Fenix 5X or Wait?

How much cost of Fenix 5X ?

I wouldn't say many bugs but it does have its issues. In theory, because they use the same software base, all watches should see the same bugs. I think are the maps and casing worth the extra is the valid question. The irony being that the 'cheaper' build of the 935 seems to avoid connection, gps, build issues that are seen in the 'premium' watch.

Honestly the cracking that quite a few people are seeing on the back sensor resin is more of a concern for me than the other things. Garmin are aware and haven't issued any statement on their findings - is it every watch that is susceptible or just certain batches. Are we all just waiting for it to happen? Will they honor replacements outside of warranty because of the issue being related to a flaw in the build process. I wouldn't want to recommend the watch to a friend, have them spend all that money and them show me cracks on the back of the watch a month later.

The more we discuss it, the more I'm leaning toward the 935. Maps are increasingly seeming less worth it and even in my career, I am not hard on anything enough to warrant that kind of casing. It just looks nice. I think I will go the 935 route, spend that extra money on a foot pod, and see what 2019-2020 has to offer. Thank you for all of your input! I doubt I will be disappointed.

I don't think you will be - for the annoyances and all watches have their own - it is a good watch core with a ton of features and not having to charge a battery every couple of days is pretty damn good! I used to hate how my ability to record an activity was limited by a watch battery life and not what I could physically do - don't have that with the battery in the 5 or 935!

I have the 5X, and despite its software issues, I love it. However, if I were in the market for the fenix now, I would almost certainly wait. This is mostly because I suspect the next version will have music functionality directly on the watch to bluetooth headphones. The Galileo would be a plus, but who knows when that will come? In any case, I'd wait at this point and use a cheap gps watch or even iphone for running up until the new watch is out. In any case, you'd be able to purchase the 5X for significantly less once a new version is out.

Honestly, I would only be slightly interested in a new Fenix if the music functionality implemented streaming apps like Spotify. Onboard music storage does nothing for me because I have all of my music playlists on Spotify and I don't mind running with my phone strapped to my arm. The only thing that would sell me on a new Fenix is Galileo support. Data and accuracy are the top sellers for me.

fenix 5x is not that good, due to the bugs, too many bugs. Wait for a while.

I concur! Personally, I wouldn't by another Garmin product... period. I originally entered into the Garmin eco system intending to add the Fenix5x, scale, and biking components, but found out first hand that there are far too many issues as you can review for yourself in these forums. And truthfully, it's not the fact that there are issues that bothers me, it's the SLOWWWWWWWW response of Garmin to address. This isn't their $150 entry level device. This is their flagship, and I see no evidence that the issues surrounding the accuracy of data or the responsiveness of Garmin reflects the premium we paid. i.e. you DON'T seem to get what you paid for. Couple this with the number of integration issues you're likely to run into even between Garmin devices and it's just not worth it, by a long ways.

This comes from a guy willing to spend money on toys, but I do require they work modestly well. I tell anyone who sees me wearing it the same and generally summarize it as a random data generator I wear on my wrist. Build quality is good, and battery life is good, but without quality data, it's a paper weight. If you just want to oooohhhh and aaaahhhh over all the data and don't look to make sense of it, or look for consistency you might be happy with it.

If you are committed to going with Garmin for some reason, then I would recommend buying the lowest end device that meets your basic needs. This way you'll fell less ripped off in the end and can justify the move to another platform sooner.

I can see why adding music will appear in more general but I don't think I would use it because the battery drain - the 645 reports only five hours with gps/music enabled, though it does have a 'lesser' battery.

I can see why adding music will appear in more general but I don't think I would use it because the battery drain - the 645 reports only five hours with gps/music enabled, though it does have a 'lesser' battery.

Music storage is pointless unless the watches offers integration toward the bigger music services available: Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal.
Apple Music integration will never ever happen. But Spotify would be great, and is cross-platform on mostly everything from phones, laptops, tablets, gaming consoles, smart TV's, and even available as a web-player. So getting it on a Garmin should be possible.

I stopped copying mp3 files around on devices when Spotify debuted in 2008. That's a decade ago! So music storage is useless unless it's possible to sync playlists from the most popular music services. And until that is possible, a music feature like the 645 has will be completely worthless for a lot of people.

Have to agree there - I think if I asked my youngster what an Mp3 is I'd get a shrug :-)