Hello, sunshine – Garmin’s €890 solar smartwatch

IT sounds like such an obvious addition to an outdoor fitness smartwatch: add solar power. And that’s exactly what Garmin has done across its high-end Fenix 6 range.

Even though this is only a preview (I’ve only just started to wear the Fenix 6 Pro Solar), there are two things to note about the solar element of this watch.

First, the underglass solar panel won’t completely power the device. Solar power isn’t yet at the point where it can generate enough charge from a 1.3-inch screen to power some of the intensive thing that a smartwatch does. The watch, like its non-solar Fenix 6 Pro equivalent (previous reviews on Independent.ie) does complex things like connect to wifi, use GPS and even play music. The solar element, which also lies around the edge of the watch, can’t muster enough current on its own to power all of that. I’m not completely sure yet exactly how much of the watch’s charge the solar element accounts for. But at the moment, given our long summer days and a fair bit of time spent outside the back garden with a laptop, it may be around 10pc to 20pc. That’s modest compared to a solar-powered calculator, but it’s not bad when you add it up over a year’s wall-charging.

If you’re new to Garmin’s Fenix 6 and Fenix 6 Pro series, they’re close to the best you can get on the market. The solar edition isn’t substantially different to the existing Fenix 6 Pro, which is light, powerful, has plenty of storage, a huge range of applications and has relatively excellent battery life — I get well over 10 days on a single charge (although if you switch the GPS on, it will be closer to 24 hours).

If you’re a runner, cyclist, swimmer or any variation thereof (triathlete, iron-man and so on), it still defeats almost all-comers.

It’s waterproof, has multiple exercise and activity modes and also has a good sleep measurement tool.

It has a lot of special features for climbers and trekkers, too, including advanced breathing and pulse measurement, as well as altimeter guidance. The solar edition has an indoor climbing activity profile and a surfing activity profile.

This is also capable of giving you map guidance with pre-loaded skiing or golf maps, as well as turn-by-turn guidance for some areas, something few rivals offer.

Garmin is a specialist and it’s reflected in the price. I’ll have a fuller review in a while.