Garmin unveils Quatix 6X with solar charging

Garmin has announced the new Garmin Quatix 6X Solar. It upgrades the original Quatix 6 by adding a solar charging display that helps prolong battery life.

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

This is a very pricey watch meant for those into marine sports such as boating, fishing, cruising and sailing. Look through its feature set and you’ll realise that its the marine equivalent of the Fenix 6.

Announced yesterday, Quatix 6X Solar comes with a few upgrades over its predecessor. As its name implies, the ability to harvest energy from the sun is the flagship addition.

Just like the solar iteration of the Fenix 6, the watch comes a transparent solar charging lens that sits on top of the watch face. Garmin calls the tech Power Glass. It adds more juice in all battery modes. The company says Quatix 6X Solar will keep going up to up to 21 days in smartwatch mode. This climbs to 24 days with solar charging, assuming all-day wear with 3 hours per day outside in sunny conditions.

Other upgrades are also on the design front. The edition has a X moniker so is larger in size. It measures 51 x 51 x 14.9 mm versus the 47 x 47 x 14.7 mm of the original. This allows for a bigger display which measures 1.4 inches in diameter (280 x 280 pixels), up from 1.3 inches (260 x 260 pixels).

The interesting thing is that despite the larger size, the weight of the watch has actually come down from 83 grams to 82 grams. This is because the 6X Solar variant has a titanium bezel instead of stainless steel one. The watch also comes with titanium and silicone bands included.

Other features are exactly the same as before. You get all the specialized marine stuff such as comprehensive connectivity, autopilot control, coastal charts, Fusion-link audio system, Waypoint marking, the ability to stream data to your boat’s compatible devices and Garmin Sailassist capabilities.

Of course the device is packed with fitness and activity tracking features, too. In fact it comes with all activity profiles of the Fenix 6 so can track sports in the water and on land, with integrated GPS, heart rate monitor and much, much more.

The original Quatix 6 sells for $699.99. You’ll need to have much deeper pockets for the 6X Solar variant. This one sells for $1,149 on Garmin’s website, and is available for purchase now.

Like this article? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and never miss out!