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Thread: Garmin Fenix 5X sapphire

  1. #1
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    Garmin Fenix 5X sapphire

    I bought a Fenix 5X sapphire about 2 months ago and I think it’s one of the best watches I’ve ever owned. It looks nice, it’s easy to use, all the features work as advertised and the battery life is fantastic. It flat smokes the Apple Watch in my humble opinion...and the iPhone app works seamlessly. Not cheap but a great watch.

  2. #2
    New Member schüler's Avatar
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    Have you had a chance to compare the HRM accuracy to, say, a decent chest HRM?

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    Quote Originally Posted by secondstoryguy View Post
    I bought a Fenix 5X sapphire about 2 months ago and I think it’s one of the best watches I’ve ever owned. It looks nice, it’s easy to use, all the features work as advertised and the battery life is fantastic. It flat smokes the Apple Watch in my humble opinion...and the iPhone app works seamlessly. Not cheap but a great watch.
    I have the 5X sapphire and the Apple Watch. I prefer the looks, durability and battery life of the 5X, but I generally end up wearing the AW every day due to the work-related functionality. Aside from my work laptop, I am pretty entrenched in the Apple ecosystem with an iPhone and iPad Pro, and the AW is a nice tech complement. If my job was more physically demanding than just going to meetings all day, traveling, and working on a computer, I would probably go to the 5X full time. It's a great watch, and I'm a fan of Garmin as a solid KS company.

  4. #4
    Site Supporter JodyH's Avatar
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    I've been using one for a few months now as a beater watch and concur completely with how awesome it is.
    Travel, hiking/backpacking, shooting, mountain biking, work, mine has done it all.

    The HRM is as accurate as my chest strap even wearing it a little loose.

    The GPS and mapping is nothing short of amazing, I've used it for off-trail day hikes and it's always spot on when compared to my tried and true Garmin 64st. With the right topo maps installed it's flat out perfect for backcountry navigation.
    When used as a HRM and smart watch battery life is 2 weeks+ and that's with it's daylight visible always on display.
    When used as a constantly updating, high accuracy GPS and map navigation with bread crumb trail I can get at least 12 hours out of it.
    If you back off on the GPS updating it bumps battery life to 24+ hours, more than enough for a weekend backpack trip.
    Best part is theres no phone pairing or service required for the majority of the functions.
    You can use all the GPS functions and topo maps without a paired phone at all.

    Definite 2 thumbs up from me on the Fenix 5 sapphire.
    "For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
    -- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --

  5. #5
    Site Supporter JodyH's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DEG View Post
    I have the 5X sapphire and the Apple Watch. I prefer the looks, durability and battery life of the 5X, but I generally end up wearing the AW every day due to the work-related functionality. Aside from my work laptop, I am pretty entrenched in the Apple ecosystem with an iPhone and iPad Pro, and the AW is a nice tech complement. If my job was more physically demanding than just going to meetings all day, traveling, and working on a computer, I would probably go to the 5X full time. It's a great watch, and I'm a fan of Garmin as a solid KS company.
    The Fenix is an outdoors watch with a few smart phone features.
    The AW is a smart watch with a few outdoors apps.
    "For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
    -- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by schüler View Post
    Have you had a chance to compare the HRM accuracy to, say, a decent chest HRM?
    The Fenix replaced a Suunto Ambit 3 Run which I used with a Suunto HR strap. I’ve found the accuracy of the Fenix to be about the same as the Suunto HR strap, if not more reliable.

  7. #7
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    And the mapping is intuitive and easy to use. Embarrassing I didn’t know the watch had actual maps in it till a week ago when I went for a hike with my son. I used the “hike” function and...sorcery...the thing had streets and topo lines with a scale in color. It showed me exactly where I was, my track and I could set waypoints. Then I get back in the truck, it downloads the data into my iPhone (quickly) and shows everything on a google type map including temp/HR/speed etc. I can’t believe they got it all in a watch size package...it’s strait magic.

    Oh, you can also download a multitude of custom watch faces(almost instantly, via the app)
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    Last edited by secondstoryguy; 05-20-2018 at 12:17 PM.

  8. #8
    Member 23JAZ's Avatar
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    Has anyone compared the Fenix to the Suunto Traverse Alpha? I’m looking to replace my Apple Watch and am leaning towards the Suunto. It is about $200 less then the Fenix and I don’t see much difference between the 2. Plus I hunt and the Suunto seems more geared for that.
    Last edited by 23JAZ; 05-20-2018 at 02:11 PM.
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  9. #9
    Site Supporter JodyH's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jay23 View Post
    Has anyone compared the Fenix to the Suunto Traverse Alpha? I’m looking to replace my Apple Watch and am leaning towards the Suunto. It is about $200 less then the Fenix and I don’t see much difference between the 2. Plus I hunt and the Suunto seems more geared for that.
    It came down to the Suunto TA and Fenix 5x for me as well, after reading a lot of reviews from multiple sources the Fenix was a better fit for my purposes (my primary use is GPS coords, dayhiking and backpacking out of cell range).
    Battery life on the Fenix always tested out significantly longer than the Suunto and the GPS and mapping (especially the ability to add new custom topo maps) is better with Garmin.
    "For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
    -- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --

  10. #10
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    The Fenix has numerous apps and widgets that would work well for hunting situations. I plan to use a dawn/dusk app and a nice simple UTM/MRGS coordinates app/widget for hunting. The standard compass and nav software would also be a quick and accurate way to find your way back to the truck/camp.
    Last edited by secondstoryguy; 05-20-2018 at 05:27 PM.

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