Garmin releases the Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro

Garmin has announced updates to their fenix line of premium multisport smartwatches with the fenix 9 and fenix 9 Pro. These are new additions to a smartwatch lineup that last saw a release in 2024, and add a suite of new social and exercise tracking features, as well as a couple of hardware improvements.

What’s new in both fenix 9 watches

Chief among these additions is an AMOLED screen that, on the regular fenix 9 at least, is twice as bright as its predecessor. On the fenix 9 Pro, that screen is 1.5-inches on the 51mm model, which is the largest screen in the fenix lineup to date.

Both feature what Garmin calls Garmin Epic, which compiles multiple sporting activities recorded on the fenix watch into a single shareable story on Garmin Connect. Garmin Epic allows you to group activities over days, weeks or months, and allows you to see the recorded health and performance data during that period.

The fenix 9 watches can also track two more stamina metrics. These are Stamina Zones and Stamina Curves, which can track how a user’s endurance changes over time and gives you five effort ranges from Blue (easy) to Red (maximum effort). This could be helpful if, for instance, you want to track whether your baseline fitness is actually improving week-on-week, and whether you can afford to up the pace of your training.

Mapping has also been improved – not only do the watches feature more RAM (Garmin didn’t say how much), but the map engine has also been updated. According to Garmin, this means panning is now up to 30% faster, and there’s a new perspective view that shows more detail both in the close and far range.

We already know that the fenix watches support a multitude of sports, but two of them get more features in this generation – rucking and indoor rowing.

For the former, you can now edit your pack weight in the middle of an activity and set targets for metrics like calories burned. As for the latter, indoor rowers get more metrics, including their VO2 max, power curve and thresholds, lactate threshold and max heart rate. These features will need a rowing machine equipped with a power meter to work, however.

As for the more fundamental smartwatch hardware, both watches will have their storage doubled to 64GB, and they will come in 43, 47 and 51mm sizes. The 43mm sizes on both the fenix 9 and fenix 9 Pro are rated to last up to 10 days, while the 51mm sizes can go up to 29 days on the fenix 9 and 31 days on the fenix 9 Pro.

New features for the fenix 9 Pro

As for the fenix 9 Pro, it’ll get a few special features including a titanium case, and a new green light mode on the integrated LED flashlight.

And apart from the standard model, there’s also a variant that features a solar-charging display (which can go up to 57 days of battery life, assuming you spend 3 hours out in the sun everyday), and another model with inReach, which comes with a suite of features that could come in handy in an emergency. 

These include weather forecasts which are sent directly to the watch via satellite, as well as two safety features that require LTE: LiveTrack notifications, which notifies your loved ones that you’ve started an activity, lets them track your location during it and allows users to quickly send messages to pre-selected recipients, and Garmin Locate, which lets loved ones track a user’s location without the need for starting an activity. Both features are available through the Garmin Connect app.

Availability and Pricing

The Garmin fenix 9 is now available on Garmin’s website, as well as their Shopee and Lazada online stores. They will also be available from Takashimaya, Garmin Brand Stores and authorised retailers.

The prices for the fenix 9 are as such:

• 43mm – S$1,389
• 47mm – S$1,419
• 51mm – S$1,549

Notably, the base 43mm watch is about S$140 cheaper than the launch price of the fenix 8, which is surprising. In fact, if you were to go to Garmin’s website now, many of the fenix 8 watches are still slightly more expensive than their newer fenix 9 counterparts (though this obviously doesn’t count the used market, if you’re okay with that).

Meanwhile, the fenix 9 Pro will start at S$1,489 for the 43mm base model. You can purchase fenix 9 Pro variants with solar charging, inReach, or both, the last of which is likely to be the most expensive model. As we noted in our coverage of the fenix 8 two years ago, you need to be an outdoorsman with a weighty wallet to afford this.