Is a Fenix 6X Pro Sapphire the right watch for me

Former Member
Former Member

I’m either going to be purchasing a Fenix 6X Pro sapphire or a Apple Series 5 smart watch. Mainly want it for running and other fitness uses. I swim a lot, like to play hockey with my Fitbit watch on to track. The main things I’m interested in hearing some feedback on are : 

  • Are they really worth double the cost of an Apple Watch?
  • Ive heard they can be buggie is this just a few lemons or on going issue?

Anyone who currently owns both watches please chime in.

Also my main wish list for a smart watch is : 

  • Sleep tracking features (Not sure if apple does this well?)
  • Durability 
  • A watch with a strong vibrating Alarm - do the Fenix 6X pro watches feature this? (I’m a heavy sleeper)
  • Battery life (I know Garmin has this one in the bag)
  • Any helpful health tracking or training features. 
  • Swimming features
  • An abundance of face options
  • Just the battery life is worth it compared to the one day crapple watch. lol.

    For the bugs. Yes you need to get used to some bugs here and there, but they update it very often. 

    Is it worth the price? No, but there is not really any other options if you want all the features (the mostly work) and the incredible look and durability of garmin. 

    For watch faces I recommend NEVER use anything other than garmin built-in faces. CIQ watch faces with make the watch slow and more buggy. Trust me.

  • Sleep tracking is not good, it is basicly worthless.but battery life is great.

    HR has some serious issues

  • Just to clear things up for you, there is no such thing as a 6X Pro Sapphire. It is either the 6X Pro OR the 6X Sapphire. The Pro has Gorilla Glass, the Sapphire has (you guessed it) Sapphire Crystal glass. 

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago

    In my opinion the Fenix is way overpriced for the quality (hardware and software) that it offers. Read some good review here: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/ and decide if it is good for you and your activities like swimming. The watch is on the heavier site not sure if that would bother you for swimming. I have issues with the WHR but not as much as others here. For me the HR is often too high especially for weightlifting and HIIT training. For running etc it is adequate I would say. The Health features are a mixed bag. Sleep tracking is accurate for the length of sleeping but I don't trust it a bit for the sleep states: My deep sleep is non-existent according to watch and the awake phases are often not captured correctly. This has of course an effect on your recovery and body battery. As multi-sports watch it is an overprized watch that works pretty well. As fitness or health watch there is still a lot to do. Regarding the bugs. There are plenty from the beginning and after 9 months there are still a lot to be ironed out. I would never have paid full price for mine but got a 20% rebate from my health insurance. The Apple watch is a joke in my opinion. 1 day battery life and no serious sleep tracking at the moment disqualifies it completely. Look maybe for cheaper Garmin models (Venu, Vivo active) but they struggle with the same issues: bugs, WHR issues due to the new sensors. There is no perfect fitness watch unfortunately and you have to read a lot of reviews and see what is important to you.

  • my main wish list for a smart watch is : 

    • Sleep tracking features (Not sure if apple does this well?)
    • Durability 
    • A watch with a strong vibrating Alarm - do the Fenix 6X pro watches feature this? (I’m a heavy sleeper)
    • Battery life (I know Garmin has this one in the bag)
    • Any helpful health tracking or training features. 
    • Swimming features
    • An abundance of face options

    Sleep tracking features: The Fenix 6 has this, but admittedly it doesn't work as well as some of other fitness devices out there. It works "fine" for me, because it's not critical to me that it be spot-on accurate, but it does a good job of estimating my sleep patterns within +/- maybe 10% or so, which is good enough for what I need. It does an EXCELLENT job, probably better than most other watches, of recording your stress during sleep. The body battery feature has been nothing short of amazing for me. It really does a phenomenal job of being able to tell how much my sleeping "recharged" my body (or didn't). So whether ort not the sleep/wake times are accurate, which they only sort-of are, the overall metric of how rested you are is spot-on, in my opinion. And to me, that's far more important to know than precisely what time I fell asleep.

    Durability: I don't think you'll find a more durable watch than the 6X Sapphire. Have had mine since September, and aside from the wear on the silicone strap, it would pass for brand-new condition.

    Alarm: I'm a very heavy sleeper, too, and my F6X wakes me up just fine. The combination of vibration and tones has always woken me up.

    Battery life: As you already know, Fenix 6X has the best battery life of any fitness watch, period. I can have it recording GPS all weekend long on a backpacking trip, and it still has plenty of battery left at the end. No other watch can do that, as far as I know.

    Health tracking and training features: All Garmin watches use the same health/training ecosystem - Garmin Connect. In my opinion, it's the best there is. Most other fitness devices require that you use multiple tracking ecosystems than don't always talk to one another, and as far as I know, no other ecosystem tracks nearly as many useful metrics.

    Swimming features: I can't really vouch for this one personally as I don't really swim, but from what I understand it works great for that. The forum user Phillipshambrook uses his for open-water swimming and triathlons frequently and has has been very happy with it.

    Face options: The faces that come on the watch are great, there are at least a dozen of them to pick from and customize, and if none of those float your boat then there are hundreds more you can download from Connect IQ (Garmin's version of the App Store), or if you're really tech-savvy you can even make your own from scratch.

  • AW will win sleep tracking with an app like auto sleep.  No contest really as the Fenix will get about 6 out of 7 days right, on it's good weeks.

    Fenix is more durable than an AW, even the gorilla glass versions of a Fenix are tougher although I've never scratched an AW.

    I don't use the alarms this way but I think, maybe, a slight edge to the Fenix.  But, you can do a lot more with alarms / reminders on an AW.  I'd give this one to the AW.

    Battery life, yep, no contest.  I've gotten to 1-1/2 days on an AW and it went into low power mode.  Not nearly good enough.  Apple people rationalize this weakness way too much.

    Fenix is better for athlete focused features.  AW is better for overall health tracking, if it's data is a little bit opaque.  Pick your side because they'll both do the same kind of things for most people.  Thing is the AW will be a better fit for 95% of the population but the Fenix stomps in that other 5%.

    Don't swim with the watches so can't comment.

    AW has better watch faces even if I use a plain one.  Fenix watch faces, outside of the standard, just don't work for me.  The whole AW eco-system vs Garmin debate is kind of the exact opposite of battery life between the two.

  • I’m either going to be purchasing a Fenix 6X Pro sapphire or a Apple Series 5 smart watch. Mainly want it for running and other fitness uses. I swim a lot, like to play hockey with my Fitbit watch on to track. The main things I’m interested in hearing some feedback on are : 

    • Are they really worth double the cost of an Apple Watch?
    • Ive heard they can be buggie is this just a few lemons or on going issue?

    Anyone who currently owns both watches please chime in.

    Also my main wish list for a smart watch is : 

    • Sleep tracking features (Not sure if apple does this well?)
    • Durability 
    • A watch with a strong vibrating Alarm - do the Fenix 6X pro watches feature this? (I’m a heavy sleeper)
    • Battery life (I know Garmin has this one in the bag)
    • Any helpful health tracking or training features. 
    • Swimming features
    • An abundance of face options

    Worth the AW ? My wife got a AW and she loves it.
    The Fenix is a tank watch not a smart watch. The AW offers different services and SIRI is useful for many of them.
    The Fenix can be used free of any connection. It has its own cartography and sensors for the weather and orientation.
    No touchscreen but a great combinaison of buttons for shortcuts.
    Big plus of Garmin is the colour screen tech which works great in the outdoors: no need for any backlight or activation it is permanently ON.

    It can be buggy and they are lemons but easy to spot so you can send back the faulty watch in the 15 days (or 30 days on Amazon) after the purchase.
    There is 2 years of warranty. I have had my two Fenix 5X and 5X plus exchanged after hardware and software issue.
    The same can happen with any Apple Watch.

    I got mine (Fenix 6 Sapphire Titanium) since the 29th of August and zero issue.

    Sleep tracking -> works great on mine. I was able to compare nights and spot the deep sleep phases.
    Durability -> perfect!
    Vibrating Alarm -> I use it everyday and it wakes me up.
    Battery life -> amazing especially once your have tuned the watch to your needs (it can save battery but keep recording sleep for example)
    Health -> No ECG like on the AW (tedious to use as you need both hands) but you got Ox level in your blood for acclimatation.
    Swimming -> HR works under water but GPS loses signal when immerged... Nothing new.
    Watchfaces -> they are many (much less than Samsung's) and some designers are really gifted. Just read the comments before to upload a new one. Some can be buggy or battery consuming.

    In the end the Garmin is a tool watch. Like every tools, the user needs to understand it before to invest in it.
    I got it as a weather station, a health monitoring and navigation super Protrek easy to access on my arm.
    In my job (TV reporter) this is a great gadget able to help me in case of changing of the weather, orientation for the light, but also urgent messages from my editors while fiddling with camera and equipment.
    Also the "clock" aka timers and various stopwatches are easily triggered and really visible in all conditions.
    After banging the Fenix on various hard equipment (camera tripods are watches's enemy) I'm very happy with the way it can take a beating.
    This is how it looks after 8 months (248 days 35 weeks) of 24/7 wearing:

    of constant use:

      
     

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to C.sco

    This is a great honest overview of the Fenix series. Honestly don’t think a Fenix 6 vs Apple Watch is even a viable comparison. Tool vs novelty. Just in the most basic comparison your talking days to hours difference. Tho there is bugs and always will be because of Garmins aggressive firmware releases, I am happy with their hands on this involvement. While researching your options pay attention to the facts, features and specs. Make a list of needs and wants and make your choice. Try to ignore brash negativity, some user become very touchy about a feature missing or think they have been duped. In the end it’s your choice to drop $700-$800. I fully support using this community as a tool to buy and to communicate with Garmin about issues.  

  • I gave my AW to my nephew and bought F6 sapphire and never look back to AW. To me, F6 design is mainly hiking as I am a hiking photographer. AW also has GPS but not enough rugged design or battery life for hiking. I cannot recommend with one because both watches have pros and cons, but to me, it like you are comparing the Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV and Toyota Camry.