Garmin reveals new smartwatches that charge from the Sun as it says solar power is the future

Garmin has released a range of new watches that charge from the Sun, as it commits to the idea that solar power could be the future of fitness technology.

The line-up now includes the first of Garmin's products that can keep itself charged using only solar power, theoretically meaning that the watch would never need to be plugged in at all.

The first of Garmin's smartwatches arrived last year, with its top end Fenix line. But it was only found in the largest of those watches, and the solar charging was only ever intended to top up the charge rather than give endless power.

But the new watches represent a further step as Garmin looks to harnass solar power to create watches that never or rarely need charging and so can keep tracking people theoretically forever, it said.

The new watches include the smaller versions of the Fenix line-up, meaning that even the smallest Fenix 6S now has a solar version. Solar charging is now on the company's Tactix watches, which are built for military and other uses that require more secure tracking and a robust finish.

But the most notable of the new watches is probably Garmin's new Instinct, its cheaper and more mainstream activity tracker, which can keep itself charged forever it is used in the right mode.

The new watches come alongside a host of new updates, including features that add new surf-tracking features and tools to monitor indoor climbing performance.

Garmin said that the new feature was added in part to reduce "battery fatigue", or the idea that over time users will get bored of charging up their smartwatches. Instead, solar charging should allow the battery to keep powered up and need less charge by borrowing energy from the outdoor environment that its users are already in, Garmin said.

The company had been looking to introduce solar-powered watches "for a long time", according to Brad Trenkle, Garmin's vice president of outdoor. But the durability of the technology was unsatisfactory, it did not provide enough charge, and the design meant that introducing solar charging also meant compromising the aesthetic or functionality of the products, Mr Trenkle said.

As such, it had waited until it could release watches that were able to meaningfully use the solar charge without becoming too thick or requiring other drawbacks, he said.

Mr Trenkle described the introduction of the new solar-powered watches and the addition of features that ensured they could stay charged forever as a "milestone" – its second after the first were introduced last year – but that the company "would love to be able to make that possible in more watches, in more modes". He did not give any specific indication of which of Garmin's products would receive solar charging, but indicated that it could come to large parts of the product line in the future.

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