupt your run.
• Adventure race activity profile: This ARWS-approved profile records heart rate, elevation, segment times, and other metrics for post-race viewing. A summary screen also helps to check a finish time with the race committee.

Because the Garmin Enduro 2 is optimized for endurance athletes, it comes preloaded with TopoActive maps with multi-continent coverage. It also features Garmin’s new SatIQ technology, which dynamically determines the best GPS mode needed to maximize battery life and position accuracy. Golf course maps and SkiView maps are also preloaded on the watch.

Likewise: The 5 Best Garmin Watch Models: Which One is Right for You?

We saw some exciting new software features at the Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar, including real-time workout readiness, morning report, HRV status, mileage (with compatible accessories) and endurance. All but the morning report are included on the Garmin Enduro 2, with the morning report coming to the watch in a future update.

All the great Garmin 24/7 health and wellness features are also present such as: B. Heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen measurements, body battery, fitness age, sleep score and sleep stages. A new Health Snapshot feature records and reports on key stats including heart rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygen levels, respiration and stress. The Enduro 2 also provides you with a recovery guide and recommended daily workouts.

Find Garmin Pay, offline music support, multi-GNSS support, event detection, and everything Garmin has to offer on the Enduro 2. The Garmin Enduro 2 smartwatch for endurance athletes is available now for $1,099.99 in one size and one color .

We have a test device mounted on our wrist and will be testing it over the next few weeks. So if you have any questions or features you would like us to try, please leave a comment below.