How good/bad is the Fenix 6 at the moment

Former Member over 5 years ago

I am in the process of buying a new Garmin device and after looking into the forums I must say I am extremely scared of buying any of the Garmin devices I might have been interested in.

As far as I am looking people are complaining about heart rates not working properly, battery life that's all wonky, Sleep tracking that not correct and the list just goes on. I am in need of advice at this point in time as I don't know if the problems a lot of people are experiencing has been fixes and will warrant me to lay down a big chunk of cash for one of these devices.

So guess my real question is this: How reliable and stable is the Fenix 6, FR 945, VA4 & Venu devices at this point in time

The negative reviews and problem on this forum is staggering and truly making me scared to purchase a Garmin device as this will be my 1st ever Garmin device

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0 Punch over 5 years ago

buy the fenix 6. it is the best you can get.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Punch

Is all the reported bug fixed at this point in time?

0 Dr Phil over 5 years ago

How reliable and stable is the Fenix 6, FR 945, VA4 & Venu devices at this point in time

The sceptic in me suggests you might be trolling but happy to believe you have a general desire to buy a Garmin for the first time. However, I would suggest you go review the forums for other similar watches by other manufactures and draw your own conclusions about which one will best provide the results you want.

Guarantee you will not be able to draw conclusions from the diversity of replies your post is going to garner here.

0 Echo_Steve over 5 years ago

I was in the same dilemma around 6 weeks ago and spent a lot of time reading thru all the negative comments

Then i realised that every time i have purchased a Garmin device And I've had quite a few from the original Vivoactive, Fenix 3 HR Fenix 5, 5s and the plus variant and now the Fenix 6 Pro which i will admit does have the occasional OHR issues mostly when going up hills and my HR goes Down?? So i purchased a OH1 Band for my activities which solved the problem for me..

Personally i think its a great watch very customisable and great battery life getting the quoted 14 days, Less obviously when using the watch for Workouts But still great battery life, And yes mine does have a slightly bluish backlight but there again so did all the others.

I spent a lot more than the cost of the Fenix 6 Pro on Apple watches over a period of years, Yes there OHR sensor was more accurate But battery life sucks and if you wanted to wear it while you sleep then i was having to put it on charge around 20:00 every night before putting it back on my wrist also the Apple watch only took HR readings every 3 Mins unlike the Garmin which is every second And customisation just doesn't exist...

Long winded reply to your question but basically reading thru these Forums can and does put people off I'm guessing there are a lot more people very happy with there Garmin purchases that don't even use Forums like these...

0 lindajm22 over 5 years ago

Mine works great, no issues. My HR was perfect on my indoor bike ride this morning. I have zero complaints.

0 Odie21 over 5 years ago

If you stick to the normal software and avoid the beta’s, you be fine. My OHR has been more than adequate for my needs. The F6 series is an excellent lineup and ignore most of the negative nellies as usually their complaints are based on buyers remorse or misunderstandings about their watch.

0 Lucinda over 5 years ago

I’m glad you asked this because I’m also shopping for a new Garmin. It will be my 6th Garmin. I’ve had the FR 645 for the past two years and have been very happy with it, with the exception of one hardware issue. After about a year, the lug where the band connects breaks. Garmin has replaced it twice for me. So, zero complaints about Garmin. I had the VA3 and missed the Training status that the FR and Fenix both have. I also was not a fan of the touchscreen. So, you need to think through whether you will like a touchscreen. If you’ve never had Training Status, you won’t miss it. I had the Fenix 5s when it first came out and really liked it. However, it sat so tall on my wrist. That seems to have been resolved with the 6s, which is why I’m considering it. I’m waiting until May as they usually have a pretty good sale then. Best wishes as you try to decide too.

0 bluefish over 5 years ago

As far as I am looking people are complaining about heart rates not working properly

For me and many others it has not been fixed for 6 months. But make up your own mind:

the-continuous-hr-measurement-is-not-accurate-during-higher-efforts-when-no-activity-is-started

ohr-bug

fenix-6x-sapphire---faulty-ohr-or-software-bug

fenix-6x-pro-sapphire--inaccurate-heart-monitor

anyone-still-having-heart-rate-accuracy-issues-with-their-fenix-6

has-anyone-still-heartrate-issue-garmin-says-issue-is-fixed-with-sensor-2-40-since-september

heart-rate-and-calories-way-off

after-update-to-5-0-whr-is-trash

ohr-vs-strap-difference

broadcast-hr-is-even-worse-than-out-of-activity-hr

wrong-wrist-heart-rate-without-starting-activity

wrist-heart-rate-wrong

next-firmware-update-only-one-fix-a-rock-solid-heart-rate-sensor-possible-garmin

garmin-why-did-you-abandoned-us-why

0 Former Member over 5 years ago

It’s the most expensive random number generator on the market, with its OHR.

0 DontGetTheSwiss over 5 years ago

Sleep tracking is wonky, the weather widget kind of sucks, HR can be iffy, and I don't really like the weight training implementation. On the other hand, the AW isn't perfect either.

In life you make choices. My choice is that I can't make up my mind between the two, so I still have two devices.