Newbie on Board

Former Member over 7 years ago

Hi all,
I'm a new user to smartwatches and have been looking at the Fenix 5 for a while.... just wasn't sure if I could get on without a Touchscreen and having to remember what button does what.
When I saw the Fenix 5 Sapphire Performer Bundle at £120 off it had to be bought. I've got 28 days to play before it needs to be returned if I don't like it.

Initial thoughts so far are good, and I'm slowly working my way through what it can do for me. But I still miss a touch screen....

Couple of immediate things have highlighted and wanted to see if anyone could help....

First full days use was a 20KM bike ride. Loved the way you can personalise the screen to see the info you want at a glance.
However, what is confusing me is that after cycling for just over an hour, the Connect App showed I had completed 556 Intensity Minutes?? Whats that all about?
It shows 260 Vigorous Minutes (x2) and 36 Moderate Minutes.

Other issue I have is the Sleep Monitoring bit - I have seen a few posts about this, but I wanted to say it recorded my first night perfectly - when I say perfectly, it actually showed just over 7 hours, but I'm sure I only had about 6 hours sleep.
I didn't wear it the following two nights, but on the next two I have worn it I got nothing.

Apart from those two issues, it seems to be performing how I had expected, and although no touch screen, I could get to like and keep this watch.
Thanks for your time and any feedback you can give.

0 mcalista over 7 years ago

A touchscreen is very useful for day to day indoor usage, but most touchscreens become difficult to work when wet. For a top-end outdoors sports watch, this becomes a more serious issue. Also, a number of sports that people might use a Fenix 5 for routinely use gloves, either for technical reasons (eg. rockclimbing) or in cold temperatures, which also is a problem on a small wrist-sized screen.

The Intensity Minutes Credit you with 2x the actual minutes for more intense activities (based on heart rate zones). My guess is that with a new watch, the default HR zones do not correspond with your personal MHR, and the watch is crediting you with more vigorous minutes for during-the-day activity than your effort level justifies. Updating your HR zones with your true max HR may give a more accurate distribution of vigorous v. moderate activity.

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBDKG_4Cao0

"Get a better idea of how hard your working out with Intensity Minutes from Garmin. Your compatible wearable monitors your activity intensity and tracks your time spent participating in moderate to vigorous intensity activities (heart rate data is required to quantify vigorous intensity). Learn how these metrics are calculated and why they’re useful in helping you beat yesterday."

I'll just add - I was originally sceptical about the whole buttons vs touchscreen (coming from a Samsung Gear S2) but I'm completely sold now on my F5. A touchscreen is a pain in the ass when it comes to fitness, sweat etc...

0 Former Member over 7 years ago

Thanks for responding mcalista and AJRykala.
I take your points on Touch vs Buttons... I think my notions on touch are based on everyday use of a phone.
I've only worn the watch 3 times - just in case it needs to go back, but I'm finding it seems the more I wear it, and fiddlw around with the buttons, the more I'm getting used to it - and I really want to like it as it seems such a good watch.

I did read somewhere about setting HR Zones in the "Help" pages, but to be honest, it baffled me a bit - but I'll have a watch of the youtube link later and see if that helps.
Sounds like I need to get these set right (left at default) for it to work correctly. I'm certainly not as fit as the watch has made me out to be thats for sure!!

Thanks again