Garmin has come a long way in the GPS watch space since I started running. Now, they have a running watch for pretty much any price point and any kind of person. In fact, they also have golf watches, boating watches, aviation watches, and more. And, today, they also have upped the price for what it will cost to own the best Garmin watch ever made.
Garmin Has Just the Most Expensive Garmin Watch Ever
Link: New Garmin MARQ Carbon Edition – up to $3,200
A few years ago, Garmin launched their MARQ collection of watches. This was a collection of watches that appealed to certain areas of their community – the Athlete, the Golfer, the Adventurer, the Captain, the Aviator, and the Commander. Each of these watches had subtle differences that worked well within the area they were targeting, even down to desire and included bands.
Last year, they released the MARQ 2 which included the latest from the Fenix 7 and Epix watches as well as providing the additional refinements that were reserved for this level of watch.
Today, they went even further with their Carbon Edition MARQ watches. These cases are made from fused carbon fiber and start at $2,950 for the Athlete, go up to $3,100 for the Golfer, and finish at $3,200 for the Commander.
These cases weigh in at 48 grams, 11 grams fewer than the titanium MARQ versions. They also offer the same battery life as the equivalent sized Garmin Epix Pro at smartwatch for up to 16 days, or 6 days with the display set to always-on. The best GPS (constant) usage is 42 hours and down to 9 hours if you have the display always on and are using all satellite systems plus music.
As for the display itself, the lens is the same domed sapphire crystal that the other MARQ watches have. Due to the domed nature of it, apparently, it is only a 1.2″ display instead of the 1.3″ that the equivalent sized Epix Pro offers.
For the $3,200 version, you are getting a weathered black Jacquard-weave nylon watch strap ($200 if purchased separately) and a black silicone rubber strap. For the $2,950 Athlete version, you are getting just the black silicone rubber strap and the HRM-Pro Plus heart rate monitor.
All three of these watches are available to ship in 1-3 days, if you really want to buy one. 🙂
Honestly, it is just an aesthetics game. While people buy high-end analog watches for thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, they hold their value year after year. A smartwatch will not. In fact, to stay relevant, a new version will come out every couple of years since the latest sensors will be available and no one wants to spend $3,000 on a watch that is not as accurate as a $500 watch.
I am not sure how many of these Garmin will sell but my guess is not that many. There will be some that don’t mind dropping the cash to have the best that Garmin makes on their wrist but just about every feature that these have can also be found on the $999 Garmin Epix Pro. In fact, except for the build materials, you can get almost every feature on the $599 Garmin Forerunner 965 and many of the features on the Garmin Forerunner 265.
