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

I had two fitbit charge, and then I bought the versa the week it came out when my fitbit had broken a few weeks earlier. When my versa broke - I knew one thing - I was done if with fitbit if I could get my data off their system. I worked the data problem out and thought I would just buy the new iwatch that came out a few weeks before. The iwatch 5 seemed to have worked out many of the earlier issues or limitations and it seemed like a no brainer until my son in college told me that you had to charge them every night...what? How do I track sleep? That is a pain, after the fit bit I removed my clock radio and keep my watch on virtually 24 hours a day. Well back to the web for research. My dogs are on the garmin alpha 100 system, so I looked at garmin and noted that I could track my dogs with the Fenix 6, but as I read I just wasnt sure - the model I was looking at with the sapphire bezel was $900 give or take. Back to the iPhone, back to the garmin, even back to the fitbit website. Then amazon showed me this watch (Fenix 5x sapphire) - while not used to buying anything but bleeding edge tech since I was in high school this was not only out of character it seemed stupid. but then I looked at the price and thought I would much rather waste $450 than twice that. I liked the bigger size and the battery life is more than a week with everything on - and I can track my dogs on my wrist! I have waited 6 weeks to review the watch though I pretty much knew I loved it the second day (when I finally decided I needed to sit down and actually read the manual). This watch does everything - it is big but not awkward but also means I can see the time without readers! The battery life is just awesome I actually think it is twice as good as my versa and the Fenix doesnt suck for everything else like the versa (another story though). I do know this, my next watch will be a Fenix and it will be a sapphire - as rough as I am on watches sapphire bezels are a must. Whether it is Fenix 8, 7, or 6 I really dont know - but I am happy with my sport watch for the first time in way over a year. Aside from all the other compliments I can throw at it, the watch updates better than fitbit, is far more accurate - the pulse coincides perfectly with my wifes pulse-ox meter. The data tells me much more about my day. The only thing I will miss is when I would win an award like the Chinese wall or the length a penguin walks for something, but unfortunately I have won so many of those, new ones only come about once a year. Garmin reminds me a pro tool and fitbit reminds me of a DIYer model. Garmin is clearly head and shoulders above fitbit for serious training metrics - and while I dont need that level of excellence the precision and usefulness are absolutely a positive. There is nothing worse than data that really isnt accurate. I like the band and the styling, but that is just icing on the cake. The display options are extensive and based on your needs I promise that you can find not one that works but the perfect watch face. The apps actually work and dont just crash like my experience on fitbit and this watch keeps perfect time without syncing with your phone every week. I just could not be happier. If you are looking for

I purchased this watch from REI because some Amazon vendors like GPS City were overcharging. My review is solely based on a mountaineer, climber, and hiker’s perspective. Garmin has hit a home-run with this watch when it comes to hiking, climbing and ski/board mountaineering. I can upload .gpx climbing routes and navigate to and from flawlessly on the 1:24,000 scale $99 topo map upgrade. The 13ers, 14ers, trails are fully visible & accessible on the map. Furthermore, I sold my Garmin GPSMAP62stc handheld. This is truly a replacement to heavy and bulky handhelds with an insane amount of features beyond just mountaineering. The climbing, hiking, snowboarding activities are included and track G-Metrics accurately enough for me. I also own the Garmin Virb Ultra Action Camera and I can initiate pics/vids from my wrist. In addition, I receive low battery warnings in the same way. The battery life isn’t the best when in full GPS track mode, but I can get a full day of tracking with about 1/4 of the battery left. This is not a problem on multiple day climbs using an external battery or solar charger. I’m amazed how fast it charges! To conclude, this watch is a beast! If you want a GPS/fitness watch on steroids this is it. If you like big screens and more affordable options this is not for you. If you are on the fence about a handheld I recommend this option. UPDATE 6/2/17 - Charged from 16% to 100% in under 2 hours on a RAVPower 10050mAh Outdoor Portable Charger. UPDATE 6/3/17 - Half day of mountaineering/splitboarding/climbing/course following. 56% battery level. Not bad! UPDATE 6/12/17 - Whatever Garmin did with the new update they nerfed my altimeter. Its 192ft off! I calibrated 4 times on my climb. Please see pic. The actual elevation is 13,822ft. This is a new issue... UPDATE 6/15/17 - The sapphire face is bombproof, but the metal around it scratches way too easy! UPDATE 8/12/17 - The altimeter is consistently off... DONT BUY IF YOU WANT ACCURACY! UPDATE 8/27/17 - Watch connects and disconnects randomly with PC. Read the reviews with the same issue UPDATE 8/19/18 - Battery Life is now insanely poor running a course and usual functions. Started the day at 98% and ended half-day at 6%. Seriously? The new update has definitely compromised battery life.

I have had this watch for well over a year now and its still true its 14 plus day run time before needing charged.. fitness apps work extremely well overall there are a good handful of watch faces that are really good and informational sleep tracking is good heart rate tracking is about average. Text and notification show up on the watch as well This watch is built like a tank but at the same time it also has a lower profile and not overwhelming big for those of us without bear or caveman wrist it fits well on anyone A few of the drawbacks is that its not very user friendly in the beginning because everything is button based its extremely easy to get lost in menus or options also there is not a whole lot of storage for watch faces or apps surprisingly you can only fit about 10 watch faces and maybe 5 apps before you run out of space.. Overall its an extremely well made waterproof fitness smartwatch with all types of fitness related activities

Beautiful watch but typical Garman operating system and dark hard to see backgrounds. There’s 3 different menus, took me 3 days or so to figure out some of it. The connect app which you need didn’t have the oxy pulse on it???? Wife’s does, so thought maybe it had to go through the computer to add it in. Garman connect app wouldn’t even find the watch. Lots of connection issues watch to all apps you need to work this complicated thing. Would be great watch for someone who enjoys dickering around finding functions on the various button menus. I’m an old guy who started on windows 3.1 and sick of learning new OS. Espeacially garman stuff that won’t connect up half the time, literally! Sent it back and put my old timex back on!

I went from the Garmin Fenix 3 to the 5X and while I love the watch in general, mine has a flaw with the charger. Sometimes the watch will connect and disconnect continuously from the computer. Sometimes it wont connect at all. And if I get it to connect I have to be extremely careful and not touch it or it will lose the connection again. Garmin admitted there was an issue with this response: I am sorry we have currently noticed that there is an issue with the fenix 5x charging port. We are working on a fix but until we have a new batch all of the devices will have the same issues. I have added you to the case so we will contact you when we have a resolution. Until then, when you connect the device to the computer, you will not want to touch it so it will remain connected. It has been about 6 weeks now and they still have no updates on when this issue will be fixed. If you want a flawless watch, you may want to wait before buying. Once the charging issue is fixed Ill upgrade this to a 5 but until then it is a PITA to sync with my computer. ============================================ Update 11/10 Ive had my replacement watch for about a month now. Garmin support flip flopped again and said there was no known issue with the charging port and that my watch would be replaced. I paid for an advance RMA and I think they sent me a brand new watch. The new watch has not exhibited the same issues with the charging port and I have been quite happy. I am upgrading this to 4 stars and not 5 only because of the extreme hassle I had to go through and time it took for Garmin to take care of me, the customer.

I had been eying this watch for several months before I finally bit the bullet and made the purchase... I am SO glad that I did. I have been using this watch for about 4 weeks now and I have no major complaints. I am a runner (Currently training for a half marathon) and this watch is incredible as far as tracking my runs and providing accurate feedback. It is super customizable and the Garmin Connect App/Connect IQ App are both great! This watch tracks a lot of stuff and so far it all seems to be accurate except for the sleep tracking. Although it may be due to me having a baby that sleeps in the room with me so maybe I just feel like I’m awake more than the watch says? Lol I didn’t buy this watch for the sleep tracking though so it doesn’t bother me at all that it may not be spot on feed back. The display is easy to read in all conditions. I love that I can control my music from the watch and also see phone notifications. It’s much easier to mange these things from my watch during a long run rather than trying to fumble around with my phone. I got the 42mm size and it’s prefect for my small wrist (I was worried about it being bulky) The white/rose gold is so feminine and can be dressed up/down. Overall this watch is definitely worth the price!

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

I love the Fenix range they have amazing build, ease of use and long battery life. I especially love the multi sport options. For some reason the heart rate monitor falls short of recording actuals by about 20% so I use a strap on heart rate monitor. Perfect sports watch.

Garmin continues to impress me with the level of quality in the product the more I use it and get used to its features. The only reason this product is getting 4 stars is because of the price point; I am used to paying around $200 for fitness watches/trackers but I decided this time around to get something with more features and durability. I have been a Fitbit user since 2014 with the Flex, then Surge, then Blaze and I decided that I would switch to Garmin after I purchased my husband the Garmin fenix 5X. After tinkering around with his watch and the app interface, I decided to upgrade from my 1.5 year old Blaze due to sheer number of functions it couldnt perform and I was not happy with it anymore. Once I got my watch, it was a hard adjustment, as with any brand-to-brand switch. In addition to the non-touch screen interaction, I had to familiarize myself with activity selection and start/stop buttons as well as data review functions. If you are making a drastic switch like I did, I recommend setting quite a bit of time aside to familiarize yourself with this watch as well as the Garmin Connect app. This watch is VERY customizable; there are so many things you can change to your liking that it is overwhelming (coming from a Fitbit user). I really like this aspect but it takes some getting used to. You can also customize the band; this particular package comes with a yellow band as a bonus. I do not have the intention of using this color, I actually ordered the turquoise band from Garmin. The watch itself is very sturdy feeling and has some weight to it (rugged). I prefer the round face versus the square with my old Fitbit; it just looks better in my opinion. The 5 buttons on the side of the watch feel very good when you press them. You can choose whether or not to have haptic feedback when you press the buttons as well as a tone/chime; I have both enabled. The watch face is obviously customizable as well, you dont use the pre-loaded one like Fitbit, you have the ability to download more from the Garmin Connect app and even further customize it (colors and data displayed). With the same app, you can also download widgets and add them to your watch and the order they appear. I got this watch just in time for a class I am now participating in; RIP = running improvement program. I have only ran with this watch 3 times since I got it about 1.5 weeks ago. The GPS is not exact, I was running 1.5-mile run test and it gave me my 1-mile time about 75m too soon. I am not too finicky with the distance difference. What really sent me over the moon was the VO2 max as well as the heart rate zones; not only will track this for you but based on this data it will suggest a rest time (usually 24-48 hours for me). I also loaded a yoga activity function on this watch as well; it tracked my heart rate as well as time spent in this activity. I have not tried the golfing function on this yet but I intend to use it whenever I get to the course in the springtime. I recommend this watch to anyone; you dont need to be a hardcore gym rat or marathon runner to get use out of it. I am not super athletic by any means but I have been using fitness watches for a few years now. I also like to jog/run for hobby and as job security (military member) so the fact that this watch and the app can track every aspect of my workout and improvements is amazing. If you can afford it, I think it is worth the money.

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.