It’s Garmin launch day! Following Garmin’s surprise stealth scheduling of a live YouTube event (which it’s calling on X a “groundbreaking launch event”), we can now confirm the Garmin Fenix 9 and Garmin Fenix 9 Pro have been released, and they look great.
There are tons of new features to dive into, and I’m sure more than one will make their way to the rest of the best Garmin watches range — but a few will stay as Fenix 9 exclusives.
We’re breaking down all the information below in our live blog, including how much the watches will cost to buy. Stay tuned!
Missed the live show? You can watch the Fenix 9 announcement below:
Garmin Event | fenix 9 Is Here – YouTube 
Garmin Fenix 9 Pro specifications
Swipe to scroll horizontally
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Component |
Garmin Fenix 9 Pro (43mm AMOLED) |
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Price |
From $1,099.99 / £949.99 / AUTBC |
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Dimensions |
43 x 43 x 13.3 mm |
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Weight |
62g |
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Case/bezel |
Titanium |
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Display |
416 x 416 px, AMOLED |
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GPS |
Multi-band, GPS + Beidou + Glonass + Galileo + QZSS + SatIQ |
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Battery life |
10 days (Up to 50 hours activity mode) |
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Connection |
Bluetooth, ANT, Wi-Fi |
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Water resistant? |
Yes, 10ATM |
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Memory |
64GB (7,000 songs) |
Comparing the 43mm 9 Pro to the 9 below, you can see there’s little comparable difference in specs, other than a gram of weight, some reduction in thickness and more titanium.
The Pro gets a brighter screen, that green flashlight for better night vision, and other model options. Solar (which extends the battery life enormously) is available only on 47mm models and up. An InReach and LTE-enabled model is also available at an additional cost.
Initially, my gut would say not to get the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro at 43mm without either the solar charging or InReach options, as you’re getting comparatively little over the standard Fenix 9. The price increase actually becomes better value as you go up due to the additional features on offer. I’ll do a full price breakdown of all the models of both watches shortly.
Garmin Fenix 9 specifications
Swipe to scroll horizontally
|
Component |
Garmin Fenix 9 (43mm AMOLED) |
|
Price |
From $999.99 / £859.99 / AUTBC |
|
Dimensions |
43 x 43 x 13.8 mm |
|
Weight |
61g |
|
Case/bezel |
Titanium, fibre-reinforced polymer |
|
Display |
416 x 416 px, AMOLED |
|
GPS |
Multi-band, GPS + Beidou + Glonass + Galileo + QZSS + SatIQ |
|
Battery life |
10 days (49 hours activity mode) |
|
Connection |
Bluetooth, ANT, Wi-Fi |
|
Water resistant? |
Yes, 10ATM |
|
Memory |
64GB (7,000 songs) |
Will you be getting the Fenix 9, Fenix 9 Pro or perhaps picking up a cheaper watch? Dropping four figures on a watch is hard to do for most of us, but they do look great…
Have your say and vote in our poll:
How much will they cost?
That about wraps it up for the presentation! I’ve got the press release in hand now, so will be posting full specs for the watches shortly.
What wasn’t mentioned was the price. I can confirm Fenix 9 will start at $999.99 / £859.99 / AUTBC (around AU$1,399) and the Fenix 9 Pro will start at $1,099 / £949.99 / AUTBC (around $1,549).
LiveTrack has always been a useful Garmin feature, and it’s being improved with the Pro’s LTE functionality. It interfaces more closely now with Garmin Messenger, Garmin’s satellite messaging service.
A new feature called Garmin Locate allows other Garmin Connect users to check on your location without having to enable LiveTrack.
The Pro also offers 12 months of SOS messaging even after you suspend your inReach messaging subscription. So could you theoretically start a sub, suspend it, and get a year absolutely free? Tempting…
New personalised stamina zones will be available in the post-activity summary. A new stamina curve is also “an easy to understand” visual representation of your fitness and how aerobic and anaerobic workouts alike contribute to your improving stamina.
Calculating a roundtrip course on Fenix 9 Pro maps is 40% faster than the Fenix 8 Pro. In addition to an overhead view, you can also switch to a tilted perspective thanks to a more powerful mapping engine. It comes preloaded with “entire continents of maps”. ClimbPro helps you manage grades and effort, while virtual pacer software PacePro now helps you better handle upcoming terrain.
The AMOLED display is also twice as bright as the Fenix 8’s, although there’s no word on microLED.
Above, you can see our first official press image of the Fenix 9 and 9 Pro.
Ruckers get the option to add or remove pack weights mid-activity, and be added as a multi-sport overlay. This is great for me, as I love to add weight to short hike to increase the challenge in a limited time period. A collaboration with GoRuck is in the works too.
Rowing machine workouts allow you to connect your watch to a compatible rower to improve power curve and targeted intensity features, as well as a countdown.
Andrew Perkins, product manager, takes the stage to tell us more about Garmin Epic. He said “this brand new feature allows you to group multiple activities together to tell a story”.
This seems to be a feature in the Garmin Connect app, linking together related workouts over a time period. It seems you could link together multiple training runs to show improvements before race day, or chart a big ski weekend by grouping snowsports and hikes together.
The aim of course, is to share these socially as a single ‘mega event’, adding notes and photos to “make your Epic something to relive, not just review”.
Some great behind-the-scenes info here about the construction of key Fenix 9 Pro elements like the sensor guard. Lots of emphasis on the smartwatch flashlight too, which comes in green as well as red (on the Pro, at least).
Fenix 9 Pro revealed
A lot of the rumors just got confirmed. Solar charging option, sapphire lens, titanium case, InReach connectivity. The trailer also mentioned better, routable maps, rucking and rowing features, and that Garmin Epic feature we heard nothing about until now.
Yep, Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro confirmed, with “more choice options than ever before”.
Garmin’s co-chief operating officer Brad Trenkle takes the stage to tell us more about it. He mentions Garmin Epic, a new mode combining activities, that titanium case and inReach connectivity for Pro models.
It’s starting! With some very dramatic music and a multi-colored countdown, moving into an ‘event will begin shortly’ legend, transitioning into a trailer. I’ve never seen Garmin do this before.
There’s just ten minutes to go! Let me know what you’re hoping for (or how you feel about today’s announcement) in the comments below, or email me at [email protected] and I’ll do my best to feature as many replies as possible on this live blog.
What about the Garmin Enduro 4?
For all the talk about the Fenix 9, one name that hasn’t come up much is the Garmin Enduro 4. Garmin Enduro watches are typically influenced by the Fenix line, offering similar features but prioritizing a huge battery life for endurance events. Last time, the Fenix 8 and Enduro 3 were launched together.
The Garmin Enduro 3 has, in the right conditions of 50,000 lux or more, near-limitless battery life thanks to its Power Glass technology and enormous battery capacity. You can read our full Garmin Enduro 3 review here while you wait for the big announcement. Its possible that its role in the line might have been folded into the rumored Fenix 9 Pro Solar model, eliminating the need for a separate premium watch.
Tons more leaks are hitting the net, with Gadgets & Wearables spotting an official listing of the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro via the company’s Taiwan website, before quickly being taken down.
The Fenix 9 Pro 47mm listing, according to Gadgets & Wearables, gets a fully titanium case rather than the Fenix 8 Pro’s titanium bezel and backplate, with a plastic middle.
It also sports Garmin’s familiar five-button design, LED flashlight, sapphire lens, speaker and microphone.
What’s it going to look like?
According to leaks, we’re getting not one, not two, but three new Fenix 9 watches, with multiple versions of each.
These include a regular Fenix 9, a Fenix 9 Pro with more advanced features, including, reportedly, Garmin’s Power Glass solar charging tech, with the duller, more battery-efficient memory-in-pixel display now restricted to Pro models.
Finally, if rumors are true, we’ll get a Pro fitted with Garmin’s InReach satellite communications technology, like the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro. Garmin’s InReach technology is useful in the great outdoors as it reaches satellite networks even if your phone has no signal.
Each of these watches would likely come in three sizes (43mm, 47mm, and 51mm if previous releases are anything to go by).
Why do we all think it’s the Garmin Fenix 9?
For one thing, we saw comments from CEO Cliff Pemble earlier this year during a Garmin quarterly earnings call, about how he expected Garmin’s growth to “accelerate” in the back half of the year due to “the timing of product launches”.
Garmin’s got several categories it sorts its watches into, with the Garmin Forerunner line sorted into the “sports” category. “Outdoor” includes Garmin Instinct, Fenix and Enduro watches due to their emphasis on navigation and trail features.
For another, we’ve been seeing more retailer and communications databases leaks over the last month, suggesting a launch is imminent.
“Get ready to Play Harder”
On the Garmin website, the announcement page reads:
“Your playground is calling. Now’s the time to answer. Set a reminder below to join us at 12 p.m. on 25 August, 2026 for a groundbreaking launch event on YouTube Premiere.”
12pm BST, of course, is 4:00am Pacific Time (sorry) or 7:00am Eastern Time in America. For Australian watchers, it’s a more reasonable 9:00pm AEST.
What could this mean? I imagine it’s something about the great outdoors being your playground, and technology to enable that.
The picture of a trail runner wearing a hydration vest, on the other hand, suggests it’s going to be an adventure watch with sporty and navigation capabilities. Hmm…
Welcome to our Garmin liveblog
Hello, Matt Evans (TechRadar’s Senior Fitness & Wearables Editor) here! I’m on hand to see you through until today’s Garmin live event in a few hours’ time.
We’re all expecting the Garmin Fenix 9 to debut, but really, anything could be on the table, from Edge cycling computers to InReach communicators.
However, I’ve been writing about and covering Garmin for years, and this is the first big YouTube live event product launch I’ve seen from the popular watch brand, so we’re expecting a high-profile unveiling.
