Garmin Enduro – adding maps
The biggest omission for trail and ultra runners on the new Garmin Enduro is the lack of maps. Sure, Enduro can display and follow breadcrumb routes…but nothing that resembles a map is provided.
Having some context for that little black route line works wonders for speeding you along your planned route. A map gives that context.
Of course, there is a way to add maps and routing functionality onto your Garmin Enduro and other Garmin watches…via
What is dwMap?
dwMap is a CIQ navigation app for your Garmin. It links via BLE on your smartphone to its web platform where you can import and plan a route using many tools. Of particular interest to UK-readers is that the online tool supports route creation whilst using Ordnance Survey maps.
Originally dwMap was designed for more basic Garmin watches that had no navigation features whatsoever, essentially updating them with a breadcrumb route capability. The premium version then added extra goodies including Turn-by-Turn instructions and they were generally seen as responsive and reliable.
However, now there is the feature that allows a background map tile to be shown on reasonably specified Garmin watches like the Enduro. So as you zoom in or go from one tile to the next a new part of the map is loaded up. It looks like the tiles are downloaded via BLE from your phone as you run rather than being cached before you set off, however, the BLE connection is a little slow, so using a background map with dwMAP is perhaps better-suited for trail running speeds than cycling speeds.
The normal power bump required for dwMap is small, however, there will be a more significant increase in required power when the background map feature is optionally enabled. If you’re planning a 3-day trip then this probably isn’t for you but periodic one-day usage should be cool.
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Honestly, I don’t get this whole map omission business. Can you help me out here?
What other watch on the market* has full offline maps? COROS? Nope. Polar? No. Maybe a former darling of the ultra world Suunto? Still no. Did I miss anyone? Pretty much every other mapping feature, be it route design and sync in Connect, automatic route sync from Strava and Komoot, turn-by-turn guidance, RacePro, ClimbPro, POI, etc. — it’s all there.
Sure it stinks the maps are not included, though limited internal memory clearly shows why. They had to get space somewhere for bigger battery. Perhaps Garmin thinks if maps are that important to you, you can always roll with 6X?
* Yes, I know Suunto 7 has maps. They are truly beautiful to behold. Unfortunately, a year after its introduction, Suunto 7 still doesn’t have external sensors support, running power, and many other minor conveniences of its big brother 9, not to mention it simply won’t last long enough for most people in the market for 6X or Enduro. Ditto AW.
“Honestly, I don’t get this whole map omission business. Can you help me out here? ” no! not really 🙂 It’s a unique selling point that garmin probably CHOSE not to include. Its omission doesn’t affect my personal enjoyment of the Enduro at all but…there are others.
Back in the day I used to do orienteering. Maps are definitely useful. Breadcrumb tracks were always a bit rubbish in my opinion.
S7 – again the number of people who use running power is probably about 100,000 globally. its not so many. (I’m one of them and that is for sure one reason why i wouldn’t buy or use S7).
the S7 is not targetted predominantly at the same people who need 6X/Enduro. again it’s some flavour of weekend warrior
Storage and ram also use a little battery power, so less storage and ram also means more battery life.
On the other hand, the biggest drainer has to be the screen, so if they really wanted to make compromises to get better battery life, they would have went with a smaller screen. Enduro has the biggest screen in the entire range.
Also, memory chips are manufactured in nanometers (<100nm) so bumping them up a little will hardly take any space.
Lastly, but most importantly, everyone expects maps due to the price (>$799).
yes on the expectation for maps.
yes also on the point about the large screen size. i guess the comeback against that argument would be that a larger screen will allow bigger solar gain options (around the edge/under the face, yes the outer charge area could just have been made 5mm wider and the screen 5mm smaller…wouldn’t look as good)
I agree with those who call Enduro a non-Pro 51mm Fenix Solar. At the end, I suppose you pay for the best in class battery life, Solar screen, fancier finish, and a new loopy band. Oh, and that awesome bright green ring around screen people like to hate.
And speaking of prices… COROS Vertix is $600. I know people complain about that one too price-wise. Doesn’t stop COROS from selling them though. With less battery life, way less screen, no solar, and half the features compared to Enduro.
… and the Coros Vertix hardware is 1.5-2 years old. Yes, they’re adding features (the thing that Garmin could learn ?), but the platform they’re using is quite dated by today’s standards imho.
The fenix 6/Marq/forerunner 945 platform was first released commercially around March 2019. It’s also 2 years old.
Garmin has added features over that time including significant UI changes on device, virtual running, track mode, a bunch of new activity types, ski power, and trail vo2max. They also fixed a bunch of bugs and introduced new bugs and fixed more in kind of a loop, hopefully arcing toward less bugs overall. I mean you can argue this stuff isn’t valuable to you but not that they haven’t been providing updates. The pace has been nearly roughly 1 significant firmware upgrade a month for the Marq and fenix since the fenix 6 launched. (The forerunner 945 seems to get less love.)
Like the idea of a wider charge area and smaller screen. Also, many won’t mind if the green ring was turned into a charge area as well.
Honestly, it reminds me discussions on scuba diving forums from a few years back when Mk1 was introduced and Garmin wanted $1000 for it. Like how can you have $1000 diving computer without air integration?
The way I look at this: the price is justified by the whole set of features. Non-Pro 51mm Fenix costs $550. With that you get absolutely no solar, a very standard stainless steel bezel, a basic rubber band, somewhat heftier weight, and way, way less battery life. Also no CIQ4 compatibility as Enduro with its low-power processor might end up being compatible.
Are these differences worth $250? I don’t know. They are to me. Personally, I can live without maps but would have preferred music, for example. To each his own.
There is no non-pro 51mm fenix 6X.
The fenix 6 standard is $550. The pro 47mm is $650. The sapphire + titanium is $750. The solar is $800. Solar titanium is $900.
The fenix 6X pro is $700. The 6X pro sapphire (not titanium) is $800. The solar + titanium is $950.
The enduro is $800 in steel and $900 in titanium.
If the enduro steel was a 6X standard (which does not exist) you would expect it to be $100 less than the 6X pro based on the price segmentation in the f6 range. The solar is a $150 upgrade from the f6 standard and solar + titanium adds $250 over the f6X pro.
If I were a priori guessing the price for enduro from the f6 range:
– enduro steel: f6X pro $700 – $100 (reduced feature discount) + $150 (solar upgrade) = $750
– enduro titanium: f6X pro $700 – $100 (reduced feature discount) + $250 (solar + titanium upgrade) = $850
They actually cost $50 more than they would if branded as a kind of fenix 6X. You could say that is for the new processor and battery technology or it’s a premium applied to target a niche demographic / small batch.
The original tactix delta is literally a fenix 6X pro sapphire with a different bezel design and it is sold at a $900 (and came out a year later). That’s a $100 niche demographic / small batch premium.
I would say the enduro is in line with the rest of the fenix 6 family pricing, including the D2, Descent, quatix, and tactix. You can certainly argue that the whole range is expensive across the board and I won’t argue with you. Given their market success though, it does seem like Garmin knows the price they can command for the value people perceive from the devices.
It’s kind of interesting that it is the only specialty version that removes features (maps, music, payments) in service of another feature (battery life).