Garmin Fenix 5 - GPS watch

Garmin says it'll be available in the "first quarter" of 2017. Which means up to the last day in March.

When they announced the F3 (I'm talking about the one that proceeded the F3HR by a year) they said it would be available 1Q2015. I pre-ordered mine from REI in Jan or Feb and got it mid March. REI got shipments in before any other retailer.

I'm going to buy mine from REI. I may or may not get it sooner that way, but I'll have a year to decide whether it's worth the money. All Garmin devices are buggy when first released. The device doesn't always live up to expectations. I've always felt like buying a Garmin is rolling the dice, I'd never buy one from a store without a very generous return policy.

Please expect it to be buggy and sometimes frustrating for the first month or two. I hope I'm wrong about that. The F3 I pre-ordered matured very much while I owned it. For a few months it only allowed one alarm. Until software v5 the barometer and elevation history were useless and unacceptable. That problem better not be present in the F5X from day one. For a long time, steps were rarely synced; the watch had more bugs and crashed more often when it was first launched, which would reset the step count to whatever it was when last synced, so people would routinely lose thousands of steps.

All of those problems and many more were cleared up, and it turned into the best watch I've ever owned. But there were teething pains. By the time the F3HR was available, it was already a very mature platform. By that point it had already got several new features that we owners were never promised, like LTHR detection.

I really hope that it's smooth sailing from day one. But history leads me to expect otherwise.

What are your thoughts on maps without a touch screen?

I use the "map" page on my F3 a lot. Before a lot of adventures, I'll put waypoints into the watch so they'll show up on the map. Where to find water on a hike, trail junctions, my destination so I can get a quick idea how far I am. I'll zoom in and out but scrolling is too much pita for me. But we're talking real maps here, bike-routable ones for when you travel, and topos for hiking. It's the holy grail.

EDIT: The version with maps has a faster processor to handle the maps. Does that mean everything will be faster than the other versions? If you want sapphire, it's the same price with or without maps.

Well, it looks like the new watch can be used while it charges. Still, you can't wear it while it charges. I don't run ultramarathons so I can live with this especially in light of the improved battery life. But I'm still a bit disappointed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBFRoDb-FwA

I haven't watched this with the sound yet, but it was posted on the Garmin forum, so I assume it will be relevant.

singletrackmtbr wrote: »

The 5x looks great but other than the topos there isn't that much I'm excited about. I'm not an ultra distance guy so another couple of days of battery life isn't a huge deal. Pairing with Bluetooth chest straps is nice but I already have an HR-run. More colors? Meh. And that charging configuration seems like breakage waiting to happen.

I agree with you, the new charger looks like it'll bend or break with enough use. Here are the things I'm excited about:

* WHR sensor bump is almost gone. The F3 was more comfortable than the F3 HR, the vibration alerts were easier to notice. I've regretted the upgrade, and the new model looks like it'll sit flush against the wrist - more comfy. This alone is worth the upgrade.

* Training Effect 2. I've found TE very useful. Looking forward the the aerobic/anaerobic breakdown.

* Training Load. I don't know if they've done it in a useful way or not, but let's hope so.

* Improved battery will be nice. Improved display will be nice, too; more colors mean better contrast and better anti-aliasing, easier to read on the bike or skis. The wHRM has never been remotely accurate for me, I'd love it if the improvements they've made will make it worth having.

* New ski mode - I'd like better support for cross country.

* Besides the maps themselves, some of the routing options that are possible because of maps are also huge. I like having turn-by-turn directions when I take my bike somewhere I've never been; it's a lot of computer work setting them up for the F3. The round trip route generation feature is kind of nice too.

The bands are a neat idea, but I already have a band I like and don't change it very often. Plus I'd be worried about losing the watch swimming.

DCRainmaker posted this comment to his site:


As noted, it’s not going to work for most wrists to charge on the wrist (unless you have a hole in your wrist). I pressed Garmin a bit on this, agreeing that it seems like a short-sighted move considering the focus of the watch.

In a nutshell, their answer was two-fold. First was the focus on trying to make a single standardized cable across all watches. They’re just as frustrated as the rest of us with having a new cable watch watch. The goal of this cable is to be *the* standard Garmin charging cable…period. By removing the clasp design, they can more easily do that, since it won’t change watch to watch.

They’re aware of the issue with Ultra folks, and noted it was hotly debated internally. Their challenge is how to accommodate something that they think is probably far less than 1% of users (I’d agree, looking at the numbers, it’s not even a fraction of that).

I suggested perhaps coming out with an accessory charging clip designed to be worn. I’d’ guess than any person doing that type of endurance event won’t substantially mind paying $10-20 for an accessory charger that’s well designed to be worn while in an event.

Finally, note that the charging cable does look much like the Fitbit Surge cable. Except, it’s a crapton better at staying put. It snaps it place quite firmly, and i was easily able to swing it around vigorously like a lasso/fan, and it didn’t fly/fall off. If that’s any consolation.