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Fenix 3 is over ! Fenix 5 is there

The leak is confirmed and announcement would be soon...
https://buy.garmin.com/us-us/us/p/560327

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 8 years ago
    It looks like the 5S is available with a sapphire face for the extra $100. It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison between the two versions in various ambient lighting conditions. I'm not sure what Garmin is using for it's "normal" face but in general products like Gorilla Glass, Ion-X etc. as far as reflectivity, display distortion, and impact resistance are superior to sapphire. The ambient light reflectance for sapphire is about twice as much as glass so in the same lighting conditions you get more reflections off the sapphire screen reducing contrast. I'm not sure if similar comparisons would be true for Garmin and their specific materials but a few sites have compared the Apple watch series with Ion-X glass and sapphire faces and the glass won't break as easy as it's more flexible (probably not a big deal in a recessed face watch like the Fenix) but it was also brighter with less glare. The sapphire face of course is still more scratch resistant.

    As for the features, at this point you probably have to sit down with the manuals for both watches and really deep dive the features, and even then the manual usually doesn't cover every little feature/option. I remember reading that the 735XT had quite a few "hardcore" fitness functions that the Fenix 3 HR did not, but they may have added those to the Fenix 5. That would surprise me though, Garmin is the king of not offering everything in any single product even their top of the line. So I'd be surprised if you get EVERY fitness function that the 735XT offers in the Fenix 5, just like I'd be surprised if you get every navigation, waypoint, etc. feature on the 735XT that you get in the Fenix. Garmin is very good about restricting just enough features that if you want everything for running, cycling etc. you will buy their specialized units.

    As for battery life in Garmin's specs they list the battery life of the units differently as well.

    5s 5 5X
    smartwatch 9 days, 14 days, 12 days
    GPS 14 hours, 24 hours, 20 hours
    ultratrack 40 hours, 75 hours, 50 hours
  • As for the features, at this point you probably have to sit down with the manuals for both watches and really deep dive the features, and even then the manual usually doesn't cover every little feature/option. I remember reading that the 735XT had quite a few "hardcore" fitness functions that the Fenix 3 HR did not, but they may have added those to the Fenix 5. That would surprise me though, Garmin is the king of not offering everything in any single product even their top of the line. So I'd be surprised if you get EVERY fitness function that the 735XT offers in the Fenix 5, just like I'd be surprised if you get every navigation, waypoint, etc. feature on the 735XT that you get in the Fenix. Garmin is very good about restricting just enough features that if you want everything for running, cycling etc. you will buy their specialized units.


    I'm not sure it covers everything but the 'compare' function on the Garmin web-site makes it quite easy to see what functions appear where, see here for example. Although if the 735XT is anything like the F3 was it may have gotten a load more functionality since it was released.

    I got my F3 on release in early 2015, and it has been on my wrist practically 24/7 except for charging. The amount of functionality added for free through FW has been great too. The F3HR wasn't enough for me to upgrade but the extras the F5 bring along with the wrist HR and a renewed FW up-grade cycle make it a must buy (as long as the UK price isn't completely silly).
  • I remember reading that the 735XT had quite a few "hardcore" fitness functions that the Fenix 3 HR did not, but they may have added those to the Fenix 5. That would surprise me though, Garmin is the king of not offering everything in any single product even their top of the line. So I'd be surprised if you get EVERY fitness function that the 735XT offers in the Fenix 5, just like I'd be surprised if you get every navigation, waypoint, etc. feature on the 735XT that you get in the Fenix. Garmin is very good about restricting just enough features that if you want everything for running, cycling etc. you will buy their specialized units.
    s


    Which hardcore features are you referring too? The only features I can think of that the 735xt has over the F3 is Varia support, Strava segments, next gen CIQ, and Garmin supported TBT navigation. In fact the 735 lacks several important features that are available on the F3 (i.e. altimeter, multiple bike profiles, Virtual racer, tempe support...etc)

    The F5 will have everything the 735XT has and more. There would be precedent in the F3 which had more features then the 920xt.
    The Fenix line has been 1 step ahead of the Forerunner line since the 910/F2. Also the Fenix team has added features above and beyond the original specs on the Fenix (unlike the Forerunners).
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 8 years ago
    I'm not sure it covers everything but the 'compare' function on the Garmin web-site makes it quite easy to see what functions appear where, see here for example. Although if the 735XT is anything like the F3 was it may have gotten a load more functionality since it was released.


    I'd say this a great example, yes it does give you some overall features, but many things are not represented, for example exactly what cycling functions are displayed and recorded, how much customization is there in the cycling info display screens and how many are available for display, how much power meter functionality is there, is there any fields/etc. that are recorded on one unit but not the other, can you race against a previous lap time, etc. etc. The comparison does not mention if any of them are shimano/Sram shifting compatible even though that might be a huge feature for a cyclist. The same is true on if they work with the Varia Garmin system.

    All the web comparison really tells you about cycling is they all work with the vector in some form, they all work with the speed/cadence sensors in some form, and two of them allow multiple bike profiles. I could be wrong but i doubt when you really get into what each of them records, displays, and the user can customize in cycling features they are really the same except for multiple bike profiles. Some of those might be covered in the "performance features" section but they don't list if those features are available in every activity. Even the manual for the 3 HR basically says nothing detailed about the cycling functionality except how to start a biking activity and to pair with speed/cadence sensors, the 735XT manual is no different.

    That's just for one activity.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 8 years ago
    Which hardcore features are you referring too? The only features I can think of that the 735xt has over the F3 is Varia support, Strava segments, next gen CIQ, and Garmin supported TBT navigation. In fact the 735 lacks several important features that are available on the F3 (i.e. altimeter, multiple bike profiles, Virtual racer, tempe support...etc)


    Varia support might be a big deal for a cyclist/triathlon person, the same is true for stratvia live segments and electronic shifting support that it appears the F3/F3 HR does not have, or at least did not at one time. None of them appear to have home trainer control +ANT FeC which might be another big feature for a cyclist. It appears the 5 series has added many of these, but that info is hard to find unless you deep dive in multiple reviews. I can think of tons of cycling features and possible data fields that are not talked about from the Edge series, cadence alerts, setting up customizable interval workouts, etc. For example things like min/max/average cadence, total ascent/descent, gradient, might be fields that are very important to a cyclist. These watches might offer all of those and more but the manuals or comparison information for these watches say nothing about them.

    It does not surprise me that the 735 lacks hiking/navigation features, again this is how Garmin gets you to buy an Edge, Fenix, Forerunner, and handheld if you really want all the features for a particular activity. Again it's a watch it's not realistic to expect it to be as good hiking or biking as an Edge/handheld and provide all the same functionality. I guess my point is it's very hard to determine which watch offers what when you really get into the details about exactly what data fields are offered, recorded, customized and displayed at once etc. even if you read the manuals because they don't detail the various user/activity screens anymore as they used to. It may be with the activity app's now you can add tons of screens and there's every option for data fields under the sun, and you can organize them however you want, but that information is pretty hard to find. I ran across one non-english video off the fenix 3 cycling that appeared to show a lot of possible data fields in either 3 or 4 fields per screen. Is 4 the limit, can you organize them as you want or are they pre-built? Exactly what are all the data fields available etc? I think those are fair questions that a prospective customer might want answers to. The manuals for Garmin's used to do a very good job of detailing those things, for example the Edge 705 manual listed out every data field that was available for display, and clearly told users how many data fields could be on a page and how many pages were available for customization etc.
  • Prefer the size of the 5s but ended up pre ordering the 5x because of mapping features.
  • For the functions you named
    -For each sport, the Fenk3 has 10 customizable screens. Each screen can have 1-4 fields (fields 3&4 having 2 different layout options). Those 40 fields, you can be put on any screen in any order you want
    -Fenix 3 supports all of the power meter functions and screens the Edge 1000 does
    -Fenix 3 supports alerts (max/min) for all the mentioned fields (HR, Cadence, Power...etc)
    -Fenix 3 supports customizable workouts
    -Fenix 3 has virtual partner and virtual racer (race a prior course)

    It's best if you go through the user manual which answers most of your questions.

    I use an Edge 1000 as well, and off the top of my head the Edge 1000 offers a few things over the F3
    -More data fields per screen
    -Larger screen for better maps/graphing (ie elevation graph)
    -Varia support
    -TBT directions directly from Garmin Connect
    -ANT+ FeC control

    In biking the Fenix 3 has a few of things over the Edge 1000
    -Auto climb screen (which ROCKS)
    -Better battery life
    -Distinct notification and warnings for alerts (as well as more customizable alerts)
    -Better, yes better GPS performance when Mountain biking ( http://www.mygpsfiles.com/app/#6tsUiDsx )

    Outside, I run both the Edge and Fenix at the same time. Both are within 99.9999% of each other (HR, Power, Cadence, Distance, Time) even with multiple auto-pause incidents.

    But that's not really the point. The F5 will have all of the features of the 735xt and more.
  • I use an Edge 1000 as well, and off the top of my head the Edge 1000 offers a few things over the F3
    -TBT directions directly from Garmin Connect


    That's actually not the case any more; Connect started sending courses with TBT embedded to the F3 around October last year. Great list, though.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 8 years ago
    I got my F3 on release in early 2015, and it has been on my wrist practically 24/7 except for charging. The amount of functionality added for free through FW has been great too. The F3HR wasn't enough for me to upgrade but the extras the F5 bring along with the wrist HR and a renewed FW up-grade cycle make it a must buy (as long as the UK price isn't completely silly).


    I'm of the same mind. Have had and enjoyed my F3 for the past two years, and now the F5 comes along with a sharper and more colorful screen (not as much as I would have liked, but it's an improvement), built in HR monitoring, and packaged in a smaller body while maintaining the screen size. I will likely upgrade as well.
  • That's actually not the case any more; Connect started sending courses with TBT embedded to the F3 around October last year. Great list, though.


    Thanks for the info. Last I heard GC would send the course but not the turn directions. That fact that I don't know this solidifies my decision not to get the 5x...I'd rarely (never) use it.