I've been reviewing garmin watches for months now, and I'm thinking about purchasing a fenix 5. Is this watch a good purchase/investment? I've read reviews from people who love their watch and I've read reviews from those who had a bad experience with it. But, many of those reviews are a year old or more. What is the latest news about this watch? I want it to help train for spartan races and mountain bike as well. Thanks for any info from Fenix 5 users.
Depends upon what you mean by "good" and "investment." Its a piece of technology, and as such it will be obsoleted rather quickly. The Fenix 5 Plus has been out a while, but of course it's more expensive than the Fenix 5. Some people note that the BT and ANT+ connectivity is not as good as the plus, which it is not. At one point Stryd was not recommending the F5 due to these issues but that has since been sorted.
Overall its a very good watch, but that does not mean its the best watch for you. By now it's pretty solid in functionality, and Garmin continues to release firmware upgrades for it. Some of these are bug fixes but some still add functionality, like the recent GPS upgrade. If you want to train for running and cycling, I think it's a great help.
I saw that REI had a nice sale on them two weeks ago, and for $350-ish? I don't quite recall. Considering the technology in one of these things, it is a pretty good deal! If I were to go shopping today it would be between the Instinct and the Fenix 5. There are a lot of other choices out there, and all have pros and cons. However, the exceptional battery life of the Fenix 5 vs. the competition is what sold me. I didn't realize at the time how important that really is for day to day wear. Also as a bonus is Garmin Connect. It is an incredibly well realized service for free.
