Hello, I want to discuss my Enduro 3 watch. I had some expectations but maybe they weren’t met. Are those expectations realistic and is my judgement wrong ?
Navigation:
I haven’t been in the mountains yet with my Enduro 3. But I have tested it in my local forest/park with well established trails on all maps, they are there for ages.
The first short hike 5km (enough to cover various land and tree coverage) was made just clicking normal activity “hike”. I think here the “Default” setting was GPS Only mode. It wasn’t so bad, quite “there” where I was. From the beginning of the hike, I walk onto a street that has good tree coverage and there is a golf course on one side and a school on the other. If I am on 20 – 60 m zoom on the watch you can clearly see that I am not walking onto the street but 5m away next to it into the golf course.
I got into the woodland and same happened when I am on the path at least 5 m walking next to the path not onto it. When I got into the deeper woodland it was worse, but still managing to be “there” on some places it was better some worse.
This was on the watch display. When I plotted the GPX on few apps it showed the same deviation.
I didn’t get my Iphone with me to compare with other apps and the accuracy of it. But when in the mountains or on a hike my phone was always bang on the path wherever I am. I don’t know if I can compare both gps the phone and the watch, but it is crazy. And my phone was always on Airplane mode. Many times, when you lose the path, I know that even those 5 meters that it were showing deviation on my watch matter. Because of vegetation and all sorts covering the path. Even not being able to see it or there is no path at all I know on my phone when I start walking towards the path and the phone shows that I am on the path bang on I am on it and manage to discover it. And this is not on well worn paths and in the mountains. Doing this here in my neighbourhood it is not pleasant. Brand new watch. It felt like my Fenix 3 is better than the enduro 3.
What I did I tried on the “auto select mode” the mode that chooses the best satellite option on your journey. On some places with better clearing like in the forest if I had more vision of the sky maybe it did better, but on absolute clearing it was still not on the path but 5 m away from it. Did on the good clearing choose the worse satellite option. It managed to lock on the path for a while (not much) in the thick forest.
As I said this is detrimental in the mountains that deviation can cost me. I expected more.
Should I switch to the other satellite options if I want more, does this dynamic choosing of the satellites is inadequate? But ive watched people test this the SATIQ thing and on their videos it looked promising. If I put I on the All systems or best accuracy all + multi band ? And then my expectations would be met ? I will test it. But those other more accurate options should be for bad situations and when you really want to be pro. I think for the promises that garmin gives even those options should at least match my phone capabilities?
I bought the watch to be able to be bang on the path because I had a minor accident that made me think I don’t want to look on my phone to see where I am.
Battery:
First red flag was when I charged my ednuro 3. I did it with the cable and a plug 20W which the user manual stated 15W minimum. In the morning the battery was 97%. 3% for 8h : 30m ? Well I didn’t expected that. Wi-fi off and phone searching off, my brightness from the start was on level 2 and refresh was on 8 sec or something. By 10 a.m it was 95%.
Now I use my watch on that level of brightness same level 2, I switch off the wifi and phone connectivity. They are on only when I quickly check for an update or calibrate with my garmin connect. All the other time its on minimum. Maybe I must leave it on max and see the drain idk. But now on these options after 7 days is on 67% 27d. Maybe ok idk we will see I must find way to further test the battery drain and maybe adjust my expectations. But I am like praying to it on min settings just to see how much I will get out of it.
Sun charging did not had much sun to test it (UK) my brightest day was 41k lux and my watch was exposed to direct sunlight for about 1 h so no change in % of battery from that at least no indication idk …. We will see if I will have the sun to expose it for 3h to 50 k lux and see if the battery moves. But this is important for me because I hike a lot.
Pulse:
I think it is accurate, ive tested it with my mums BP meter which is a good brand and it showed same results. I think to test it with my Fenix 3 chest piece , but Idk if this would be a good test.
Sleep coach: I don’t know the accuracy of that. It is not the best probably. I was rolling in bed and it showed light sleep, I have moments when I go to the toilet and it does recognise them but when I get back to sleep it takes me way more to go to sleep than it shows on the watch. Sometimes your pulse goes down but your brain doesn't shut and it recognises it as sleep probably idk ? Had a bad night pain in leg, rolling and yes it recognised I was awake 51 m but it was more and it gave me 85 sleep score. Today I thought I got way better sleep, sleep score 72 or something.
How should I test this better ?
Are my expectations justified ? Should I adjust them? I like my watch it is build well, but idk maybe because my financial situation and the fact that I gave so much for a watch plays a part. I don’t want to test it all the time I just want to put it on and go and meet what I expected. Maybe too many options mess with my head but idk man. I did not have a good reference point for performance before , but not being able to be on the path … with your advertised option that chooses bets sat based on environment.
As I said I like my watch was so happy about it ...
