Garmin Quatix 7 Quick Review – Is it for you?

With a focus on anglers, boaters and sailors, Garmin released the Quatix 7 series which is available in three editions, with a single option for each edition. These include the Standard Edition, Sapphire Edition and Solar Edition.  This latest version includes improvements to strengthen integration with onboard boating electronics.

It’s now equipped with a touchscreen that can be used to control multifunction digital displays or Fusion audio systems, as well as Garmin autopilots.

This review focuses on the Standard Edition model which is perfect for outdoor activities as it has a 1.3-inch sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) display made of Gorilla Glass. The display is set a bit from the stainless steel bezel so it’s protected by the bezel also.The software elements are the same between all three models with lots of features for mariners.

BUTTON FUNCTIONS

The function of the top-left button is that it turns the display backlight on and off. The center-left button moves up the display, and the bottom-left button moves down the display. You press and hold the center-left button to access the menu of settings and options.

The top right button opens up your favorite activity list and then is used as a selection button. The bottom right is the lap/back button so that you can go back to one screen in your navigation.

One nice feature of the buttons is that the top right button has a casing around the button to prevent accidentally pressing it while participating in a specific activity. If you accidentally rub up against a line, hardware, or anything else on your boat, it shouldn’t activate this button. The button also has a red metallic ring around it to clearly identify the start/stop function.

WATCH COMFORT

garmin watchThe watch has a comfortable silicone quick-release 22mm watch band which is included with the watch. You can buy other options. It is a marine blue color. The rear cover is a titanium material, while fiber-reinforced polymer material is present around the edges of the watch. On the back of the Quatix 7 is the Garmin Elevate V4 heart rate sensor.

The software on the watch is the same as on current Garmin watches. The watch face is always on when the watch is powered on. You conveniently press or scroll with your finger to move up and down through the options you select for your watch. Press the start button or tap on the glance to open up details of the particular widget to scroll through more information.  To go back, you press the back, lower right button or swipe from left to right across the display.

BOATING FEATURES ON THE WATCH

The Quatix 7 supports a lot of activities and is a good choice in the marketplace over competitors if you are going on the water.

Boating features included on a Quatix 7 series include:

  • Autopilot control: From anywhere on your boat.
  • Fusion-link audio system: You can control your Fusion Entertainment system.
  • View boat data: You can view water depth, engine RPM, wind, and more with compatible equipment
  • Waypoint marking: Use the watch to place waypoints on a chart
  • Sail-Assist support: Create a virtual starting line, use tack assist to determine your condition, and more sailing support
  • Multi-function display (MFD) control: Quickly access chart zoom, backlight adjustment and layout shortcuts
  • Anchor drag alarm: Get quick alerts to the watch when the anchor is dragging
  • Tide alerts: Remain mindful of the water’s ebbs and flows with integrated tide data and alerts – now viewable on the watch face
  • Multi-continent Topo Maps: Explore detailed contour mapping around the globe that is easily loaded and updated via built-in Wi-Fi

You can fully customize the data fields that appear in your selected water activity. Data field options include nautical distance, nautical speed over ground, average speed over ground, lat/long, velocity made good and more. Water-based activities supported on the Quatix 7 include boat, sail, sail race, tides, anchor, autopilot, boat data, fish, Fusion-Link, MFD remote, SUP, surf, windsurf, kiteboard, and kayak.

SMARTPHONE INTERFACE & CONNECT APP

What’s new with the Quatix is the nearly seamless sync from your phone to the watch in the Garmin Connect app and the real-time syncing function that takes place when you change a setting on your phone to have it synced to the watch. In the past, when a settings change occured in the Garmin Connect smartwatch app you would need to initiate a syncing session to have them synced over. Now when you make a change, it is synced over automatically.

You can collect a lot of data that can be used for for tracking trends, improving performance, challenging friends, and identifying problem areas. The Garmin Connect app is offered for iOS and Android.  It’s a powerful and capable application that closely matches the Connect website experience.

When you first launch the smartphone app there is dashboard that is completely customizable to your needs. You just scroll to the bottom and choose to “Edit My Day” where you choose from the following cards: heart rate, steps, Body Battery, intensity minutes, floors, sleep, stress score, weight, calories, Pulse OX, and more. You can toggle to see yesterday’s stats as well as the last 7 days of stats. Other tabs in the smartphone software include challenges, calendar, news feed, and notifications. One of these can be substituted for Garmin Coach once you select and set up a training plan.

You can control phone notifications during an activity and at all other times when you are not recording data as part of the activity. When connected to an Android smartphone, you go to Settings>Notifications in the Garmin phone app to customize exactly which apps provide notifications to the watch. This is not available with an iPhone, however.  With a paired Android phone, you can select to reply to messages with customized text responses.

A WATCH FOR BOATERS AND OUTDOOR PEOPLE

The Quatix 7 is a good choice if you are a boater with extensive support for boating built into it. In addition to boating activities, the Quatix 7 supports other activities:  running, walking, hiking, biking, indoor rowing, sleeping, commuting, swimming, full support for golf, and preloaded SkiView maps.