Garmin Epix (Gen 2) vs Fitbit Sense 2
🗓️ Release Year
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): 2022
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: 2022
🏃 Activity
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Garmin Epix (Gen 2) is a high-performance multisport GPS smartwatch designed for serious athletes and outdoor enthusiasts, featuring a stunning AMOLED display. It offers comprehensive activity tracking, including steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes with personalized daily goals. Its extensive activity profiles and advanced performance metrics are tailored for a wide range of sports and adventures, providing detailed insights into every workout.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Fitbit Sense 2 provides robust activity tracking, diligently monitoring steps, distance, calories burned, and floors climbed. Its Active Zone Minutes feature remains a core component for optimizing workout intensity based on heart rate zones. The integrated built-in GPS ensures accurate real-time pace and distance tracking for outdoor activities such as running, cycling, and hiking, offering essential data independently of a paired smartphone.
❤️ Health Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): This device provides continuous heart rate monitoring, advanced physiological metrics including VO2 max estimation, performance condition, and training status. It also tracks respiration rate, Pulse Ox for blood oxygen saturation, and offers detailed sleep analysis, delivering critical health and recovery data essential for optimizing training and overall well-being.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: Leveraging advanced PurePulse 2.0 technology, the Sense 2 offers continuous 24/7 heart rate monitoring, capturing resting heart rate trends and real-time heart rate zones during exercise. It includes a skin temperature sensor for additional wellness insights and integrates advanced sleep and stress management features, providing a comprehensive health overview.
🔋 Battery Life
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Epix (Gen 2) offers up to 16 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and up to 42 hours with continuous GPS tracking. While the vibrant AMOLED display impacts battery life compared to MIP displays, it still provides sufficient duration for multi-day activities and extensive training.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Sense 2 delivers a commendable battery life of over 6 days on a single charge, reducing the frequency of recharging. Its fast charging capability is highly convenient, providing a full day's power in just 12 minutes, minimizing interruptions to tracking.
😴 Sleep Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): Advanced sleep monitoring on the Epix (Gen 2) tracks detailed sleep stages and utilizes the Pulse Ox sensor to monitor blood oxygen levels during sleep. This provides valuable data for assessing recovery quality and informing training decisions, especially important for athletes managing demanding training loads.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: Detailed sleep tracking on the Sense 2 meticulously monitors sleep duration and analyzes sleep stages (light, deep, and REM). It provides a comprehensive Sleep Score and actionable sleep insights within the app, empowering users to understand and enhance their sleep quality.
📍 GPS Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): Equipped with advanced built-in GPS capabilities, the Epix (Gen 2) provides highly accurate outdoor activity tracking and navigation without requiring a paired smartphone. It supports multiple satellite systems and offers detailed preloaded mapping features, essential for exploring remote areas and navigating complex routes.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: With built-in GPS, the Sense 2 accurately tracks real-time pace and distance for outdoor activities without relying on a phone. The Fitbit app provides detailed route maps and intensity zone analysis post-workout, offering valuable performance data.
🏋️ Workout Modes
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Epix (Gen 2) supports an extensive range of multisport and individual workout modes, including running, biking, swimming, hiking, trail running, skiing, strength training, and more. Its customizable profiles and extensive real-time data screens provide comprehensive metrics for performance analysis across diverse activities.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: Supporting an extensive library of over 40 workout modes, the Sense 2 accommodates a wide variety of physical activities, from running and cycling to swimming, HIIT, strength training, and yoga. It provides real-time performance metrics, including heart rate, pace, and calorie burn, to help users monitor and optimize their training.
💫 Exercise Recognition
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The device includes automatic exercise detection for common activities like walking and running through its Move IQ feature, ensuring seamless recording of basic movements within the overall activity log, even during varied training days.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The integrated SmartTrack technology automatically detects and records common exercises such as walking, running, cycling, and elliptical workouts. This feature ensures effortless tracking of activities, even if the user forgets to manually start a workout session.
🍎 Compatibility
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Epix (Gen 2) is compatible with both iOS and Android smartphones, connecting via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for seamless data synchronization and smart notifications.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Sense 2 offers broad compatibility with both Android and iOS devices, connecting via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Android users benefit from the inclusion of Google Fast Pair for a quick and straightforward initial setup process.
📲 App Support
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): Synchronization with the comprehensive Garmin Connect app is central to the Epix (Gen 2) experience, providing in-depth analysis of all tracked data, performance metrics, training insights, and recovery recommendations. The app allows for creating and syncing detailed training plans, courses, and customizing device settings.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: Synchronization with the comprehensive Fitbit app provides users with a centralized platform for detailed fitness tracking and in-depth health insights. Compatibility with popular third-party applications like Strava, Google Fit, Apple Health, and MyFitnessPal allows for seamless data integration into existing fitness ecosystems.
💡 Smart Features
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): Beyond its primary focus on sports and outdoor performance, the Epix (Gen 2) includes practical smart functionalities such as on-wrist notifications, Garmin Pay for contactless payments, and on-device music storage with support for streaming services, offering convenience during training and daily use.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: Beyond its health and fitness capabilities, the Sense 2 offers practical smart features, including call, text, and app notifications. Integration with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa provides convenient voice control. Support for Fitbit Pay and Google Wallet enables contactless payments directly from the wrist.
💦 Water Resistance
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): With a robust water resistance rating of 100 meters (10 ATM), the Epix (Gen 2) is engineered to withstand swimming, showering, and various water activities, making it suitable for serious water sports and providing durability in wet environments.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: With a 5 ATM water resistance rating (up to 50 meters), the Sense 2 is designed to be resistant to water, making it suitable for swimming, showering, and general water exposure. It is not recommended for deep diving or high-pressure water sports.
⌚ Display Quality
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Epix (Gen 2) features a stunning AMOLED display with high resolution, offering vibrant colors, deep blacks, and exceptional brightness. This touchscreen display provides excellent readability in various lighting conditions, including direct sunlight, enhancing the visual experience for mapping and data review.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The device features a bright and vibrant AMOLED touchscreen display. An always-on display mode offers convenient at-a-glance access to information, and customizable watch faces allow for personalization of the visual interface.
👌 Ease of Use
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The device offers a dual interface with reliable buttons and a responsive touchscreen, providing flexible and easy navigation through menus, data screens, and mapping features during both activities and daily use. The user interface is designed for intuitive operation and quick access to critical information.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Sense 2 is designed for intuitive interaction, featuring a responsive touchscreen complemented by an improved haptic side button for efficient navigation. Seamless wireless synchronization with the Fitbit app facilitates effortless data tracking and analysis.
✨ Design and Comfort
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Epix (Gen 2) features a premium and durable design with a high-quality titanium bezel and stainless steel or DLC coating, built to withstand extreme conditions while maintaining a comfortable fit for all-day wear and extended outdoor use. The design balances robust construction with aesthetic appeal.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Sense 2 features a lightweight and stylish aluminum case paired with a comfortable soft silicone band, ensuring suitability for all-day wear. The design supports interchangeable bands, offering options for personalization to match individual style preferences.
🩸 SpO2 Monitoring
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): An integrated Pulse Ox sensor allows for on-demand spot checks and continuous monitoring of blood oxygen saturation levels, particularly valuable for acclimatization at altitude, monitoring sleep quality, and assessing overall physiological status during demanding activities.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: An integrated SpO2 sensor allows for tracking blood oxygen levels specifically during sleep. This provides valuable data that can help users identify potential breathing irregularities during the night and gain insights into their respiratory health.
💖 ECG Functionality
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): It is important to note that the Garmin Epix (Gen 2) does not support ECG (Electrocardiogram) functionality.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: A key health feature of the Sense 2 is its support for ECG (Electrocardiogram) monitoring, allowing users to check for signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib) and generate reports that can be shared with healthcare providers.
🧘 Stress Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The Epix (Gen 2) tracks stress levels throughout the day based on heart rate variability and offers guided breathing exercises to help users manage stress and promote mental well-being alongside physical training and recovery.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Sense 2 features a continuous EDA (Electrodermal Activity) sensor for real-time stress detection. It provides access to guided breathing exercises and mindfulness tools within the app, offering practical resources for stress management and promoting mental well-being.
🩹 Recovery Tracking
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): The device provides advanced recovery insights, including a daily readiness score, recovery time advisor, training status, and training load focus, offering detailed guidance to help athletes understand their recovery needs and optimize their training schedule to prevent overtraining and improve performance.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The Daily Readiness Score on the Sense 2 provides a data-driven assessment of the body's preparedness for strenuous activity by analyzing sleep quality, heart rate variability, and recent activity levels. This helps users make informed decisions about when to train intensely and when to prioritize rest for optimal recovery.
💳 Subscription
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): A significant benefit of the Garmin platform is that all features and data tracked by the Epix (Gen 2) are accessible through the free Garmin Connect app, requiring no additional subscription fees for core functionality or advanced training analysis, providing comprehensive value for a premium device.
2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: The core functionalities of the Sense 2 are available without a subscription. However, access to advanced stress tracking features, a wider range of guided workouts, and more personalized wellness insights requires a Fitbit Premium subscription ($9.99/month or $79.99/year).
🏷️️ Price
1️⃣ Garmin Epix (Gen 2): $999.99
Check Garmin Epix (Gen 2) Price *2️⃣ Fitbit Sense 2: $299.95
Check Fitbit Sense 2 Price ** If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you