I can still feel the joy. When I was no more than 8 years old, my parents got me a new watch, and man, was it a fancy one. It was the first I had ever had that lit up the tiny black-and-white digital screen so I could read the time in the dark! You heard it here, folks. It was groundbreaking at the time.
Fast-forward over 20 years, and that watch would likely be found in a bin labeled “FREE” at a thrift store. Watch technology has certainly come leaps and bounds since I was a child, and this Garmin Tactix 8 watch? Well, it may be the best watch I’ve personally found for the dedicated hunter, fitness guru, recreational shooter, etc.
In short: Hunters looking for a top-of-the-line smartwatch applicable to their hunting and everyday lives, the Garmin Tactix 8 should be on the radar. Just be prepared for a hefty price tag, and it won’t be a replacement for a digital mapping app like onXhunt.
Shopping for a smart watch? Check out our guide to the best smart watches of the year.
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Durable -
Practical features for hunters and everyday life -
Easy set up
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Very expensive -
Wish it could integrate with onXmaps
Garmin Tactix 8 Smartwatch Review
Overview
The Garmin Tactix 8 was built with the tactical community in mind, but it would be a great addition to any hunter’s gear kit. It comes in several different sizes and styles. Garmin offers a 47mm AMOLED, a 51mm AMOLED, a 51mm Solar, and a 51mm Solar Elite.
Inside the box, you’ll receive your watch, which is preloaded with either Applied Ballistics Ultralight Solver or Elite Solver (depending on model), a charging cable, and an instruction manual.
There are five buttons on the watch. Three on the left side are a flashlight, notifications/up, and general insights like weather, heart rate, etc./down. The two buttons on the right are an OK/menu button and a back button. Aside from the buttons, this is a touchscreen watch, so it can be used either way.
The stock wristband is a silicone band, but these are interchangeable. Garmin offers many options for different types of wristbands should you want a different look/feel, and the lens is a sapphire crystal.
As for battery life, Garmin is saying up to 16 days. This is highly dependent on what features you use throughout that time. Tracking a hike, for instance, will eat more into the battery life.
Features
Garmin packed the Tactix 8 with tons of features. There are way too many to list here, so I’m going to cover the ones I believe are the most applicable to the hunter.
LED Flashlight
This isn’t a feature exclusive to the Tactix 8, aside from the additional green light it offers. The Fenix 8 also offers an LED flashlight, but it has an additional red light instead of green. With that said, the flashlight is easily turned on by double-tapping the top button on the left side of the watch.
And this isn’t some little useless light. This is like a headlamp, or should I say a “wristlamp.” A practical feature for hunters who need to find something quickly in the dark and don’t want to reach for a headlamp right away.
Rucking Activity
A feature that is exclusive to the Tactix 8 is the new Rucking activity. Never before have I personally seen this in a watch. This activity allows you to not only record hikes for juicy fitness data but also hone that data even more by being able to input your pack weight. For those who like to track workouts while preparing for hunting season, this is a no-brainer activity to utilize.
Applied Ballistics Solver
Another feature exclusive to the Garmin Tactix 8 and valuable to the hunter is the Applied Ballistics Solver. By downloading the Applied Ballistics app, you can input all of your ballistic data, have different rifle profiles, etc. All of that info can seamlessly be seen in your Tactix 8 for reference, whether you’re in the field or at the range.
My Experience
Setting up this smartwatch was literally a breeze. It’s a pretty self-explanatory process, and Garmin does an excellent job walking you through everything. There were a few things I noticed immediately while doing this.
One, the buttons had a texture to them that I much preferred over my older Fenix models. Two, I was a bit skeptical of the touchscreen. I feared it wouldn’t be sensitive enough, but I was way wrong. The touchscreen is quite nice, and it felt like I was using a small round smartphone instead of a watch.
Throughout my time with the Tactix 8, I have done countless workouts with it in preparation for spring bear season, used the Applied Ballistics Solver, and had it out on a few backcountry bear hunts. I’ve also just worn it during everyday life every single day since I’ve had it, which is about 2 months now. It’s been a pleasure across the board.
What I Use the Most
One feature I’ve found especially neat is that I can answer a phone call via the watch and hear/talk to the person on the other end. Pretty James Bond, if you ask me — and I like it.
I’m a big fan of the new Rucking activity. This was always a bit of a pet peeve of mine when recording weighted pack hikes on my other watches. They don’t allow you to input the weight of the pack. Not only is that confusing for record-keeping, but also, I never felt like I was getting an accurate reading on my workouts without that pack weight.
A tiny, but mighty feature for me is the LED flashlight. I use this every single day and also found it useful in the field when looking for stuff in my tent at night or diving into my pack quickly in fading light. It’s surprisingly bright and even use it for things like grilling at night in my backyard.
As for the Applied Ballistics Solver, this was a cool addition to the watch. After inputting all of my ballistic data into the app, I now had a dope chart for my rifles right on my wrist. I even compared it to my original dope chart just to check for inconsistencies. The differences were very minor and not anything I feel like I’d even be able to see downrange. We’re talking stuff like 3.2 MOA vs 3.1 MOA.
How Did the Tactix 8 Hold Up?
I’m happy to say that after much brush busting, dust devils, rain, etc., on backpack hunts, the Tactix 8 still looks and performs like new. I was worried that the touchscreen would start lagging after such things, but that’s not the case.
What’s Wrong?
The biggie when it comes to the downside of the Tactix 8 is, for sure, the price tag. It’s a mega card swipe if you ask me, and will likely deter people from making the jump. On the more practical side of things, I really wish that these smartwatches could connect to a digital mapping app on our phones, or just have access to the same mapping software.
The mapping is OK on the Garmin, but it is nowhere near a replacement for my onXhunt app on my phone. Who knows if it’ll ever happen, but my fingers are crossed for something like this.
Final Thoughts
From dedicated GPS devices and the famed inReach to rangefinding bow sights and GPS smartwatches. Garmin knows its craft, and they do it well. The new Garmin Tactix 8 smartwatch is no exception to any of that, and I’m truly glad I have one wrapped around my wrist as I type this.
It may have been built with the tactical community in mind, but to me, it’s so much more than just a tactical watch. It’s an everything watch. I’m looking forward to getting much more use out of the Tactix 8, whether that’s at home, in the field hunting, or just around my house.
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