Fenix 5X or Wait?

Building on your points, here's a little more insight:
So the thing about the barometer/altimeter is I understand that it will need calibration with weather changes and you are on the move. Garmin suggests I calibrate it once an hr! With what? The other bar barometer I carry in my back pocket? If it needs calibrating this often it should have a mode to actively ping gps to re-acquire your elevation. This would help keep it accurate to a tolerance I think most would accept or find meaningful. Not just during syncing during an active activity mode. With things like stairs.... my office is up 4 full flights. Garmin will usually register it as 1 or 2. I live in a 3 story townhouse and stairs be my life... I often see 1or 2 flights a day reported when while I am informally tracking 6-10.

The thing about the wrist based HR is it's really good.... when it starts tracking. The problem is you never seem to know when it is that it will get a CORRECT lock or if it will keep it. As I tried to (poorly) explain, it always seems to grab some data, but you don't know when it's right unless you are constantly double checking.

2 things,
1. I calibrate my altimeter at least once a day when i start a GPS activity. Since yesterday afternoon it has drifted roughly 10-15 feet from my actual elevation. I happen to have another barometer in my pocket at all times (Galaxy S8+) with a pretty nice app (accurate altimeter) for pulling reference pressure from a small airport about 5 miles from my house so I keep an eye on this. 10-15 feet at an elevation of 5430ft isn't too bad for me. I don't think "every hour" is a requirement for keeping a reasonable calibration, but understand your frustration.

2. What you are reporting for HR sounds like an issue of cadence filtering. Wrist based HR can be fantastic, but a lot of software work must be done to filter out all sorts of other noise. This noise can be cadence, light leakage from how the watch is worn, wet wrist, etc. With running, cadence and wrist movement is pretty consistent. I'd also say that Garmin has validated the filtering in that application much better than in an elliptical mode. They may have tried to apply the running corrections directly to all the other apps. In your case it clearly isn't working well. Hopefully they can figure it out and make the watch more useful for you.

lastly, your advice about buying at a place that has a good return policy is excellent. REI does 90 days for electronics if you "just don't like it," but i've heard they do a full year for "warranty" type stuff. Best Buy with their additional warranty would probably have a better "no questions asked" type return policy. Either way, research the return policy and if the watch doesn't work out for your use case, you'll be thankful that you did.

I finally pulled the trigger and ordered the FR 935 from REI. I'm nervous. After 6 months of reading every blog, forum, and random website article and going back and forth between the 5x and the 935, I finally decided on the 935. It's been 6 months of hesitation and I hope I don't regret it. I've never spent $500+ on a watch before. Fortunately, REI takes wearables back within 90 days so if there is a huge sale or huge upgrade within the next 3 months, I can send it back and get it cheaper or an upgrade. Thanks for all the help guys!

Nice! I don't think you will regret it! I shocked myself when I hit 'buy' on this 5x too - before that the smart watches were all under $300!

Personally I wouldn't miss the maps if they weren't on the watch so you made a good choice!

Buy it now. The only regret you'll have is not buying it sooner!

Nice! I don't think you will regret it! I shocked myself when I hit 'buy' on this 5x too - before that the smart watches were all under $300!

Personally I wouldn't miss the maps if they weren't on the watch so you made a good choice!

I just hope that it isn't a lemon. That's my biggest concern. The only wearable that I've had before this is the FitBit Blaze and that thing is irritating. It never stays connected to my phone.

Doesn't the 935 have limited map support? I know it is 64mb compared to the 5x 16gb, but I swear I read you can download maps, just not to the extent of the 5x. Or is it just a breadcrumb map?

It's just a route you can look at and follow. No basemap. I had it with my Fenix 3 and I liked it. I could follow tracks I saved to watch before, or back track the route I came. However, in some points when mountainbiking in the forest I had to check different ways to see if the route goes on that way. Now I have Fenix 5X and it's better in that aspect. I can see all the roads and where the route goes. Also it made going out of forest easier by making the road on the watch. But not a killer function for everyone.

I don't think you'll find it a lemon. It has its annoyances but all the watches do and I wouldn't choose another watch at the moment, bar the 935 you bought.

I'm not a hiker or a real user of the maps, yeah - a couple of times they have been useful on some forest trails - how the heck do i get out of here type thing - but I could have just as easy started maps on the phone. The glass is nice but I survived plenty long enough on other devices with screen protectors!

If you find its something you might like after a while, swap them out under the warranty!