Garmin is stepping up its smartwatch game with the power of the sun. The company announced the new Garmin Quatix 6X Solar, which expands on the original Quatix 6X by adding a solar charging display that helps extend the battery life. As a result, while the original Quatix 6X offers a 14-day battery life, the Quatix 6X Solar extends battery life to an impressive 24 days.
The solar charging tech is a smart addition. It’s transparent and lives in the display, meaning that you won’t actually see a solar panel — as you might have on old solar-powered calculators. Users will be able to see how much energy they’re getting from the sun, as well. The watch features a time indicator to show how much sun the watch has been exposed to.
Of course, real-world battery life will depend on how much sunlight the device actually gets — and even with maximum sunlight, it won’t last forever. If the watch doesn’t get any sunlight, battery life will likely remain at 14 days, as which the standard model.
Apart from the solar panel in the display, the watch offers the same features as the original Quatix 6X. The watch is actually designed for those into marine sports like boating, fishing, and so on. It’s waterproof to up to an impressive 100 meters, and has tracking features specific to things like boating, fishing, cruising, and sailing. There are also tracking features for other water-based sports, including the likes of paddleboarding, kayaking, and canoeing, and you can use the watch to track other sports, including golf and skiing.
The device is actually a full-featured fitness tracker. We gave the Garmin Quatix 6X a four-star rating in our review, alongside our Recommended Product award. You’ll get a heart rate monitor for what Garmin says is all-day stress tracking and underwater heart rate monitoring, and there’s even a Pulse Ox blood oxygen saturation monitor, which can be handy for more advanced features, like sleep monitoring. Although built with boating in mind, we found it’s a well-rounded premium fitness tracker that can accurately track a wide range of activities.
The Garmin Quatix 6X comes with a titanium band and a blue silicone band and is now available from the Garmin website for $1,150.