Garmin Fenix 7 vs 7X: What's the Difference?
By Naila Syifa
Updated April 2024
Garmin Fenix 7 series offers a range of advanced features for outdoor enthusiasts and fitness fanatics alike. However, it is available in various models, making it quite confusing to choose the right one for your needs.
Garmin Fenix 7 Standard is the basic model in the series, while the Fenix 7X is the top-of-the-line variant which is available only as a Sapphire Solar edition, offering additional features and a larger display. In this article, we'll compare the two models across a few key comparison aspects to help you decide which one is best suited for your specific requirements.
Key Takeaways
Other than having a larger screen, Fenix 7 has more features than Fenix 7. The key difference is while Fenix 7X comes with built-in maps, Fenix 7 requires an additional purchase for road & trail maps. Fenix 7 also supports solar charging for extended battery life and has additional SatIQ technology and a built-in flashlight.
Garmin Fenix 7 – Standard Edition
Premium Fitness and Outdoor Watch
✓ Advanced Training, Health, Fitness
✓ Multi-band GNSS
✓ Optional TopoActive Maps & NextFork Navigation
✓ Up to 57 hours in GPS Mode
Garmin Fenix 7X – Sapphire Solar Edition
The Ultimate Multisport Watch
✓ Advanced Training, Health, Fitness
✓ Multi-band GNSS with SatIQ
✓ Built-in TopoActive Maps & NextFork Navigation
✓ Up to 122 hours in GPS Mode with Solar Charging
#1 Price
Garmin Fenix 7
The Garmin Fenix 7 series is a high-end adventure smartwatch from Garmin, so all variants in the series come at premium prices. Being the base model, Fenix 7 is one of the most affordable among all the others, though still at a high price tag of 649.99 USD.
Garmin Fenix 7X, on the other hand, will set you back further at 899.99 USD, a very expensive watch for a smartwatch. However, considering its features and capabilities, the price may be worth the investment for some people.
#2 Design & Display
Garmin Fenix 7X
The Garmin Fenix 7 is a watch that's about 47 mm across. It is quite large and also heavy at 79 g, but the Fenix 7X is even larger and heavier at 51 mm in diameter and 89 g in weight. This bulky design can be a bit uncomfortable to wear all day, but it also makes both watches rugged, tough, and durable, perfect for outdoor adventures and extreme sports.
Both watches have a scratch-resistant lens, with the Fenix 7 featuring Corning Gorilla Glass which is well-known for its durability and resistance to scratches and cracks. The Fenix 7X, on the other hand, features a Power Sapphire lens. This lens is not only scratch-resistant but also allows for solar charging by converting sunlight into energy to extend the battery life, one crucial advantage that the Fenix 7 is missing out on.
Both watches support touchscreen displays, allowing for easy navigation and interaction with the device. However, Fenix 7X features a more premium bezel made out of titanium, which is both strong and lightweight. The Fenix 7, on the other hand, uses a standard stainless steel bezel.
#3 Maps & Navigation Features
Garmin Fenix 7
As high-end smartwatch models from Garmin, both the Fenix 7 and Fenix 7X use multi-band GNSS technology, which relies on multiple satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo) to provide highly accurate location tracking and navigation in challenging environments, such as dense forests, deep canyons, or urban areas with tall buildings.
Fenix 7X has an advantage with its additional SatIQ feature, which automatically selects the best satellite system based on your environment for optimal accuracy and battery life. It can determine when to use multi-band GNSS or when to conserve battery by using fewer satellite systems, so you can focus solely on your adventure and not on the technicalities of the watch.
A range of advanced navigation features are available in both watches. For example, NextFork Navigation provides turn-by-turn directions and guidance for upcoming trails, while the Up Ahead feature displays a list of upcoming waypoints, points of interest, elevation changes, and more along your route.
Garmin Fenix 7X
Both watches also support map navigation, allowing you to view your location and route on a detailed map directly on the watch screen. The difference is while the Fenix 7X comes pre-loaded with road and trail maps, also called TopoActive Maps, the Fenix 7 requires an additional purchase to download these maps. The price for the map is 59.99 USD per continent, which is not very cheap considering the already high price of the watch.
TopoActive Map is a general-purpose topographic map that includes routable roads, trails, and walking paths, as well as points of interest, including shops, restaurants, accommodations, parking, etc. It is suitable for general navigation and various outdoor activities like hiking, cycling, and running.
Other than TopoActive Maps, both watches also offer sports-specific SkiView Maps for over 2,000 ski resorts worldwide and Golf Course Maps for over 42,000 golf courses around the globe. Fortunately, these two maps are preloaded into both the Fenix 7 and Fenix 7X, so you don't have to pay extra for them.
#4 Health & Fitness Features
Garmin Fenix 7
When it comes to health and fitness features, both watches offer exactly the same set of advanced tracking and monitoring capabilities.
While working out or on day-to-day activities, both watches can track your heart rate, blood oxygen levels, respiration, and stress levels to provide valuable insights into your overall health and well-being. Advanced sleep monitoring tracks the quantity and quality of your sleep, including duration, sleep stages, and sleep score. Both watches can even detect naps for overall sleep analysis and recovery insights.
Some of those health metrics, along with tracked physical activity, are then used to calculate your Body Battery score, which indicates your energy levels throughout the day. You can use this information to optimize your training, recovery, and daily activities.
Garmin Fenix 7X
A range of built-in sports apps are available for tracking various activities, such as running, cycling, swimming, golfing, and more. Fenix 7 and Fenix 7X are also well-known to support more niche sports typically not supported in other Garmin models, like backcountry skiing, horseback riding, surfing, mountain biking, and many more.
Both watches also offer a range of training features to help you reach your goals, such as Daily Workout Suggestions, Training Readiness, Real-Time Stamina, Endurance Score, and more.
If you join a competitive race like a triathlon or marathon, both Fenix 7 and 7X also have you covered with features like Race Predictor, PacePro, ClimbPro, and more to help you strategize and optimize your performance.
#5 Smartwatch Features
Garmin Fenix 7
Garmin Fenix 7 and Fenix 7X also have a lot of similarities when it comes to smartwatch features. You can use both watches to receive notifications, make contactless payments, control music playback, check calendar or weather forecasts, and customize the watch face with various apps and widgets.
The only difference is that the Fenix 7X also includes a built-in LED flashlight, which can be useful in low-light conditions or for signaling during emergencies. This can be a great addition during your outdoor adventures, especially when camping or hiking in the dark.
#6 Battery Life
Garmin Fenix 7X
Both Fenix 7 and Fenix 7X share a common battery life of up to 18 days in smartwatch mode and up to 57 hours in GPS mode. You can also enable the battery-saver smartwatch mode to extend the battery life even further to up to 57 days, though with limited functionality.
Both watches also offer a Power Manager feature, which allows you to view how various settings and sensors impact battery life, enabling you to make battery-extending changes on the fly.
However, Fenix 7X supports solar charging. With the assumption of a 3-hour daily outside exposure in 50,000 lux conditions, the battery life can be extended up to 37 days in smartwatch mode and 122 hours in GPS mode. Such a long-lasting battery life makes the Fenix 7X an excellent choice for extended outdoor adventures or expeditions where charging opportunities may be limited.
Garmin Fenix 7 vs 7X
Final Thoughts
Garmin Fenix 7
Garmin Fenix 7 and Fenix 7X are very similar in terms of health, fitness, and smartwatch features. However, the Fenix 7X has a few key advantages, including a larger display, built-in maps, solar charging, SatIQ technology, and a built-in flashlight. These additional features make the Fenix 7X a more versatile and capable device for outdoor enthusiasts and adventurers, but the high price tag may be a barrier for some users.
If you want to save money and don't mind missing out on the solar charging feature, Garmin Fenix 7 is still an excellent choice for a high-end adventure smartwatch. You may need to pay 59.99 USD extra money for a TopoActive map of your chosen continent, but the total price of 709.98 USD will still be significantly lower than the Fenix 7X's price of 899.99 USD.
If you like to read more on Garmin smartwatches, check out our other relevant guides here:
Best Garmin Watches
Garmin Fenix 7 vs 7 Pro
Garmin Forerunner 965 vs Fenix 7
Garmin Epix 2 vs Fenix 7
Garmin Fenix 6 vs 7
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