Soooo, as much as I'd prefer to buy the real deal the price is a bit salty for my liking. So I went ahead and got a couple of amazon. I've seen a couple of videos regarding quality of strao but nothing highlighting this with the quick fit clip itself. https://youtu.be/ZREwB9G0ecA
I purchased a quick fit knock-off from china a few months ago and have worn it every day for at least a month now. The quality of the strap is identical right down to the appearance (the two bands are absolutely identical, can't tell the difference). The quick fit part works 100% as well as the real thing... haven't had one single issue. I remove it quite frequently as well due to having the black band for work and the knock-off for every other time. Think I paid $10 http://www.ebay.com/itm/332257676137
In terms of the silicone band its as good as the garmin one. Up until I caught my watch strap on a seat belt, which popped the band off with little resistance I had no issues. I paid about ?7. There are many different suppiers of 5x off brand straps and maybe the 2 i have are like this one in my video. Maybe some arent. My worry being that in instances I could lose the watch of the strap did snap off I would be devastated. Like in the sea or mountain biking where it could fall off and you could have cycled miles before you noticed.
I would be careful about these - I bought one off Ebay that seemed identical to the official one but saw a post on the Fb Garmin Fenix 5x forum that shows a inherent weakness in the build quality.
If you put your finger in parallel between your wrist blade and the the top of the band and pull, then the band releases...
I posted a similar experience with a knock off band in the 5/5s forum when I had that watch. The band went back to amazon as there is no way i'd trust it to hold my watch on my wrist while being active in the mountains. I totally get trying to save a few bucks as the Garmin bands are expensive, but if the money saved could cause damage or loss of my watch, it isn't worth the risk to me.
I posted a similar experience with a knock off band in the 5/5s forum when I had that watch. The band went back to amazon as there is no way i'd trust it to hold my watch on my wrist while being active in the mountains. I totally get trying to save a few bucks as the Garmin bands are expensive, but if the money saved could cause damage or loss of my watch, it isn't worth the risk to me.
Very much this. As i showed in my video the band will just ping off with almost no effort if something, say a rucksack strap or a rope or a branch happens to catch under the strap just right. Admittedly its not easy to do that......buuuuuut it could happen. If you are in water or somewhere the watch would almost certainly be lost for good then ill be using my GArmin strap.
I wanted to highlight the danger as I suspect I'm not the only one who has saved cash on a knock off product. Its not immediately apparent how the band will pop off.
I lost my watch once and that was with the original strap. I somehow got tangled in a soccer goal net and off it went. Then again, the Fenix 5X has never claimed to be a soccer watch.
I am using knock-off aliexpress bands all the time and I am quite confident I will have the watch for a long time. Should be mentioned that I am not a triathlete fighting others for air. But I use it on rough MTB trails without any problems (so far). Of course, I try as good as I can to check the build quality of the low-cost ones. There are probably larger quality variations in those as shown in the FB-video above.
There are probably some straps out there with better quick fit clasps than I have experiencced. I'm using the knockoff straps on the daily because if they wear out its a cheap replacement and I'm not at risk of losing the watch in a river in my normal activities. The garmin strap I'm saving for such am event where the watch might be in jeapody
I'm waiting for a chinese compani to relase a metal band with quick fit as far as metl i more comfortable in summer for an all day usage. Then I would turn to silicon band for training. BUT I still replace the band with an old ones (silicon + NO quick release) for impact watersport (kitesurfing, etc) as far as I lost my beloved Casio Gshock after an unlucky jump
I bought 6 of them from ebay that are coming from Gchina . After watching the video by the original poster i tested all 6. Three of the six seem fine, i apply reasonable force and the latch remains secure. However the other 3 are just like the video above shows, garbage, which is where they're heading. The question is if my three "good"ones are truly good?
