Garmin Fenix 5X

amazon Garmin Fenix 5X reviews

Design

In the Fenix series, the Fenix 5X has the biggest size, the case diameter is 51mm, 4mm bigger than the Fenix 5 and 9mm Fenix 5S – but the same size as the Fenix 3 HR. This is a rather bulky watch line, making it difficult for users with large wrists to ignore, but the Fenix line has never been popular for its beautiful style. The 5X is a pretty robust and rugged wearable for mountain climbing, beach travel, and running track.

The dial is rimmed with polished metal and 5 screws, giving it a more industrial look than anything described as elegant. It is also a bit heavy, weighing less than 100g, which is not a big deal when hiking or swimming in the water but can have a slight adverse effect when running.

While the Fenix 5 and 5S series offer solid sapphire dial options, the Fenix 5X only offers to watch faces in standard form, so you get the most versatile display for the money that you can afford. In addition, the 5X does not stand out more than the other 2 lines in terms of durability because the watch is also waterproof to 100 meters. However, the 5X’s massive appearance makes it feel like it can waste the battery, we’ll put this to the test.

You still get the same standard screen resolution of 240 x 240 as the Fenix 5, which is higher than the Fenix 3 HR’s and 5S (218 x 218), which is also a great upgrade because the screen will have 3 colors displayed main. Even, Garmin has found a way to balance the display on the screen in sunlight and you can see the information on the screen, while the battery is not wasted much.

The setting button is still the same as the other 2 watch lines, with 3 buttons to adjust the left direction and 2 buttons on the left used to perform operations / return to the main menu. Like us, it will take some time for you to get used to the layouts in the watch – navigating the menus can make it feel more intuitive.

Map setting feature

The 5X gives you all the features you can find in the Fenix 5 and 5S but adds a map feature. Garmin has released its biggest watch yet with full-color topographic, cycling, and golf course maps so you can kick on at any time, a feature that 2 The rest of the watches are not available.

We’ve seen many map features from a variety of watches, but not like this: this is a serious mapping feature for navigation, for example, hiking or setting up a running track. You are provided with 16GB of memory on the 5X, allowing you to download various maps of your own (unfortunately, this memory cannot be used to store music)

While you can add GPX routes to the Garmin Fenix 5 and Fenix 5S through the Garmin Basecamp app, the 5X gives you block-by-turn navigation on colorful maps. You cannot find this feature on other smartwatches.

I tried wearing the 5X hiking and appreciated the in-depth mapping. Out of the city, you’ll see less trail detail and more contours, but I’ve had success for both climbs based solely on the Fenix 5X’s map, the watch was visible. The paths are marked and help us determine our position well without losing the signal.

You can set your training courses, which can be lap and back or lap, but only for running or cycling. If you have already set it up, the watch will ask you how far you want to run and which direction you want to start; then, the watch will automatically give you the corresponding running track. I tried it out on my 5K track, it’s super easy to do and is amazingly fast – it only takes a few seconds to pick a track for me, and the watch gives me a route map, starting at my use. It is also easy to rerun the runs many times later because the data is still saved in the watch history.

There’s no touchscreen feature, so it’s not simple to navigate to different points on the map as you’re viewing. You can use the up/down menu buttons to zoom in or out of the map and the action buttons to toggle their function to pan around the map. This method is not very convenient, but at least it still works well. In terms of settings, you can choose the map detail you want: low, medium, or advanced – varying in the level of detail along the way and the number of place names displayed.

Another feature that I love and that also supports new maps well is the Points of Interest feature. Here, you can choose from different categories such as food, water, fuel services, accommodation, and shopping, and the 5X will use your GPS to search your neighborhood and give you a list of locations closest to you. After that, you just need to choose a destination and press “Go”, you will have a map directing you to that location.

In general, the GPS connection is fast, but sometimes it is difficult to be blocked by tall buildings or trees. When you use it while hiking in a place far from the city, this feature will work faster.

Running tracking feature

We tested the Fenix 5 and 5S for runs, and if this feature is important to your watch decision to buy, you should check out the reviews. This is a sporty multi-function watch, designed for tracking sports activities like running, cycling, swimming, and more, but running is still its strongest feature. This product line, in addition to the 5X, is improved with outstanding map features.

The watch can download maps at any point during your run, you can download your running tracks and save them to the watch. The 5X allows you to scan the map on the watch, and select the starting and ending locations if you want to create a running track from the points. Instead, the watch has the added feature of automatically setting up the map, especially when you don’t care about the set points on the road.

Besides navigation, you also have a photosensitive heart rate monitor on the back of the watch with Garmin Elevate technology that we’ve seen on the other two Fenix 5 series of watches. The test results are quite similar to each other, the resting heart rate feature is excellent, and during exercise, this feature is maintained quite persistently. All in all, we’ve found Garmin’s Elevate sensor technology to improve quite a bit recently – while jogging with the 5X, I found results to be quite similar to the data from the chest belt.

The Elevate optical sensor tends to fail to keep up with the heart rate in the early stages of a run, and during intense workouts, the Fenix 5X follows that trend.

In the exercise below, you can see I’m jogging in the San Franciscan hills, so my heart rate shifts more than usual. This is always a good test for heart rate sensors, and as you’ve seen, the data from the 5X watch and the Polar H7 chest strap are pretty similar.

The problem with the 5X while jogging is the weight of the watch, making the watch easy to move on the wrist if you don’t tighten the watch band, easily affecting the heart rate measurement data. Therefore you should be sure to fasten the watch on your wrist so that the photosensitive device can work more effectively.

Garmin Connect app and battery

If you’ve read the Fenix 5S review, you know the Garmin Connect App is a bit clunky and difficult to use. It feels like it’s too late for a major overhaul, and the app usage routines are still incoherent, sometimes completely frozen, especially on Android devices.

The app has quite a few features and allows you to mull over the data once you figure out how to use it. You can view your workout data including step rate, altitude, training effect, and heart rate.

Switching to the desktop Garmin Connect dashboard, you can dig into even more information like building workout plans and running routes that you can track via maps on the 5X. With that said, the great thing about the 5X is that you can set up training sessions right on the watch, meaning you won’t have to rely heavily on Connect every time you need to set up a new track. Overall, Connect is a great platform, compacted with a handy miniaturized experience.

Finally, evaluating the battery, the new news is that the 5X can last quite a long time for each charge. Garmin claims you can use it for 20 hours with the GPS tracker, and 12 days with the smartwatch mode. I have alternated testing for both modes and have had no issues with battery capacity at all.

You can also turn on UltraTrac mode, which can help reduce GPS usage to increase the battery life of the watch. Curious as the Fenix 5X has a battery capacity on par with the standard Fenix 5 – Garmin reports 20 hours vs 24 hours with GPS mode and 35 vs 60 hours with UltraTrac mode. This is also unusual, and while the 5X adds dream features for a hiker, the battery falls short of its great features.

where can you get a Garmin Fenix 5X online

Garmin fēnix 5X, Premium and Rugged Multisport GPS Smartwatch, features Topo U.S. Mapping, Slate Gray, (Renewed): Buy it now