Garmin Enduro 3 (L) and Enduro 2 (R)
Garmin launched the Enduro 2 in 2022. Thanks to its epic battery life, owners may not even have had to charge it that many times since then.
Somewhat bad news for those owners, the Garmin Enduro 2 is now obsolete. The Enduro 3 is here and it essentially doubles down on the original’s strengths to set it apart more clearly from watches like the Garmin Fenix 8.
Worth upgrading for Enduro 2 owners? No, unless you can sell your Enduro 2 for a good chunk of change and not lose too much on the deal. For those still thinking about upgrading, though, here’s what you get. And to lose, surprisingly.
I haven’t included a feature that the Garmin Enduro 3 doesn’t seem to have at launch, skin temperature readings, as I’m pretty sure that will be added in a software update before long. There are also some new routing features that may well be added to the Enduro 2 in a software update – something Garmin is pretty good at.
The Garmin Enduro 3 is significantly lighter
I’ve been using the Forerunner 165 pretty consistently for the past six months. Why? Lighter watches like this are usually much more comfortable for 24/7 wear than monsters like the Enduro series.
While the Enduro 3 is still large, at 51mm in diameter, it is significantly lighter than its predecessor.
Strapless you see 57g for the Enduro 3, 64g for the Enduro 2. That’s a 7g difference, over 10% drop.
You lose the back of the titanium
Sometimes great design compromises can be made to reduce weight in this vein. But there is something rather more obvious going on here.
Garmin swapped out the titanium back plate of the Enduro 2 for a plastic back on the Enduro 3. As a result, it’s a less premium design, although the wearable fronts are still top-quality titanium and sapphire crystal.
Don’t overthink it and it won’t affect your Enduro experience. But weight loss can.
Better battery life through improved solar charging
I wanted to like Garmin’s solar charging feature more than ever. But this has always been easy to dismiss as a side effect of living in London, where the sun is an occasional visitor. However, the Enduro 3 shows that the efficiency of older watches was never that great in the first place.
With solar charging, the Garmin Enduro 3 can last up to 90 days of general use, compared to 46 days on the Enduro 2. The newly designed Power Glass is clearly in another league. Not that it’s likely to prove a world changer during a British winter.
The difference in the non-solar battery figures proves that this upgrade is (almost) solar. The Enduro 3 is rated at 36 days without solar, 34 days for the Enduro 2. A change, but a small one.
The design is a little different
Take a look at these two generations of Enduro and you can see why solar charging can be so much better. There’s a lot less titanium bezel on the Enduro 3, a lot more screen surround, which can be given to the solar charging element.
However, this seems to be a stylistic direction that Garmin is taking with this generation. The Garmin 8 has a slightly less chunky frame than the Fenix 7.
Enduro 3 starts much cheaper
When the Enduro 2 arrived it cost a pretty scary $1099. Garmin has reduced that right to a much more attractive $899.
This also makes it cheaper than the basic Garmin Fenix 8. It’s undeniably a very good deal, though it still costs a fortune if you’re not at all interested in Garmin’s newer developments like an OLED display and the Fenix 8’s microphone and speaker combo.
Verdict
The Enduro 3 proves that Garmin isn’t ready to convert us all to OLED screens and flashy smartphone features. This is a classic Garmin hardcore watch with a MIP display that looks dull indoors but pretty much guarantees fantastic battery life.
Its biggest upgrade is a redesigned solar charging system that’s miles more efficient. Weight is also reduced, at the cost of a titanium back plate.
Do Enduro 2 owners need an upgrade? Almost certainly not, but this is a recalibration of the range that makes the Enduro sit more comfortably among its Garmin Fenix and Forerunner peers.
