FW 5.10 issues

Me too, forcing users to wear a watch on a different wrist most people use is ridiculous. Poor BT signal paired with poor audio quality and volume in general makes it pretty much unusable as an all in one device. I really want an excuse to sell my AW but unfortunately it goes on every run so I can get a consistent high quality audio experience. After the run the F5+ sits on my desk until the next run......

Hopefully Garmin can tweak the firmware to get a good BT connection on EITHER wrist - I can look past the audio quality and volume just to be able to wear it on the same wrist all day.

I have been listening to music while running since the 5S Plus came out. I wear my watch on my left wrist, and am using Apple AirPods which are not recommended by Garmin. I primarily listen to podcasts, but also to music and audio books. I am satisfied with the quality of the BT connection, and only experience an occasional dropout. While the connection is not perfect, it is a huge improvement over using the Apple iPod shuffle and wired headphones I have had to use for a number of years.

Does the AW work for music when on your left wrist? Does it work with Spotify?

The AW works on both wrists while providing full range audio with all my headphones (airpods, jaybird X3,X4 and bose soundsports). The same isn't even close with the F5+, not close.

I don't use Spotify nor was it something advertised when my F5+ was purchased so was not part of my buying decision. The ability to sync music and play it via bluetooth headphones was a major part of my buying decision.

All the nice new features with music on the F5+ are nothing if you can't use the watch in a way most users expect (approx 90% of the population are right handed and therefor wear a watch on their left wrist). I'd trade the added music features to be able to wear it on my left wrist with full range audio. Better GPS tracking, sleep tracking improvements like showing heart rate while sleeping as well as virtual partner would be much more beneficial to me.

My hope is BT is currently tweaked to maximize battery life at the cost of range and frequency (audio quality) and can be fixed via a firmware update.

I have been listening to music while running since the 5S Plus came out. I wear my watch on my left wrist, and am using Apple AirPods which are not recommended by Garmin. I primarily listen to podcasts, but also to music and audio books. I am satisfied with the quality of the BT connection, and only experience an occasional dropout. While the connection is not perfect, it is a huge improvement over using the Apple iPod shuffle and wired headphones I have had to use for a number of years.

I wish I could say the same ;) All it takes is for either my wrist to go back to far or to look right and signal starts to cutout.

AirPods with silicone earpod covers are awesome for running!

I run with Bose Soundsport Wireless (with the cable between the buds) and the HRM-Tri strap, with watch on left wrist. Works without hitching or stuttering. Latest firmware and either with internal music or Spotify.

I did a 60 min run with music and my Jaybird X3. No dropouts, watch on left wrist and bluetooth dongle on the right side of head... This was with FW 5.0.

I did a 60 min run with music and my Jaybird X3. No dropouts, watch on left wrist and bluetooth dongle on the right side of head... This was with FW 5.0.

How do you find the X3’s generally? Reviews are hit and miss. Thanks

So I have Powerbeats 3 and some no brand freebie BT headphones and I have never had any problems listening to music or podcasts. I even use them when vacuuming the house which might provide a challenging electromagnetic background. I wear the watch on my left wrist. This has been the same for all FW versions since I bought the watch.

RickCain I wonder if maybe you have a defective unit? I've not had any of the issues that you describe with dropouts and it would appear there's a number of us who haven't experienced issues.
I use a number of bluetooth headphones - from Sony, Beats and Jabra and none of them have been an issue despite all of them having the BT receiver on the RH side and me wearing the watch on the left hand side.
Even if you were really tall you shouldn't be experiencing the number of drop-outs you are having so that tends to suggest a faulty watch rather than an inherent design flaw.

The audio quality isn't amazing either but it's hardly terrible either - so that would also perhaps suggest a poor BT connection cause by a faulty watch?

RickCain I wonder if maybe you have a defective unit? I've not had any of the issues that you describe with dropouts and it would appear there's a number of us who haven't experienced issues.
I use a number of bluetooth headphones - from Sony, Beats and Jabra and none of them have been an issue despite all of them having the BT receiver on the RH side and me wearing the watch on the left hand side.
Even if you were really tall you shouldn't be experiencing the number of drop-outs you are having so that tends to suggest a faulty watch rather than an inherent design flaw.

The audio quality isn't amazing either but it's hardly terrible either - so that would also perhaps suggest a poor BT connection cause by a faulty watch?

I would love to think that too but this is my forth device. Originally I purchased a 5S+ due to the size is just perfect for wearing with dress shirts but ended up with a regular 5+.

So now to eat some humble pie. This morning I updated the 5+ to fw5.10, re-synced my "running" playlist, added a couple of podcasts then went off on a 7+ mile run. I got the best audio experience ever and that was paired with Airpods. Yes it did cut out while running through my neighborhood but once out of the trail it worked WAY BETTER. On past FW versions I couldn't look right without major audio issues - today was 95% better. Next run will be with Jaybird X4's as I know Airpods should provide the worst case scenario. The only thing I didn't like is when you have shuffle on, it will shuffle between songs on your playlist and any podcast synced. I'm sure that is fixable.

Audio quality was good and the volume must be 25% higher than on past firmware's.
BT connectivity was so much better.

I've tried Bose SoundSport, MPOW Flame, Phaiser BHS-790, etc, etc. - they have all dropped. The SkullCandy Method set I had actually worked flawlessly, but after two pairs broke in 1 week, they were no longer an option. Someone was posting that the Garmin Fenix burns out the SkullCandy headphones. I'm not sure I believe that, but there is something going on for sure.

I'm on my second Fenix, so we'll see if the BT drops tomorrow. I'm not very confident.

crutlefish , bpl1972 - is that indoor or outdoor running with no drops? What kind of terrain?

Funny thing is BT drops much more while inside my house. Before my run this morning I was washing my hands and it was cutting out just twisting my wrist (hands were out in front of me in the sink). It was spotty while in the neighborhood but settled nicely once I wasn't around a bunch of houses.

A marked improvement with v5.10 with Airpods. I'm confident it will be even better with Jaybirds.