Fenix 5S Plus and Indoor workouts

Former Member over 6 years ago

Hi,

I'm planning to buy the Fenix 5S Plus and I'll be using it for indoor workouts. Mostly will be doing P90X and 21 Day Fix. For this, do I have to create a custom indoor profile naming them as P90X and 21 Day Fix or use any of the available built in profiles and if so which indoor profiles would be a best match? If I do have to create custom profiles, will those be identical to the built ones? I read that the built in profiles are optimized and will calculate calorie burn based on the current heart rate. Also, if I use the built in profiles for the indoor workouts I mentioned above, can these be renamed in the app later?

Thanks.

0 Crispin_Ellisdon over 6 years ago

The the native 'Cardio' app sounds like the best start point for an indoor activity with calorie burn calculated from HR. Yes you can make (multiple) copies of any of the native activity apps and rename them, but they will still show up as the original app name when they upload in to Garmin Connect, as Garmin Connect only matches activities with a known list of baseline activity types.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Thanks Crispin. So, in the case of P90X (it is a mix of weight lifting, cardio and yoga), will the native 'Cardio' profile the best option? Also, does Garmin Connect allow me to rename the workout after syncing? Btw, copying a existing profile like 'Cardio' should still maintain the calorie calculation based on the HR?

Also, in terms of HR accuracy, which is better -> Fenix 5S Plus or the Fenix 5 Plus Titanium? The reason being I read on these forums that the 5 Plus Titanium is accurate (due to less weight and I think the person didn't compare to 5S+). But 5S+ is even lighter. So, do you think 5S+ will be more accurate than the 5+ Titanium? I can understand that optical HR is not perfect but between these two, which is better?

0 Crispin_Ellisdon over 6 years ago

Yes, Yes and Yes. If Im doing a CrossFit or indoor circuit training workout, I’ll use the Cardio app; hence why I’m pretty confident “this is the app you are looking for” (but this is no Jedi mind trick).

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Thanks again. Sorry. I updated with more questions on the 5S Plus vs 5 Plus in terms of accuracy. Please help.

0 Crispin_Ellisdon over 6 years ago

Now then, if your expecting to get accurate HR from any optical HR monitor doing those kinds of activities (lots of upper body movements with wrist flexing), especially OHR measured from your wrist, then you’re going to be sorely disappointed. I’ve never got any success from wrist hr watches for things like strength training, CrossFit, rowing and circuit training. Even my Scosche Rhythm+ optical HR monitor worn on my upper arm just fails for those activities too (great for running and cycling though). A traditional HR chest strap (damped down between skin and strap for a good contact) is the only way that works reliably in my experience.

All that said, for those activities that wrist HR is OK for (running and cycling), then I can’t imagine there will be any tangible difference between the 5S+ or Ti 5+ (the significantly lighter weight of the Forerunner 935 might make a difference). More important is getting the watch band at the right tightness.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Thanks again for your reply.