Fenix 5S Plus or 5 Plus

Former Member over 6 years ago

Hi,

I'm trying to decide on my purchase and would like to know if 5S Plus is better (I have a medium sized wrist) due to less weight when compared to 5 Plus w/ Titanium. I read that Titanium is very very accurate in terms of OHR and GPS. Can't we say that 5S Plus or 5 Plus (non Sapphire) would be even more or the same in terms of accuracy when compared to 5 Plus (Sapphire Titanium model) due to less weight?

Also, read that the Sapphire screen looks dim and not clear when compared to the crystal glass. Is it so? Can you guys confirm? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nYfznTPcYY)

Thanks.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Anybody please?
I would like to make my purchase decision today.

Thanks.

0 Dr Phil over 6 years ago

No OHR device is sufficiently accurate for active activities, although some are suggestion the new Polar might be better than some. The GPS tracking between the two is little different from what I can tell. Can't comment on the screens but I have a sapphire and it looks fine. Battery life will likely be your main consideration between the two. You can get used to weight and size, but check out the battery specs and see what suits your need best.

0 Baoran over 6 years ago

I have a quite small wrist and Fenix 5 plus feels still fine. Sapphire is bit dimmer than than glass, but I can still see it clearly enough. If you want to get glass version a screen protector is a good idea. I did get the orange band titanium sapphire version and gps has been accurate enough for me. I didn't get 5S because of the battery life. Battery usually lasts only certain amount of recharges so I didn't like the smaller battery of 5S and titanium version of fenix 5 plus isn't that much heavier than 5S.

0 R_Tellis over 6 years ago

I have ~163mm wrist and have both F5+ Sapphire and a base model F5S+ Stainless. The F5S+ is much more comfortable to me and the optical HRM in my experience better with the strap tightened to a more regular tension. I can get equal HR results from the F5+ but it does need to be a little tighter.

The upside for the F5+ is battery life, while the F5S+ is more comfortable. I'm getting the expected battery drain rates in both smart watch and GPS modes with the F5+, but with the F5S+ GPS battery life is in line with the specs but smart watch mode drains a lot faster than it should at times while other times it's more in line with what it should be.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Thank you.

I'm possibly leaning towards F5S+ but scared to know that in smart watch mode it drains battery a lot faster sometimes. With the latest firmware, is is still an issue? Did you also compare the GPS and OHR accuracy between F5+ and F5S+ against a chest strap for HR and found that both are identical? What I would like to know is the Titanium F5+ is lighter at 76g but the F5S+ is even lighter at around 66g. So, in terms of accuracy, the F5S+ should be even more accurate or atleast identical to F5+?

Please advise.

0 R_Tellis over 6 years ago

GPS-wise I find both to compare well with my past Garmin watches and don’t see any difference between the 2 F5+ models.

There’s a CIQ datafield called Auxiliary HR that I always use for my first few runs with a new watch that has an optical sensor. It allows you to use a chest strap, that hasn’t been previously paired with the watch, as a secondary HR source and records it as a CIQ data stream in the FIT file so you can compare the two. Using that I got pretty good results with the F5+ Sapphire on a steady state treadmill run, with the watch’s oHRM 1-2bpm higher than from a Tickr X chest strap. I’ve been trying to get a foot injury to heal so haven’t done any other comparison runs since so that is my only result so far.

Both watches have current FW installed. Like I’m sure you’ve seen elsewhere the battery issues are hit and miss with the F5 series. My F5+ had poor battery life at first but now is right in line with the specs. My F5S+ was really poor at first but has been getting better although still well off spec.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Awesome replies. Really appreciate your insights.
Just one quick question: Is that "Auxiliary HR" app I should download from Garmin App Store? and does it support Bluetooth LE? I have the Polar H7 I would like to use it for comparison. Btw, is yours a Titanium model or a regular Sapphire one? The reason why I'm asking is the Sapphire one is weighing at 86g and the Titanium one is at 76g while the 5S+ is at 66g (just for comparison).

I also read in the forums that the Sapphire one is dimmer and looks slightly blurry when compared to the regular glass one. Can you please confirm?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nYfznTPcYY

Appreciate all your help.