Anyone come from an F5?

Former Member over 6 years ago

Hello all,

Is there a performance difference between the base F5 and F5 Plus? I'm not talking 5x and 5x Plus. I've heard the plus versions run smoother. Can anyone confirm this? I really want to pull the trigger and can't decide between the F5 and F5+. Given the amount of money I would spend on either I would normally want the latest and greatest since I will hold on to the watch for a number of years. Thoughts? The added maps and music are nice on the plus series. Not game changing for me but paying for longer support in the end and the latest tech by Garmin given the price is a big plus for me. Hope to have the watch for at least two years. Would appreciate any feedback. I can't decide between the two!

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Yes, I had the 5 and upgraded to the 5+ titanium sapphire

For me;

1) Garmin Pay - brilliant - used to have a Bpay on my standard 5 but it was bulky
2) Music - great for walking the dog - she tends to snap the lead so no fear of dropping my phone

Those are the reasons I bought the watch, when it arrived I also noticed;

1) Connectivity via bluetooth to my phone was much much better (android)
2) The few grams difference in weight made a surprising difference

I think it's a better watch..

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

I gave up with the F5.... the store persuaded me to try the F5+ assuring me it as way better. They even said try it for 6 months, if you don't agree - bring it back.

Bluetooth connection is far more stable. Little things like Notification icons actually work. Maps are great - although I'm still learning what they can do and how. Used a couple of times to navigate back to saved location on holiday and it was spot on!!

I haven't had a lot of issues that are reported on here, but I find the Altimeter to be rubbish - constantly having to Calibrate it is annoying.
I don't use Music, can't use the Garmin Pay (too limited on Banks). Everything else seems to work as it should.
And until I upgraded to 4.2 I was pretty happy - since then I have found Active Minutes doesn't work as well - it used to give me minutes when I was working out in the warehouse - now unless I actually get my heart rate above 130 it gives me nothing.
I'm seeing how that goes before I report the issue, and if its not fixed, it'll be going back.

I get 6 - 7 days out of it before it needs charging. Thats with 30 minutes GPS daily too. However, I turn the watch off for 30 seconds after the activity because I find the GPS "seems" to continue running for a while and drains he battery.

But would I say make the jump from F5 - definitely.

0 carl.andersson over 6 years ago

Have a look at some of the issues being reported in this forum, and decide if those would be deal breakers for you - for example the problems with swimming. Don't convince yourself that Garmin will eventually fix those issues. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they release a new model and "fix" the problems that way.

The 5 series has major issues with Bluetooth and Ant+ connectivity, which caused me lots of issues. The 5+ has none of these problems and was the number 1 reason I upgraded.
If your bank supports Garmin Pay and you have widespread adoption of contactless payment systems in your country then Garmin Pay is actually really useful. I'm not even sure where my wallet is most days now as I almost never need anything other than my watch to pay for things.

The other thing to be aware of with either device is that the optical heart rate monitor is fine for all day heart rate tracking but struggles with accuracy for most forms of exercise. Some of this is inherent to the limitations of wrist based optical HR monitors in general (wrist flexing etc), and some of it is due to the relatively heavy weight of the watch (it will bounce around more than a plastic watch). So you may want to factor in the cost of a chest strap as well. Just know that if you buy a 5 instead of a 5+ you may have problems keeping the connection between the chest strap and the watch.

Lastly - music is an interesting feature, but unless you have Deezer or iHeart radio subscriptions loading music onto the watch is a painful process that involves manually loading mp3s from your computer (and I think you might be out of luck if you have a Mac not Windows).
Also battery life expectancy drastically reduces if you plan to listen to music regularly. That should be kind of obvious but a number of people on here have complained about it, though in fairness most of them appeared to have the 5S model which has a significantly smaller batter.

0 jimoestman over 6 years ago

Carl. I’m guessing you don’t have a Mac. :) The process is manual and works on the Mac as well.

0 carl.andersson over 6 years ago

Good to know Jim about music and mac. My comment was just based on people not being able to install the beta on a mac unless they installed another program. :)

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Music is a great feature, but not a reason why I would buy the watch. I have neither the 5 or the 5 plus. Given that the five plus provides the latest and greatest, that is the route and which I would go. I'm not too nitpicky with swimming, I would never rely on their device for extreme data in the pool anyways. For me it would be an all around Fitness watch and I am not an extreme athlete. I love the looks, love the weight, love the features, and the Garmin app provides me plenty of data. I've heard more good than bad when it comes to heart rate accuracy, sleep tracking, battery, and all else with the Fenix 5 plus. I would understand before purchasing the watch not to rely too heavily on the data but use it as a supplement. As a supplement to my fitness lifestyle I think the Fenix 5 plus would be a great addition. Better than any Samsung, I watch, or Fitbit. It is rugged, has excellent battery life, and provides less data in the form of smartphone functions which is a plus for me. I don't want to feel like I have a phone on my wrist. But notifications here and there are great.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Good to know Jim about music and mac. My comment was just based on people not being able to install the beta on a mac unless they installed another program. :)

...which is a limitation of owning a MAC. Nothing to do with Garmin.

0 Gratefulhawk over 6 years ago

Music is a great feature, but not a reason why I would buy the watch.

Not alone, but definitely a reason to upgrade from the F5. The music loading is drag & drop, so I find the music is easy to load despite previous comments. Headphones can be tricky but you'll eventually find a pair that works perfectly for you. I stuck with my Jaybirds as other had some drop outs (see thread in this forum about Bluetooth Headphones)

Maps are great. I tried the F5x before settling on the F5. I missed the maps but hated the huge size and weight of the 5x. So when the maps feature came to the F5+ (and music, which as also previously mentioned, I love for quick runs with my dogs so no extra stuff in me), I upgraded quickly.

The F5x and F5+ have similar if not identical UI speed if you want to see the difference. The F5+ added some cool graphics and made the interface even smoother.

Battery has some bugs. OWS and some lap features are buggy. Hopefully Garmin gets this worked out quickly.

Definitely worth the upgraded IMHO.