Garmin launches new marine smartwatch

Garmin International Inc. announced the quatix 6, its next-generation marine GPS smartwatch series designed specifically for life on the water. More than a watch, the quatix 6 combines all of the features of Garmin’s flagship fēnix 6 GPS smartwatch with specialized boating, fishing, cruising and sailing capabilities, including comprehensive connectivity with compatible Garmin chartplotters and other marine electronics to offer autopilot control, data streaming, sail race assistance, Fusion-Link entertainment control and more. With what the company refers to as a rugged yet refined design, the quatix 6 is preloaded with activity profiles for nearly every sport and adventure at sea and on land, including paddle boarding, golf, hiking, rowing, skiing, kayaking, etc.

“The quatix series has made a name for itself as the most sophisticated and connected general- purpose marine smartwatch series on the market today,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales. “Whether you’re chasing bass or billfish, cruising or sailing, canoeing or kayaking, the quatix 6 has everything you’ll need on the water. With the addition of some of our most sought-after features, like built-in music, contactless payments and preloaded topographic and ski maps, we’ve redefined marine smartwatch standards once again.”

With daily activity tracking and a host of connectivity features, the quatix 6 doubles as a smartwatch that can be worn 24/7 and transitioned from water to land. Stay connected with the quatix 6 that allows users to receive alerts on their wrist for incoming calls, texts, emails and more by enabling smart notifications. A Garmin Pay contactless payment solution offers the ability to make purchases quickly on the go with nothing needed but the watch. The quatix 6 series also features on-device music storage of up to 2,000 songs, so users can sync playlists from several of the most popular music services to their watch for phone-free listening.

Thanks to its full marine-centric toolset, the quatix 6 acts as a wearable instrument that, when paired with onboard Garmin electronics, can stream NMEA 2000 boat data to give users access to important sensor information like speed, depth, temperature, wind data and more – right from their wrist, no matter where they are on the boat. Like previous models, when the quatix 6 is 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.

The quatix 6 also adds support for optional BlueChart g3 coastal charts and LakeVü inland maps with integrated Navionics data, so it can be utilized as both a dedicated or back-up navigation tool.

Specifically designed for the water, the quatix 6 gives mariners up-to-date tide data downloaded for their chosen area through a smartphone, and will have access to that data for seven days. It’s also equipped with an anchor alarm to warn users of drift and an anchor rode calculator that tells the user the proper length of anchor line to put out. For fishing, a competition timer and fish catch log are available to help users keep track of the fish they’ve caught and the time remaining before getting back to weigh-in. When it comes to sailing, the quatix 6 is loaded with SailAssist capabilities with improved sail racing features like virtual starting line, distance to start line, race countdown timer and tack assist.

The quatix 6 also features wrist-based heart rate for all-day stress tracking, underwater wrist-based heart rate for swimming and Pulse Ox blood oxygen saturation to support advanced sleeping monitoring and acclamation. Plus, the Body Battery energy monitoring feature lets users see their body’s energy levels at any given moment, which can help with scheduling workouts, rest times and sleep.

Measuring at 47mm, the quatix 6 features a bigger, always-on 1.3-inch color display with an LED backlight so data is visible in any light. Water rated to 100 meters, the quatix 6 was built to withstand the elements and boasts up to 14 days of battery life in smartwatch mode, 24 hours in GPS mode and up to 60 hours in UltraTrac battery saver mode. With a new customizable Power Manager, users can also see and control how various settings and sensors impact battery life, and even adjust their battery saving modes to extend battery life on the fly.

The quatix 6 is available now in two versions: the quatix 6 and the quatix 6 Titanium. The quatix 6 Titanium has a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal lens, titanium bezel, buttons and rear case and includes a titanium watch band as well as a cirrus blue silicone QuickFit band with a suggested retail price of $999.99. The quatix 6 has a stainless steel bezel, buttons and rear case and includes a captain blue silicone band with a suggested retail price of $699.99.