Garmin Fenix 6 vs. Suunto 9 Peak vs. Polar Grit X: Which is Best for You?

Garmin Fenix 6, Suunto 9 Peak, and Polar Grit X Comparison

1. Garmin Fenix 6

The Garmin Fenix 6 sits right at the top of the extensive tree of Garmin watches, and represents the best of everything the company has to offer right now. The sixth series comes in what seems like a million different skews depending on what you’re looking for in a multi-sports or running watch. Garmin Fenix 6 is suitable for various outdoor sports, such as gym & fitness, running, golfing, cycling, swimming and so on.

The Fenix series is a family of fitness trackers that pretty much has it all when it comes to outdoor fitness and adventure tracking. Stepping things up a notch, Garmin released the Fenix 6 range in August 2019, offering users a slight update in design and some welcome new features over the Fenix 5 Plus.

Here's what's totally new/changed in the Fenix 6 series:

• Split product line into two portions: Pro and Base. Pro has WiFi, Maps, Music, Golf Maps;

• There are three sizes of watches: 42mm (Fenix 6s), 47mm (Fenix 6), 51mm (Fenix 6X);

• Adds solar charging to Fenix 6 Pro Solar: Termed “Power Glass”, this will increase battery life on sunnier days;

• Adds Trendline Popularity Routing Visibility (Pro): This allows you to actually see the ‘heatmaps’ on your device;

• Adds map display themes: This includes high contrast, popularity, marine, dark, and outdoor;

• Adds new widget glances concept: Basically shrinks widgets to 1/3rd the screen size, so you can see three at once;

•  Adds new PacePro feature: This replaces old-school paper race pace bands, creating pace targets for race based on grade/reverse splits/etc…

• Adds new Power Manager feature: Gives detailed information about the impacts/tradeoffs of features on battery life;

• Adds new Power Modes feature: Allows you to create custom power/battery modes, with time remaining per activity;

• Adds new MARQ Expedition ultra-long mode: For multi-week GPS activities. Basically shuts off everything except reduced rate GPS tracking;

• Adds ski resort maps: These started on the MARQ series, with 2,000 ski resorts worldwide;

• Adds golf maps pre-loaded: Previously you had to manually load these one by one, also, more detailed golf features;

• Adds support for wrist-based swimming HR: This was teased recently on the FR945 beta updates;

• Adds new ultra-low battery mode: Gets up to 80 days of battery life, but super basic watch functionality only;

• Revamped ClimbPro with new coloring: Now matches the Edge 530/830 styling;

• Increased data fields per page: Up to 8 fields on the 6X, and up to 6 fields on the 6S/6;

• Increased screen size and reduced bezel (varies by model, but up to 36% bigger screen size on the 6X;

• Reduced ‘lug to lug distance’ on Fenix 6S: This should help those with smaller wrists, more on this later;

• Reduced thickness of all devices. The 6S shrunk by 10%, the 6 by 7%, and the 6X by 15%;

• Changed from MediaTek GPS chipset to Sony GPS Chipset: Like every other new Garmin 2019 device;

• Battery life increased: Up to 80 days in battery saver mode for 6X, and up to 120hrs in max battery mode for 6X.

Pros of the Fenix 6:

Cons of the Fenix Series 6:

Where to Buy Garmin?

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2. Polar Grit X

The Polar Grit X outdoor multisport watch is an uncompromising combination of rugged and durable, yet lightweight design, top training features and the possibilities of Polar Flow, the ultimate training platform.

The Polar Grit X aims primarily at runners and athletes, with a heavy emphasis on long distance. It is also a very strong option for tracking a wide variety of other activities, and a compelling health tracker for general users. With an appealing design, a huge number of features, (mostly) accurate tracking, and amazing endurance, it has a lot going for it.

Polar Grit X comes with built-in GPS, compass and altimeter in training mode, and Polar’s unique Smart Coaching features that make sure you’re ready for your future adventures.

• Hill Splitter

• FuelWise smart fueling assistant

• Training Load Pro

• Running Index

• Route guidance

• Route planning with Komoot

• Running Program

• Smart Calories

• Advanced wrist-based heart rate

• Weather

• Training Benefit

• Continuous Heart Rate

• FitSpark training guide

• Nightly Recharge

• Sleep Plus Stages

• Serene breathing exercise

• Running Power

• Sport profiles

• Fitness Test

• Swimming metrics

• Energy sources

• Phone notifications

• Strava Live Segments

Polar originally entered the GPS category from a long-established body of work in heart rate measurement and exercise science. Their Vantage watches, released in 2018, combined their vast inventory of physiological metrics, training assessment and smart coaching with advanced-level daily activity tracking capabilities, making it ideal for multisport endurance athletes. The Grit X progresses the evolution even further, adding more robust navigation options and new features geared specifically toward the mountain trail athlete. Additionally, the impressive battery life of the Vantage is further extended on the Grit X to provide 40 hours in 1-second GPS mode, with power-save options that reach up to 100 hours. The Grit X stands as the most robust model in the Polar lineup but maintains a sleek product design that is comfortable and convenient to use.

Pros of the Polar Grit X:

Cons of the Polar Grit X:

Where to Buy Polar Watches?

You can go Polar.com to buy Polar watches, then you can get 5% cash back.

3. Suunto 9 Peak

Designed for the peak experiences that sport makes you feel, for the adventures that stay with you forever. The Suunto 9 Peak is the thinnest, smallest and toughest watch Suunto has ever made. Suunto 9 Peak All Black uses stainless steel for strong metal construction built for purpose. The color matched premium coating gives the watch a look and feel beyond measuring.

• INTELLIGENT BATTERY MODES

• OVER 80 SPORT MODES

• SAPPHIRE GLASS AND STAINLESS STEEL

• GPS NAVIGATION

• WEATHER FUNCTIONS

• BLOOD OXYGEN

• OVER THE AIR UPDATE

• 100 M WATER RESISTANT

The Suunto 9 Peak is in many ways still the same software you’d find on a previous Suunto 9 unit. Thus it’s a full-featured multisport watch that connects to Bluetooth sensors and syncs all that data to your phone via the Suunto App, and then onwards to TrainingPeaks, Strava, and countless other partners. If you’ve had a Suunto 3/5/9 watch in the past (or a Suunto Spartan series watch), you’ll be pretty familiar with the core of the Suunto 9 Peak – most of it hasn’t changed.

However, there are a pile of things that have changed:

Pros: 

• Stylish, slim and lightweight

• Fantastic battery life with fast charging

• Class-leading activity tracking

• Genuinely useful health insights

• Impressive appearance and high quality

Cons

• Bit of a learning curve

• Laggy display with a chunky bezel

• GPS problems with open water swimming

• Menu somewhat slow

Where to Buy Suunto?

You can go Suunto to buy Suunto 9 Peak!

Verdict for Garmin Fenix 6 vs. Suunto 9 Peak vs. Polar Grit X

It’s clear that the Fenix 6 is our winner pick. It is clear and easy to use, the user interface and software is robust, it has many useful functions, wide App support, and is comfy on your wrist. It may not look as good and rugged as the Suunto 9 Baro, but what it lacks in aesthetics it makes up for with substance. The Suunto 9 Baro is a good looking watch with lots of promise, but the low-grade touchscreen and poor software mean that it will not track what you need when you need it. The Suunto 9 Peak, however, is a major improvement in this regard and is a much better rival to the Fenix where in some of the features it even beats it.

In addition, core features of Fenix 6 like mapping feel a bit better executed than it is on the Grit X. You do still get big battery life and plenty of more outdoor-focused metrics to delve into. 

If you want something that's a good mix of sports watch and smartwatch features, it's the Fenix 6 that gets out our vote too. Simply for the fact there are more smarts on board and you similarly get a wealth of sports modes like you do on the Polar.

The Grit X's FuelWise is certainly a nice addition and definitely something that Polar has over on Garmin in terms of thinking more about fuelling and hydration during long exercise sessions.

It's important to keep the price in mind here too. Even the cheapest Fenix 6 is still more expensive than the Grit X. 

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