Fenix 5 Plus: my experience so far

Hi everyone,

I thought it would be a good idea to put some of my thoughts on the new Fenix series in one place.

Garmin pay has been a pretty useful add-on (if your bank supports it)
Heart rate- seems to do a better job at recording my HR when compared to my previous FR935

GPS: Quite happy with it so far. Here is a run in my local area that is notoriously difficult for GPS watches due to its close proximity to Canary Wharf. Feel free to go through my run history to see some additional runs in the area:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2801985843

Here is a similar run with the 935, which I consider pretty accurate:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2504150829

Music: works great when not performing an activity; cuts out during running when I hold my "watch hand" down at regular intervals though...could be my earphones so will order another pair to see if that changes anything.
Speed/responsiveness: feels faster than the FR935/F5X in pretty much every area: menus, mapping (compared to 5X); drawing of charts etc etc
Altimer: I am seeing some strange behaviour when in watch mode- will keep monitoring and report to Garmin.
BUT! We now have the ability to calibrate using the onboard maps, which is great. The watch also self-calibrates at night if left on.
Barometer: looking good so far. there is also the option to calibrate manually

All in all, this feels like a nice upgrade and I hope that thing will only get better

Cheers,
Nick

0 seilogramp over 6 years ago

Thanks Nick for the informative post. What headphones do you use? Depending on the location of the Bluetooth receiver, performance could improve with the watch on the other wrist. I know this is the case with my jaybirds with the BT receiver on the left side of my head. Performance improves with my phone also on the left side of my waist pack.

0 jim_m_58 over 6 years ago

There's a sticky in the 645 forum about headphones where they've been keeping track of the left/right wrist and various headphones which can help.
https://forums.garmin.com/forum/into-sports/running/forerunner-645-645m/1328924-headphone-test-and-experience

The first post there is kind of a summary of the rest of the thread...

0 NYanakiev7 over 6 years ago

Thanks Jim, will take a close look at the recommendations and place an order!

Hopefully there will be a lot in common between how the 645/5 Plus Bluetooth/antennae etc hardware is set up.

0 NYanakiev7 over 6 years ago

And another one: this run had a (bit) of a screw-up by that big turn along the water.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2804529823

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

One thing I'd like to add coming from Fenix 5 - BT range with the phone is much better on Fenix 5 plus. It's what I would consider in normal range, ie. on par with any other BT watch I've used. While I never had sensor issues with my Fenix 5, the BT range was always very limited and I basically had to keep the phone in the same room for it not to loose connection. No such woes with 5+.

0 seilogramp over 6 years ago

NYanakiev7, can you make the activity public so we can take a look? Thanks.

0 chong67 over 6 years ago

Cannot view your activity.

0 NYanakiev7 over 6 years ago

Just changed to "public"

0 Gr4z over 6 years ago

How is the look of the standard 5+ compared to the 'black' sapphire model? Did you do a comparison? Just wondering if the sapphire model is worth the extra money. Thanks

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Garmin, I am impressed (and even more after the GPS and connectivity issues I had with former Garmin devices).

I did my first run today and share my comparison results:

Garmin Fenix 5 Plus (GPS & GALILEO) vs. Polar M400 (running on calibrated Stryd)

Total distance:
Fenix - M400 (Stryd)
14.18 km - 14.11 km (dev. 0.5%) - in reality even less, since Stryd takes 20-30 meters before it actually starts.

Lap results in min.
Fenix - M400 (Stryd)
01: 4:14 - 4:21 (dev. 2.7%) - see above - Stryd starts 20-30 meters late
02: 4:09 - 4:12 (dev. 1.2%)
03: 4:05 - 4:06 (dev. 0.4%)
04: 4:07 - 4:08 (dev. 0.4%)
05: 4:03 - 4:04 (dev. 0.4%)
06: 4:05 - 4:04 (dev. 0.4%)
07: 4:04 - 4:01 (dev. 1.2%)
08: 4:04 - 4:06 (dev. 0.8%)
09: 4:02 - 4:06 (dev. 1.6%)
10: 4:06 - 4:11 (dev. 2.0%)
11: 4:00 - 4:05 (dev. 2.0%)
12: 4:04 - 4:06 (dev. 0.8%)
13: 4:13 - 4:07 (dev. 2.4%)
14: 4:07 - 4:11 (dev. 1.6%)

I consider the M400 results as accurate, since achieved with a calibrated (and in races validated) Stryd.
Deviations less than 2% per lap (even for short distances - 1 km) with only one exception is incredible (I do not count lap 1 due to Stryd delay).

Stryd was paired with Fenix 5 Plus for Power - not a single drop out.
Music was played all the time - not a single drop out (althoug watch on left wrist and receiver in right ear)

The only clear misalignment between both watches were in instant pace, where M400 continously showed 4:00 - 4:20 while Fenix was jumping between 3:50 and 4:50.
However, this is clearly expected when having a GPS watch competing with a calibrated Stryd.

So with my first run I am more than happy.
Hopefully it stays like this.

ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1367658.jpg