Tech
Garmin’s Quatix 7 smartwatch uses nautical data to make sailing smoother
Garmin incorporated new features into its smartwatch for seafarers, like a touchscreen, anchor drag alert and better connectivity.
Garmin dropped its refreshed specialized smartwatch, the Quatix 7, which was designed for those who spend a significant amount of time on the water. The new smartwatch comes in three models: the standard, sapphire and solar editions.
The Quatix 7 includes a lot of the features from its predecessor, like coastal charts, inland maps, and autopilot connectivity, but Garmin added a bunch of new features aimed at making life on a boat easier to manage. While it’s meant to be a sporty smartwatch, it can still hang as a nice accessory for when you go to an event on dry land.
New features — One of the Quatix 7’s new tricks is to work with your multifunction display control, so you can tap into the ship’s brain from anywhere. Garmin also included an anchor drag alarm that warns you if your boat is drifting when anchored and tide alerts, so you can always check in on the water’s ebbs and flows. There’s now topography maps for multiple continents on the Quatix 7 and the Sapphire and Solar models have more accurate positioning with multi-band GPS.
The Quatix 7 still holds onto many of the features from the Quatix 6, like controlling autopilot and compatibility with Garmin devices to get boat data directly to your smartwatch. Garmin’s latest Quatix similarly has BlueChart g3 coastal charts, LakeVü g3 inland maps, and several modes for fishing, sailing, sail racing, kayaking, and surfing.
Garmin didn’t really change the design of the Quatix 7 much, but the Sapphire models have an AMOLED display that’s much easier to see in direct sunlight. The watch face is now touchscreen too, but Garmin still kept its buttons and included an option to alternate between the two.
Long-lasting battery — The Solar model, which also comes with a built-in flashlight, can offer up to 37 days of battery in smartwatch mode or up to 90 days in battery saver mode. It should be able to survive long stretches at sea, but it still doesn’t quite match the potential “unlimited” battery life of Garmin’s recently released Instinct 2. As for the other models, the Sapphire edition can last up to 16 days in smartwatch mode, while the standard model can last up to 18.
All three models of Garmin’s Quatix 7 are available now on its website. The prices start at $700 for the standard model, but quickly jump up to $1,200 for the Solar edition.
