Garmin announced the third-generation MARQ today: six titanium watches priced from $2,500 to $3,100. The MARQ it replaces dates from 2022 and was built on that year's Epix. Garmin has shipped four flagship generations since, and the new MARQ sits on the newest of them, the Fenix 9.
The Athlete is the cheapest at $2,500. The Adventurer is $2,700 and the Golfer $2,800, while the Diver, Commander and Aviator are $3,100 each. The Diver is new to the line, and it's certified for scuba and free diving to 40 meters. Every model gets a Grade 5 titanium case, a ceramic bezel and buttons with a real mechanical click.
The screen is now a 1.4-inch AMOLED that reaches 3,000 nits, with no border between the display and the bezel. There's an LED flashlight on the front, and a speaker and microphone for voice control and calls from the wrist. The heart rate sensor adds an ECG app that checks for signs of atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm.
LTE and satellite messaging are on every model, except in the few countries that restrict them. Over LTE the watch can make calls, send texts and share a live location without your phone. Satellite covers basic texts and SOS when there's no signal at all. Neither is free for long: after 30 days it's $9.99 a month, and satellite texts cost extra on top.
Until now a MARQ was a Fenix in nicer materials, with no hardware or features of its own. Ray Maker of DC Rainmaker, who has been testing the Diver and the Adventurer, lists what the new one has that a Fenix 9 doesn't. The MARQ carries 128GB of storage against the Fenix 9's 64GB. It comes with topographic maps for the whole world already loaded, and it can navigate to a typed street address. And it can show ClimbPro, Garmin's breakdown of the hill you're on and the ones ahead, while you run, hike or ride without a planned route.
Route-free ClimbPro was delayed, so Maker couldn't test it yet. He expects it within days, not months.
Battery life is close to the 47mm Fenix 9's. Maker got four to six days per charge with the screen always on and an hour or two of GPS a day.
Yesterday Garmin's own support pages listed a MARQ Gen 3 while the one in stores still ran on 2022 hardware. That watch now has a replacement, and most of what's new on it, from LTE calling to the flashlight, also ships on the Fenix 9 Pro inReach for a few thousand dollars less. What the extra money buys is the world map, address search, route-free ClimbPro and the materials.