Garmin Alpha could be the most capable dog tracker you can use for training as well

Garmin’s reputation for innovation and excellence in navigation technology has earned it the trust and admiration of users worldwide. From avid hikers to professional pilots, Garmin is the go-to choice for reliable, accurate, and user-friendly GPS solutions. But what if Garmin expanded its expertise to a different kind of navigation?

Pet lovers and dog enthusiasts could get a reason to celebrate if Garmin rolled out something like the Alpha T20/TT25 dog tracker and training device. Designed by talented Shawn Wang for Garmin, Alpha dog tracker represents a leap forward in pet tracking and training. It offers a range of user-friendly features designed to enhance the training experience and provide real-time tracking of your beloved pet with Garmin’s trust.

Designer: Shawn Wang

As pet owners, we understand the importance of keeping our furry companions safe but often don’t realize that training is the cornerstone of a well-behaved and happy pet. Shawn understands this well and has therefore embedded the dog tracker with a combination of vibrations and sound tones to communicate with your dog during training sessions. This approach makes it easy to teach your dog new commands, discourage unwanted behaviors, and reinforce positive actions.

With the Alpha dog tracker, training your dog could become convenient. The collar offers an intuitive and humane way to establish communication between you and your pal, as gentle vibrations and sound tones help your pet understand your commands and improve obedience, fostering a deeper bond between you and your dog.

This is only a part of what the Alpha dog tracker – as the name has it – can pull off. Embedded with a GPS tracking system, the tracker allows you to monitor your dog’s location in real-time, up to an impressive range of 9 miles. Whether you’re exploring the great outdoors or letting your dog roam in a secure area, you can rest assured that you will always know where your pet is.

The Alpha dog collar with a fabric strap works in conjunction with a compatible hand-held system, which enables you to keep tabs on your dog’s whereabouts. To enhance the dog tracker’s functionality, it is also provided with built-in flashlights for illumination in low-light conditions, ensuring you can always see your pet even in the dark. To keep the functions running, you get a rechargeable battery onboard the collar, which is attached to a convenient USB port for charging. With its user-friendly training features, real-time GPS tracking, built-in flashlights, and rechargeable battery, Alpha dog collar combines functionality with convenience for both the human and their pet.

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Garmin Lumina portable light for campers and hikers has it’s own satellite communication module

Garmin is a pioneer in GPS technology adaptation for lifestyle products – durable and reliable smartwatches and communication devices being its crowning achievement. While you bet on taking the Instinct 2X Solar to your next big expedition, another reliable camping product from the American, Swiss-domiciled tech MNC would do no harm.

This is a concept lantern envisioned for Garmin, packed with the advanced GPS tech that we all swear by. The designers call it the Garmin Lumina lantern, and for obvious reasons.

Designer: Offsite Design

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The clip-on camping accessory can be attached to a tree branch, belt loop, cord, or tent via the robust carabiner. When you don’t desire to use the clip-on function, it can be concealed into the base for portable use. It’s quite slim and can easily be stuffed into a tent pocket or backpack without taking up much space. The non-slip exterior is made for outdoor use and the waterproofing feature makes it well-suited for rain-soaked days.

According to Offsite Design, the portable lantern’s design is inspired by Garmin InReach Mini, and the compact form factor addresses the similarity. The adaptation of satellite communication features is what sets this portable light apart from other similar offerings in the market.

The Halo light surrounding the outer frame indicates there is an incoming/outgoing message from loved ones. Orange indicates that a message is being sent, green denotes a sent message, while red means the message is not sent. It also sends back your current location to loved ones at set time intervals, no matter where you are out in the cliffs. Another important safety feature that could mean the difference between life and death.

Other than this unique function the lantern has most features found on such accessories. The white light can be toggled for intensity level as desired. It can be juiced up with a USB-C connecting cable, and although the designer hasn’t informed about the battery capacity, we assume it’s going to be stellar.

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Garmin Epix 2 Pro series arrives in three sizes with enhanced battery life, Endurance and Hill Score features

Garmin is renowned for its impeccable GPS-enabled technology. The smartwatch watchmaker is back to raise the bar with the introduction of their highly anticipated Epix 2 Pro series aka Epix Pro (Gen 2).

The Epix 2 Pro series is delivered in sleek and stylish design in three distinct sizes. This trio of smartwatches offers a trusted blend of style, advanced features, and impressive battery life. Whether you’re an outdoor enthusiast, a fitness fanatic, or simply looking for a smartwatch that can keep up with your active lifestyle, the Epix 2 Pro series should have you covered.

Designer: Garmin

Garmin gives you the option to choose between 42 mm, 47 mm, and 51 mm smartwatches designed to cater to different wrist sizes and user preferences. These case sizes are paired with 1.2-inch, 1.3-inch, and 1.4-inch AMOLED displays respectively that offer stunning visuals to make user interaction an interactive experience.

Garmin’s Epix 2 Pro series smartwatches are packed with advanced training features that will help you conquer every hour of the day. With 24/7 health and wellness monitoring, the Epix 2 Pro series also comes with an impressive battery life of up to 31 days in smartwatch mode, 58 hours in GPS mode, ensuring that you’re always powered up and ready to go.

The Epix Pro (Gen 2) models offer a host of features that will enhance your overall experience. With 32 GB of storage, you can carry your favorite music and apps wherever you go. Need a flashlight? The built-in adjustable LED flashlight will come in handy during your outdoor adventures. Additionally, the Gen5 heart rate sensor provides accurate readings, allowing you to monitor your fitness levels effectively.

The Epix 2 Pro series is equipped with multi-band GPS connectivity to ensure you never lose your way, no matter how remote your adventures may take you. Garmin’s suite of health and lifestyle apps Here in the Epix 2 Pro series is included with two new metrics: Endurance and Hill Score, that take your training to the next level.

The Hill Score feature evaluates VO2 max levels and training history to determine your capability of running uphill. This valuable information can be utilized to optimize training routine and reach new heights. Endurance Score on the other hand provides a detailed analysis of the impact of training on your endurance levels. It empowers you to understand your body better and make informed decisions about your fitness goals.

Garmin offers the Epix 2 Pro series at a starting price of $900 for the 42 mm and 47 mm Standard variants. If you’re looking for the ultimate in durability and style, the 51 mm Sapphire model, featuring Sapphire Crystal display cover and titanium bezel is available for $1,100.

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Garmin Instinct 2X Solar smartwatch with LED flashlight touts unlimited solar-powered battery life

After hitting the right notes with its Instinct Crossover – an undeniable amalgamation of analog watch and smartwatch features – Garmin has tinkered with the solar panels on the Instinct 2X Solar to provide it with unlimited battery life in smartwatch mode.

With a boost of nearly 50 percent in energy production using the sun, the Garmin Instinct 2X Solar is designed for enthusiasts who prefer to spend time in the great outdoors. Since Garmin takes military and law enforcement professionals as serious clients, it has brought the extra charging capability for their liking in a Tactical Edition of the Instinct 2X Solar.

Designer: Garmin

Garmin has introduced two – Instinct 2X Solar and Instinct 2X Solar Tactical Edition – models. Both are priced at a difference of $50: the standard option costs $450, while the Tactical Edition retails for $500.

The new edition Instinct 2X Solar comes in a relatively large, 50mm polymer case which is designed with military-grade shock, water, and thermal resistance. With U.S. military 810 standards certified protection and 100 meters of water resistance, the smartwatch is packed with the usual activity, fitness, and health tracking features.

Designed for military ops, the Instinct 2X Solar Tactical Edition does a little more: It features night vision compatibility and has Garmin’s Jumpmaster mode for calculating high-altitude points during skydiving or parachute jumps. It also has a Stealth Mode integrated, which disables connectivity and leaves the watch only showing GPS data that is not saved on the watch.

In addition to sleep, blood oxygen, and heart rate monitoring, the smartwatch comes with routine tracking features for cycling, swimming, running and other such fitness activities. Interestingly, the Instinct 2X Solar models are added with a new feature for tracking the wearer’s performance during obstacle course events. You can manually record the splits in the first loop, and then the watch will do it automatically as you focus solely on the activity.

Garmin has improved the GPS connectivity on the Instinct 2X Solar (as expected in a model revision). The watch supports multi-band GNSS for more precise accuracy and also gets the signature Tracback feature to guide you back to the starting point in the wilderness.

An exquisite highlight of the new Instinct 2X Solar models is the integration of a LED flashlight, which is the first for any of Garmin’s smartwatches. Located on the top of the watch, the flashlight boasts adjustable brightness levels and a choice between red or white light. For the street smart, the smartwatch comes in handy during on-the-fly payments over Garmin Pay and Garmin app connectivity for enhanced capability.

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Built to military standard, Garmin’s Instinct Crossover has luminescent analog hands with modern smartwatch features

Smartwatch is a phenomenon that has overpowered traditional watch aesthetics. Hybrid watches present an option that lives in the grays of both worlds, but somewhere these timepieces haven’t clicked with enthusiasts. Offering a watch with little compromises for the collectors and outdoorsy, Garmin has launched an undeniable amalgamation of an analog watch with smartwatch features.

The watch, blurring the lines between traditional and modern, is called the Instinct Crossover. Garmin’s new Instinct is created for individuals with a bent for retro with smartwatch functionality, to keep them at the top of the game. Robust enough to be worn for outdoor adventures, the watch has a case, dial, and battery life to put it above the competition.

Designer: Garmin

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The Garmin Instinct Crossover features a long-lasting fiber-reinforced nylon case which ensures the watch matches military standards in durability. It also features temperature, dust, and shock resistance and touts 100 meters of water-resistant rating. But that’s not even the best part yet! Available in four different colors, the Crossover imbibes Garmin pedigree: It is presented with Garmin’s health and wellness features which include sleep and heart rate tracking, along with other fitness matrices like VO2 max, pulse oximetry, and recovery times to name a few.

As with other Instinct and Vivomove’s from Garmin, the Crossover also gets multisport GPS, GPS tracking, and TracBack routing options for rural and urban adventures. When you are in the great outdoors, the battery life of your smartwatch can be a worrying factor; Garmin Instinct Crossover jumps over the hindrance with an impactful solar charging option. Given the good light condition, this feature scales up the watch’s battery life to 70 days while using all the smartwatch features i.e. Put it on battery saver and you can give the Crossover an almost infinite life as an old school watch to tell time, display date, and function as a stopwatch.

You also have an option of going for the base version – a non-solar watch – which according to Garmin gives you nearly 30-day battery life in smartwatch mode, and over 110 hours with GPS functionality. The watch hands on the analog dial illuminate to read time at night, while the high-resolution digital display clearly exhibits information with hands drawing to the 9:15 position to ensure visibility. Garmin is already selling the Instinct Crossover starting at $500; if you want a tactile watch with retro modern aesthetics, you should go for it right away.

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Apple Watch Ultra or Garmin: Which sports smartwatch should you buy

Apple just launched its latest iPhone generation last week, but it might be its wearable companion that’s generating more discussions over the Internet these days. The Apple Watch Ultra, in particular, is kicking up a storm in a somewhat niche smartwatch market focused on extreme sports and very active lifestyles. It might simply look like an overgrown Apple Watch on the outside, but that’s part of the appeal of Apple’s most rugged smartwatch yet. After all, why would you settle for a rugged-looking sports smartwatch from the likes of Garmin when you can have a rugged yet stylish smartwatch from Apple instead? That’s exactly the question that we’ll try to answer, pitting the Apple Watch Ultra against Garmin’s finest to weigh the pros and cons before you bid farewell to your hard-earned money.

Designer: Apple, Garmin

Design

Neither of the two smartwatch makers’ designs is anything new. The Apple Watch Ultra really looks like a bigger Apple Watch, one with a 49mm size that is nothing to scoff at. It comes with that rectangular face that the Apple Watch has been wearing for generations now, albeit with a flatter screen that makes it easier to protect with sapphire crystal. The Ultra model does deviate from the standard design a bit with an extruded housing for the side button and an extra programmable Action button on the opposite side.

Garmin’s sports smartwatches like the Epix 2 and the Enduro 2 stand in stark contrast to this design. Where Apple’s watches have always leaned more towards the classy end of the spectrum, Garmin doesn’t make qualms about the rugged and sporty nature of its smartwatches. They have typical circular faces, but don’t expect luxurious appearances like those from Samsung, Montblanc, or Fossil. And where Apple aims for minimalism as it is wont to do, Garmin tends to throw almost everything into its devices, giving these two sporty watches no less than five buttons to play with. Those are particularly useful when you can’t use the touch screen because you’re wearing extra thick gloves.

In terms of appearances, the choice is a bit clearer cut. Do you want a sports smartwatch, or do you want one that can hide in plain sight on any occasion? Of course, there are even more differences under the hood, especially when it comes to details like battery life and health features, but if you can’t get past how the smartwatch looks, those differences might be meaningless anyway.

Specs and Features

What differentiates a sports smartwatch from a typical sports watch is, of course, the hardware that makes it tick. This is also where the lines between Apple and Garmin blur and mix, making it a little bit harder to choose between the two. When it comes to the display, for example, the Apple Watch Ultra has the Garmin Epix 2 beat with a more pixel-dense screen that really makes icons and text pop out. That said, neither of these are your typical smartwatches, and they both try to compete in telling you where you are or where you’ve been.

Smartwatches designed for athletes require more attention to location than conventional wearables. Garmin, whose core business is exactly in that field, has a long head start compared to Apple. While the Apple Watch Ultra boasts dual-band GPS for the first time, Garmin has been using multi-band satellite systems far longer. The latter also has the advantage of having access to more kinds of maps and topographical data than Apple, many of which come pre-installed on its smartwatches.

Garmin’s sports wearables also come with support for external Bluetooth devices, particularly those used by athletes and adventurers in monitoring stats and data that the smartwatch itself can’t collect. It’s too early to count Apple out of the game since the Watch Ultra is its first stab at this space. But extremely active people who need solutions now might not be too keen on waiting for Apple to get up to speed.

Battery Life

The biggest headline for the Apple Watch Ultra, however, is its battery life. Thanks to its larger size and other hardware improvements, it is able to accommodate a larger battery and advertise up to 36 hours of battery life under normal use. That can even be extended to 60 hours with a new low-power mode, which is practically two and a half days. That’s a big improvement over the typical 18 hours of a regular Apple Watch, but that’s only when comparing it to Apple’s smartwatches.

Garmin, in contrast, counts days, not hours, when it comes to battery life. The Garmin Epix 2, for example, boasts 16 hours, though the figure can be dragged down to just 42 hours if GPS mode is enabled. And that’s nothing compared to the new Garmin Enduro 2, which is advertised to last 34 days, not hours, in normal smartwatch mode. It even has a built-in solar panel, so you can extend that by 12 days more without having to grab the charger.

Garmin’s unbelievable battery life claims don’t come without costs, as we’ll see later, but it still shows how far conventional smartwatches are from the ideal. The Apple Watch Ultra at least comes with the assurance that you won’t be charging it as much, but having a compatible MagSafe charger close at hand will still be a good idea, especially if you plan to go off-grid with it. That said, if you do that kind of activity more often than not, any of Garmin’s rugged smartwatches might inspire more confidence and peace of mind.

Health

While Garmin may have the upper hand in navigation and battery life, Apple takes the cake when it comes to health-related features that go beyond the usual activity tracking. In many cases, the Apple Watch Ultra and Garmin’s Epix 2 or Enduro 2 are head-to-head with each other. They all cover the basics like heart rate monitoring, including less common stuff like measuring blood oxygen levels. Even the Apple Watch Ultra’s new body temperature sensing is something that Garmin has already been using for quite some time now. Apple’s advantage, however, is that it can also detect external temperatures, including water temperature.

Apple, however, has had more time fine-tuning its features to be more aware of potential health problems than Garmin. One could almost consider this to be the killer feature of Apple Watches. In particular, the ECG measuring feature that has been present since the Apple Watch Series 4 is something that few smartwatches have to date. Apple will continue pushing the Apple Watch in that direction, which would also benefit future Ultra models.

That’s not to say that Garmin won’t have these features eventually, especially when such hardware becomes more accessible to manufacturers. It could just be a matter of time, though it could also be a matter of business goals. This could very well be one of the biggest differentiating factors between Apple and Garmin smartwatches in the future, with one focusing on navigation and sports while another specializes in health and fitness.

Software

At the end of the day, however, the true distinction between the Apple Watch and any of Garmin’s smartwatches is that the Apple Watch Ultra is a smartwatch, first and foremost, while an Epix 2 or Enduro 2 are sports watches with smart features. Garmin supports a variety of apps on its smartwatches, but the majority of these focus on sports activities. The wearables connect to smartphones, too, but they have limited control over the communication that happens between the two devices. There are your typical notification and music controls, but forget about more advanced apps that don’t fit the sports theme.

Almost in sharp contrast, the Apple Watch Ultra is pretty much a larger Apple Watch designed to be extra rugged and with more sports-related features. That means it has everything that a regular Apple Watch has to offer and more, including access to dozens of apps and experiences that make it a true companion to an iPhone. You can do almost anything on an Apple Watch Ultra, especially when you consider you have access to Siri through it.

That’s also the reason why the Apple Watch Ultra and its potential successors will always have trouble matching the battery life of Garmin’s equivalent smartwatches. You will need more muscle to power those user experiences, which also means eating more of that battery every hour. It is the necessary price to be paid for a general-purpose computer on your wrist, one that happens to function as a classy but rugged smartwatch as well.

Final Thoughts

So should you buy a new Apple Watch Ultra or stick to the tried and tested Garmin? As always, there is no single answer that will satisfy all people. Even price isn’t a determining factor at this point anymore, with the Apple Watch Ultra starting at $799 and the Garmin Enduro 2 going for $1,099. It really all boils down to how sporty you want your smartwatch to be and whether you need a multi-functional smartwatch in the first place.

Despite the appeal of a sportier Apple Watch, Garmin easily wins in the areas where sports watches shine brighter than other timepieces. The five easy-to-access buttons make it usable in extreme conditions where you can’t easily swipe or tap the screen, and its navigation and mapping chops are still unrivaled, even by the likes of Google and especially Apple. Its month-long battery life is no small matter, especially when you take frequent trips outdoors. You will, however, be limited by what your smartwatch can do outside of those occasions, but that might better match your extreme lifestyle more than any other smartwatch.

The Apple Watch Ultra, on the other hand, is a more well-rounded device, more like a jack of all trades. It is more rugged and sportier than any other Apple Watch to date, but it doesn’t stray far from its roots. You can do almost anything on the smartwatch, within reason, of course. Its health-related functions are topnotch, and ECG measuring is still something that few smartwatches can boast of. Its design makes it fit better in almost any situation or occasion, so you don’t have to switch watches just because you want to go to a social party rather than go out for a run. Future models might be able to catch up to some of Garmin’s key advantages, but the Apple Watch Ultra will always be a smartwatch first and a sports partner only second.

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Garmin Vivosmart 5 is a new breed of fitness trackers with distress button and advanced sleep tracking

A smart fitness band on the wrist, connected to your smartphone, lets you take charge of your wellbeing. It monitors the health and helps you stay connected with instant notifications. Fitbit Charge 5 is arguably the best smart band on the market but it is likely to face fierce competition from the all-new Garmin Vivosmart 5.

Vivosmart 5 is a successor to the brand’s Vivosmart 4 fitness tracker launched in 2018. Four years since, there has been a considerable change in the sensors and features included in fitness trackers that present a more streamlined and affordable alternative to high-end smartwatches. Vivosmart 5 doesn’t choose to deviate much from the original idea of the Vivosmart 4, despite the lapse in time; yet it presents a decent competition to some of the top names on the block. There are a few reasons for this.

Designer: Garmin

It begins with the design. Designed for round-the-clock usage, “Vivosmart 5 is there when you need it, and unobstructed when you don’t.” Packaged in a sleeker form factor with easy to read, 66-percent larger OLED display (from the predecessor), the Vivosmart 5 is Garmin’s most advanced sleep tracking band that includes a sleep score feature. It provides information regarding the quantity and quality of a user’s sleep. Using the smart band, users can track heart rate, sleep, physical activity, and keep tabs on text messages & incoming calls. It is thus made for anyone who wants a simple solution for tracking their well-being and monitoring their oxygen levels and the body battery energy & stress levels throughout the day.

Keeping in perspective its advanced sleep tracking feature, the Vivosmart 5 is made for 24/7 wear. This is made convenient with the rounded band that allows the tracking device to fit snugly around the curves of the wrist. Essential to some adventurists, the new Garmin fitness tracker arrives with a physical button that triggers a safety message on a press. The button may not look too pleasing to the eye sitting right below the watch face, but its capability will definitely add to the Vivosmart 5’s selling point.

In addition to sending out a distress message with the user’s location to predefined emergency contacts, the Vivosmart 5 also provides alerts to the user when it records “abnormally high and low heart rates” than pre-configured by the user. In addition to being a well-being monitor, the Vivosmart 5 is also a capable fitness tracker. To that accord, it tracks the user’s basic activities like calories burned and steps taken. For more stringent ones amid us, it has a range of sports apps built-in for swimming, yoga, running, cycling and more.

Before we are lured into the aesthetics and workable features of the Vivosmart 5, we are instantly alarmed by the fact that it lacks an ECG sensor and doesn’t have GPS built-in. It does support connected GPS so you can connect it to your smartphone to track the speed, distance and route of your run or bike ride, but you’d have to tag along the phone every time. If that’s not too much a hassle, you’re then in for a colorful device for the wrist. Garmin will roll out the Vivosmart 5 in cool mint, white and back colors paired with interchangeable bands to suit your style. Vivosmart 5 is suggested to the retail price at $150 and tout an impressive seven-day battery backup.

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