Running an ultra marathon is tough. A gruelling test of endurance and preparation, it takes months to be ready to take on a race. As far as training partners go, the Garmin Enduro 3 is a smartwatch that goes the distance, and then some.
I used this watch for months to see if it would hold up to a rigorous training regime and then an actual race. Post-race, I’m pleased to say the Garmin Enduro 3 impressed me all the way.
Garmin Enduro 3 review
- First impressions
- Specs and price
- Design
- Features
- Display and interface
- Battery life
- GPS
- Running an ultra marathon
- Who is it for?
First impressions
Right out of the box, I loved the look of the Garmin Enduro 3. It has a sense of understated styling being mostly black with a touch of metallic yellow-green, making it smart enough to wear both on the trails and at work. It’s easy to instantly draw comparisons between this watch and the top-of-the-line Garmin Fenix 8 as they share so many specs and features. But where the Fenix 8 is trying to be everything for everyone, the Enduro 3 has a much more pointed and obvious purpose – ultra and endurance activities.
As the Enduro 3 is built for “ultraperformance” I felt it was only fair that I put it through its paces and tested it over an ultra marathon. This year my goal race was the Kosci50 Ultra, so let’s see how the Garmin Enduro 3 performed through both the training and the race.
Garmin Enduro 3 specs and price
| Dimensions | 51 x 51 x 15.7 mm 63 g (case only: 57 g) |
| Display | 1.4″ (35.56 mm) diameter 280 x 280 pixels |
| Battery life | Up to 36 days (90 days with solar) |
| Memory | 32GB |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth ANT+ Wi-Fi |
| Sensors | GPS Glonass Galileo QZSS BeiDou Garmin SatIQ Technology Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate monitor Pulse Ox blood oxygen saturation monitor Barometric Altimeter Compass Gyroscope Accelerometer Thermometer Ambient light sensor |
| Durability | Water Resistance: 10 ATM (Withstands pressures equivalent to a depth of 100 meters) |
| Price (RRP) | $1,549 |
| Product page | Garmin Australia |
| Warranty | 1 year |
Design
Aesthetics
It’s big! In fact, this is the largest GPS sports watch I have ever tested. With a screen measuring 51mm, I had my concerns about it fitting properly on my wrist, as well as the comfort factor. Only two or three days into my testing, all of my concerns disappeared.
I quickly became accustomed to the size of the watch and I loved taking advantage of the extra space for additional running metrics. A good representation of this is the default watch face. It shows the time plus eight extra customisable data fields. Everything from simple things like the date, battery life and weather to the more complex training readiness, endurance score and solar intensity.
If I had to find a negative, it would be that the watch comes in only one colour. In contrast to the Fenix 8 which comes in an almost never-ending range of colours, sizes and screen variations, the Enduro 3 sticks true to its core values and offers just one option. It comes in a Carbon Gray titanium case with a black nylon strap and a touch of electric lime. While this may not appeal to everyone, I respect Garmin’s confidence in its design. Simple and purposeful, mirroring the use-case for this watch.
Comfort
Two of the biggest factors that contribute to a watch’s comfort are the weight and the band, and Garmin didn’t disappoint. The Enduro 3 weighs just 63g, making it super light. As Garmin likes to promote: “Lightweight design ready for heavy use,” which sums it up perfectly.
That 63g includes the ultrafit nylon band. I am a huge fan of this style of band; it’s quick and easy to adjust, it doesn’t irritate the skin or catch hair, and it looks great as there is no excess strap that hangs off your wrist. I found the watch band so comfortable that it became the first watch I was able to wear while sleeping, which is handy with its sleep-tracking data.
Features
The big things
Outside of the durable yet lightweight build, and the battery life that never ends, there are a few key features that are worth noting. Enhanced map navigation is a system that suggests a running route based on your location and the distance you want to go. You can also explore nearby facilities like restrooms, water stops, ATMs, food and more. This can be accessed during your activity. After a quick search, a map will show you how to find what you need. A life-saver when you are deep into a long run and in need of a drink or toilet stop.
With all of this focus on endurance, I don’t want to skip over the new advanced strength training inclusion. I was impressed with the animations that demonstrate the exercises. You can really target muscle groups with tailored strength workouts for ultrarunners, cyclists, hikers and so on.
Performance features
Where to start… The Garmin Enduro 3 packs in everything and the kitchen sink. Everything you would expect a GPS smartwatch to have is included, so I won’t labour the point. I will, however, highlight some of the more unique performance features.
As a trail runner, ‘Train Run V02 Max’, ‘Grade-Adjusted Pace’ and an ‘Ultrarun Activity’ are fantastic additions that helped aid my fitness progress. There are lots of other performance-related features, but I got the most out of ‘Recovery time’. I always take it with a grain of salt, but having an estimate of how long I should spend recovering before the next run is great.
Health features
With so many health features built-in, it can be a little overwhelming. As you would imagine, I ended up gravitating to the few metrics that I felt were the most important. The wrist-based heart rate tracking, sleep coach and body battery were my favourites as they provide clear, easy-to-understand info that can help you balance your fitness and health. The morning report was also a clever new addition. It gives you a snapshot of your sleep, training outlook, weather and more, first thing in the morning.
Smart features
The Enduro 3 doesn’t skip out on the quality of life features either. With smart notifications, you can receive calls, emails, alerts and messages when paired with your smartphone. If you don’t like to carry your phone, it is very simple to download and store your music.
I typically don’t listen to music when running, except on my long runs. In that case, I always have my phone with me, making it easy to listen directly from my music streaming platforms. The watch synchronises perfectly with my music by temporarily lowering the volume to let me know my lap number and split time.
You can also leave your wallet at home thanks to Garmin Pay – a contactless payment system – making your watch all you need when you leave the house.
The addition of a built-in LED flashlight is handy as endurance athletes are inevitably training in the dark, whether that’s in the early hours of the morning or late at night. It comes with four different levels of intensity as well as a red safety light in case you find yourself in trouble.
Display and interface
Display
There have been a lot of claims that the Enduro 3 is basically a cheaper Garmin Fenix 8. Yes, they share a lot of the same features and track the same metrics, but there is one enormous difference – the display.
There is a Fenix 8 Solar version that does have a similar screen to the Enduro, but for my comparison, I am looking at the 47mm Fenix 8 AMOLED. To highlight the difference, the Endro 3 has a 280 x 280 pixels resolution Sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) display, whereas the Fenix 8 has a 454 x 454 pixels AMOLED display.
All of this is to say that the Fenix 8 has an amazing-looking, crisp and bright screen full of saturation, while the Enduro has a somewhat pixelated dull screen you would expect to find on a watch from five years ago. I am mostly highlighting this downfall as some buyers may be disappointed in the Enduro screen.
I don’t think the quality of the screen should be understated as it’s what you look at when using the watch. Again, keep in mind that Garmin has purposely included this display type so that watch battery life can be outrageously long-lasting.
Interface
With a largely unchanged interface from the previous Enduro version, the Enduro 3 feels very familiar and, as always, easy to navigate. Some of the menu systems have been rearranged or reordered to make it easier to find what you are after, but for the most part, Garmin has gone with the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach.
They have, however, changed the way the watch displays activities. The new system displays your favourite activities at the top with the remaining less-used activities grouped underneath. This allows you to quickly access regularly used activities. Don’t worry if you’re used to the older interface; it’s super quick and easy to select an alternative, or even add new activity types to your favourites.
Battery life and solar power
I believe the battery life paired with its solar capabilities is a big selling point for this watch. Having a watch that you can use in GPS mode while it simultaneously charges or extends the battery life using a built-in solar panel is wild to me.
The Enduro 3’s extreme battery life allows up to 90 days or 320 hours in GPS mode making it the best-in-class for solar battery life. While testing I got a low battery warning from the watch (approx. 7% battery) yet it still had four days of battery left. That’s longer than a full charge on an Apple Watch in low power mode, and the Garmin does this all with an always-on display. Incredible.
Runners can be paranoid about their watch not making the distance when competing in an ultra event. That’s a thing of the past with the Enduro 3. I didn’t feel the need to charge my watch to 100% the night before the event. It was sitting around 80% battery, and I knew that it would last.
After running through the mountains of Kosciuszko National Park for seven hours in GPS mode, I still had 16 days of battery life remaining. During my training, I also remember looking at my watch before heading out the door for a midday run. I ran for about one hour and because it was a hot sunny day, I ended up with more battery life after the run than what I started with.
GPS and heart rate
I could not fault the GPS of the Enduro 3. Garmin claims its SatIQ technology and multi-band GPS provide superior positioning accuracy and I have to agree. For me, heart rate tracking is just as, if not more crucial, and I wanted to truly put it to the test.
For this, I decided to do a 28km trail run with both the Garmin Enduro 3 and the Garmin Fenix 8. I wore one on each wrist so I could compare the data post-run. As you can see in the overlayed chart below, there are some small discrepancies between the two watches. However, wrist-based heart tracking is never perfect as it isn’t the best location on the body to take these measurements. All things considered, I am certainly happy with the watch’s performance.
Running the Kosci50 ultra marathon
Garmin remains the leader of the pack when it comes to sports GPS watches. With my target race for the year coming up quickly, this was the perfect opportunity for me to test their latest products out over the ultra marathon distance. Boy, did it stand up to the challenge.
For the race, I pre-loaded the race course onto the watch. This gave me turn-by-turn updates as I navigated the trails. I was also able to look ahead at the length and grade of the hills I was about to tackle. With so many exceptional features and a battery life that can literally last weeks, I had all the confidence I needed to get me through my ultra marathon.
Who is the Garmin Enduro 3 for?
For once, this is the easy part. It may not have lots of colour options or the amazing AMOLED screen, but what the Enduro 3 lacks in those areas, it more than makes up for with its purposeful build and ultra-performance targeted features and specs.
If you are an endurance athlete looking to get as much data and information as possible out of your GPS watch, then the Garmin Enduro 3 is for you. It will never let you down on your long adventures with its incredible battery life.
I must say that over the few months I have been testing this watch while I trained for my ultra race, I have grown very attached to it which is a glowing endorsement. The Fenix 8 is a solid alternative if you prefer a more vibrant display or colour options.
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