To buy or not to buy again...

Love my 5X, would definitely buy again. Most people's expectation of GPS performance is way above reality in devices of this type. Even with clear view of the sky, best case scenario is 3m accuracy....enough to put you on the opposite side of the road. Add in some tall buildings, tree cover and rapid switch backs and it'll fool most devices costing much more and sized 5x as large. All I need to know is that I travelled down that road/ track, not which footpath I was on and how many bins/ people/ dogs I avoided. That being said, my tracks are pretty good.

Typical misconception of peoples GPS complaints.

People are comparing the Fenix's GPS accuracy TO OTHER GPS WATCHES... very few people are expecting perfect GPS, what they do expect is for it to simply be as good as other GPS wrist watches.

When you compare the Fenix 5X to a sub £100 Garmin Forerunner 25 and realise that the Fenix 5X is performing worse.. then that's when people start to complain.

Even the Forerunner 935, which is pretty much the same watch internally, performs better than the 5X; my assumption is that the metal back plate and bezel on the Fenix range degrades the GPS signal.


Now don't get me wrong; I had a 935 first (still have it) and bought a 5X knowing it had issues, because I wanted the better looking watch for day to day use. So I have no real GPS complaints with regards to it. But I would not recommend people bought a Fenix watch if GPS accuracy is one of the key factors they need from a watch; if that was the case I would suggest getting the 935.

It's pretty clear from Garmin's patents on Exo antennae that the bezel and backplate are part of the antenna system on the F3/5 watches. So it isn't that they're interfering with the internal antenna, so much as that the overall system makes for a physically strong watch but with degraded reception, probably because it's too sensitive to multipath signals. It makes for difficult buying choices.

Got myself a F5X after scoring a pretty good offer. I also intend to keep my 935 for when I fancy a nicer looking track.

In comparing my 5X with other watches I've owned/used (305, 610, 310, 910, 920, and F3hr) i see no appreciable difference in GPS performance. And the 5X features were worth the upgrade for me.