The Garmin Fenix 8 has hit the early Black Friday sales — here’s why I’d buy it instead of the Fenix 9

The Garmin Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro watches launched recently and that means you can expect some seriously good deals on the Garmin Fenix 8 and Fenix 8 Pro in the Black Friday sales this year.I’ve tested every Fenix and Epix model since the Fenix 5 Pro and will be keeping a sharp eye on older models of the watch in the sales, and a great deal on the Garmin Fenix 8 has already appeared on Amazon.You can get the 47mm model of the Garmin Fenix 8 for $755 at Amazon right now, which is very close to its lowest price ever of $749.There aren't widespread deals on the entire Fenix 8 line-up as yet this Black Friday, but the 47mm watch is reduced to $755 at Amazon right now. Stock is low though, so this deal might not be available for long.View DealThis seems to be the only model of the Garmin Fenix 8 reduced so heavily right now, and the catch is that at the time of writing only 18 watches are left in stock, so you’ll have to move with alacrity to take advantage of this deal.I ran two marathons with the Garmin Fenix 8 during my testing of the watch, and it’s undoubtedly a superb option for amateur athletes and adventurers.It has a durable and attractive design, reliably accurate sports tracking, extensive training analysis and best-in-class maps and navigation features.(Image credit: Future)More importantly, it has almost all the key features available on the newer Fenix 8 Pro and Fenix 9 watches. These include almost all of the new software features that arrived on the Fenix 9, which are rolling back to the Fenix 8 through updates.The new watches have some exclusive extras though, with the most important being the LTE and satellite connectivity available on the Fenix 8 Pro and Fenix 9 Pro. There are also some design upgrades on the Fenix 9 Pro, which has a full titanium case, and other minor updates, but having tested all of these watches I’d say the Fenix 8 largely matches the new models in all the main areas aside from connectivity, and it comes in so much cheaper thanks to this deal I think it’s definitely a better value buy.