Hey, all, my wife bought me a refurbished 5x for my birthday and said no pressure, just keep it or get what I want. It seems awesome, bit it is 2.5 years old as a generation(this is a refurb and looks brand new).
I think she paid $300-$350, is it still viable in 2020 and beyond? Will it get updates for awhile? I have a Vivoactive 3, but it is far smaller? I have read reviews, comparisons, etc, but looking for more opinions. Thanks
Still a great watch. I gave my son the 5 when I got the 6. They are so similar. Just some hardware upgrades with the 6 and pulse ox and stuff that really hasn’t mattered to me.
Mine is still killing it. I probably won’t upgrade until the 7x or 7x+.
On year three now and still going strong. Talks to everything to everything I have: HRM strap, Stryd, Vector3, Varia…etc. Only downside’s I’ve encountered is sometimes when I connect it to the computer to update…it will freak out and not get recognized so I have to mess with it to get my computer to recognize what it is and then push the updates, and recently I’ve had to turn it off and on if it decides not to connect to my phone…which is weird.
Honestly, I’ve love the damn thing and been incredibly impressed with this sapphire glass. I smash it into stuff all the time and the glass is still perfect, while the metal bezel has some tiny scuffs. I would totally buy again. I am on my 4TH watch band though. I end up snapping the little rubber bits that secure the excess strap.
I also have the Vivoactive 3 and like it. I disliked the Fenix series because they have so many buttons. Otherwise they do indeed seem awesome. And the fact that newer ones are on the market now doesn’t diminish in any way the functionality of the one you have. You might have a look at the new(ish) Garmin Venu. It has a different display from other Garmins, and that might be a game-changer for you, if you have carte blanche to pick something different. On the other hand, if my wife bought me a Fenix, it would probably become my new favorite watch just on principle.
Still love my Fenix 5. I have it about 3 years, it has suffered quite some abuse and it hasnt let me down yet. Battery life is still really good. If you can get ot for a reasonable price i’d reccomend this watch.
The wristband are easy to replace. Don’t get the original for €50, there are €4 alternatives that are just as good.
I like mine - a lot
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Good advice everyone! My wife got a refurb for about $325 and said to get what I wanted. It seemed HUGE for the 5X. I saw that today planet cyclery is running a big sale and has the standard 5 for $299 brand new. Seems like a win. I am just glad to know it isn’t going to be obsolete for awhile!
The Fenix 5X is a bit large bug it has to with the map stuff. What I mostly like about it is that I can wear it every day all the time and it looks sharp and dressy
I like mine - a lot
Yeah def, me too. I’ve had mine since summer 2018. I beat the crap out of my gear and it has held up in every aspect, especially the battery life which is important for me. Only gripe I have at this point is that sometimes I have to clean the charge terminals on the watch with a toothbrush or something. I guess that is normal maintenance though. I didn’t have to do this for 18mo or something.
I like mine - a lot
Yeah def, me too. I’ve had mine since summer 2018. I beat the crap out of my gear and it has held up in every aspect, especially the battery life which is important for me. Only gripe I have at this point is that sometimes I have to clean the charge terminals on the watch with a toothbrush or something. I guess that is normal maintenance though. I didn’t have to do this for 18mo or something.
Glad to hear it still works well! I am excited to get mine.
I guess some of the upgrades on the newer ones were just more evolutionary instead of revolutionary
I moved from a Vivoactive to a Fenix5, and it was a great call. The Fenix5/5X is a great watch in both performance and looks. The one flaw if the temp/altitude sensor (prone to failure if you swim frequently). I’ve had two fail in just over a year. Garmin is great on the service/replacement, but it’s still a pita.
I picked up the the 5 early this year from mybikeshop website for 299 new. I initially wore it straight for a couple weeks to see what it was tracking. The fitness and sleep tracker monitors seemed quite a bit off. Told me I was in REMs sleep when I was sitting on the couch having a beer… Not sure how the metric works, but was likely tracking HR and I have a low 40s HR when doing nothing and under 40 sleeping. When I was doing indoor trainer rides I couldn’t get it to sync with my zwift platform, so it didn’t really show the work I was doing, which impacted the calories burned, and generated an increase in stress level because it just showed I had a super high HR at 5AM, ahh okay. I’m sure there are ways to work around those, I just haven’t bothered to pursue them. I currently just use the watch for run tracking and swimming, well when that’s an option again. I haven’t used it for outdoor biking as I use my cycling computer for that. Also, it seems after every workout I do it gives some sort of summary of previous workouts and always recommends “recovery recommended”. Not sure how it’s calculating that, but I’m not relying on a watch for telling me to take a rest day.
This is the one Garmin product I’ve had that has been bulletproof after 4 years of very heavy use.
Fenix 3 user here. How if the F5 when running ?
Quite often with the F3 the pacing is off.
I presume the F5 can still accept latest IQ apps ?
I upgraded from the 5 to the 6 as an early adopter. I like the increased health metrics, i.e. Body Battery and Respiration Rate that are not available on the 5 or 5 Plus. As has been discussed in another post, these metrics may provide indications of sickness, etc. Another thing I notice between the 5 and 6 is the shorter timeframe to latch onto satellites. Sometimes I would wait upwards of 5 minutes before the watch was able to link to a satellite, whether that be at my house or other locations that I traveled to. As an open water swimmer, if I wore the 5 on my wrist, I would lose satellite reception when my arm went underneath the water. The 6 has done that much less frequently. If you have the Garmin Varia rear radar for your bike, I’m uncertain whether the 5 will display the cars approaching from the rear. Maybe another poster can chime in on that. I would test it if I still had the 5. I liked the 5 a lot, but I like the 6 way better.
I upgraded from the 5 to the 6 as an early adopter. I like the increased health metrics, i.e. Body Battery and Respiration Rate that are not available on the 5 or 5 Plus. As has been discussed in another post, these metrics may provide indications of sickness, etc. Another thing I notice between the 5 and 6 is the shorter timeframe to latch onto satellites. Sometimes I would wait upwards of 5 minutes before the watch was able to link to a satellite, whether that be at my house or other locations that I traveled to. As an open water swimmer, if I wore the 5 on my wrist, I would lose satellite reception when my arm went underneath the water. The 6 has done that much less frequently. If you have the Garmin Varia rear radar for your bike, I’m uncertain whether the 5 will display the cars approaching from the rear. Maybe another poster can chime in on that. I would test it if I still had the 5. I liked the 5 a lot, but I like the 6 way better.
Thanks, but the 6 is out of my pay grade right now. Hopefully the 5 is still good
If you have the Garmin Varia rear radar for your bike, I’m uncertain whether the 5 will display the cars approaching from the rear. Maybe another poster can chime in on that.
The Fenix 5 series works fine with the Varia radar.
If you have the Garmin Varia rear radar for your bike, I’m uncertain whether the 5 will display the cars approaching from the rear. Maybe another poster can chime in on that.
The Fenix 5 series works fine with the Varia radar.
cool
Much like many others - my Fenix 5 has been great, 2 years of heavy use - sea swimming, smashing it against things, sweating into it and no issues whatsoever. (Other than band replacement which is wear & tear and there are lots of cheap options on amazon)
I can’t think of any other relatively complex electronic device or equipment I’ve owned where I’ve had no issues at all.