Garmin (NYSE: GRMN) today announced the tactix® 8, its next-gen tactical smartwatch. Available in a new 47mm case size and traditional 51mm size, tactix 8 adds dedicated rucking and dive activities, as well as a speaker and mic to create the ultimate tactical smartwatch.
Built to a U.S. military standard (MIL-STD-810) for thermal, shock and water resistance and a 40-meter dive rating with leakproof buttons, users can now take tactix 8 to new depths. And with incredible battery life, it’s easy to always be prepared; the new 47mm AMOLED display offers up to 16 days of battery life in smartwatch mode, while the 51mm solar model with an always-on display offers up to 48 days1.
“Whether you train for a mission, or your mission is training, tactix 8’s premium design and innovative features like the new rucking and dive functionality make it the ultimate tactical GPS smartwatch on land, air or sea.”
Dan Bartel, Garmin Vice President of Global Consumer Sales
Field-ready features
- Advanced design: Available in your choice of a 51mm or new 47mm case size, tactix 8 features leakproof buttons and a new sensor guard to help protect essential sensors. Premium materials like a titanium bezel and scratch-resistant sapphire lens are built to endure, even in the harshest of conditions.
- Built-in speaker and microphone: Make and take phone calls from the watch when paired with a compatible smartphone. Voice commands like “start a hiking activity”, “set a timer for 5 minutes”, “save waypoint” and more can be activated right from the watch—no phone connection required.
- Dive capabilities: Dive in with a 40-meter dive-rated case and support for scuba and apnea dive activities.
- Rucking: This new dedicated activity profile allows users to input pack weight to better understand the physical exertion associated with rucking. In addition, a new pack weight feature allows users to add pack weight to various activities like trail running, hiking and walking, which disables VO2 Max recording when carrying 2kg or more.
- Ballistic solutions: All tactix 8 units come preloaded with Applied Ballistics® (AB) Ultralight solver and are compatible with the new AB Quantum app. For advanced solutions, tactix 8 Elite integrates the AB Elite solver.
- AMOLED or enhanced solar: Choose between a bright AMOLED display or an always-on display with a solar charging lens that harnesses the power of the sun even better, resulting in up to 50% more solar power than previous models1. Both models also feature refreshed graphics.
- Advanced mapping and navigation: Users can view terrain contours on TopoActive maps for a better understanding of terrain. A newly integrated map interface allows users to easily customize map layers to get the most out of their navigation. While exploring, enter a distance on the watch and receive suggested routes to stay on track and on time with dynamic round-trip routing.
Lead the charge
Ready for any mission, tactix 8 is packed with premium mapping features to help users stay on track. Preloaded TopoActive maps provide multi-continent mapping from around the world while an Outdoor Maps+ subscription (purchased separately) provides users with premium mapping content, like satellite imagery, public land maps, hunting units, burn zones and more directly on the watch. SatIQ™ and multi-band GPS help provide superior positioning accuracy—all while optimizing battery life. Before training, users can create or find existing courses in Garmin Connect™ and seamlessly sync them to their watch to get turn-by-turn directions.
During night operations, the smartwatch provides a built-in multi-LED flashlight, providing quick access to a bright, steady light in either white or green. While in Night Vision Goggle (NVG) mode, the display dims to levels functional to the primary user (including those wearing night optic devices) but nearly invisible to anyone else.
In sensitive locations, users can utilize Stealth Mode, which turns off wireless communications but still collects distances traveled and biometric data without recording location data. Leveraging this feature allows the watch to be used and even upload logged data – while concealing its location, which is typically visible through popular mobile training apps.
Train for the mission
In addition to dozens of dedicated activities like rucking to help users stay active, tactix 8 can help users power up their body’s performance, endurance and resistance to injury with targeted strength training plans, real-time stamina tracking, sport-specific workouts and a full range of built-in sports apps.
Every morning, a training readiness score can help determine if it’s a good day to go hard or take it easy, while advanced training metrics like endurance score, hill score, VO2 max, training status and more can help gauge overall performance2. Loaded with 24/7 health monitoring features, tactix 8 includes wrist-based Pulse Ox3, Body Battery™ energy monitoring, jet lag adviser, advanced sleep monitoring, nap detection and more. Upon waking, users can receive a morning report that provides a customized look at last night’s sleep, their training outlook and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Status. All tactix 8 models are also compatible with the ECG app4, an FDA-cleared app that can help users record their heart rhythm and check for signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib) right from their wrist.
Reach new depths
The tactix 8 smartwatch is at home on land, air and now sea thanks to its support of scuba and apnea diving up to a 40-meter depth. The scuba diving activity tracks entry and exit location of dives and provides divers underwater navigation through a tilt-compensated digital compass and supports multiple gas mixes up to 40% oxygen. Apnea mode provides freedivers and spearfishermen a suite of underwater alerts and timers that are designed to help improve their diving and situational awareness as well as track the location of each dive. Leakproof buttons, also new to tactix 8, allow divers to feel confident operating the smartwatch underwater without risk of damaging the unit.
Applied Ballistic integration
Tactix 8 comes preloaded with Applied Ballistics® (AB) Ultralight solver, giving users access to advanced aiming solutions for long-range marksmanship. Users wanting enhanced solutions can purchase tactix 8 Elite, which integrates Applied Ballistics Elite Solver. Available for use with all tactix 8 smartwatches, the new AB Quantum app provides users with profile, target, and ballistic data management as well as the ability to use a smartphone as an additional display.
Aviation features
Both civilian and military aviators will benefit from tactix 8’s Direct-To-Navigation feature, which allows users to navigate straight to a location or waypoint or use the “Nearest” function to activate a path to a nearby airport. Additionally, pilots can access aviation weather, including NEXRAD radar, METARs and TAFs to see winds, visibility, barometric pressure and more directly on their smartwatch5.
During airborne operations, Jumpmaster can be used for three jump types: HAHO, HALO and Static. Set the watch to dual-positioning mode, and it will simultaneously display two sets of coordinate systems, such as MGRS and latitude/longitude, on a single data screen.
Available to order on Garmin.com on February 21st, tactix 8 models have a suggested retail price starting at $1,299.99.
Source: Garmin news release
