Great objective assessment. I too was concerned about the screen. I came from a Fitbit Ionic with a lovely bright screen that still managed to get similar battery life to the Garmin. After a few days of playing with it I have come to prefer this screen to the Fitbit. The reason is simple. On the Fitbit when the screen is off the screen is off. You cannot see anything on it. You need to turn your wrist or press a button. On the Garmin the screen is visible 98% of the time without moving anything, just like a real watch. Like now, I'm typing this out and can see everything crystal clear. In dark conditions the backlight makes the screen look washed out and in those conditions, it looks worse. I think the mistake Garmin make is to shine the light from the back rather than the front. If somehow they could design a front light to replicate sunlight or ambient light then it would look very different.
Only problem with this watch is when the battery dies in 5 years you can not replace it. You have to pay garmin a couple hundred bucks and and get a refurbish. Which is really weird why would a company not make a watch to swap a battery when that is so easy to do.
Really wanted to like this watch since I “upgraded” from an Apple Watch, but there are so many bugs and errors that this is just a device that looks good, nothing more. Pulse is absolutely not usable for anything other than walking and resting, sleep tracking need to be constantly adjusted manually. Distance accuracy is completely off with GPS. After manually adjusting the distance in a treadmill activity, only the connect app show it right. The watch don’t show the corrected activity. Extremely buggy software.
I actually can´t believe you only have 3 subscribers. Awesome quality on the video, man! I have the Fenix 5 too, and find it perfect in many instances, but it has its shortcomings. The gps is not that good, neither is the HRM and I would really like mic + speakers and sim-slot. It would k-i-l-l the market with these functions :)
The two watches are targeting two different kind of people. It feels lika Apple is targeting people who is more interested in good design, UI and usability while the Fenix is targeting athletes who care more about numbers and statistics. The Apple 3 is a good watch, but I have had a watch you had to charge every day and I sold it after a week. It got frustrating. (Poor choice of words by me. I should not have written "why would anyone want a watch you´ll have to charge..." since AW are very popular :) You have a point there.
I bought this watch the 7th of December of 2020 for 208$ Cad new from store Excellent price !!! it would be good to know at this date how is your watch doing after 3 years a little more ? I think is good still at 2020 ... and for 208$ Cad even better LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Question - I don't need a lot of "bling" per se, so I am not too daunted by the display...but I am a regularly active, middle aged man that is just looking for a nice watch that can track steps and other health related activities when I go to the gym (intermittently). Best Buy will be placing the 5X on sale at 299.99 this black friday...would you recommend for someone without extreme exercise requirments - I am trying to decide between the 5X or the Samsung Active 2 (which will also be on sale)
UPDATE:
Sorry for the lack of uploads! I've been revamping my video making setup to provide higher quality videos. Be back soon!
I enjoy your "cut to the chase" format. Concise. Honest.
Great objective assessment. I too was concerned about the screen. I came from a Fitbit Ionic with a lovely bright screen that still managed to get similar battery life to the Garmin. After a few days of playing with it I have come to prefer this screen to the Fitbit. The reason is simple. On the Fitbit when the screen is off the screen is off. You cannot see anything on it. You need to turn your wrist or press a button. On the Garmin the screen is visible 98% of the time without moving anything, just like a real watch. Like now, I'm typing this out and can see everything crystal clear.
In dark conditions the backlight makes the screen look washed out and in those conditions, it looks worse. I think the mistake Garmin make is to shine the light from the back rather than the front. If somehow they could design a front light to replicate sunlight or ambient light then it would look very different.
Nice review. Thanks for that. Just one thing, Fenix 5's case size is 47mm (not 49mm 00:44).
The standard 5 comes with the sapphire crystal option along with WIFI. Not just the X version.
Only problem with this watch is when the battery dies in 5 years you can not replace it. You have to pay garmin a couple hundred bucks and and get a refurbish. Which is really weird why would a company not make a watch to swap a battery when that is so easy to do.
In 5 years this watch will be obsolete. This watch will look like a relic by then.
Keep up the good work Gerard, yr video is clear concise and high quality. Spot on for a quick honest review. Keep it going!
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the video! :)
Great review! Thank you, you saved me from a bad purchase by informing about the bad lighting of display
Great! So glad I was able to help you out.
Really wanted to like this watch since I “upgraded” from an Apple Watch, but there are so many bugs and errors that this is just a device that looks good, nothing more. Pulse is absolutely not usable for anything other than walking and resting, sleep tracking need to be constantly adjusted manually. Distance accuracy is completely off with GPS. After manually adjusting the distance in a treadmill activity, only the connect app show it right. The watch don’t show the corrected activity. Extremely buggy software.
Agreed...
Thanks for the very informative professional video Gerard. subscribed! 8)
I actually can´t believe you only have 3 subscribers. Awesome quality on the video, man!
I have the Fenix 5 too, and find it perfect in many instances, but it has its shortcomings. The gps is not that good, neither is the HRM and I would really like mic + speakers and sim-slot. It would k-i-l-l the market with these functions :)
Thanks so much for the support! Really glad you enjoyed the video!
Get the Apple Watch 3 man...and get 18 hours of battery life too!
Vincent Chia Why would anyone want a watch you'll have to charge every day?
Well 310million people are charging it daily. Haha
The two watches are targeting two different kind of people. It feels lika Apple is targeting people who is more interested in good design, UI and usability while the Fenix is targeting athletes who care more about numbers and statistics.
The Apple 3 is a good watch, but I have had a watch you had to charge every day and I sold it after a week. It got frustrating.
(Poor choice of words by me. I should not have written "why would anyone want a watch you´ll have to charge..." since AW are very popular :) You have a point there.
Doesn’t the top left button allow you to light up the face?
No digital watch can be seen perfectly in dark environments. That's why there's a backlight button.
I bought this watch the 7th of December of 2020 for 208$ Cad new from store Excellent price !!! it would be good to know at this date how is your watch doing after 3 years a little more ? I think is good still at 2020 ... and for 208$ Cad even better LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Question - I don't need a lot of "bling" per se, so I am not too daunted by the display...but I am a regularly active, middle aged man that is just looking for a nice watch that can track steps and other health related activities when I go to the gym (intermittently). Best Buy will be placing the 5X on sale at 299.99 this black friday...would you recommend for someone without extreme exercise requirments - I am trying to decide between the 5X or the Samsung Active 2 (which will also be on sale)
I just bought it for the GPS and bullet proof design........it's honestly way overkill for normal people though.
Great video! I own this watch so I agree with most things said. Worth the buy!
Really glad to hear you enjoyed the video. Thanks for the feedback!
nice Watch
How different is it from Fenix 3 HR ?
A good question that I am not fit to answer! As mentioned this is my first Garmin watch. So sorry!
Avtar Singh Saini www.gadgetsnow.com/compare-smartwatch/garmin-fenix-3-hr-vs-garmin-fenix-5
Perfect? Far from it!
Its GPS is flawed. Inaccurate to say the least.