As a fitness tracker, you're getting basic step counting, sleep monitoring, and all-day stress tracking. Instead of scrolling through several distinct screens, the widgets are arranged in rows that allow you to see the previous and next rows as you scroll. And, since the map is right there, it was easy to be able to double-check that I was going the right way back to the trailhead.

Garmin packs a ton of power-hungry features into its Fenix series, but the company somehow manages to deliver reasonable battery life in its watches.It's probably the most detailed fitness tracking experience out there and more geared to sports lovers than, say, Fitbit or Apple. Instead, Garmin sent me the more manageable Fenix 6S Pro, which has a smaller 42-mm case than the 51-mm 6X Pro. It’s super cool stuff that builds upon (read: “borrows”) what Suunto did with their Suunto 9 and battery profiles, but really kicks it up a notch. This is an invaluable measurement if you're climbing a mountain and want to see how well your altitude acclimation strategy is working. The Solar editions have Garmin's Power Glass, which increases battery life by harvesting energy from sunlight throughout the day.

It’s a little challenging to navigate while running, but it’s comforting to know that it’s there if you get lost.

If you frequently scuff up your watches while outdoors, the sapphire model is worth shelling out for. They also offer Garmin Pay, which allows you to make contactless purchases and access public transport.

Back with the Fenix 3 we put a series of watches up against a laboratory VO2 Max test and found that its data was closest to the lab result. And if you want to take advantage of all the watch's features, get comfortable switching between your phone, watch, and computer—whether that’s plotting out preset courses for ClimbPro (you can’t set courses with the watch! I’ve been testing the Fenix 6 series in a variety of conditions from the city streets of NYC to the high alpine trails of the French Alps.As you’d expect, you can also pair the Fenix with a variety of external sensors via ANT+ and Bluetooth, including heart rate monitors, footpods and cycling power meters. I kind of dread setting up new electronics, since there always seems to be an endless list of questions you have to answer and choices you have to make before you can actually start using the thing. This disables certain features, like heart rate monitoring and Wi-Fi, and dims the watch face to save power.