Problems with Ant+ connectivity

I'm not convinced it will be a 5+

it's a change to the existing model, surely a new model would have a to go through FCC again

Interesting read. Do we know if this might apply to all standard/sapphire F5's or only one's manufactured earlier for example?

Letter highlights
FCC ID: IPH-A3119-00 IC ID: 1792A-A311900, which is the same for all I believe.

I'm a lucky example with ant+ and BT - the only issues I've had are with Stages PM where ant+ is very weak but I believe this is a Stages issue as the ant+ dongle on my mac also fails with it sometimes. BT on my F5 sapphire has been solid with stages.

Just strange how some F5's are failing miserably and others are absolutely fine. Not consistent.

Still pretty sure GPS strength is a valid problem with these devices and for me would be the only reason to move to a 935 (Garmin offered me this) but that's covered to death in other threads.

just had a chat session with Garmin
the chap I spoke to was aware of there being a revision in the pipeline but not what the process was going to be for getting watches swapped out
he's expecting to know more in the next few days
I'll follow it up next week and see if there is any change to this
so, looks like things are moving in the right direction (although I wont believe it until I'm sat on my bike with a stable connection!)

would be the only reason to move to a 935 (Garmin offered me this)

really? the refused to do this for me the other day :(

still, a fixed F5 would be preferable anyway and maybe the news of the revision is why they refused to swap for another model

(or am I giving them too much credit? :rolleyes:)

Ha, yeah maybe optimistic :-/

I gave an account of the ongoing issues I've had to date so they offered the swap. I am not jumping at that yet, until I hear more about this possible revision, plus I'd be going from a sapphire model to cheaper 935.

Will hang fire till next week and decide

Just a little too late for me as i have returned my Fenix 5 to the shop and got a refund.
I just bought a Forerunner 935 to replace it.
Maybe in the future i buy a Fenix again but for now i moved away from it.
Too bad as i liked it a lot.

I'm a lucky example with ant+ and BT - the only issues I've had are with Stages PM where ant+ is very weak but I believe this is a Stages issue as the ant+ dongle on my mac also fails with it sometimes. BT on my F5 sapphire has been solid with stages.

Just strange how some F5's are failing miserably and others are absolutely fine. Not consistent.

Seems to be very, very dependent on the exact equipment you're using. I thought mine was basically fine - occasional brief dropouts with my Tempe, but that does that with other devices too, the current watches don't seem to deal very well with its slower transmission rate. Then somebody gave me an HRM-4 for Christmas (the red one which looks like the swim and tri units) and, while the heart rate is rock solid, the running dynamics often disappear and aren't recovered for several minutes. That has taken me from 'well, this is a bit irritating but I can live with it' to being seriously interested in trying to get it swopped for one of the new units.

while the heart rate is rock solid, the running dynamics often disappear and aren't recovered for several minutes. That has taken me from 'well, this is a bit irritating but I can live with it' to being seriously interested in trying to get it swopped for one of the new units.

Thats exactly my experience with a HRM - Tri, I'm not sure that I know what to do with all of the data in the first place but its annoying and frustrating that there are gaps where there shouldn't be.

In response to earlier posts - I have managed to get fit files out of my set-up (F5+Stryd), but no idea how to get ANT+ signal strength via that approach. I can however confirm that the Stryd connection to my F5 is absolutely stable. In more general terms, I have been wondering whether the connection issues many have been experiencing could not be related to the n,umber of apps/widgets the watch is running, or to the connection of more than one ANT+ device. In my case, since all I do is run, and I am not very demanding in terms of apps etc, my watch is basically "clean" in the sense that the Stryd Power app and the connect IQ data field are the only extras I have running on it - I don't even have an extra watch face.
Or maybe I'm just lucky...

I've just had my Fenix 5 replaced by Garmin Australia. Original continually dropped ANT+ and bluetooth when activity started so no live tracking or phone notifications. Replacement seems improved, maintains bluetooth connectivity on rides and better ANT+ connection, however have only tested on one of my speed/cadence sensors.
There definitely seems to be a glitch with HRM Run though, perhaps exacerbated by footpod use. It shows connected but doesn't record running dynamics until a little bit into run. Interestingly it seems to still record heart rate on my Forerunner 920XT during this period. You can see in images that it is connected when activity starts but immediately drops making me think it's software related.

Images show:
New F5 with footpod
Old F5 without footpod
New F5 with GSC10
Old F5 with GSC10
New F5 without footpod