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

Smart, attractive, dependable, and accurate. I bought this for mountain biking and wilderness exploration. To be absolutely truthful, I thought it might be a little too big, but nope, it fits me perfectly. As a matter of fact, I use it for everything now. Running, sleep, the gym, on trips (it keeps track while youre flying @30k feet), and all things in-between. I never really put much into the data component of my daily routines, but now I have interesting characterization from day to day, and enjoy the watch. When I first decided to purchase a gps watch I took some time to look around and decided Garmin would be what I wanted, because the application was Gps. If you want other things more relegated to daily life responses, and an iterative component, there might be better watches for that, but if you want to know where the hell you are!, this is your watch. I also thought about the smaller version without the map, but after using the map to generalize from a macro perspective while out in the deep brush, Im elated that I didnt. This watch helps me stay the course from reference vector to vector. I have no limitations with where I go and how to get back. Frankly speaking, its the BEST. I count on it.

I waited about a year to price go down and after release of Fenix 6, finally got it. Arrived in his sealed box, brand new, right away connect to my app and recharged, arrive with 80% aprox of charge. This watch seems like a US version. Shouldnt be any difference anyway. I dont use maps options cause I live in outside the US. 9Battery consuption is almost the same at my old Fenix 3HR. This is the only dissappointment, however charging time is actually faster than my previous fenix. I downloaded some apps and watch faces, just make sure you need to download the IQ app on your phone. Otherwise it wont work. Some people bought the refurbished model and leaving nasty comments on this one, which is a brand new model. If yoy need US or Europe maps in the watch, you need to install the Garmin Express in a computer and download it, also it helpa to update any firmware and fix the bugs, do it ofter only make sure you dont disconnect watch by unplugging Use the USB ejection option on your windows otherwise maps wont be updated.

I love so many features of this product, but hate the stress program on it. On my watch the heart rate sensor and the stress program that is based off of heart rate variability does not work properly. I have contacted Garmin three different times and either no resolution or no response to them. I was told the first time I contacted them regarding this that could be a sensor error and they would get back with me. Two months later and I have tried contacting them 2 more times with absolutely no response. I can do a hard reset of the entire watch and the feature will work for 3-5 days before malfunctioning again. I really do not want to have to hard reset my watch constantly and lose all the other customization. Because of this error I am not sure how much I can trust other features of the watch. If this feature worked and Garmin had responded to my problems I would probably have given this product a 5 star rating but not happy with the watch or the customer service at this point. The sensor problem finally resolved with latest update. Now i LOVE the watch!!

I was not asked to write this review nor paid for it. Its a great watch, let alone a great smart watch. Use it for running, and hiking mostly. Have to scout out places for the upcoming hunting season! I like saving points via gps for later use. I mostly use the silicone band over the metal unless I am dressing up. (Just a quick thing for hunters: Having accurate map gps on your watch as a backup is a huge. If my Rhino fails, I can use my watch, etc.) I use a second HR sensor for HIT training, weight lifting and crossfit. It connects easily, with zero problems. The HR on the watch works great for most exercises except for the above. Having the ability to download watch faces is pretty cool. I enjoy having my workout watch face during the day and a classic looking watch face for the evening. Without heavy gps use, my watch lasted about 2 weeks with zero problems. With everyday light gps use during workouts or hiking, it last just over a week. I would recommend this watch to anyone that might be on the fence about it. I dont own another smart watch nor have I.

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.

At first, I felt overwhelmed that I spent this much money on this. The first couple of days were spent feeling guilty and ashamed, but man I love this thing. I have the white, champagne sapphire 5s. I am uploading a photo for any women out there interested in this. I have tiny hands and a tiny wrist so you can get an idea how it looks on the smallest of wrists. This version comes with the gray suede and the white strap so dont buy the additional strap that it says frequently bought with The battery life is amazing. I charged it 2 days ago, ran twice since then and Im at 76% The champagne worried me because I was afraid it would look too much like yellow gold since Im a white gold and sterling silver person. Its not gold at all. its very subtle. The white is very feminine and pretty. I am glad I didnt go with the black. 2 more runs and a hike and Im now at 52%. Love the battery life.

I bought the Fenix because I was dissatisfied with what I had - a low-end smart watch (Zenwatch II) and an older GPS watch for my activities (Forerunner 310XT). I wanted a device that would replace both, serve as both a reliable daily timepiece and a GPS watch for my runs, bike rides, and open water swims. The Fenix 5 turned out to do that and much more. Here are my biggest likes and not-likes (there arent really any dislikes). On the plus side: - Instantaneous GPS fix with no wait (older Garmin devices could take a few minutes and if not allowed sufficient time for the GPS fix would produce very inaccurate GPS data for the first few miles) - Quick charging, e.g. while I am in the shower and getting ready in the morning, means that I can wear it almost 24x7. This means I am not missing any steps and can use it for sleep tracking every night. - I dont have to travel with 2 devices, chargers, and cables. - I dont have to bring any charger on shorter business trips. If I make sure that I give it a full charge on Sunday night, I still have 30% or more of charge left when I return on Thursday. - While the visibility is not stellar and inferior to the Forerunner, and some screens and watch faces can be difficult to read for the 50+ generation, I do not need reading glasses for the basic functions and I can operate all its features equally well in complete darkness and in bright sunlight. - Tracking alpine skiing activities worked surprisingly and unexpectedly well. Just turn it on and forget. It detects runs. - The watch was easy to pair with all my legacy accessories (mainly speed/cadence sensors on 3 bikes, and chest HRM straps) - I dont need scientific HR data. When I compare the HR data between the watch and the chest strap on similar activities, the accuracy of the built-in optical HR monitor is similar enough that I dont fret when I forget the chest strap. - The voice announcements via the phone speaker are configurable and useful, e.g. for lap times. - Notifications from the phone, mainly for texts, emails, and incoming calls make it less likely to miss something important and are the main reason why I liked wearing the Zenwatch. The Fenix does this equally well. On the could be improved side: - The lack of voice operation is a small inconvenience. I appreciated the ability to make calls or send short texts with the Zenwatch while driving or riding a motorcycle or bicycle. It would be great if this could be added in future models to make it truly perfect (but I realize that this poses technical challenges and might require a compromise with waterproofness). - I did get an external temp sensor that is attached to a running shoe. The built-in temp sensor does not provide useful temperature data because it displays a mix of ambient and body temperatures. Garmin says its real purpose is for calibration of the altitude sensor. Then I dont understand why they bothered with exposing the data to the user. - The altimeter requires frequent manual calibration, especially after air travel. It does not recover on its own and will happily display negative altitudes for a while after landing. When I am on a plane, it seems to cut off at about 5,000 feet, which is odd. I have not taken it to higher elevations on the ground yet, so I dont know what it does during workouts on Mt. Everest. - I prefer the metal band even while running, but the clip makes it a bit difficult to use the Garmin handlebar mount on a bicycle. - Sizing of the metal watch band was more difficult than expected, even with all the right tools. The pins were very difficult to remove, did not have a defined click when pushing them out, and required substantial force that almost destroyed my watch band link pin remover. I took it into the pool with no issues but have not had a chance to track a swim workout yet. I hope it will produce better GPS data than the 310 when worn on the wrist in the water. I used to put the Forerunner under my swim cap to get meaningful GPS tracking in open water. With the Fenix, I fear that it might slip out from under the cap due to its size and weight. I wore it on the wrist on a mountain bike ride with good results.

Do you want a flashy mini-phone on your arm? One that can display pictures and crystal clear multimedia? Are you concerned with getting perfect emojis on your wrist? Then this is NOT your watch. This is a TRAINING watch that looks great even in a suit, and has some smart watch features. Be warned: This is a watch for physical training above all. The screen looks great outside, but is designed for maximum battery life (lasting a week for me). What this watch CAN do is track your run, hike, bike ride, or any other activity your can imagine. Fenix will track your heart rate, elevation gain, pace, route with GPS/GLONASS, VO2 Max and training load. This watch has helped me push myself and work harder, and gives GREAT feedback about your performance. This watch is light years ahead of Apple when it comes to exercise tracking and feedback. My old Apple watch looks like a cheesy toy in comparison. But ask yourself... are you tough enough to sport this timepiece?

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.

I have not had previous smart watch to compare the Fenix against. I had a couple low priced fitness bands that were not really that useful. I have been resumed triathlon training and this watch if really good. I was last training in the Timex Ironman watch time period. I would say the Swim external HR strap is a must have for accurate work out logging. The external HR strap is essentially flawless, event the temporary storage of data while the watch is submerged. The running dynamics analysis is not necessarily actionable information for me, but it is some what interesting. Rowing, running, swimming I had really no good HR data from the wrist based function. Walking and sleep recordings seem to the limit of wrist based readings. I do not use much of the technology in the watch regarding notifications, messaging but assume they would work well. The time to charge is the best of my previous 3 exercise bands. The watch is rugged with the sapphire face. The size is a little larger than I would prefer, but for mapping functions on runs in different locales it seems to be a good trade off. The computer and watch software works well for my needs and automatically updates my work place exercise logging for quarterly cash program. After the research and ultimate choice of watch, I have no regrets about this device.