Garmin

Fenix 3 HR Training Watch

At this point in the product's lifespan, every endurance athlete has either used or knows someone who does use the impossibly versatile Fenix 3 wearable. For the latest generation, Garmin has actually added to the unit's list of functions, making the Fenix 3 HR Training Watch even more impossibly versatile. We didn't think it was possible, either, but a few new modes, expanded metric gathering, and the addition of Garmin's Elevate wrist-based heart rate monitoring system, the Fenix 3 HR is once again redefining our expectations of what the humble wristwatch can achieve.

The new modes include a Golf Mode, which lets the Fenix 3 HR download range information for 40,000 international courses, and a rowing mode, which charts paddle strokes and efficiency for SUP and seated rowing. These serve to expand the Fenix 3 HR's use beyond training day to every day, but the real star is the included heart rate monitor.

Elevate is Garmin's wrist-based, heart rate monitoring technology that uses optics to eliminate the hassle and restriction of a chest strap. It lets the unit fulfill all of the features that a normal Fenix 3 requires a heart rate monitor to perform, including sleep monitoring, calories burned, V2 max estimation, recovery advice — the list goes on. Suffice it to say, the Fenix 3 HR is a stand-alone fitness platform that encompasses every aspect of the active life, not just the instances of training exertion.

In addition to those changes, the Fenix 3 HR remains a high-powered, wearable computer for runners, hikers, cyclists, swimmers, skiers, snowboarders, mountaineers, endurance athletes, fitness freaks, and anyone else who wants to have an almost limitless amount on information at their fingertips — err, on their wrists — wherever they are. The Fenix 3 HR houses an EXO+ GPS and GLONASS antenna, which serves as the basis for the unit's location-marking, activity-tracking, and route-planning capabilities. Like the non-HR models, and in addition to the its expanded functionality, the Fenix 3 HR charts speed, distance, location, destination, elevation, and metabolization during almost any imaginable activity. It can also generate a virtual training partner or pit you against your previous efforts on days when your actual training buddies are still in bed.

Once it has tracked all of these things, it can save them or automatically share them with your phone, tablet, or computer, so you can see what you've done, the progress you've made, and start planning for the future. Among other things, it's compatible with ANT+ and Bluetooth 4.0 LE, which lets it communicate with various other metric-tracking devices. You can even get e-mail, text, and stock alerts while you're on the move if you can't stand be disconnected even when you're in the wilderness.