Garmin Fenix 5 Sapphire - Black with Black Band

I have had this less than 1 week. I also have a Garmin Forerunner 910XT, which I have uses for running, hiking, biking and swimming. My understanding is that the Garmin Fenix 5 does those things and more. This model does not do real-time mapping, which the pricier models with more memory do (5X, 5XPlus, 6). However those models would have costed significantly more. Note: the model I have is not WiFi-capable although the online user manual mentions that some are, so I am unclear if WiFi capability is model-specific or if it is region-specific. The additional features / improvements when compared to the ForeRunner 910XT are: 1) Measures heart rate at the wrist, and can also pair to a chest strap if desired although I have not tried that yet. 2) Uses Bluetooth ... MoreI have had this less than 1 week. I also have a Garmin Forerunner 910XT, which I have uses for running, hiking, biking and swimming. My understanding is that the Garmin Fenix 5 does those things and more. This model does not do real-time mapping, which the pricier models with more memory do (5X, 5XPlus, 6). However those models would have costed significantly more. Note: the model I have is not WiFi-capable although the online user manual mentions that some are, so I am unclear if WiFi capability is model-specific or if it is region-specific. The additional features / improvements when compared to the ForeRunner 910XT are: 1) Measures heart rate at the wrist, and can also pair to a chest strap if desired although I have not tried that yet. 2) Uses Bluetooth through a smartphone App to Sync data. Reportedly, the Fenix 5 is also ANT+ capable, but there does not appear to be a way to pair it to the USB ANT+ stick that I use to sync Forerunner 910XT data, so I believe the ANT+ functionality must be for pairing with ANT+ activity sensors. 3) After syncing to smartphone, it can pull phone notifications, obtain weather data, calculate various stats (sleep analysis, activity analysis) if desired. 4) Many types of watch faces are available by default or by download including ones with arms and stats, but I haven't tried those yet. 5) Even without syncing to smartphone, it is able to log and display heart rate (including graph of last 4 hours), VO2 max analysis, caloric analysis, some previous activity details, daily steps, barometer (including graph of last 48 hours), ambient temperature (including graph of last 4 hours, indoors if that is where you are), compass, altimeter (including graph of last 4 hours), sunrise/sunset/twilight local times, daily flights of stairs climbed, battery level, date. Reportedly, one can integrate the following types of items for additional activity analysis, but I haven't used these yet: foot pods for running gait, heart rate chest straps, cadence sensor for cycling, power meter for cycling and cycling VO2 Max (I am unclear which Power Meters work right now). Reportedly, this is also one of a few types of Garmin devices that can be used for Group Tracking. i.e. - for every such device enrolled into this feature, and within a 25 mile (or 25 km?) radius, Group tracking can be done. Not having done this before, I am not clear what this means, but it may be useful for teams of other group activities. 6) There are a lot more activities to select, where the most notable one is weight training where you can track heart rate through the entire workout, specify set start/stop/reps/weight from the watch itself. The Fenix 5 attempts to determine what weight training activity you are doing, although this is often off and can be edited later in the smartphone app. 7) The display is color, although most of the metrics are black and white, and I would not describe the color as 'vibrant'. 8) The cover is some type of glass (there are also sapphire models), which appears to be different from that of the ForeRunner 910XT. 9) The bezel is stainless steel. 10) The strap if more flexible than that of the ForeRunner 910XT. ..... Characteristics similar to the ForeRunner 910XT are: A) 100m water resistance. B) After saving an activity you can see the breadcrumb map on the watch, or the map on the smartphone. There are a few route mapping apps one can download, but I have not tried any yet. My understanding is that such apps may provide real-time breadcrumb path view during the activity. To Be Determined: a) It would be useful to know how much memory is left for apps, and whether that cuts into memory for activity history, but I don't know how to determine that at this time. b) How well this works during Swimming for swim metrics, which is suspected similar to the ForeRunner 910XT. c) How well this works for hiking in remote and/or recessed areas (canyons, gullies etc.). d) Compatible Power Sensors.

All the watch almost anybody needs.

Watch is feature-packed, without anything I really didn't need. And it looks sharp, to boot. Pros: - Accurate GPS & HR. - Very usable interface & button layout. - Highly, higlhly customizable layouts for clock, activities, widgets, apps, etc. - Very rugged watch....will be difficult to stress or damage this thing, even with all the outdoor activities I do. - Battery life. 1-2 weeks of daily use between charges?....Yes, please! Cons: - Heavy; I'm getting used to it, but would love to shave some weight from it. If you don't have it cinched to the right spot on your arm with the right pressure, it's going to flop around. - Wide & tall. It's a good thing it's rugged, as I do bump it into things more than my old (smaller) watch. - Display. I'm whining here, but it could ... MoreWatch is feature-packed, without anything I really didn't need. And it looks sharp, to boot. Pros: - Accurate GPS & HR. - Very usable interface & button layout. - Highly, higlhly customizable layouts for clock, activities, widgets, apps, etc. - Very rugged watch....will be difficult to stress or damage this thing, even with all the outdoor activities I do. - Battery life. 1-2 weeks of daily use between charges?....Yes, please! Cons: - Heavy; I'm getting used to it, but would love to shave some weight from it. If you don't have it cinched to the right spot on your arm with the right pressure, it's going to flop around. - Wide & tall. It's a good thing it's rugged, as I do bump it into things more than my old (smaller) watch. - Display. I'm whining here, but it could be a bit brighter or have more contrast without backlight (the backlight strength is adjustable, but not the standard display brightness). - Font size: For some secondary data fields, the aplhanumerics can require squnting....wish these were bigger or adjustable.

Awesome!

I chose this watch based on a recommendation from my cousin. Im an avid outdoorsman and previously had an older series Apple Watch that worked well but when it came time to upgrade this was the clear choice. I love the design. Its much more rugged and stylish than my previous smart watch and offers more functionality. I love the gps and tracking features it offers and it accurately tracks my walks hikes and runs. It syncs perfectly with my iPhone and Ive found it works well with other fitness based apps. I love the long battery life. I can usually get at least 5 days even with extensive hikes using gps. The garmin connect app works really well and is easy to use and navigate. I highly recommend this watch for anyone who enjoys the outdoors or wants a rugged stylish ... MoreI chose this watch based on a recommendation from my cousin. Im an avid outdoorsman and previously had an older series Apple Watch that worked well but when it came time to upgrade this was the clear choice. I love the design. Its much more rugged and stylish than my previous smart watch and offers more functionality. I love the gps and tracking features it offers and it accurately tracks my walks hikes and runs. It syncs perfectly with my iPhone and Ive found it works well with other fitness based apps. I love the long battery life. I can usually get at least 5 days even with extensive hikes using gps. The garmin connect app works really well and is easy to use and navigate. I highly recommend this watch for anyone who enjoys the outdoors or wants a rugged stylish fitness tracker watch.

Best Sports Tracking Watch to Wear 24/7

Bought the Fenix 5 about a month and half ago.It is great for tracking biking, swimming, running. Where it lacks a bit is the weightlifting/strength area. Garmin should add the ability to build a strength based workout that can be sent to the watch to tell you what exercise and how many reps/sets at what weight.It is great for 24/7 use tracking steps, telling me to move more often, tracking the amount of sleep I get and 24/7 1 sec heart rate monitoring. I have found the Resting Heart Rate graph to be a great indicator of impending illness, stress, and undertraining.The built quality is amazingly robust with the bands being super quick to change and the styling is good enough to wear with most nice office attire.Battery life is phenomenal, I usually bike ... MoreBought the Fenix 5 about a month and half ago.It is great for tracking biking, swimming, running. Where it lacks a bit is the weightlifting/strength area. Garmin should add the ability to build a strength based workout that can be sent to the watch to tell you what exercise and how many reps/sets at what weight.It is great for 24/7 use tracking steps, telling me to move more often, tracking the amount of sleep I get and 24/7 1 sec heart rate monitoring. I have found the Resting Heart Rate graph to be a great indicator of impending illness, stress, and undertraining.The built quality is amazingly robust with the bands being super quick to change and the styling is good enough to wear with most nice office attire.Battery life is phenomenal, I usually bike about 5-6 hours a week (using GPS), run for another 1-2 (using GPS), and then hit the gym or swim occasionally. I go from about 100% battery to 15% over the course of 7 days, and it only takes about an 1.5 hours to charge back to 100%.Having owned a gen 1 apple watch, gen 2 microsoft band, and a samsung gear s3, I can hands down say fenix 5 is way better at activity tracking and I can forgive it lacking some smartwatch features, and not having some prettier watch faces or a higher resolution screen because I don't have to charge it every freaking day, or worry about it getting scratched up, or try use a touch screen where my finger is a quarter of the whole screen.

Better than expected

I did the extensive looking into the replacement for my Garmin Forerunner 410, which BTW I upgraded from the Forerunner 405 and I loved a lot. I did a lot of reading and looking and I waited until the Fenix got some more 'Real Experience' by the running community with the feedback other than the usual marketing stuff. I was deciding between Fenix 5 and 5X. After actually looking at, and putting the 5X on my wrist I decided that the larger size and the thickness of the 5X was not for me and the mapping did not add enough value for me to go with 5X.My first full week involved running 57 miles with my Fenix 5 Sapphire. For the most part, it performed beyond my expectations. Traditional running data is great and the new information outstanding. The biggest concern I ... MoreI did the extensive looking into the replacement for my Garmin Forerunner 410, which BTW I upgraded from the Forerunner 405 and I loved a lot. I did a lot of reading and looking and I waited until the Fenix got some more 'Real Experience' by the running community with the feedback other than the usual marketing stuff. I was deciding between Fenix 5 and 5X. After actually looking at, and putting the 5X on my wrist I decided that the larger size and the thickness of the 5X was not for me and the mapping did not add enough value for me to go with 5X.My first full week involved running 57 miles with my Fenix 5 Sapphire. For the most part, it performed beyond my expectations. Traditional running data is great and the new information outstanding. The biggest concern I have is with the wrist HRM. It worked most of the time, but occasionally it would spike with a higher reading of 30-50 BPM's and then slowly return to the actual value. This is not a "dealbreaker" for me with this watch and I can't say it was not expected. I remember very similar things with the chest sensors and the static issue. Battery life is adequate and much better than the F410. I had to charge it once during the week. This is a plus. The screen brightness indoors is a bit of a concern, but outdoors and the sun, it's outstanding. GPS performed very well and I had no issues with the road or trail running. There are few 'wish-list' items that I would like to see like being able to see what is my HR when hitting the STOP and resting while waiting to RESUME. I always looked at my HR while resting. There are few more but I will wait until I get more acquainted with my new "favorite watch".The sales person Emily at MooseJaw in Rochester MI was oustanding - Thank you for putting up with a crazy runner that had a million questions.

Fenix 5 Very Good

Coming from the vivoactive 3. Wanted a nicer watch and vivo was having elevation issues during workouts. Fenix is my 4th smartwatch. 3 garmin and Samsung s3. No comparison in terms of activity tracking for garmin. Fenix just takes that to another level. I exercise a lot, but consider myself an exercise novice. I love the additional analytics.Not a huge fan of no touchscreen, but a week of hard use without a charge makes it worthwhile. Easy to get used to buttons if you are tired of thinking about your next charging window, trust me. I run, bike, p90x type active, 5 to 6 days a week for 20+ years and love garmin for connected equipment.Had the opportunity to test side by side with galaxy watch and hands down fenix is just better at everything active. Smartphone ... MoreComing from the vivoactive 3. Wanted a nicer watch and vivo was having elevation issues during workouts. Fenix is my 4th smartwatch. 3 garmin and Samsung s3. No comparison in terms of activity tracking for garmin. Fenix just takes that to another level. I exercise a lot, but consider myself an exercise novice. I love the additional analytics.Not a huge fan of no touchscreen, but a week of hard use without a charge makes it worthwhile. Easy to get used to buttons if you are tired of thinking about your next charging window, trust me. I run, bike, p90x type active, 5 to 6 days a week for 20+ years and love garmin for connected equipment.Had the opportunity to test side by side with galaxy watch and hands down fenix is just better at everything active. Smartphone wise, Samsung nails it, of course, but garmin does 99% of notifications, simple text responses from watch very well. Samsung with my activity and all day heart rate is 2 days.HR can be a little off, but keep it snug for running and it should be accurate. Biking, it misses for HR at times seeming to get completely lost on current heart beat, but then finds itself and tracks accurately most of the time. Of course, if doing upper body or P90X type stuff, put the chest strap on if you care about the numbers. It can be relatively accurate for burpees, but if you start feeling your upper body muscles working and burning you are most likely going to start getting inaccurate readings due to restricted blood flow. Keep it snug if you care!Garmin devices do a seemingly effortless job of 24/7 tracking and fenix with the battery life makes it even better. I dont understand the bad reviews of the app. I love it. I do wish with the fenix that you could add the performance monitoring, aerobic/anaerobic, V02 max, items as a tile.Overall, device operates well and I also like the somewhat lower resolution with bigger numbers on most screens because of my 40 something eyes. I am not expecting something I wear on my wrist to track everything absolutely perfect. I do think garmin does this as well as any.After my first treadmill run it asked how far treadmill said I went to calibrate. Genius. Galaxy watch won't even guess at the distance. Perfect example of next level fitness tracking from Garmin.I bought at a good price, but cost of this device is too much for most. It took me many years of cheaper ones before pulling the trigger because I use them so religiously.

Garmin Fenix5

I purchased this watch as opposed To the Apple Watch based on Garmins reputation/accuracy for sport watches. There are many things I like about the watch as well. The battery life is a big plus. Without altering any features like Hr monitoring or GPS etc the battery lasts right at a week for me which is far better then the day/day and a half with the Apple product. I like the look of white topped with the rose gold face. I appreciate buttons as opposed to touch screen and that time is always displayed rather then being dependent on my wrist movement to display time. I think that the wrist based heart rate monitoring is pretty close to accurate most of the time although you do have to wear the watch very snug to ensure that.Some cons I've found thus far are the step ... MoreI purchased this watch as opposed To the Apple Watch based on Garmins reputation/accuracy for sport watches. There are many things I like about the watch as well. The battery life is a big plus. Without altering any features like Hr monitoring or GPS etc the battery lasts right at a week for me which is far better then the day/day and a half with the Apple product. I like the look of white topped with the rose gold face. I appreciate buttons as opposed to touch screen and that time is always displayed rather then being dependent on my wrist movement to display time. I think that the wrist based heart rate monitoring is pretty close to accurate most of the time although you do have to wear the watch very snug to ensure that.Some cons I've found thus far are the step counting. It is horribly inaccurate and supposedly you have to have the foot pod to achieve accuracy. Which is fine however, when I called and talk to a support person prior to purchasing I was told you needed no adjuncts for any of the features. And I suppose you don't have to have the foot pod but if you want an accurate count you do and I find that a little aggravating when talking about a 600$$$ watch. The swim feature is inaccurate. In fact my workout partner uses the Apple series 2 and hers is muuuuch more accurate with swimming which I think is a horrrible reflection on Garmin when they are supposed to be so far advanced in sport features and accuracy whereas Apple is more for the social user. Additionally there are some of the advanced metrics that you do in fact have to use the chest strap for which is fine except I was told you needed no additional equipment.... so more of an annoyance than a legitimate issue with the watch.In the end I'm not sure I would make this purchase if I had it to do over again simply because I think you could get a much cheaper watch that performs at the same level.

Garmin's fenix 5 is the

Garmin's fenix 5 is the follow-up to the brands veritable fenix 3 and fenix 3 HR - we're not sure what happened to the fenix 4. I am a big fan of these watches, not only for their functionality and versatility, but also their durability. They are powerful enough to all but replace your dedicated head unit, but can also accompany you on any adventure. In fact, I liked the fenix 3 so much that after I finished my review I bought it! The fenix 5, as you'd expect, not only gets the Elevate HR sensor, but is also available in three versions: the fenix 5S, fenix 5 and fenix 5X. The fenix 5 is noticeably smaller and thinner, but is actually a few grams heavier than its predecessor weighing 88g compared to the 84g of the fenix 3. The new watch also gets Garmin's QuickFit ... MoreGarmin's fenix 5 is the follow-up to the brands veritable fenix 3 and fenix 3 HR - we're not sure what happened to the fenix 4. I am a big fan of these watches, not only for their functionality and versatility, but also their durability. They are powerful enough to all but replace your dedicated head unit, but can also accompany you on any adventure. In fact, I liked the fenix 3 so much that after I finished my review I bought it! The fenix 5, as you'd expect, not only gets the Elevate HR sensor, but is also available in three versions: the fenix 5S, fenix 5 and fenix 5X. The fenix 5 is noticeably smaller and thinner, but is actually a few grams heavier than its predecessor weighing 88g compared to the 84g of the fenix 3. The new watch also gets Garmin's QuickFit bands, which allow for tool free swaps with the push of a small lever on the inside of the band. Garmin fenix 3 owners can also take advantage of these bands. The fenix 5 also get a new charging cord, which has been updated from 'The Claw' to a more traditional plug. The advantage to this updated plug is it's much more compact, but unfortunately the most efficient charging position for the watch is screen down, so I had fears of scratching the screen. The new watch also gets a 64 colour, slightly higher resolution screen thats been upped from 218 x 218px to 240 x 240px. Claimed battery life has also increased - 24 hours in GPS/HR mode, 60 hours in UltraTrac mode without HR, and two weeks in watch mode. I found these to be pretty close to true, although it's tough to completely test the accuracy of the UltraTrac mode as I'm not out riding for 60 hours at a time. As you can imagine, running GPS and GLONASS together takes its toll on the battery with each activity eating into the battery, although usage still came pretty darn close in line with the claimed battery life. I am a big fan of Garmin's UltraTrac mode, which has also been updated for the fenix 5. In this mode the watch perpetually turns off the GPS to save battery, supplementing the data from the satellite with readings from the built-in gyroscope, instead of an accelerometer on the Fenix 3, to calculate speed and distance, while also gathering data from any ANT+ of Bluetooth sensors. Garmins fenix 5 is a fantastic watch for the outdoorsy person. It's data heavy and offers arguably the widest range of data fields on the market. It's accurate, it's tough and it looks great! I am partial to the look of a big watch, but the majority of people aren't, so the fenix 5s smaller size is likely to please. The screen is sharp in all light conditions and the range of built in sensors is fantastic. In line with what I've found elsewhere, the optical HR sensor wasn't as accurate as a chest strap, but it's good enough to recognise trends. I do however wish Garmin would go back to the rounded clasp because it's considerably more comfortable. Read the full review at bikeradar.com.

Perfect sportswatch!

I wanted a watch I can wear in my everyday life and use for different sports. I use it for running, trailrunning, cycling, swimming, crossfit and plan on using it for much more. (open water swimming, snowboarding, mountainbiking, thriathlon). I just started to get the hang of it and i'm still exploring the possibilities.The watch comes with a lot of different trainingschedules for running, swimming, cycling and lifting. Currently i'm following the half marathon schedule with "coach Jeff". The schedule addapt according to your achievements. Very motivating!After every training you can see a detailed description of your training.Some features only work with a cheststrap heartratemonitor, but other than that, this is the perfect wacht for every athlete that wants ... MoreI wanted a watch I can wear in my everyday life and use for different sports. I use it for running, trailrunning, cycling, swimming, crossfit and plan on using it for much more. (open water swimming, snowboarding, mountainbiking, thriathlon). I just started to get the hang of it and i'm still exploring the possibilities.The watch comes with a lot of different trainingschedules for running, swimming, cycling and lifting. Currently i'm following the half marathon schedule with "coach Jeff". The schedule addapt according to your achievements. Very motivating!After every training you can see a detailed description of your training.Some features only work with a cheststrap heartratemonitor, but other than that, this is the perfect wacht for every athlete that wants to know WHAT they have been training for.The watch is pretty expensive, but it's worth every Euro!It makes me want to get out and do stuff!

Pretty Good Watch

Fantastic deal for a great watch. The buttons are a little sticky. Sometimes the screen changes without pressing any, likely because the button is stuck. The GPS trail is a little funny sometimes. The watch doesnt like when you run laps around a small area numerous times (i.e. a track). Battery life certainly is t what is was new, but still pretty good. The charging cord doesnt really stay plugged in unless the watch is placed in a very specific position. Generally speaking though, Im satisfied with my purchase. Worth what I paid for it.