Tailored for professionals
Equipped with hyper-accurate heart rate monitoring and GPS tracking, the Garmin Fenix 8 has battery life for weeks on end. It’s a spectacular training tool for serious athletes to stay on top of their personal goals and regimens.
For
- Despite AMOLED display, incredible battery life
- Excellent training tools and hyper-accurate heart rate sensor and multi-band GPS
- Titanium makes for a lightweight yet durable build
- Onboard speaker and mic
- Useful built-in LED flashlight
- Personalized strength coaching
Against
- No LTE support
- Exorbitantly pricey
- “Dynamic round trip routing” feature is so-so
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra
Beefed up wearable
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra promises a two-day uptime with noticeably bolstered performance along with all the perks of Wear OS. You get surprisingly accurate tracking and a newly revamped HR sensor that works well.
For
- Impressionable design with striking appearance
- Lovely, crisp display reinforced by sapphire crystal glass
- New Exynos chip boosts battery and performance
- New and improved heart rate sensor
- Speaker and mic onboard
- Dual-band GPS and LTE support
Against
- Doesn’t have proper crown
- Super chunky and weighty
- New AGEs Index isn’t quite there yet
Garmin and Samsung are both great watchmakers in their own respect. However, pitting the Garmin Fenix 8 vs. Galaxy Watch Ultra reveals that each wearable is suited for a different type of user.
Right off the bat, the steep price difference stands out the most. The Fenix 8 is the same price as the top-tier Galaxy S25 Ultra smartphone. Your bank account will definitely feel the hit from that expenditure. Garmin’s ultra-premium wearable gives you insanely high-end and comprehensive health and fitness features though, which some might call a fair trade.
The real question is whether you should save more than half of that cost and opt for the Galaxy Watch Ultra instead. Let’s break it down to understand.
Garmin Fenix 8 vs. Galaxy Watch Ultra: Specifications
|
Category |
Garmin Fenix 8 |
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra |
|---|---|---|
|
Display |
1.3-inch (416×416) or 1.4-inch (454×454) AMOLED |
47mm (1.5-inch Super AMOLED, 480×480, Sapphire Crystal) |
|
Colors |
Sapphire, Titanium, Sapphire, Carbon Gray DLC Titanium, Slate Gray |
Titanium Sliver, Titanium Gray, Titanium White |
|
Processor |
Unknown |
Exynos W1000 |
|
RAM & storage |
1GB + 32GB |
2GB + 32GB |
|
Battery |
43mm: 10 days / 4 AOD; 47mm: 16 days / 7 AOD; 51mm: 29 days / 13 AOD |
590mAh |
|
Software |
Garmin OS |
One UI 6 Watch (Wear OS 5) |
|
Sensors |
Garmin Elevate v5 HR, SpO2, ECG, skin temp, accelerometer, altimeter, ambient light, compass, depth, gyroscope |
Samsung BioActive Sensor (Optical Biosignal sensor+ Electrical Heart Signal + Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis), Temperature Sensor, Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Light Sensor |
|
Connectivity |
Bluetooth, ANT+, WiFi, NFC, multi-band GPS |
LTE, Bluetooth 5.3, dual-band Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS(L1+L5), Glonass, Beidou, Galileo |
|
Durability |
10ATM with leakproof buttons; EN13319 (40m diving standard); MIL-STD-810H (thermal, shock, water); Gorilla Glass (steel) or sapphire glass (titanium) |
5ATM + IP68, MIL-STD-810H |
|
Weight |
Stainless Steel: 74g, Titanium: 64g |
60.5g |
|
Price |
$1,199.99 |
$649.99 (On sale for $419.99 right now) |
Garmin didn’t disclose much detailed information about the Fenix 8, so the processor of the smartwatch is unknown. On the other hand, Samsung is a lot more transparent about what you get for your money.
Strangely, the Garmin Fenix 8 is missing any form of LTE 4G connectivity, so right off the bat the Galaxy Watch Ultra wins if you absolutely must have cellular support on your wrist.
Another key difference is that the Galaxy Watch Ultra runs Wear OS, so it naturally offers a much wider assortment of third-party app support. Garmin OS isn’t bad, but isn’t nearly as versatile and doesn’t offer as many apps as any of the best Wear OS watches.
Garmin Fenix 8 vs. Galaxy Watch Ultra: Breaking it down
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The Garmin Fenix 8 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra are both super powerful watches, promising days upon days of battery life. Where the Samsung wearable delivers 40 hours of uptime with the AOD enabled, the Fenix 8 gives it a run for its money with a week or two’s worth of battery life.
Speaking about his experience while testing the Fenix 8, our reviewer Michael L Hicks stated that the watch lasts two weeks for him including lots of multi-band GPS tracking, while the Galaxy Watch Ultra might last four days at most or two to three days with heavy use.
The Garmin Fenix 8 and Galaxy Watch Ultra weigh about the same, but that’s only for the Titanium variation of the Fenix 8. The Watch Ultra’s display is brighter and larger, but the Fenix 8’s display is still bright enough in most cases and doesn’t have as much flickering. All in all, you can easily use both wearables outdoors and have high visibility under the sun.
Garmin does a better job of connecting to external devices like heart rate monitors or cycling power meters over Bluetooth or ANT+. This is a shortcoming of Wear OS watches and not just the Galaxy Watch Ultra, because they just aren’t very good at that in general.
As mentioned earlier, Garmin OS isn’t anywhere near as versatile with app support as Wear OS. Garmin doesn’t have an app store, but you do get access to a few music streaming apps such as Spotify, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music. There are other apps for the weather and integrations with fitness apps like Komoot as well.
Since Wear OS is made by Google, Google Maps naturally runs smoother on the Galaxy Watch for navigation. However, Garmin has better offline topographical maps and creatable handy routes for workouts.
The UI is quite different across both wearables. The Galaxy Watch Ultra has tiles for various apps. Meanwhile, Garmin has widgets that focus on key health and fitness data. Samsung obviously has the edge when it comes to UI, but it’s worth noting that the Fenix 8’s UI is better than most Garmin watches.
The fundamental difference between the two watches is the level of advanced health and workout tools and features offered. Samsung still doesn’t do training loads, fitness plans, daily suggested workouts, or other key Garmin tools. But it does have something called Energy Score, which is pretty similar to Garmin’s Body Battery metric.
The Fenix 8 offers some of the most in-depth metrics, data tracking, and training tools for any fitness-focused individual. It can even take naps into account, among thousands of other workout and sports-related features. Garmin also improved its indoor workouts, something Micheal had been wishing for a while. The only real issue is that all Garmin watches have the Garmin Coach, so you can probably wait for a while and get this feature on a much cheaper Garmin wearable eventually.
Finally, both the Garming and Samsung watches have highly accurate GPS and heart rate sensors. Based on his Galaxy Watch Ultra fitness test, Michael estimates that the Watch Ultra isn’t that far off from the Fenix 8 for GPS accuracy. At the end of the day though, Garmin is the best in the industry. Therefore, the Fenix 8 is generally better at both, especially when it comes to high-intensity workouts.
Garmin Fenix 8 vs. Galaxy Watch Ultra: Which should you buy?
The final comparison left to do is the price. Once you’ve weighed the pros and cons of both smartwatches, it becomes very obvious that the Garmin Fenix 8 is far too expensive. The wearable doesn’t have any noteworthy feature that stands out starkly. There’s nothing unique enough or impressive enough that jumps out and justifies that thousand-dollar price tag.
As Michael said in his Fenix 8 review, if you’ve got a fancy vacation home in Tahoe or a regular surfing spot near your home in Santa Cruz, then you probably have the money to buy the Fenix 8 and not worry much about the high cost. In that case, you’ll get the most out of the smartwatch and enjoy it without wincing at the thought of the money it cost you.
However, the common man is going to call it a day and stick with the significantly cheaper Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra instead. The watch launched at $650, but it’s constantly on sale. Even at the time of writing, you can get one for just $420. And that’s with LTE support, which is something the Fenix 8 lacks. Besides, the Samsung watch also comes with Wear OS and almost as accurate HR and GPS sensors.
So unless you’re a serious athlete making bank, I’d suggest you grab the Galaxy Watch Ultra for less than half the price of the Fenix 8.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra
Wear OS on crack
Unlike Garmin, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra runs Wear OS so you get support for tons of more third-party apps. The two-day battery life is surprisingly reliable, as is the newly revamped HR sensor and dual-band GPS.
For serious athletes
The Garmin Fenix 8 comes with hyper-accurate heart rate monitoring and GPS tracking onboard. The spectacular wearable manages to deliver weeks of battery life and is an excellent training tool for serious athletes to stay on top of their personal goals and regimens overall.