Garmin Enduro 4 is official, doubles storage but keeps familiar hardware

Garmin has added Enduro 4 to some of its regional websites. The new ultra-endurance watch keeps the same 51 mm size, MIP solar display and headline 90-day battery life as Enduro 3, while adding more storage and a collection of newer training and software features.

So let’s get into the specifics.

The Enduro hardware barely moves

The Enduro 4 still uses a 51 x 51 x 15.7 mm case with a 1.4-inch, 280 x 280 pixel transflective MIP display. Power Sapphire glass remains, as does the titanium bezel, fibre-reinforced polymer case, touchscreen and 10 ATM water resistance.

Battery life is also essentially unchanged. Garmin quotes up to 36 days in smartwatch mode, extending to as much as 90 days with sufficient solar exposure. The longest GPS figure is still up to 320 hours with solar, while maximum-accuracy activity tracking reaches up to 60 hours or 90 hours with solar.

That is hardly a bad thing. Enduro 3 was already built around ridiculous battery life, so chasing an even larger headline number probably would not have changed much in day-to-day use.

There are a couple of physical changes. Enduro 4 comes with Garmin’s ComfortFit strap rather than the ultra-light elastic nylon loop listed for Enduro 3. That pushes the total weight from 63 grams to 66 grams, although the watch body itself remains exactly the same 57 grams.

The bigger hardware upgrade is storage. Garmin has doubled it from 32 GB on Enduro 3 to 64 GB on Enduro 4. That gives considerably more room for maps, music and other downloaded content, which makes sense on a watch aimed at long trips away from a phone.

Most of the changes are in the software

Software is where Enduro 4 starts to separate itself. Garmin is putting more emphasis on ultra-running and multi-day events. Grade-adjusted pace workouts can now account for climbs and descents when setting pace targets, while pack weight lets the watch factor the extra load you are carrying into running, hiking and walking activities.

There is also a race planner designed around longer events. You can mark aid stations, checkpoints, cut-off times, notes and planned rest periods. Automatic rest timing can then track time spent at an aid station or checkpoint without requiring quite as much button pressing halfway through an ultra.

Garmin also highlights improved Stamina metrics, more than 100 activity profiles and smoother TopoActive mapping. Dynamic round-trip routing can generate a route for a chosen distance and recalculate another route of similar length if you stray from the original course.

The Garmin comparison page also shows Enduro 4 gaining grade-adjusted pace workouts, rucking workouts and mixed multisport sessions. Garmin has expanded indoor rowing support as well, with metrics including VO2 max, FTP, power curves and lactate threshold when used with compatible equipment.

Garmin Epic makes its debut here

And then we have something called Garmin Epic. The feature is designed for activities that last across several days. Instead of treating each day as an isolated chunk of data, Epic pulls performance and health information together into a single view showing how things developed across the entire event.

Garmin says users can record, review and share that progression, with the idea being to make multi-day races and adventures easier to analyse afterwards.

Enduro 4 also gets several of Garmin’s newer health and everyday features, including Evening Report, Smart Alarm, Health Status, respiratory variations and routine tracking. The core sensor setup remains familiar, with wrist-based heart rate, Pulse Ox, skin temperature, GPS, multi-band GNSS, SatIQ, altimeter, barometer and compass all present.

An Enduro 3.5 in hardware, something more in software

Anyone coming from an Enduro 3 probably will not look at Enduro 4 and immediately feel that their watch has become outdated. The case, screen, solar charging and most of the headline battery figures are unchanged, and even the bare watch body weighs exactly the same.

The 64 GB storage upgrade is useful, but the main reason for Enduro 4 to exist appears to be Garmin bringing its latest endurance, navigation and multi-day activity software together in one watch.

For someone buying into the Enduro line now, that makes the Enduro 4 the obvious current model. Granted, there is a $100 difference between them, with the new model coming in at $900.

For an existing Enduro 3 owner, the decision is much less clear. Unless Garmin Epic, the additional training tools or twice the storage solve a particular problem, the hardware alone gives very little reason to rush into an upgrade.

Check Enduro 4 availability on Garmin’s website in your region.