Every deals holiday, I break my brain and eyeballs scrolling through endless lists of smartwatch models so you don’t have to. Garmin has a ton of deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but there are only a few that I’d be putting in my cart if I were buying for the outdoorsy person in my life.
First off, I’m a big fan of the Forerunner 265. It’s comfy, it’s slim, it’s got dual-frequency GPS, and for an OLED smartwatch it has great battery life. When I reviewed it, my only gripe was the $450 price tag. “Good news, everyone,” as Dr. Farnsworth from Futurama would say, because this model is now 33 percent off its original price, selling at $299.99 at Amazon and Best Buy. Sure, it’s a two-year-old watch, but Garmin fans tend to keep their devices for several years, the company is excellent at pushing software updates to older models, and I don’t think you’re missing out on much compared to newer watches.
But for the super, ultra-optimized athlete in your life, Garmin’s Fenix 8 is also 21 to 25 percent off, depending on the size you get. That’s good news since the Fenix 8 starts at a whopping $1,000. The Fenix 8 adds some smart features, like messaging, but the real benefit here is you get top-of-the-line features for what the Fenix lineup cost before Garmin’s ludicrous $350 price hike.
Price will vary depending on color, size, and materials, but for maximum savings: the 43mm silver-and-whitestone option is $749.99 (25 percent off) at Amazon; the 47mm in slate gray and black is also $749.99 at Amazon; and the 51mm in slate gray and black is $849.99 (23 percent off), also at Amazon. These are the base models, but the next step up for sapphire and titanium are about $100 more.
But if those prices are still too much, may I suggest the Epix Pro? The 47mm version is 50 percent off at $499.99 right now at Amazon, while it costs $50 more at Best Buy. As with the Forerunner deal, this is a 2023 older model but my hot take is the Fenix 8 and 8 Pro (the latest and greatest) don’t add that much more as far as daily training features go.
