Does any here use their Fenix 5X while hiking?

Former Member over 8 years ago

Just curious how many people use this for hiking or backpacking. What are your typical uses?

I love the navigation feature - except for the fact that a key element, Distance Remaining, doesn't work. The navigation Distance Remaining and the data field you can add for Distance Remaining are never the same. So odd.

0 Volker over 8 years ago

edit- please delete

0 tickerguy over 8 years ago

Yes, I use it for hiking all the time -- and yes, that's an annoyance.

I've not found it to be a deal-breaker, but I don't use that feature to "plan" my hike distances and such.... so it's in the annoyance category rather than something more-serious.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Yes, I use it for hiking all the time -- and yes, that's an annoyance.

I've not found it to be a deal-breaker, but I don't use that feature to "plan" my hike distances and such.... so it's in the annoyance category rather than something more-serious.

Thanks for sharing and somewhat agree. Since you're a fellow hiker, I'd love to hear some ways you use the watch while hiking or maybe favorite data fields? Just looking for more ideas.

0 unbreak4 over 8 years ago

Thanks for sharing and somewhat agree. Since you're a fellow hiker, I'd love to hear some ways you use the watch while hiking or maybe favorite data fields? Just looking for more ideas.

The main reason to get the 5x is for hiking... That's where map are the most valuable... I least for me.
I really love my f5x. The mapping function is awesome compare to what Garmin give us with the Epix.

On of the best datafield is "3D Trail" to use with Hike apps. Pretty cool. And for map, i bought one of Québec from Talkytoaster. Very more detail map than the basic one on the watch.

Steph

0 tickerguy over 8 years ago

Thanks for sharing and somewhat agree. Since you're a fellow hiker, I'd love to hear some ways you use the watch while hiking or maybe favorite data fields? Just looking for more ideas.

I have two "base" sets; "normal" is lap pace/hr/total-time/total-distance and then I have one for verticals (ascent/descent) that has rate of ascent/descent, lap pace and HR. I also have the map screen available of course -- it's quite useful with topo maps that have contours on them, along with a trails overlay.

I don't refer to the maps often, but when I want to confirm where I am in reference to something it's quite nice to have it on your wrist as opposed to the old "land nav" way..... I do carry paper + compass tho -- just in case.

I like the data set in the evening (if I am out for the day) or later when I get where I can dump it (if out on a multi-day backcountry excursion where I tend to keep the phone off, even if it has a signal - which it frequently doesn't) simply because it gives me an elevation profile and distance on what I did on a given day. It all goes into my thought process for planning the next segment or whatever I intend since the more experience you have and the more data the better decisions you can make for then next time.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Thanks for sharing and somewhat agree. Since you're a fellow hiker, I'd love to hear some ways you use the watch while hiking or maybe favorite data fields? Just looking for more ideas.

Another fellow hiker here. I use Dozen Walk and find it invaluable.

0 newtonfb over 8 years ago

My main purpose for the 5x is hiking/backpacking. I am really dissapointed that its been month+ and the Distance remaining data field is still not fixed. It should be a simple fix and they seem to keep ignoring it. I have emailed several times and they are "aware of the issue" so fingers crossed its fixed.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

In terms of hiking, haven't yet used my Fenix 5X for anything more than single day stuff, but have used my Fenix 1, 2 and 3 extensively in the past for multi-day trips. My best advice is to get a USB battery for multi-day stuff, you will run out of charge quickly if you're using the GPS for extended periods (not an issue or criticism of the watch, it's pretty good on battery life in general, just the reality of using 6+ hours of GPS/day). My data screens for hiking are completely customised and I carry a Tempe.

I'm very happy with the F5X for riding, running and short hikes. There is a frustrating issue with elevation plots for courses made in Basecamp not showing on the watch - even though they display correctly in Basecamp. It only seems to work on the watch if you transfer the course as a track that has elevation details embedded in it. So much for the watch having topo maps. I emailed Garmin with further details but didn't hear anything back. I don't think that many people with the F5 (or F3 for that matter) use it for hiking/navigation. The F1/2, which wasn't nearly as popular, was pitched more at the outdoor crowd and subsequently the firmware was more solid for that kind of usage, on the F3/F5 it seems more of an afterthought and the bulk of development is for running/riding/swimming. My expectations of Garmin's customer support / engineering department are not high after the terrible mess they made with the initial release of the F3, but at least they've done a better job with the F5, even with ongoing bugs like the "distance to destination" one.

0 tickerguy over 8 years ago

I have a ~6000mah charger pack that goes in my kit; it doesn't weigh much and it will charge the watch many times before it's depleted -- certainly enough times to get me through to the next resupply point.

I've found the 5x will usually last two days of hiking use (with GPS on) but usually recharge it nightly anyway when using it in the backcountry because if the second day is extended for some reason it's at risk of running out of power.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

I recently used my Fenix 5x (In conjunction with a much more convenient Garmin Dakota hiking GPS) whilst dong the Australian Alpine Walking Track in NSW.
I found a few things that didn't work very well, and some others that were great. The maps I had turned on on my fenix are the Aus and NZ topo lite and an Aus and NZ cycling map, both of which came with the purchase.

Pros:
With just the Topo map on, it wouldn't do autorouting (i.e. wouldn't find paths, just do straight-line routing) but with the cycling map turned on it managed to usually find the AAWT and other tracks and roads and make a reasonably good effort to find me a walking route that matched what I would have normally chosen manually anyway. That was one of the good things!
Things like distance to turns, turn-by-turn prompts and distance remaining all seemed to work as expected.
ETAs and so-on worked as expected.
Using it just to give me my current position in map coordinates worked great to allow me to locate myself on my paper maps. Didn't eat up too much battery this way either.
The various methods of selecting spots on the map were sometimes useful, though often guessing which category they were in was frustrating. Usually I just scrolled through ALL POIs or at least the geographic POIs. Out in the wilderness there isn't too much clutter like shops to make the list impossible, though often there were a heck of a lot of 'towers' listed.
Using the 'around me' list to find POIs in particular directions usually worked well too.
I really suggest you use Basecamp or similar to download a list of 'saved locations' to aid in your navigation. I didn't (the Fenix wasn't supposed to go on this trip but I put it in a the last moment) and regretted it all the trip.

Cons:
The Elevation plot during navigation drove me (and my hike-buddies who had to put up with my ranting) crazy! For a long time I couldn't work out what it was doing but it was definitely wrong, compared to the straight-line elevation plot that the Dakota was giving me, or just plain common-sense and interpretation of the topo maps. Sometimes the Fenix elevation plot looked right, but often it looked as if the plot had lost the plot! Finally I think I worked it out. When navigating a route, it plotted the elevation expected along the route to the destination, but then kept going, or else plotted the route back to the start-point again. (The plot was often a symmetric-looking thing with the destination apparently in the centre.) Sometimes, just starting the navigation again gave the correct elevation plot to the destination, but just as often it remained wrong and sometimes differently wrong. I found that as I hiked along the route, the elevation plot was corrected for the part I had walked, until as I reached the destination, it was finally correct. This is crazy, but if I am right and the destination is in the centre of the plot (sometimes but not always) you could maybe get used to it and compensate. (No, not really, Garmin need to fix this! The elevation plot is essential for planning a route (especially when running or cycling) and having it go all half-a**-ed is not satisfactory!) Even turning the routing settings to force it to use straight-line routing didn't solve this, so it can't be put down to the autorouting along paths.
The expected 'climb' value (I guess that is what the number next to the blue up-arrow in the elevation plot is) given in the elevation plot was very frequently wrong and changed as I hike to become something completely different. This might have been as a result of the other problem with the elevation plot.
The so-called 'ultratrack' mode of GPS on the fenix is horrible. Maybe it does save battery, but it is so inaccurate I couldn't stand it. Seems to break other aspects of navigation too, though I quickly switched it off so I can't make any substantive claims about what didn't work properly. Will have to play with it again if and when Garmin fix the elevation plot.
Trying to use the map to select a point to navigate too was difficult. The map is too small and the navigation buttons too fiddly. If you can use things like 'around me' or 'geographic points' to select your destination, or use 'saved positions' or a course, it works much better.