Trade in a 6X Sapphire for a 5X

astonishing your idea. for me the 5X is good, but you are going to give up a lot of things, starting with the screen size, how long will it be for Fenix ​​5X updates? Be patient, I think you hint at the heart rate? an update will eventually fix the biggest problem.on the F5X the GPS is good, personally I will wait for the Fenix ​​7X and I think you will find the same concerns on the tactic delta. it's only watches, it will take a long time to reach perfection!

Noo, this is bad idea. Get chest strap and your problem will over. 

The wrist isn't a great place to measure heart rate, and Optical Heart Rate doesn't work for everyone. Darker skin pigment, tattoos, arm hair or deeper veins can all negatively impact OHR accuracy. If the 6X doesn't work for you, the 5X is unlikely to result in a different outcome, and you'd be giving up the features of the 6X (music, Garmin Pay, battery life, more advanced metrics).

If you want a different outcome, try a different HR method - a chest strap, or an OHR on a different part of the body (eg. Sosche Rhythm).

mcalista said:

If the 6X doesn't work for you, the 5X is unlikely to result in a different outcome

forums.garmin.com/.../1080176

What issues have you been having with the 6X? I've upgraded from the 5 Plus Titanium to the 6 Sapphire and the wrist HRM is far superior on the 6 for workouts. I have yet to see the reading drop out, yet on the 5 Plus my HR would plummet below 80 for a few minutes during every workout. I went through two watches and it was always the same thing. 

May I ask what kind of band you're using on the 6X? I have noticed on the 5 that the silicone bands work best for HR measurements as you can dial in the tightness better than on a leather or metal band. 

5X has its own share of issues, read the Fenix 5 forum if you want to learn about what people are complaining about there. In fact, every watch from every manufacturer have their fair share of problems.

If it were me, I'd stick with the 6x. My OHR works fine, but if yours isn't, there's a good chance it'll be fixed with new software sometime soon. And when that happens, then what? Sell the 5X and buy another 6X for the 3rd time?

We know it isn't a hardware issue, because even the most vocal of OHR complainers have recognized that it has worked well in older firmware versions. Garmin just needs to figure out what they changed that messed it up for some users, which they will at some point. I'm sure it's extra difficult since it isn't an issue that affects everyone equally - if it was, it would be easy to identify. That's likely why it's taking a while. Sort of like when you want a car mechanic to identify a weird noise coming from your motor, but every time you take it to them the noise is gone. If you want to help get a fix for your OHR problem, document exactly what's going on and send it to Garmin so they have more info to work with.

Fenix 6 has new updates fixing old problems and adding new features all the time, every couple weeks on average. Support for the 5X is only going to continue for a short time longer, if they haven't already stopped.

The watch is great apart from the HRM, it seems to be well documented in this forum that Garmin have an HRM issue. I switched from a Fenix 2 to Samsung Galaxy watch, not as good but at least the HRM was accurate. Then decided to splurge for the best watch on the market in this category.   Annoying that one is buying a watch at least twice the price of "similar" watch but one of the base functions (HRM) does not work correctly for many many users.  I use a silicone band.  Even the Fitbits of the world seem to have cracked the code on somewhat accurate HRM,  what is the issue with Garmin?

Your right,  a 5X does not solve the issue of HRM is not accurate for that version.  I'll try the replacement I have and give that 2 weeks (Not a good sign on today's workout) and the replace again, you never know, I might get lucky and one of them works correctly.