fēnix® 5X Plus

Still love my Fenix 5x plus. Old but does what it should. During work days and months, its just a minimal watch face and i see my mails and messages. During holidays, its a workhorse, serving me all my topological maps and trails during multi day hikes. Screen is still mint after all these years. Even battery still going strong. It even has offline spotify playlists. Was worth every cent i paid. The only reason i would upgrade would be if i could get even more battery life and a flashlights. But newer ones have same or less battery life die to all new features, and a long battery life and flashlights is just counterintuitive

55, 165, 255, I2 Solar, 965 and an old Fenix 5X Plus :) I bought them used and got good deals, which gave me the chance to test and compare models. They're all nice with various pros and cons. There isn't one 'perfect' one with all the things I'd like. E.g. The 255 and I2 are close to each other, but the 255 lacks training readiness and the I2 lacks nap detection. The 965 has the most features, but the 165 is smaller and lighter. I'll probably sell some of them and keep one Amoled model for daily wear (it's easier for me to read indoors and at night) and one MIP for longer sunny outdoor workouts.

Unlucky, I’ve used my fenix 5 for 7+ years without issues, my dad had fenix 5x plus for similar amount of time - no issues. Both upgraded to fenix 7 pro and 8 - no issues so far.

Unlucky, I’ve used my fenix 5 for 7+ years without issues, my dad had fenix 5x plus for similar amount of time - no issues. Both upgraded to fenix 7 pro and 8 - no issues so far.

I have a Garmin Fenix 5X Plus. I love Garmin range and highly recommend Forerunner or Fenix. If they're too expensive you can buy secondhand as the hardware lasts. My 5X is still going strong 8yrs now. Caveat: they've recently begun some pretty shitty corpo stuff such as insane pricing, planned software obsolescence, new AI features, etc. But they are still by far the best for maps, navigation and heart rate tracking. They're also unbeatable on overall health metrics. Polar and Suunto are playing catch up and lack a lot. Coros are looking strong and improving with every new release but still not quite there. Last time I checked Coros can't plot your path on the map it can only tell you which direction to go separately from viewing a map. That's something Garmin has been providing for years. If I had the money right now I'd buy a Garmin Forerunner 955 or 965. If you want more in depth info Google "DCrainmaker" - he's a fitness nut who's been doing very comprehensive sport watch reviews for years! He's well known as the expert on them.

Garmin Fenix 5X Plus. Couldn’t recommend Garmin enough for trail running.

I’m coming from a Garmin Fenix 5X Plus I got in 2018 so it’s about time for an upgrade but in saying that anything is probably an upgrade at this point for anything that isn’t battery life. I still only have to recharge that watch maybe once every 7-14 days depending on use and no “smartwatch” is probably going to beat anything in the Garmin line because they target two different demographics. I certainly don’t use any of the extreme sports options that the watch was designed for. With that in mind I initially was looking at the Ultra 3 but when I looked back at all the advanced features of the Garmin I didn’t use I started to look at the 11 and it honestly would cover everything I would probably use the Ultra for anyways. However, the casing options start to skew the picture a bit. If I spec out an 11 in titanium with a Milanese loop the end price ends up being the starting price of the Ultra in Australian didgeridoo’s and once finished costing more 11 with aluminium (GPS), 46mm case, steel Milaenese loop - $819 AUD 11 with titanium (GPS and cellular), 46mm case, steel Milaenese loop - $1429 AUD Ultra with trail loop (because I don’t like its titanium one) - $1399 AUD I’m never probably going to use cellular because the number of service providers in Australia that support is is limited (without buying an additional plan) and I don’t do any of the activities that would benefit from it, my phones always close. I do workout 5 or so days a week in the gym doing powerlifting/strongman (not that I can wear it all the time for all of those activities anyways because other equipment goes in that spot but the environment is pretty rugged) and some cardio so I would like my watch to be a bit more durable than aluminium so the titanium option makes sense. I also wouldn’t mind having a slimmer watch for day to day but the Ultra is about on par with the Garmin so it’s not like I’m not used to having a bulky watch on my hand. I guess the question at this point is, is the titanium option really that important for durability and for those people who have the current aluminium versions how have they faired in similar environments? Would you have gotten a titanium one if you could?

I moved to a AWU from a Garmin Fenix. The Apple Watch doesn't do anything more feature wise than what my Garmin did. The main difference is the OS and integrations. The main difference is Garmin is a fitness watch first and a smart watch second. My Garmins battery lasted an entire month, but the screen wasn't anywhere near as detailed as the AWU. To get that kind of battery life you have to sacrifice somewhere. Given I charge it when I hop in the shower it's rare I get to a point where I've run down the AWU's battery, but my girlfriend has a non-ultra and she charges it whenever she has a shower and it lasts her an entire day. Granted that isn't a SE but the tech specs don't show that much difference in battery that it should be wildly different.

My take is that Apple builds a mini phone you can wear on your wrist. Just like a phone, you have to charge it every day or so. Garmin builds watches. Just like a watch, I can go on a trip without having to worry that my watch will die about the same time my phone does. And talking about integration, while my fenix has limited integration with my Pixel phone, I can leave my phone in my office at work and get text messages on my watch via bluetooth half way across the building, which is an absolutely mind boggling range for Bluetooth. That and the MIPS screen that I can glance at discretely during meetings are indeed very cool and useful. Two different products, two different use cases.

My old fenix 5X+ lasts almost 2 weeks with one hour of GPS activity every day (typically 8% per day) I found out that some watch faces will drain the battery very fast, like those that refresh the display often. I use the Data Lover face which crams a lot of info on the screen but is gentle on the battery.