Garmin ha lanciato il fēnix 9 — e sono deluso

Garmin just released the fēnix 9, and I'm underwhelmed

It's here. Three lines — the fēnix 9, the fēnix 9 Pro and the fēnix 9 Pro Solar — each in 43, 47 and 51 mm, plus inReach versions of the Pro with satellite and LTE messaging.

And honestly? This is a disappointing launch.

The big miss: there's no new sensor

The one thing that would have made this generation genuinely interesting was a new optical sensor with cuffless blood pressure trends. It had been rumoured for months as Elevate Gen 6.

It didn't happen. The spec sheets list the same Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate monitor. No blood pressure, no new health hardware. If you were holding out for that, keep holding.

What is new is all software

• Stamina zones and the stamina curve — personalised zones in your post-activity summary, plus a visual of how your endurance is changing over time. Genuinely useful, and the best of the new additions
• Enhanced rucking, with adjustable pack weight
• Rowing VO2 Max and expanded indoor rowing metrics
• ArcheryX — a dedicated archery profile with shot timing and aim stability
• Garmin Epic — bundles photos, health data and highlights from multi-day trips into a shareable recap

These are nice. They are also, unmistakably, minor software upgrades — the kind of thing that has historically arrived on older watches by firmware.

The battery numbers say it all

This is the part that made me sit up. I loaded both generations into my compare data side by side:

Model	fēnix 8	fēnix 9
43 mm AMOLED	10 days	10 days
47 mm AMOLED	16 days	16 days
51 mm AMOLED	29 days	29 days
Pro 47 mm	15 days	18 days
Pro 51 mm	27 days	31 days
Solar 47 mm	21 days (28 solar)	21 days (34 solar)
Solar 51 mm	30 days (48 solar)	30 days (57 solar)

The base fēnix 9 has exactly the same battery life as the fēnix 8, at every single size. Not slightly better. Identical. The Pro picks up three or four days, and the solar models gain a useful six to nine days of solar top-up — but the standard model, the one most people buy, has not moved at all.

To be fair, three things genuinely improved

I'd rather not be unfair about this, so credit where it's due:

The Pro is now an all-titanium case. A first for the fēnix line — the fēnix 8 Pro was fiber-reinforced polymer with a titanium rear cover. Combined with a sapphire lens, it's a proper materials upgrade. Whether that's worth it to you is a different question, and for most runners the honest answer is no.

The display is brighter. Up to 3,000 nits on the Pro, and the 51 mm Pro gets a 1.5-inch panel — the largest display ever on a fēnix.

It's actually cheaper than the fēnix 8 was. This surprised me. The fēnix 9 starts at $999.99 against $1,099.99 for the equivalent fēnix 8 at list — a hundred dollars less, generation on generation. So "very pricey" isn't quite right: it's expensive, but less expensive than its predecessor was on day one.

What I'd actually do

Here's the uncomfortable maths. A fēnix 9 is $999.99. The fēnix 8 it replaces is currently on sale around $849.99 — and as we just established, it has the same battery, the same sensor, and all the same core training metrics.

You'd be paying roughly $150 more for stamina zones, a rucking setting and a rowing metric. If those specific features matter to your training, fine. For most people they don't.

And this is exactly the moment I flagged before the launch: the discounts on the outgoing flagship are where the real value is. Expect the fēnix 8 to drop further as stock clears.

Why waiting for the launch was the smart move →

Compare them yourself

I've already added every new fēnix 9, 9 Pro, Pro Solar and inReach model to the compare tool — with the new stamina zones feature included — so you can put them next to the fēnix 8, a Forerunner, or whatever is on your wrist right now and see exactly what changes.

Compare Garmin devices →