Successor to the 935/Fenix5 anytime soon?

Getting on for two years old now so there's probably one due out tomorrow. If not, it'll be out the day after you buy the 935.

It’s actually only a little over a year since the F5/935 were released. I wouldn’t think there’d be any changes before CES next year at the top of the line. Then again their strategies don’t always make sense.

I stand well and truly corrected. I've just checked and of course you are right. Feels like I've had it much longer than that - :o

@cariflores111 Yes I think you should be OK but always difficult to predict. I love the 935 lightness size and features. I run swim and cycle mainly - with lots of open water swimming so for me the features are ideal. If your key features are elevation profile and battery - as well as the GPS it may be worth looking at the alternatives across the main manufacturers to see whether there is a more economical option as the 935 provides a lot that you may never use.

Here's some free input from a 3-week owner of a FR935 that can't quite decide whether or not to keep his device....

If you just want an activity tracker, the FR935 is there. It does a great job grabbing accurate GPS and tracks things like stairs well. I have used it outdoors and for things like running and am very happy.

As a daily watch, I feel the FR935 is "unfinished." For example, the FR935 has WiFi (the regular F5 does not!). So, why can't the FR935 pull down a weather forecast when I manually sync via WiFi based on my most recent location? Instead the FR935 is reliant on an iPhone running an app and even then 80% of the time my Weather Widget says "Waiting for Data." I strayed away from the competitor's watch as I feel it is just a phone remote control. I think the FR935 has the hardware necessary to be a great everyday watch. I just don't think Garmin has a big priority on making that happen (how hard can it be to display a 5 day weather forecast via WiFi sync?). I suspect the next generation of the "FR935" will have many more features (e.g. music, Garmin pay, etc). In that case, I suspect it will be well worth $500. Right now, I'm not so sure.

Good luck in your decision. I hope I can make mine soon as my return window is fast approaching.

Note that I want both a great activity tracker and a good (not necessarily great) everyday watch and am willing to pay more for that. I am just not sure the FR935 is a "good" everyday watch - it is just decent (though it does look great!). That's what makes me question if waiting for the next version might be worth the wait.

PS. The lower weight is a big plus. I returned a F5X because it was just too big and heavy. The FR935 is about perfect size-wise.

It's a sports watch with some smart watch features. If you want a smart watch with some sports watch features, buy an Apple Watch or similar. I swim, bike, run and the 935 is extremely good at that, which is why I bought it. I have an Apple Watch for the other stuff.

Whatever watch you buy, make sure it has the features that you want, not the ones you wished it had.

BTW, I get 5 day weather no problem. Well it's always there on the occasions that I look at it, which to be fair is not all that often.

I would expect a refresh for the Fenix line before a new FR935.. yes, I know they are almost the exact same watch but they are not necessarily tied together. Based on the previous development windows we have seen from Garmin I would expect there to be a Fenix 5 line refresh in either a month or two or for CES early next year. They just released the Edge 520 plus that is basically identical to a regular 520 but with built in maps and some software upgrades. Maybe a Fenix 5 Plus that just adds the NFC and music that was rolled out with the FR645M this year?

I guess the easy answer here is "Who knows?".... or more likely what Phil said above "the day after you buy the 935"

If you are on the fence, I would just suggest you buy from a place that has a great return policy like REI. Then if a new one is released within 30 days of you buying the 935, you can take it back and upgrade to the newer one if you want.

It's a sports watch with some smart watch features. If you want a smart watch with some sports watch features, buy an Apple Watch or similar. I swim, bike, run and the 935 is extremely good at that, which is why I bought it..

This is exactly the right way to describe these watches. They are not smart watches first. They are sports watches and they do a fine job at that. A friend of mine with a 5x just bought his wife an apple watch series 3. In comparing the two he just said they were totally different products with some minimal crossover.

Comparing my 5x to the Gear S3 Frontier I had before seems similar. The gear was a fine smart watch, but it was really, really bad for sports use. Since that is my primary use case, it was a frustrating experience. Running one time with the Fenix on one wrist and the Gear on the other made the choice clear.

I took the plunge and upgraded from a 735. Since I already owned the HRM-Run I could get a discounted watch only pack for 400€. I wear it 24/7 and have disabled anything the watch needs connection to GCM for. I only use functions the watch can display by itself and ext. sensors (RHR, last run, training status, steps, and ABC are my only widgets). Battery life this way is stellar (a week with daily GPS runs of about an hour).
Then again, I don't need/want smartwatch features, since I prefer to use my phone for that stuff. I just want a good looking sports watch, with good battery, that I can forget about unless I start an activity. The better display, superior battery, and premium feel over the cheapish, flimsy looking 735 were well worth the 400€ in my book. Let's not forget, that if Garmin were to announce a 935 successor its MSRP would be quite a bit more than 935s go for these days.

As with anything equipment related: There will always be a successor, but there's no point in waiting for it if you are in need of a piece of gear right now. Seems to me what with your practicing for ultras you found your 230s limits, and could really benefit from a multi sports watch, i.e. the 935.

I expect they'll soon announce a "945M" with music features just like the 645M in order to bring the flagship 900 series up to feature parity with the 600 series. If you don't care about Bluetooth music streaming then it probably won't make much difference.