Garmin Watch Comparison Chart Garmin Tactix Bravo Review

When looking for an all-purpose GPS watch, I narrowed the choice downwardly to two watches: the Garmin Tactix "Bravo" and "Charlie." In the terminate, I chose the Bravo for a variety of reasons. Below I discuss some of the differences as well as my experience.

Launched in 2016, the Garmin Tactix Bravo went to market place geared toward members of the armed forces and police force enforcement. Two years later in April 2018, Garmin released a marginally "improved" variant of this watch chosen the Garmin Tactix Charlie. We ultimately decided to get with the Bravo because of the cost-benefit over forking out the actress $150 for relatively few enhancements.

The Garmin Tactix Bravo and Tactix Charlie are basically ultra-tough, suped-up versions of their twin brothers the Garmin Fenix 3 and Fenix 5, respectively. I won't get deep into the specs, only some key difference between the two includes the following:

Garmin Tactix Bravo vs Charlie At a Glance

	Tactix Bravo	Tactix Charlie
Avant-garde Fitness Metrics	VO2 Max, running speed/cadence, BPM, O2 consumption, interval timer, stride length, stress score, etc.	Same only with additional pre-loaded profiles
Altimeter	Predictive, existent fourth dimension	Same
Compass	3-axis electronic (works while stationary)	Same
ConnectIQ Compatibility	Custom faces, data fields, apps, widgets, etc	Same simply with unlike UI
GPS/GLONASS	Yes (with time sync and automobile calibration of ABC Sensor)	Same
H2o Resistance	100 meters	Same
Color Display	Sunlight readable (Its tactical)	Yes (more colors on card view)
Pre-Loaded Topo Maps	No	Yes
Bezel	Carbon Coated Stainless	Carbon Coated Titanium
Resolution	218×218 pixels	240×240 pixels
Max Battery Life	21 days	12 days (due to Hour sensors)
Heart Rate Sensor	No	Yep
Memory	32MB	16GB

Review of the Tactix Bravo

Out of the box, the Garmin Tactix Bravo is an absolute beast of a watch. It comes with a USB charger that snaps to the bottom of the scout, charging block, spotter confront, and ii nylon military-manner bands.

We took the Tactix Bravo into a 2-week grooming operation in the Rockies. The rugged terrain, navigation challenges, and challenging environs for electronics allowed for rigorous testing of the navigation features and overall performance. All in all, information technology performed well. The stand-out features were the long battery life, immovability, and navigation/sensors. Drawbacks included some GPS conquering problems, plotting known points, and comfort.

The advertised battery life of the Bravo is about 20 hours if you are using the GPS often. Anticipating this, I took an Anker 1000 power bank to become me through the 14 days in the field. I found this to be overkill considering the Bravo lasted me near 3 days of nearly abiding navigating (8+ hours per day) before needing a recharge. I did, notwithstanding, practise some power management; only turning on the GPS when I needed it or shooting an azimuth between waypoints to salve power when able. I also slept with the battery inside my bivy bag to ensure it stayed warm. When it comes to recharging the battery, I was surprised to find that information technology happens extremely fast. I can recharge from xx% to 100% in right around 40 minutes. Any way you await at it, the power is phenomenal when compared to other watches. This was especially satisfying knowing that ane of the central features of the Tactix Charlie vs Bravo is enhanced battery life. Knowing this to not be an event, I'1000 glad to take saved the money.

Durability

When yous first meet the watch, y'all immediately will notice how durable information technology is. In that location is a knurled bezel around a big, low-visibility crystal screen. Information technology lays depression on the wrist and weaves into the provided nylon straps easily. This is definitely a professional-form tool. The Bravo was submerged in an water ice-cold river, got caked in mud, scratched beyond shale, brushed upwardly against trees, and clanged against other metal instruments. A quick rinse after 2 weeks and information technology appeared good as new. At outset, I was not sure why Garmin would ship such a premium piece of gear with cheap nylon wrist straps simply subsequently y'all vanquish the watch repeatedly over weeks in the field, they held upwards stronger and wicked wet better than most straps. I am non certain on the drib issue but I accept dropped the watched from effectually 5 feet with no bug.

Garmin Tactix Bravo Post-Op

Navigation and sensor performance were both excellent. The grids pulled off the GPS were right on target every time. I did take to enable MGRS equally the default location before stepping off. The compass looks to pull grid N and shows an estimated heading. It is surprisingly authentic when compared with a lensatic compass; only off by v or so degrees. At that place is an car-calibrate feature, nevertheless, I suggest you calibrate it manually. When it comes to navigating to specific waypoints, I was especially impressed with the Tactical app that marks the Tactix series. It will display your footstep, elevation changes (and predictions), time on deck (or fourth dimension of day for you lot Army types), and the extremely useful ETA calculator. All the relevant information you need is displayed on one screen. I have likewise used the run, wheel, and hike activity features often and they all provide excellent real-time data in a similar mode.

Now on to some of the drawbacks…

Drawbacks

Perchance the biggest hang-ups I had with the Bravo had to practice with the GPS. There were times when it would take a good 10 minutes for the GPS to larn. I don't know if it was simply buggy or that it had something to do with operating almost 10,000 anxiety. When yous get-go the Tactical app (or any other navigation app), the outer ring of the brandish acts equally a loading bar to show yous how far forth the satellite acquisition is. Normally this takes about xxx seconds simply on two or 3–and very inconvenient-occasions, the bar hung at about eighty%. I could get around this by exiting everything then relaunching the app a few times only to sort ofjolt it into picking up the satellites.

Some other issue I had was with the intuitiveness of the waypoint plotting. The software allows yous to project waypoints and plot courses using saved locations. The problem is, at that place is no fashion to manually enter grid coordinate locations into the list of saved locations. Yous can plot where you are standing and that is about information technology; as far as I could effigy out. If you lot are provided with a list of grids to plot into your GPS, there is no easy way to save them into a GPS. Instead, you lot are sitting there saving your electric current location, going dorsum, editing it, saving, then repeat for next coordinate. Information technology would exist nice if at that place is a manner to upload or enter MGRS/UTM filigree coordinates into the GPS equally waypoints alee of a trip or mission. This would relieve a lot of fourth dimension and bombardment life.

And lastly, it might be a good thought to supervene upon the nylon strap with a silicone watchbandfor added comfort. Wearing information technology is comfortable. Wearing it on a ii week trip through the mountains rubs your wrist raw if you are not conscientious.

Verdict

All things considered, I am very happy with my choice. The Bravo may not exist the latest and greatest in the Tactix line but information technology is an extremely powerful tool manner ahead of its time. In fact, I'd pit it against whatever of the newest competitors such as its less feature-rich Suunto Traverse Blastoff or Suunto Military Black. The immovability, navigation, and battery are way alee of their time, even in 2019. Despite the few drawbacks, it is a solid watch worth looking at over the supposed "latest and greatest."

Disclaimer: We receive compensation from some of the companies whose products are linked in this mail. This allows usa to point you toward the best gear and products for the job. We examination and use each product and will give high marks to merely the best. Field Athlete is independently owned and the opinions expressed hither are our own.

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Source: http://fieldathlete.com/2018/07/10/why-i-chose-the-garmin-tactix-bravo-over-the-charlie/

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