Hello all
Can anyone give me a steer on whether the Garmin Fenix 5 range is good value – I know they are a lot of money but am looking for a good device that syncs well with strava so that I dont have to have my phone with me when I run. I also ride MTB and road and the strava thing is important
Cheers
Mart

No it’s not good value just for Strava.

Do you want to spend £500 as you can get that capability for considerably less.

No, they’re not good value. But they’re bloody good multi-sport watches. Love mine.

They’re terrible value, you can get your requirements for 1/5 of the price…

They are a fancy watch though. However they are huge and quite heavy, and for day to day wear impractical imo. They’re also blimmin uncomfy when mtbing just because they are so heavy…

“Huge and quite heavy”? Are you a five year old with tiny wrists? It’s 87g!

The 5S is tiny, the 5 about normal watch sized, and the 5X is the same size as the old Fenix 3. I wear mine non-stop and often with a suit and it fits under double cuffs fine. With the leather strap it looks pretty smart.

Yeah true, 5s is smaller. I do have smallish wrists but the 3 and 5x just feel cumbersome for day to day use.

I’d defintely reccomend trying before buying

wear mine non-stop and often with a suit and it fits under double cuffs fine.

You must have big gaping cuffs 😉

Shirt won’t go over a 3 or 5x for me!

Didn’t over my old 3, but the 5 (not S or X) is fine.

Interesting. *Goes off to look at 5’s a bit more*

🙂

Terrible value, but I’m already planning on getting a 5X with my pay from helping at an event in October. Shiny toys!

Have a 5 and used to have a 3. Expensive but I use mine all the time for running. Not so good on the bike mind you, I still use a Garmin 520 for that

I thought hard about whether to get fenix 5 or forerunner 935. Identical functions, except 935 has wifi and you need the sapphire fenix to get that. 935 is plastic and much lighter than the metal fenix. 935 is slightly cheaper, but still a bloody fortune. 935 can mount on bike properly via a quick release mount, not an option for fenix 5 as of yet. Went for 935 in the end. Seems really good…had it a while day. A watch for cycling is a bit rubbish, but I still have my old edge 810 which misbehaves slightly for mounting on the bars.

Not sure if that helps at all.

^^ as above. If you think the fenix is to heavy then get the 935xt. its a tri watch but with all the functions of the fenix, so it’s light. Cheaper too.
Now to the op, cycling only? Why the fenix? If you want a watch, which is good for cycling, get a 735 which does route planning and most of features, just lacking a decent altimeter (Strava corrects though when synced).

Accrington Stanley 7. 😆

Accrington Stanley 7.

😀

I believe they’re away to Total Network Solutions next week

I’ve got the ye olde fenix 2.

I only got the fenix over one of the cheaper options as I wanted the navigation (for hillrunning). If you don’t need nav, there are cheaper watches (forerunner etc, can’t remember models now) that’ll do everything you need.

At £500, they arn’t cheap at all.

I have a Fenix 3 & it lives on my arm all the time, i’m fairly skinny & i’ve got used to it now.

I wanted a device I can use for everything, got fed up with Garmins on bikes and running with phones etc.

It’s big, but it has solid battery life. Does everything I need it to, I don’t want something for mapping as that’s crap on any Garmin IME. I don’t tend to ride places where I don’t know where i’m going.

Same as Hob Nob with a fenix 3, single device for all sports and has a great battery. Plus it’s burly nature means it can handle the inevitable tree knocks or OTB on the bike.

am looking for a good device that syncs well with strava so that I dont have to have my phone with me when I run

Unless the fenix 5 sapphire versions have sim-card slots (?) you’ll only be able to sync to strava when your watch is in range of a wifi network that you’re signed in to, in which case I’d imagine you’ll be close to your phone anyway.

I’ve got a 5, had it for about a month, and I’m very impressed. I don’t have the wifi version but it does the whole strava upload thing effortlessly as soon as it bluetooth connects to my phone at home. No input from me, I just get a phone notification telling me my activity is ready to view.

Size-wise it’s spot on – I was worried about a 47mm watch having only ventured as large as 42mm before but it doesn’t look too big at all.

Battery is absolutely great for what it is: I reckon 20-21 days with just general wear & optical HR monitor which is bang on Garmin’s claim. A 4h 30m golf session with GPS running used 18% of the battery, which again fits with Garmin’s claims. The golf app is great btw. Accurate distances to pin/layups/hazards and easy to record your scores.

Optical HR monitor is about as good as I think they can be too. There’s a bit of guff written about taking a while to pick up sharp increases and blips throughout an activity, but really who needs always-perfect, accurate-to-the-second HR monitoring? It’s pretty damned close as it is and the performer bundle comes with a chest-strap monitor if you do happen to be an elite athlete.

It’s is probably a little bit too much cash for what it is but then again it’s about the only fully-featured activity tracker this side of the £1000+ Tag connected or Garmin’s own Chronos that actually looks like a proper watch. I’d have liked a bit more choice on the colour/strap without having to plump an extra £100 for the sapphire version (I didn’t – I don’t need Wifi on a watch and I’m not paying £100 for hardened glass when screen protectors are on Amazon at £5 a pair). The dark grey steel one I have also looks just about classy enough when paired with a brown leather strap to use as a “going out” watch.

I’m very happy with it, but would have been happier closer to the £300-350 mark.

GPS’ing a round of golf.

What a time to be alive 8)

I need all the help I can get, Jamie 😆
One of the blokes I was with was using a laser-sight range finder that cost as much as the fenix. Didn’t even tell the time.

Thanks everybody… I’m getting a similar vibe as to how I feel ….. it’s a load of money but looks pretty good and does a load of stuff which can get done just as well on cheaper watches.
But I do quite like it …. but get the bit about wearing it on MTB as I never currently wear a watch riding so I can see it getting bashed about a bit … now to convince my wife it’s only £100
Cheers all
Mart

I’ve a Fenix 3 bought off eBay a few months ago for £120. It’s great I use it for everything including on the bike (using a rubber adaptor that clips to the bars for big rides or just on the wrist for pootles/commuting etc.

Navigation is surprisingly usable – just upload a gpx and follow the line -it warns when off course too. It can do turn by turn but it’s a right pain to set up.

It’s also. My everyday watch – I wear it for work with am analogue watch face and it’s smart enough for an engineer. I do have fairly big wrists though so it doesn’t look too massive. A few colleagues and friends with more slender wrists have tried it on and it can look pretty over sized….

I resisted the urge to get my Fenix for ages, having used a combination of phones, fitbits and stand alone garmins, but gave in 7 months ago and I wouldn’t be without one now.

Mine is the 3 HR and its brilliant, excellent battery life, really suits if you are a runner and a cyclist, solid build, doesn’t feel big to me and I prefer running something on my wrist rather than bars while on the mountain bike (exception being the roadie, where I do have a boggo Garmin for speed and distance readout).

I think I would have struggled to justify the cost of the new 5’s as they are a jump up from my 3 HR, admittedly mine was a deal having been out for awhile but over £400 and objectively I’d start to really consider how much I needed it.

That being said, I wouldn’t be without one, so I guess I would stump up!

I have the Fenix 3 HR sapphire and they’re a great watch but are big so unless you have wrists to match it’s going to pretty stupid on you. The built in HR is both good and bad. Good, to built in and works pretty close to a belt in accuracy just slightly slower to respond. Bad, the HR doesn’t work well, in fact it’s very poor, with certain exercises such a kettle bell training, rowing and to a lesser extent cycling where you’ll find the readings erratic or such as rowing where you’ll see your heart rate decrease even though you know you’re putting in a lot more effort. For these kind of activities it’s still best to use a belt which you can still use with the watch.
The watch straps I’ve always found to be irritating over the course of a day so just fit a nylon NATO style strap instead. Obviously you can’t use a NATO strap as it would cover the HR monitor on the rear of the watch.
As with Andy above I looked at the Fenix 5 but couldn’t justify twice the price with little to gain.

I picked up a fenix 3 a few months ago as I started to train a bit more seriously, but also wanted something for using in the hills ski touring etc.

It’s great, I love it!

I’ve got weeny wrists and was worried about the size but it looks fine and isn’t too heavy.

Only issue is when biking over rocky terrain at high speeds, but I just sinch it up tight to minimise movement.

Also does a bunch of smartwatch stuff that I didnt want, but actually find very useful.

I wouldn’t buy a 5 over the 3 at the moment especially if you’re not 100%. The 3 is half the price brand new and 80% as good!