Garmin Epix GPS Watch

Mapping

GPS watches are great for tracking your route, coordinates, and speed, but those features are only helpful when compared to a physical map. Otherwise, the black dotted line on your screen doesn’t tell you much. Enter the EPIX, which is the first wearable GPS that displays colored relief maps (buy and pre-load the ones you want or pay $50 to get a 1:100,000 U.S. topo up front) on its 1.4-inch, high-res touchscreen. “I could check my location on the fly to make sure I was headed for the right drainage,” said one Colorado tester after a tour in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. With 8 gigs of internal memory, it can hold a whole region at a time, so you don’t need to swap out maps before local trips.

Features

It has all the standard GPS functions—altimeter, barometer, and three-axis compass—but it actually links two satellite systems (the usual GPS and another called GLONASS), giving it a top-class signal. With the GPS on, the battery lasts up to 24 hours (turn it off overnight and when you don’t need a signal). Bonus: It’s waterproof to 50 meters.