Speaker 1: The garment epic has almost everything you could want in a sports watch from an excellent ADE display to extensive activity tracking to absolutely bonkers battery life. I've been wearing the epic for the past month. So let's get into exactly what makes this smart watch. So good. As long as you can stomach that price.
Speaker 1: The best way to think about the epic GENI is like [00:00:30] Barman's high end sports. Watch the Phoenix seven, except it's got a much nicer screen in this long term review. I'm gonna be diving into all of the main features and functionality and my experience with them over the past month, you can J I'm straight ahead to particular sections with the time code provided in the description below as well as a link to the full text review. If you wanna dive into even more detail. And of course, down there too links to the latest pricing and availability, because that's the big one with this watch we have to talk about straight off the bat. It starts at 900 us dollars, which is [00:01:00] admittedly a lot of money for not just a smart watch, but a high end sports watch as well. So is it worth it? Let's dive in
Speaker 1: The key feature that sets the epic apart is that 1.3 inch Amy display it's bright and clear, really easy to see in broad day. So your workout stats are front and center and the resolution is high enough. So you can see maps and navigation with a level of detail that you [00:01:30] probably haven't been able to see on. Say other garment watches that have ale display. It's just so nice to look at, and it really elevates the look and feel of this watch in particular. I love the always on display on this watch. Now, if you're coming from other smart watches that are a little bit less expensive than the epic, say like an apple watch galaxy watch you'll know that always on displays with am led to screens don't necessarily correlate too long battery life, maybe like a maximum of two days. If you're lucky, [00:02:00] we'll talk about battery less specifics in that particular section when we get to it. But spoiler alert, you're gonna get almost a week with always on with this in real world testing. And that's incredible.
Speaker 1: You navigate the watch by using buttons, the touch screen, or a combination of the two. And when you start a workout by default, the setting is to turn the touch screen off, to avoid any accidental presses. I love the customization options on this watch. There is just so much to adjust from the first party. Watch faces that have multitudes of [00:02:30] complications. You can put almost anything with you want stats wise on your wrist to work out options. And when you're doing say a run, you only wanna have certain metrics appear on your watch face. You can adjust absolutely everything you want.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about size because this watch is a Toker. Now you've probably been seeing footage of the watch on my wrist and probably thinking to yourself either secretly or not. So secretly look, Lexi, [00:03:00] that looks a little bit big on you. I'm not going to lie. I agree with you while this watch does not feel too heavy to wear it for me with smaller wrists during say a workout or every day. I think it does look a little bit too big. And that's because it's only in 1 47 millimeter size. If you have larger wrists, I don't think this is gonna be a problem at all. Aesthetics aside. I really think the only size and weight issue that this watch presents is for sleep tracking. I'm a particularly active sleeper, um, very animated [00:03:30] shall I say, as, uh, I snooze. And I'm just genuinely concerned that I am gonna knock my teeth out with this watch because the construction is so, so beware.
Speaker 1: Now, there are so many workout types and activity tracking options on the epics that it can almost feel overwhelming for say a more casual athlete like me. Now I've mostly been sticking to the more, I guess, standard workout types like running, walking, cycling, [00:04:00] and yoga, for example, but there is extensive functionality here for surfers, for golfers and for skiers in particular, I've written a little bit more detail about what those modes entail in the review, in the description below. So go check that out. If you're interested in a little bit more detail than I can go into in the video here, I found the, of the heart rate sensor accuracy was good for cardio based exercises. Say like running, walking, and cycling in particular, I tested it against a dedicated chest strap, which is [00:04:30] considered the gold standard in consumer heart rate tracking. Now, I would say that if you're doing activities and wanting to make sure your heart rate sensor data is as accurate as possible, you'll need to tighten this watch a little bit just because it is so large or at least it just is on me.
Speaker 1: Your mileage will, of course vary depending on your wrist size. I did find that I had to tighten it probably one notch more than I would if I was wearing it just regular everyday use as a smart watch, just because of the size to ensure that it wasn't wobbling around too much. During my workouts, [00:05:00] GPS on the epic is solid. I compared it to a control phone and I was impressed with the results. I also found that the GPS locked on super quickly. As soon as I started an outdoor workout. There's also a new, real time stamina feature, kind of like a fuel tank to give you an idea of how far you can run or ride so you don't burn out. Although I think it's most useful for endurance runners. I didn't find it was that helpful doing a shorter workout, like the venue two series, the epic also has animated workouts [00:05:30] that show you what muscles that you should be targeting for specific exercises.
Speaker 1: Other features from garment watches that are brought over to the epic also include the body battery. Now this is kind of like an indicator to tell you if you should do that workout or make it easy that day based on variables like your heart rate, variability and overall stress and activity levels. You also get V2 max that takes into account things like altitude as well, which is kind of nice. And you get blood oxygen tracking and monitoring. You can either do this as a spot reading or throughout the day and night during your sleep [00:06:00] sleep tracking is also on board with sleep stages and a sleep score that rates the quality of your snooze. The watch also has high and low heart rate alerts. And in terms of overall safety, it has garments live track system. And as well as incident detection that can send an alert to your emergency contacts.
Speaker 1: If it detects a, you know, a high velocity event, unfortunately I've had incident detection trigger false positives twice over the past month is, seems to be very, very [00:06:30] sensitive. Let's put it that way. The mapping features on the epic are extensive and kind of be on the scope of the video to, to absolutely every single one. But my favorite is round trip routing. You put in the distance that you wanna travel, either running or riding, and the watch will suggest a couple of different routes to mix things up. I've genuinely enjoyed this. It has provided a bit more variety to my workouts.
Speaker 1: Okay. Let's talk battery life and, and smart features. Now I don't know what kind [00:07:00] of alchemy garment has done with the epics, but they can get six days of battery life out of this watch with the always on display active, like what I don't understand come like, tell me, tell me your, tell me your secrets. Tell, tell us your secrets, because this is an incredible, and if you wanna do more regular smart watch use without as many of the bells and whistles and turn always on display off 16 days. I don't know guys, my mind is just blown officially. [00:07:30] The ethics is a sports watch first and smart watch second, but there are still a number of important features to talk about including iOS and Android compatibility. However, if you are attached to an iPhone, you will not be able to respond to text messages from your wrist.
Speaker 1: You'll only just be able to see them come through. Quick responses are available. If you are pair with Android, you can put your own music on this watch. You can also use third party apps like Spotify, Amazon music, and D for to store [00:08:00] your music for offline playback. There is a storage disparity though. So 16 gigabytes is internal storage for this stainless steel variant. And if you have the Sapphire and titanium version that bumps to 32 gigabytes, it also has gum and pay support for contactless NFC payments from your wrist. And you also yet a variety of third party apps available to download. Plus third party watch faces from the connect IQ store.
Speaker 1: [00:08:30] Okay? So what's missing now for a $900. Watch you'd think it has got everything and the kitchen sink a last that is not the case. Now caveats here. If you are only looking for a really fully fledged fitness and sports watch, you will do no wrong with the epic. You might not need any of these other things that I'm talking about. The first is an ECG or electrocardiogram app. There's also no speaker and microphone. Now the venue two plus from garment does have that. If you're looking for more smart [00:09:00] features and smart functionality, and to be fair, that's probably the watch line that I would expect an ECG to be introduced. In first, I would like to take a quick call from my wrist as long as my phone is in reach. And if my phone isn't in reach, I would also love to have a or cellular connectivity for staying in touch. When I am out doing a workout, say if I don't wanna take my phone on a run, because this watch is heavy, again, would love to see it. It would detract from battery life. I'm sure, but for $900, I really wish it had [00:09:30] that too.
Speaker 1: So there you have it. My month with the ethics two, there's so much to love about this. Watch that glorious screen, that durable construction, round trip, route support mapping, all of the extra bells and whistles that you get for activity tracking, which is incredible. Then there's the not so good things. Price is pretty much the main one, um, and missing features that other smart Watchers have for half the price. So I'm genuinely [00:10:00] torn. I think this is Garmin's best watch for fitness enthusiasts a hundred percent. And I would choose this over the Phoenix seven line full stop. But again, I would probably wait for the sale. Thanks so much for watching. I hope this was helpful for you in working out. If the epic two is going to be the right fit for you as always, you can leave me comments down below with any questions that you have, any comparisons that you'd like to see if you like the video, it would mean the world to me. If you could give it a thumbs up, cuz it means I can keep doing smart watch videos for [00:10:30] you as well as click that subscribe button to stay up to date with lots more from CNET, I'll catch you later.
