I wear my Fenix 6X all the time, only taking it off (sometimes) while taking a shower. I don't even notice it anymore. I don't have any scratches or anything like that but I'm not blue collar or something like that. If you are into rock climbing and such you can get a plastic bezel protecter on Amazon and use that from time-to-time I suppose...

Ditto. Same watch, same timeframe. Battery is still holding up well, and I wouldn't hesitate to replace it with another Garmin when this one eventually kicks the bucket.

Do you (or any others) feel like you might lose out on any additional / better metrics (I don’t know if they are any) that an EPIX would give you during pool swims? …… versus let’s say a 920 XT (what I currently use in the pool)?

I occasionally got a rash with the original Garmin bands, but haven't since I switched to a cheap aftermarket silicone band.

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

garmin fenxix or epix can handle anything. i have a fenix and the apple ultra. i prefer the ultra for the screen and the fact i can take or make a call if needed. However, I would go Epix if you just need a tri watch

Hmmm. I haven't had any problem with the band. The only area I get irritation is where the HR sensor sits. I will make sure to clean both sides and get them super dry and see how I get on with that.

I wear my Epix daily. Life, work or play, it’s totally fine.

I've worn my Forerunner line watch all the time for years now... 920XT, 935 and now have the 945LTE.

Only time I take it off is to charge it. Had a bit of an issue with the 920XT bands lasting more than a year but the current bands seem to last forever.

MAY (or may not) be useful. There are a couple interesting points.

https://www.garmin.com/.../watch-fit-and-care/

wear it loose when not working out, only tighten the band to get good HR monitor contact during workouts. While loose the watch will move 2-3in up and down my wrist, so it's never in contact with one patch for long..
With the old Timexes always wore the watch strap loose, when starting with Garmin kept it tighter for the HR monitor but quickly developed rash and irritation from that..

I had a fenix and used it for everything (as a bikecomputer, as daily watch, as race monitor) which was fine with one big disadvantage: the screen.
You can hardly see it if inside, and have to press the light button when you want to know which time it is. Such that basically those nice analogue watchfaces are rather useless unless you‘re in bright light conditions.
So I was waiting for the X-size Epix because I like the X-size.

Now something happened and I lost the fenix and had to buy the epix (what a shame :-)).

I must say I have mixed feelings. I thought „allways on“ means what is says: „allways on“ but that‘s not the case.
It‘s only brightly on during that couple of seconds after you turned your wrist. After some time it goes in some saving mode which deletes a lot of the pixels including those changing every second. Gives the watch a nervous behaviour.

If you put it on the table it goes totally black which is ok to me by the way, because it does not shine at night that way.

I do not like the nervous bahaviour and would like the watch to stay on at least a couple of minutes in full brightness as an iphone but that seems not possible yet (burning in and battery issues). I use the epix as the fenix though: for everything. I do not load fancy analogue watch faces though because if you want to enjoy it and look at it longer than a glance it changes into saving mode which is frustrating.

Biked with my epix today; started with 40% battery and it was empty after 2 hours.
I'm very surprised: did already a 70.3 this year in 5:40 and the epix recorded everything.
Either the battery indication is non linear or biking uses more battery than swimming or running.

Anyway, start worrying whether my epix will record the long distance I plan this year.