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 JHNT over 6 years ago

I purchased the Fenix 5 plus, titanium. I liked everything about it. However, the 24/7 heart rate monitoring feature did not work. The Fenix 5 plus only recorded my heart rate during activity. Support was unable to figure out a solution, so they sent me a second unit. Same issues occurred with it, too. Garmin support escalated the issue and send the data from my Fenix to their engineers. They said the issue would be probably be fixed with a firmware update in a month or so. Not reassuring to me. The guys at Garmin support said they were not having issues with the Fenix 5X pluses they wear, so I sent back both 5 plus titanium units and purchased a 5X plus. Waiting for it to arrive. Hopefully it works! Has anyone else encountered this issue?

0 frnkr over 6 years ago

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

This one is private. Could you change it? ????Thanks!

0 NYanakiev7 over 6 years ago

Done, now public.

0 brettyamo over 6 years ago

I have a Fenix 5 plus.

I am finding the Jaybird X2 works better with my Fenix 5 plus than the Jaybird X3. No disconnections on the X2. I tried swapping the X3 to match my wrist side where I wear my watch and it improved but not perfect. But the X2's worked great.

0 Armughan over 6 years ago

I don't know guys if they have truly fixed the GPS tracking problems or not. While a couple of initial short road runs were promising, I went for a 5K on a track last night and the results are as erratic as ever. This was with GPS+GALILEO. Watch is 5+ Titanium DLC and was on the left hand facing upward (i.e. as you normally wear a watch). I was in the outermost track at all times. I will try next time with wearing the watch "reversed". Music was ON (been wondering if CPU is more busy if playing music and hence affects the GPS sampling rate or something?).

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2827059972

0 seilogramp over 6 years ago

Seemed to be a problem every time you went by the "2" on your image. Then recovers after another 100 meters around the turn. Something blocking a clear view of the sky at that point? Have you used other GPS watches on the same track?

0 Armughan over 6 years ago

Seemed to be a problem every time you went by the "2" on your image. Then recovers after another 100 meters around the turn. Something blocking a clear view of the sky at that point? Have you used other GPS watches on the same track?

Well it is a High school track there are some trees around but nothing crazy ... and clear view of the sky. I've used Fenix 5 before here and was pretty erratic. Strave on iPhone seems to fare better. I will try again with maybe GALILEO and Music turned off.

Would love to see anyone else's track GPS experience on the 5+.

0 NYanakiev7 over 6 years ago

I have already posted a few tracks and comparisons. I am, personally, much happier with the GPS compared to my F5X and find the accuracy to be similar to my FR935;

0 augusts.iesalnieks over 6 years ago

Today after a longer run (16k) I had these issues (run + mp3 music over AirPods):
1. at abt half race Garmin 5+ just decided to restart - good i could resume the race straight away didn't loose too much date just the psychological whatdaf :)
2. music stopped some 3-4 times and had to press PLAY again for no reason?!
3. My Training Status isnt showing yet and still says "run outdoors twice.. " even though i run yesterday and today..
on the positive the GPS + GALILEO seems to be working more precise!

Garmin I can provide the race in you want to check what happen with the restart !