The 7 Sapphire Solar (regular, S and X) are like the 6 Pro Solar but with Sapphire crystal and titanium bezels and case backs. These are the only ones with multiband GPS receivers too.

The 7 Solar (regular, S and X) is like the 6 Pro Solar (6011-867), still uses PowerGlass and uses stainless steel for the bezel and case back.

The 7 (regular and S) is most like the 6 Pro (6008-576), now uses Gorilla Glass DX and uses stainless steel for the bezel and case back.

New to the 7 Series:

Adds a touchscreen to the normal button UI
All get music, Wi-Fi, and maps, but the Solar series has the maps preloaded, the others the user needs to download them. Maps are free multi-continent topo maps
X series has a flashlight
Up ahead feature
Health activity monitoring
Previously sapphire crystal and solar panels were a “one or the other” situation, with the 7 Garmin has found a way to get their solar panel to work with sapphire. Great what's new breakdown from DCR: Now, there’s a lot to take in, both in features, but also in decoding Garmin’s wide array of SKUs here. Basically, before even considering color/material combinations there are 8 different Fenix 7 units, plus two Epix units. Including color/material combinations, there are 22 Fenix 7 SKUs. But in short, everything gets boiled down to this: – Fenix 7 Base (7S/7): Music, Garmin Pay, WiFi, downloadable maps, 16GB storage, touchscreen, plus all software features – Fenix 7 Solar (7S/7/7X): Base + Solar panels built-in, and the 7X has the flashlight – Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar (7S/7/7X): Solar units + multi-band GPS, 32GB storage, Sapphire glass, titanium bezel (7X has flashlight too) Pricing-wise, here’s where things stand (USD, EUR pricing is parity – e.g. $699USD is 699EUR): – Fenix 7 Base (7S/7): $699 – Fenix 7 Solar (7S/7/7X): $799 for 7S/7, and $899 for 7X – Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar (7S/7/7X): $899 for 7S/7, and $999 for 7X In addition, there are some crazy-pants Titanium SKUs for the Sapphire Solar that reach up to $1,199 – more on those prices somewhere in a chart down below. All units get all software features, and all units get mapping. The difference is that only the Sapphire units have the maps pre-downloaded for your region (e.g. North America, Europe, etc…) – whereas the base & base solar units do not. Instead, you simply connect to WiFi and download what you need for your region (though, that does take a while). That’s because pre-loading all the maps per region would add too many SKUs for Garmin to deal with (since they’d need 4-5 different region models for each model they have, quickly escalating to something like 20-30 additional SKUs to stock). Anyway, here’s what’s new: – All Fenix 7 units now get free worldwide downloadable TopoActive maps using WiFi (Sapphire units have pre-loaded maps) – All Fenix 7 units now have pre-loaded Skiing & Golf Maps – All Fenix 7 units now have music, WiFi, and Garmin Pay support (previously base Fenix 6 Series did not have this or maps) – Added touchscreen display (and can still use buttons for every function) – Added multi-band (aka dual-frequency) GPS to Fenix 7 Sapphire units – Revamped ‘GPS only’ mode for far more battery life savings – Added Garmin ELEVATE GEN 4 optical HR sensor – Switched to glass-covered optical HR sensor (versus plastic with a coating), which increases durability – Added flashlight to Fenix 7X model, which includes SOS mode, strobe mode, and running white/red mode – Added Garmin SkiView, now includes resort names & slope names – Added Cross Country Ski Trails to maps – Added new “Map Manager” feature for managing/downloading maps from your wrist – Added ‘Up Ahead’ feature for distances to predefined markers like aide stations, climbs, etc… – Added RealTime Stamina feature, which is used during runs & rides to try and leave nothing in the tank (or, properly manage a workout) – Added Race Predictor historical trendlines (to see if you’re getting faster or slower) – Added new Kiteboard Sport Type – Added new Windsurf Sport Type – Added new SpeedPro function for Windsurfing (primarily for speedsurfers) – Added new graphical charts as data fields – Added scrolling charts in a variety of places, including widgets – Added finally, for the love of all things holy, the ability to configure activity profiles and data fields from your phone – Added Garmin Connect IQ store on wrist (well, a limited version of it anyway) – Added Health Snapshot feature (includes HRV data) – Added New Sleep Manager Settings for customizing what the device does while you sleep – Added HIIT workouts (meaning, they’re giving you structured workouts, not just a sport mode) – Added Automatic Run/Walk/Stand graphing within a workout (see sports section for details) – Revamped the user interface a fair bit (not a major overhaul, but definitely far cleaner) – There’s now always solar in the Sapphire editions (previously there was not) – Increased solar surface area by 54% (specifically comparing 6X to 7X) – Increased solar efficiency of the panel itself – Increased power efficiency of the base unit compared to Fenix 6 Series, which in turn increases battery life – Increased overall Fenix 7 Solar battery life by 33% (7S vs 6S) to upwards of 68% (7X vs 6X) – full chart below – Added ‘button guards’ around all buttons, which reduce accidental presses with things like jackets – Added metal/titanium (depending on model) lugs covers – see unboxing section for details. – Slightly thinner and lighter (see exact charts in unboxing section)

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