Well, there's a turn for the books. I've been vocal in the past defending Garmin but as people have noticed I've been largely silent on the forums. I've been busy, using my Fenix 5x+, and rapidly coming to the conclusion I'd have probably been better off buying the Suunto 9 for my needs. In fact, my plan is to start saving throughout 2020 to see how Suunto do with a replacement for the 9 and to be honest if it comes with maps I'll be all over it like a bad rash.
The decision is multi-fold, and is based on
Perception of Value.
Look at the Forerunner 245 First beat page at https://www.firstbeat.com/en/consumer-product/garmin/forerunner-245/ - it has 11 Firstbeat Metrics. I have a 5x+, and their page lists (https://www.firstbeat.com/en/consumer-product/garmin/fenix-5-plus/) 12. So I paid 3 times as much fo a watch whose feature set is not matched by it's perceived value. And add in tthe fact the 245/945 have seen a large degree of firmware changes over the period since their launch. Compare that to the f5+ series where new features have been largely absent.
For those of us who bought the F5+ series, we bought what we perceived as a premium brand. Especially the x+. But I think this iteration of the Fenix was only ever meant to be a stopgap to get them to the 6, and to be honestif Garmin are going to a more rapid turnover of iterations of the Fenix - this problem will only get worse.
It's obvious the 5+ series is now legacy. If you CAN get an answer from Garmin (via Twitter, or other social media) you get a boilerplate reply that "we're unsure of future plans, please email our customer idea's team at [email protected]" - an email address that seems to pipe to /dev/null for all I can tell as I've never had an answer. But that leads to plausible doubt, because A definite answer that "Sorry no new features will be backported to the plus series" will annoy people.
For a premium watch, even if the new UI changes didn't come - body battery, PacePro and the like should be on a premium device.
Looking at the recent S9 update notes we see
2.9.42
This update brings new features, added performance enhancements as well as some fixes
New features
- Fitness level estimation from running and walking sports (VO2Max)
- Sleep quality assessment
- Stress level and body resources graph
- Automatically adjusted time zone from Suunto app
Enhancements and fixes
- In watch guidance tips for altitude and first exercise to help get the best performance from your watch
- Improved GPS tracking accuracy with new GPS firmware
If Suunto can add new Firstbeat metrics to existing watches, it sort of blows out of the water the excuse that the metrics can't be licensed to existing devices.
The one new 'feature' of the 5x+ is the SpO2 sensor. Well, to be honest if you told me it was a red led linked to a random number generator I'd believe you. The ONLY thing it links into is sleep tracking, and in my tests the only difference between having it on and off during sleep tracking is you get better battery life when it's off!
And battery life, while good, is not really what they promise. And looking at what Suunto is doing with FusedTrack really is turning my head
Perception of life.
9.74. Oh boy where do I start. I don't care that it was a beta, someone at Q&A was asleep at the wheel when they launched a firmware (beta or not) whose core functionality was so radically broken it predicted relativistic running stats.If I was a Q&A manager I'd be looking at sacking people for allowing that out. How the hell didn't anyone actually test that running (for a running watch) was broken!
Perhaps this explains why their seems to be no new features coming to the 5+ series if they're having difficulties keeping the core functionality working..
One common perception with Garmin's was it was worth buying the previous generation as the software was better baked compare to the newer ones but looking at the 6 forums it's no better there. And the only 6 I fancy, the 6x Solar, is seemingly unavailable. Battery life is the thing for me as I do longer and longer distances and even with the clusterf*** of software issues Suunto have with SportstrackerMovescount the fact is the last S(baro firmware update did bake in new features they'd introduced to the S3 and 5, and even Polar have added new features.
Confusing product line
Adding this as I forgot. A work colleague asked me for advice on what Garmin to buy. They were confused and had read about 35, 45 ,245, 235, Vivoactive, 645, 735... in the end we brainstormed but in her own words, she bought a Polar Ignite as it was clear what it did.
Garmin really need to look at clearing tne lines a little and looking at the confusion. Is the 645 better than the 245 she asked? Well, yes and no... You can understand the confusion
So my plan is to save as I said, and in 2020 see where Suunto are in comaprison to Garmin.
It's even more galling for me as I've argued with many forum members (forerunner springs to mind mate!) and then to find I actually agree with them. I'm coming to the conclusion that next year I'll buy something like a Huawei Watch GT 2 for day to day steps,247 HR and then a Suunto 9 for actually training and races. The only true thing I'll miss is maps but thats what a handheld GPS can do, or my phone which has a massive battery and I now have a wireless 8000mah powerbank to take with me on long runs/races
