Solar charging for Garmin’s latest smartwatch

Garmin has launched the quatix 6X Solar, a marine GPS smartwatch that features a transparent solar charging display that uses the sun’s energy to extend battery life.

As the first Garmin marine-centric GPS smartwatch to offer solar charging, the quatix 6X Solar is said to combine all of the features of Garmin’s fēnix® 6X Pro Solar with specialised boating, fishing, cruising and sailing capabilities.

The quatix 6X Solar features a large 1.4” sunlight-readable display designed with a transparent Power Glass™ solar charging lens that uses the sun’s energy to extend battery life. Users can check the latest solar input right on their wrist for a real-time indication of how much solar energy the Power Glass has been exposed to. The battery performance on the quatix 6X Solar is up to 21 days in smartwatch mode, and up to 24 days with solar charging.

The watch is water rated to 100m and offers comprehensive connectivity with compatible Garmin chartplotters and other marine electronics. It can be paired with onboard Garmin electronics to stream boat data like speed, depth, temperature, wind data and more. When paired with an onboard autopilot, it can also be used to control the autopilot to change heading, engage pattern steering, and follow a GPS route.

It includes a titanium watch band as well as a cirrus blue silicone QuickFit™ band, and it’s available now for a suggested retail price of £999.99.