Garmin 010-01733-00 Fenix 5X Sapphire - Slate Gray with Black Band

I went from a Galaxy watch to this watch and at first I hated the lack of smartness to it. But in reality, I like it more now because I dont get bugged by constant alerts about my life on my wrist. I got it as a training watch but I wear it every day and all night. I love that it tracks sleep, it lasts at least a week unless you work out hours a day, it is integrated with the Connect environment, and is really one of the best adventure watches you could ask for. I wanted it for hiking, but it turned out being a big factor in me getting back into fairly decent running shape and it became my cycling computer. It works so well, that it convinced me to upgrade my Edge 800 to the 830 for the advanced metrics the new devices give and I am every trying to convince myself to get the 6X. It is huge, but I am 61 and it fits well on my wrist. It doesnt play music and music control for your phone isnt great... but the 6X has it haha. The GPS isnt all that great for serious running and the barometric altimeter has a pretty serious drift too large for reliable data in flat terrain. I live at sea level and in flat terrain and the drift is 100 ft or so throughout a bike ride or longer run. Sure, it is within the GPS accuracy but I demand a lot from my altimeter. For hiking, the altimeter can work like a charm if you properly calibrate it and such. Sometimes it was a few hundred ft off and when I pay attention to calibration it was within 50ft - closest you will really get. Overall... I love this watch and it hurts my wallet to say that I dont see getting a watch outside of the Fenix line until some other company targets this line specifically. I know there is Suunto... but they are similar enough for me to stick with the Connect ecosystem since I do multiple sports that are in the Garmin environment.

I got this watch on Prime Day for 50% off. Its an amazing purchase. The fact that the GPS works anywhere in the world is unparalleled, from the US to the ROK-DPRK DMZ. Battery life is amazing. However, activity tracking drains it, so I turned it off - I dont find the steps or stairs climbed or heart rate particularly useful to me. I charged the watch to 90% about 11 days ago and its still at 23% with daily or near-constant use of timer, stopwatch, notifications, activity tracking on runs, etc. If you wish to go for the Fenix 6 series, by all means do, as the 6X Solar looks particularly amazing. However I find the 5X goes above and beyond in its abilities. Once, I got lost in South Korea and I had to find my way back home (30 minute walk). I used the GPS, and luckily I had done a workout where I was staying. Therefore on the map my home showed up as a significant location, and I was able to find the directions to get home. CONS: Sometimes the directions for the routes are a little confusing. I have trouble sometimes figuring out where the GPS is telling me to go but I find that zooming in/out appropriately fixes this. I rarely take it off, its waterproof, the Sapphire glass has yet to get any scratches, I have one small scratch on the metal casing from regular use, it doesnt bother me.

Ive had the Fenix 5X for a week now. I like everything about it so far, except for a couple of minor issues. The watch have, buttons, and band are all amazing. Specifically, the band is ever better than I expected. However, Im not sure how it would do in prolonged exposure to high heat or salt water or chemicalized water - because its not stock metal - its a flexible silicone. I also like the ease of how you can change the Quick Fit Band, but Im curious to see how much punishment it can take. One thing I absolutely dislike, is the inability to see the watch face in low light. You have to have some sort of external light source, or use the backlight. In a tactical/survival situation, those would both be unlikely options. I understand that it is likely due to battery life, but seeing that they have other After Sunset options, I would think they would put more emphasis on visibility in low light/at night. I like the sensors and how you can use the app to check your stats, but Ive found that the altimeter isnt consistently accurate. It also has alot of trouble calibrating inside houses/buildings, so you have to be outside and not near any obstructions. Im also curious to see how the watch functions without the paired phone within range, because I would imagine that using this on runs, hikes, or in the pool at the gym would require disconnection from your phone. It does seem to continue to keep time at least, so thats a minimum necessity met. If I were to pay $600 for this, Im not sure Id be as happy with it - but I got it for $380, so Im really satisfied with the value for what I paid. I do think youll want an extra charger and the inserts for the charge port, as well as a spare band, but those arent crucial. Overall, very happy with this and excited I took the chance - it has been a great buy!

Amazing for training. Great life watch. First off. Only have had this watch for a month. Initial thoughts were it is pretty big as I never wear watches but have been teetering on buying a garmin watch because I am big into fitness and there are a lot of benefits with this watch. I have only charged this watch once for 2 hours in the month Ive owned it and it has never left my wrist. Cant speak highly enough on this. It is amazing to track my mile splits and I havent even began to break the full potential of what this watch offers. For $350 to me, this is worth it 10x over. If you are on the fence pull the trigger. You wont regret this purchase. Wish I had done it earlier. Love love love. 10/10. Excited to break it in further

Love This Watch. Im not a big review writer but I must tell everyone that this is a great watch. I must first tell everyone that I purchased a Fenix 5 and sent it back, because the menu button didnt work. Then I purchased a forerunner 935 because of reviews that I had read. I really liked the 935. Functionality is exactly the same as the Fenix 5. I kept it for nearly a month and then decided that the plastic look just wasnt for me. I decided to upgrad to the 5x strictly for vanity reasons. It looks better. While I was concerned about the size I actually really like the larger size. Im a big guy and it doesnt look too big. Its also not heavy, like I thought it would be. I think I have looked at every fitness watch on the market. I hate the thought of charging a watch. I travel a lot and am absent minded so I will just forget. With daily exercise and no gps, I charge the watch about once ever 14 days, which works for me. I almost never take this watch off. I swim, shower and do everything else and it just works. Just getting into the different apps and watch faces. My wife has a Fitbit and I just cant understand how people charge a watch every other day and take it off to shower. I shower at the gym and would definitely lose it. In all honesty, I could live without the notifications but they also work really well. Anyway, I love this watch. Ill update my review of I find any issues.

2/14/22 UPDATE. I hate to do this, but I have to update my review based on a watch that only lasted two years. While working, Ive loved my Garmin Fenix and have recommended it to many. In fact, just last week I showed it off to a group of students in a Quality Control course Im teaching. The discussion was about analog versus digital. I pointed out the exceptional quality control of the hardware but emphasized that digital technology would limit the useful life of the product. Fenix is a high-priced piece of technology that will never become an heirloom. Well, Fenix must have heard me because one week later it died. Life cycle: 2 years. Reading service reports from other users around the Internet, it seems that the battery no longer charges, but Im not qualified to do that diagnostic. The watch is just dead. Garmin customer service is nice enough, but they are charging $200 to fix or replace the watch. I have watches that Ive had for 50 years that still work like new. I even have a watch from my grandmother that is nearly 100 years old that is still ticking. None of these watches came close to the premium price of a Fenix watch. Replacing this with the latest version would be close to $1,000. Not going to happen. Ive been a decades-long Garmin fan, but this pops a hole in my loyalty. Rather than spend $200 to have it fixed, I think Ill apply that $200 on something I know will last longer. As much as I hate to say it, that something is likely an Apple Watch. Bottom line, for as long as it lasts, this is an exceptional piece of equipment in every way. But, dont count on it lasting for more than a couple of years. PRIOR REVIEW I’ve had my eye on this watch for two years, but could never justify the price; until an Amazon Black Friday deal made this the best value ever. Thank you, Amazon. Yes, I see Garmin has the Fenix 6 replacing the Fenix 5, but I can’t see any justification for the $500 price difference from what I paid for the 5. Besides, the 5 is amazing. One week into it, and I’m blown away by the quality and features. At this point, most limitations can be blamed on new user errors and learning curves. So far, I’ve used it to track walks, hikes, strength, and sleep. For walks and hikes, exceptional; especially like the integration of Garmins core competency: GPS. The strength tracking app seems limited, inaccurate, and cumbersome. Would like a feature that allows me to program workouts on a computer, then download them to the watch. As it is, I program exercises one character and button at a time. Even then, it either gets the numbers of reps wrong or doesn’t count any at all. Hopefully, user error. But I’ve exhausted the manual and support boards, so am concluding that the strength module is the main limitation of the watch. Another feature I would appreciate is a good app for TRX workouts. The steps tracking seems to have a bit of AI in it, resulting in a daily “damn watch” curse each night. I started with a reasonable 7,500 steps per day goal. But, each time I exceed the step goal, Garmin ups my goal. Exceeding each progressive goal each day, the watch now has me at a goal of 15,000 for tomorrow. Damn watch; when is that going to end? One of these days, I’m gonna run out of steps. Of course, being a bit facetious there; I appreciate that the watch is smart enough to keep pushing me, and hope to be able to find the steps necessary to meet each new goal. The sleep tracking is also good. An improvement over my last smartwatch. A possible limitation is that I’m a horrible sleeper, and the watch doesn’t seem to be able to figure me out. I can usually sleep for a few hours before a 2 or 3 a.m wake-up has me up for a couple of hours. Sometimes I’m able to get a second round of sleep in. For example, asleep by 11, wake at 2, lie awake for 30 minutes trying to fall back asleep, give up and read a book for a couple of hours, fall back asleep at 4 or 5, wake up at 8 a.m. The watch only records the second sleep segment. On the one night that I mostly slept through thanks to a sleeping pill, the watch provided a full record. This record also provided a good lesson: while the sleeping pill helped me remain unconscious, I only had light sleep; no deep sleep or REM sleep. Unconsciousness does not equal sleep. Another big bonus is that Garmin seems to have conquered a limitation that kept me from buying an iWatch: fully charged in less than an hour, and stays charged for days. After my first four days, it still had 35% battery life. Compare that to the daily, and sometimes twice daily, charge for competitive offerings. A big downer about the charge is that it requires a proprietary cable, which deserves a “those bastards” demerit. I’m a Garmin fan with four other Garmin devices, which all use standard USB cables. The only justifiable reason for forcing me to buy proprietary cables that can’t be used for any other device, including those made by the same company, is “because that’s what Apple does.” Another benefit of the Fenix 5 over the iWatch: the macho factor. The iWatch is dainty; my little sister loves hers and it goes great with yoga pants. In comparison, the Fenix 5 looks and acts as tough as a military-grade tactical watch. Hurrah, and all that. Bonus, it fully and seamlessly integrates with my iPhone. I’ll check in occasionally to report on my thoughts as I use it more. Meanwhile, putting aside some issues, the combination of tough quality, super performance, seamless integration, and the current price make this an excellent value worthy of a 5 ranking.

Ive had my Fenix 5S Sapphire (black) for a few days now and I LOVE it. I have the worlds narrowest wrists so obviously I was stoked when this smaller watch came out. Of course its still bigger than your average show or work watch, but they packed quite the punch into it. Its actually not very noticeable on my wrist; its light and Im very comfortable sleeping with it. This is my first watch that does anything beyond displaying time and a stop watch, so I was a bit overwhelmed at first with all its app-craft and widgetry. Within a day I nailed down its pertinent features, activities and customization, and theres still so much more to discover. I wanted this watch particularly for its stand alone gps tracking, plus the altimeter/barometer, and compass. It synchs with my iPhone immediately to display more detailed data for me to peruse (I.e. Sleep patterns, courses, average pace records throughout the activity, etc). You can also race your saved activity paces! Its perfect for my kind of activities: run training, trail exploring (has map features and reverse routing assistance), hiking data, and sleeping (yes its an important activity). I didnt think Id care for the smart notification capabilities and I actually turned emails off. I do find myself using it very often when I get texts and it allows me to separate from my phone a bit more at home. Im hoping one day there will be a customizable watch with a la carte capabilities/sensors to shed off the price (I dont golf or swim), but until then, this is the watch to get and wont disappoint for the price.

I love this new Garmin Watch. I saved up many months to purchase this watch and it has exceeded my expectations so far. I am still trying to learn all of the functions and I love the hiking/walk/golf and mapping features. Using these everyday does take the battery life from almost 30 days down to approx 20 days but that is okay with me. The maps are very easy for me to read and all of the features of this watch are just a few button presses away. I have read where several people have complained of the darkened screen but I find it nice. If I need to see the time I can turn on the back light function and then turn it off. So far I have not been able to test every function but the GPS feature seems to be very accurate which is a big improvement over the past Garmin devices. I love being able to download new widgets and how easy it is to change things around. This watch is very well made and I will be taking it diving with me soon. I will add in additional review once I have used it longer and mastered some of the things that this watch can do. So far I am very happy with this purchase. More updates to follow.

Ive owned about a half a dozen fitness trackers, my last one being the Garmin Fenix 3hr. I recently purchased the Fenix 5X and it is loaded with more sensors and capabilities than I would ever use, but theyre nice to have just in case; I like options. Heart rate sensor is probably the best Ive used, GPS tracking is about average, but what puts this device over the top are the TOPO maps built into the watch, its awesome. Fortunately for me my F3hr came with a titanium band that actually fits the F5X, its easier to take off and on and change wrist if needed, plus its very light. The watchface options are a little thin right now, but that will change with time, since the F5X has just been released. Ive been looking for the perfect smart/fitness tracker watch to replace my 30 year old Jules Jergenson everyday watch and I think I found it. Of course with technology advancing as fast as it is, the F5X might be obsolete in just a few years and probably wont last as long as my JJ watch, lol. Garmin has finally released a nice fitness watch that actually is worth the investment and it looks like it will be durable and flexible enough to last several years and still be useful. If you can swing the price, I say go for it.

Overall I am very impressed with the Fenix 5s sapphire. I actually purchased the Fenix 5 originally but returned it because it was just a little too big to wear as an everyday watch. The 5s is a great size and great looking watch. I was worried it would be too small considering all the marketing aimed toward women and small wrists. I am 5 10 with medium sized wrists and it looks and feels just right to me. The only complaint I have is that the band is a little short. They should have provided or offered a regular and large size band. The band buckles on the 4th hole for me so it is fine but it would be a better fit if the band were longer. Other than that I have run with the watch a few times now and it is very accurate and performs well. The smart notifications from my iPhone are consistent which is more than I can say for the apple watch I had in the past. The display is fantastic in outdoor sunlight. It could be better indoors and the built-in light to read in the dark could be better as well. It can get bright but that display is not crisp when the light is used in the dark. Again, overall this is a stellar watch and I am very happy with it. Highly recommend the 5s if you are on the fence between the 5 / 5s.