Are You Happy With Your Fenix 5+??

Until recently I was very happy with mine but now the altimeter & temperature have stopped working (tried all the fixes) and now the battery is dying and I only get a couple of days whereas I used to get 10 days.

This is my second Fenix 5+ sapphire as Garmin replaced my first one due to a sticky button.

As someone has already mentioned the supplied charging cable is not great and the 3rd party round puck type is far better.

I am about to send my watch in for a refurb swap for the issues already mentioned but am a little apprehensive as my watch is immaculate.

Hoping the Fenix 7 is announced soon

Yes and no. I really like how it looks, and the overall functions (watch + GPS tracker). The sapphire glass really worked well - no scratches (bezel has some).

I don’t like the countless bugs that still exist (e.g. no daylight saving time) and that charging is not reliable anymore due to corroded contacts .

My next watch will not be a Garmin. 

I have....

Polar V800 - not many features, not even OHR, but good accuracy for the data it produces. Display clarity excellent.

Fenix 3HR - more features, and OHR for all day data, but less accurate. Display not as distinct as V800.

Fenix 5X+ - more features again, including music (not used) pulse ox (not used) and maps (rarely used). Accuracy not improved. Display not improved.

Fenix 6X Pro Solar - even more features. Accuracy not improved. Display bigger and better, but still not as clear as V800 indoors.

5X+ was a pointless upgrade for me. 6X Pro Solar is a big step up, mostly for the display and battery life. I do wish Garmin would put more effort into data quality than continually adding features that suffer from that poor data quality. If they can't get HR, pace, distance, altitude right then how much value is there in any of the derived information in these fancy features they keep adding?

That said, I won't be rushing to replace my 6X. Stryd sorts out pace and distance and a chest strap, which I always use (even for walking now because OHR is still too creative) takes care of HR. Altitude is not a big thing for my needs. Once calibrated at the start of activity it is OK, usually.

To buy now? I'd be really tempted to see what the 7 series brings. If you look at the change log for 6 series firmware it makes for miserable reading. So many fixes and "improvements". This watch has a very damaged history. Maybe the 7 will be the same, or maybe Garmin will have finally learned from their mistakes and release a stable product that's good to go out of the gate. Maybe also some new sensor hardware will cure the ills that have plagued the 6.

If budget is a big factor and the 6 series is a good price it might be worth a punt. It is certainly a better watch today then when released over two years ago. And you won't have to suffer the last two years of ups and downs that some of us have.

I was happy with my F5+ yes. I was not happy with my 5, so I'm not that easily pleased. I bought a 6 a couple of weeks ago (sapphire pro metal band, silver) purely to change the look of the grey metal band*. I was utterly shocked how much beter the 6 is than the 5+. All of the reviews peg it as a minor upgrade and it's just not that. It's faster, glances are awesome, more sensors supports, more sports, BREATHING monitoring, pulseox, all sorts of crazy little updates.

I love Ray and his reviews, but his Fenix 6 review massively undersold this watch and had I known I would have upgraded two years ago. It is better in almost every way than the 5+ and the 5+ was/is an amazing watch. I just bought it (again, for aesthetic reasons*) but I will probably upgrade if they release the 7 in January.

* don't hate me, I get partner discount so it wasn't that crazy!

With these experiences… why are you still considering to buy a Fenix 7 series? It will be the same. It will have even more features, but their implementation/usefulness will be mediocre. But as long as people keep buying these watches, why should Garmin change strategy?

I'm not. I said I'm in no rush to replace my 6X.

My "advice" was to the OP who is debating whether and when to buy a 6 series watch, based on the release of the 7.

I don't know what you're doing to your charge cables, but I'm still using the one from my 935 as my main cable and it's been charging 3-4 different watches regularly for years with no issues and no wear. The others I use occasionally have no wear either so I'm guessing we're plugging and unplugging them in a different way.

I too am now holding out for the Fenix 7 but I wouldn't hold your breath expecting Garmin to release a perfect product. I have been a Garmin customer for several decades starting out with their handheld devices and have since owned handhelds, bike computers and wearables. Garmin make good products but the software is buggy and instead of fixing the bugs they just add more features (which in turn add bugs), they then just release a new product and never fix the old one, I have seen this time and time again. I would much prefer that they concentrate on fixing the product as sold and forget about adding features, but I guess they never will and forums such as this will continue to be littered with people persisting with issues.

fishyweb said:

About the only thing I don't like is how slow it is to calculate a route when starting an activity navigating a course.

F6Pro is not a whole lot faster calculating ad-hoc navigation. Didn't try side-by-side with the 5 Plus, but the difference is not huge.