Venue 2 vs Fenix 5x

I would go for the Venu 2, cause Fenix 5X is very old now. Much has changed. And if you are getting a little older and want to keep track of your fitness, body battery and sleep tracking is quite nice I think. The only two things going for the F5X, besides some training metrics which sound like you don't need, is battery life and maps. The sensors on the V2 are the latest generation, which makes a difference, esp comparing it to the old F5X. HR is more sensible, PulseOX way better, although still far from 100% perfect. 

BTW: Did you reset and start your VA3 from scratch and don't install any Connect IQ watch face or third party app? Sometimes those make big battery problems in the background. I would do that if you are still happy with the VA3. An update can't do 7 days to 1/2 day. There is something going on in the background. So totally reset your watch in the settings under reset, reset everything, and maybe to be sure deinstall Connect app on the phone and uncouple BT connection in phone settings, then start from scratch as if you have a new device and don't install any third party stuff from connect iq shop.

Yes, this was me thinking as well, the technology is changing rapidly and I like new toys as well.

I did a reset on the VA3 but did not reload earlier the GC in my droid. All done now.

During all these years I turned off all the unnecessary thingy's, no notifications, no background scanning with BT and all minimalist display, and that gave me a full week of battery life which I found more important then having gizmos chewing up the battery.

I will give it a last chance w/o loading anything from Connect IQ, kind a like this VA3 could save me some cash if I keep it running.

I am not interested swapping brands, like the G ecosystem, all my bike and car sensors and toys running in a single platform. 

Having owned both, and the Fenix 6 too. If the model Fenix 5 is the one with all the navigation maps and that is important to you, that would be a huge advantage to the Fenix, because the Venu 2 will never get that. And fenix 5 has training metrics too, but probably not that important. I never found it very useful apart from vo2max. Otherwise I would go with the Venu 2. The battery life is almost as good, the screen looks awesome, its got a better heart sensor. I'd say GPS is about the same for both. The newer sleep / body battery type stuff is really nice (not sure if fenix 5 get that with the newer garmin connect). Also the venu 2 has no speaker, if you need that. 

GPS fix is so much faster on the V2 though. It is sometimes annoying on other Garmin watches like Fenix 6 or VA4, it sometimes takes 20-30 seconds, but sometimes also 1-2 minutes to find a fix with GPS/Glonass setting. With the V2 you press the activity and get a fix about 2-10 seconds later. It is so annoying to wait for GPS a long time, so this to me is also quite an important difference to the older watches. And also to other watches like Apple Watch. It takes forever on AW too when real GPS is set on apps like WorkOutDoors, you can't set this without a third party app btw. Quite an advantage regarding the Venu 2. 

Your VA3 probably has an exhaused battery anymore. Maybe a battery change will bring it back to a useful life.

Fenix 5X was perfect when it was released. And I like the maps feature, too. So I'd maybe choose Fenix 5X. However, for anything except the maps, go with the Venu 2... It's the first watch with newer technology with full support for the new ConnectIQ platform and more up to date in all aspects.

Oh yes I agree. The GPS on the venu2 is by far the fastest on any watch I've used. It's almost instant sometimes, so not used to that, I stare at the screen sometimes waiting for something else to happen.

Yeah, totally. I sometimes wonder if GPS is really there because the fix is sooooo fast. I don't know what they have done with their chips but THIS they have gotten so right. And GPS quality imo till now is also very good. GPS is an amazing improvement on the V2. And this is very important for outdoor athletes too. This was the main reason at the end to sell my VA4s, there are many reason but I was very unsure, the GPS quality and amazingly fast fix was at the end the thing that got me to keep the V2s and sell VA4s.

 Thx Garmin. 

PS: I compared a walk from my VA4s, which is mostly identically to other older Garmin watches like Fenix 6, a month ago with a a walk from my V2s. And really, the V2s always, really always stayed on the side of the road in the city. Not walking into houses etc. Even the side of the street and crossing it was right. The VA4s was mostly right but often I didn't walk on the side of the streets but in the houses or gardens seeing the map and my walk, which of course I didn't. It is amazing how much more accurate the V2s is, even on a simple walk through a city with some skyscrapers and bigger houses too.