Fenix 5X vs Fenix 3 (comparison)

So my first outing with the 5X was an 55km Ultra. I took along both watches to compare.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1627354702 - 5X
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1627351320 - F3

Experimental conditions ....

1. Both using 1 second GPS records - GPS + GLONASS
2. F3 linked to HRM
3. 5X Using optical Heart rate sensor
4. Backlight 70% 5X and 100% F3 - both watches enabled the backlight by gesture (they look the same brightness)
5. Both watches were following the same GPX track with turn-by-turn instructions
6. I only looked at the mapping screen occasionally on the 5X
7. The 5X was on my left wrist and the F3 on my right wrist.
8. Bluetooth enabled on both watches but disabled on phone (I didn't how livetrack would cope with two activities)
9. Both connected to a TEMPE shoe mounted temperature sensor
10. No footpod

After 12 hours total time since full charge and 5:43 hrs of activity during this 12 hours I have
Battery on 5x = 57% remaining
Battery on F3 = 53% remaining

The F3 gave turn alerts but the 5X didn't - I need to investigate why. The track was loaded via basecamp.
The 5X was much faster at loading the course. I always end up waiting for a few minutes for the F3 to load large courses (and had it fail sometimes)

The GPS conditions were:

1. 90% clear sky with 10% wooded conditions but the trees had few leaves
2. Thick mist for the higher elevations

Both watches are slow to upload large activities via Bluetooth buy do so within a few seconds via wifi.

Let me know if I missed anything

0 chunkywizard over 8 years ago

Garmin said you can't compare GPS tracks unless the watches are worn on the same wrist. They get a different view of the sky otherwise. Worth trying that next time and seeing if there is much of a difference

CW

0 Subtleguru over 8 years ago

Agreed - My analysis was that the 5X did better GPS job than the F3 but prefer to let the data speak.

Two other observations:
1. There was a TEMPE dropout on the F3 - hence the 20C max temperature but not on the 5X
2. The overall heart averages are skewed because of an initial issue between my chest strap and F3 right at the start. I don't think I can blame the f3 for this - likely waiting for the better sweat induced contact for the strap.

The displayed bpm varied often by about 5 bpm between the two but just for a few seconds until the optical sensor caught up. During steady running they appeared matched. I haven't analysed the heart rate data - these are just subjective assessments.

CW - regarding the right wrist - my bad but I am not sure I could run with both on the same wrist. The F3 tracks from today do seem typical for what I get on other wrist.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

How old is the Garmin Fenix 3? If it's old, the battery life won't be quite as good. Sapphire or non sapphire? Impressive results :).

0 Subtleguru over 8 years ago

How old is the Garmin Fenix 3? If it's old, the battery life won't be quite as good. Sapphire or non sapphire?

22 months old - non sapphire

0 Caspar_Sprungli over 8 years ago

Great job!

0 indymtb over 8 years ago

I did a 5X vs. F3HR comparison here:

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?373550-GPS-distance-accumulation

It is interesting that the 5X did as good or better. Conditions and length were different so it is hard to tell but my first run was a little disappointing. With these results, the verdict is still out.