Latest revision as of 08:38, 3 March 2016

The Garmin Fenix 2 combines the best features of the Garmin 910XT and Garmin 620, plus some extras and it could be a great running watch if it were not for the GPS Accuracy problems. While Garmin have improved the accuracy of the Fenix 2 with firmware upgrades, its accuracy remains mediocre at best.

The Fenix 2, showing three data fields and the red colored backlight.

The altimeter is a nice feature, and here you can see the graph that can be displayed.

The recovery estimate, along with Training Effect is a nice way of quantifying training stress.

It is possible to load maps to the Fenix 2.

1 Fenix 2 Pros

• When combined with the new heart rate monitor strap, the Fenix 2 will show and record Cadence, Vertical Oscillation (VO) and Ground Contact Time (GCT). This is fascinating data, but it's not clear how to interpret and use VO or GCT. This confusion is compounded by the way that a higher Cadence will result in a lower VO and lower GCT simply because of the faster turnover. The Fenix 2 has a display of Cadence, VO, and GCT that gives an indication of how good your current values are, but without the color display of the Garmin 620 this indicator is not as clear. The Fenix 2 can also display Cadence using the internal accelerometer.
• Like several other devices, the Fenix 2 displays Training Effect, an indicator of how hard or effective a training session is. In my unscientific trails, the Training Effect on the Fenix 2 seems similar to the Garmin 620, which is a change from the Garmin 610/Garmin 910XT.
• The Fenix 2 builds on the Training Effect to give an estimation of the Recovery Time before the next workout. While this is only an estimation and there are no studies that evaluate it, there is the possibility that it might help prevent Overtraining. There is also a display of your recovery after the first mile or so of each run, which is again a nice idea. Sadly, if you miss the message, there does not appear to be a way of recalling it, nor does the Fenix 2 record this value.
• The Fenix 2 will cache the locations of the GPS satellites for the next few days, which will reduce the satellite acquisition time when travelling to a new location. In my usage the satellite acquisition was very rapid when cached, but if I'd not connected it for a while, it could be painfully slow to acquire a lock.
• The Fenix 2 has 5 well positioned buttons that I find much easier to use than even the best touch screen.
• As well as GPS, the Fenix 2 includes a barometric altimeter, which is far more accurate than GPS for altitude. It also includes a thermometer, and while the watch is too close to your skin for accuracy it does give a good general indication.
• For displays of Heart Rate, Altitude, Barometric pressure and Temperature you can also get a small graph that shows changes over time. I've enjoyed this feature.
  • In addition to the built in temperature sensor, the Fenix2 also supports a wireless temperature sensor that the same size as their Footpod. This is likely to give a more accurate temperature reading as you can put it a little further from your body. Error: Could not parse data from Amazon!.
• There is a prediction of your V̇O₂max, which worked well for me, but I would not rely on its accuracy.
• The Fenix 2 is large, but not as big as the 310XT or 910XT and it looks like a watch rather than a dive computer. .
• There is good navigation displays, with options for waypoints and courses. The Fenix 2 can have uploaded maps.
• The battery life is claimed to be 15 hours with normal recording, but I found that 11 hours is more likely. It has options to extend the battery life up to a claimed 50 hours (I've not yet tested the extended mode yet.)
  • There is an option only to have the backlight turned on when the sun is down, which is another small, but useful feature. The backlight is also red colored, which prevents the watch from blinding you at night.
• The Fenix 2 will link to a smart phone to upload a workout as it takes place, which is nice for folks tracking you during a race, though it means wearing the watch and the phone together.
• You can add as many pages of displays as you want, which given how much the Fenix 2 can tell you, is great.
• The Fenix 2 can display alerts and text messages from a smartphone. I suspect this is of more use if you're wearing the Fenix 2 as an ordinary watch, rather than when running.

2 Fenix 2 Cons

• With the 3.30 firmware upgrade, GPS Accuracy has improved, but it's still one of the poorest watches I've tested. To make matters worse, the "Lost Satellite Reception" (LSR) problem has not been fixed. When the LSR occurs, it can take quite some time for the Fenix 2 to recover, even with good satellite reception. I suspect that part of the LSR problem is due to the Fenix 2 setting its time incorrectly to the year 2019, which means it's expecting the satellites to be in different positions.
• The other big downside to the Fenix 2 compared to the Garmin 310XT/Garmin 910XT/Garmin 610 is that there is no way of displaying your current pace from the Footpod while using GPS for overall distance and course. You can configure it to get both pace and distance from the Footpod, but that's not an ideal solution.
• The Fenix 2 includes an internal accelerometer to give you an idea of pace and distance while running on a treadmill without a footpod. I found it was too far out to be of any use, giving a display that was off by 1-3 minutes/mile. A lot will depend on your running style and how you use a treadmill.
• You need to have the new "HRM Run" for the running dynamics features. It will display Heart Rate and calculate Training Effect with the older Garmin HRM, but not Ground Contact Time or Vertical Oscillation.
• The display on the Fenix 2 is a little harder to read than most other watches. The backlight compounds the problem as it is a dull red glow.

3 GPS Accuracy Issues

The Fenix 2 has some well-known GPS Accuracy issues that are mostly shared with the Garmin 620, which both use the MediaTek GPS chipset. I've seen three types of problem with the Fenix 2:

1. Generally mediocre performance, though this obviously varies. Occasionally the Fenix 2 will be quite good, as you'd expect from a random level of error.
2. The Fenix 2 records the right shape track, but offset by some distance. This does not look like a typical accuracy problem that would manifest itself randomly.
3. Occasionally the Fenix 2 will report "lost satellite reception", which may well be a problem with the clock on the Fenix 2.

3.1 Is It Just Some Watches?

Some people are quite happy with the accuracy of their Fenix 2 or Garmin 620, prompting speculation that this is a quality control issue and the problems only effect some devices. I don't believe this is the case for a number of reasons.

1. I've tested 5 devices (2x Fenix 2,3x 620) that exhibit the problem. It seems remarkably unlikely that 5 out of 5 devices would have the problem. The problems with these devices seem remarkably similar, though only the Fenix 2 has the catastrophic 'lost satellite reception' problem.
2. The severity of the problem depends on the situation. Running a fairly straight course with a wide open view of the sky is likely to give pretty good results.
3. Awareness of the problem will depend on testing methodology. Few users gather enough data to be statistically significant, or run on a course that's certified. Even running on a certified course, it's tough to hit the tangents perfectly unless you're a front runner.

4 What's Missing

While I don't consider missing features as 'cons', it's worth understanding the features that are missing compared with other watches. However, the only feature that's missing from the Fenix 2 is the ability to download apps, rather like a smartphone.

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5 Comparison Table

I evaluate running watches in three distinct ways. Firstly, you can use a watch on its own, without any kind of Footpod. This is probably the most common way runners use their watch, but you miss out on a lot. The second rating is with a standard Footpod that is available quite cheaply. These Footpod's can be reasonably accurate once the calibrated, but calibration is a little tedious. The final evaluation is with the Stryd Footpod, which is vastly more accurate than any other type of Footpod, or and more accurate than GPS. The table below looks at the score, and the value for money of each watch for each of the three conditions. (I’ve also tested the Apple Watch 3, but I’ve not included it in these tables as it’s not really a running watch.)

The score is the sum of how well each watch can answer the four basic questions (how far, how fast, where are you, what's your cadence), plus some bonus points.

1. The "How far you've run" will be based on GPS only for "without Footpod" and "with Standard Footpod", but based on Stryd if supported in the "with Stryd Footpod" table..
2. How fast you're running assumes you're using a Footpod if it's supported, otherwise the rating is 0-2 based on GPS accuracy.
3. The "Where are you?" is based on various navigation features such as back to start, breadcrumbs, and preloaded maps. For some watches, you have to turn GPS off to get the benefit of Stryd, so those watches have worse "where are you scores" with Stryd than without.
4. The cadence score uses 1 point for an internal cadence sensor, 2 points for footpod support, 1 point for support from chest strap cadence, and 1 point for cadence alerts.
5. I give 1-2 bonus points for application support, 1-2 bonus points for data upload, 1-2 bonus points for Optical Heart Rate Monitoring, and 0-1 bonus points for battery life.
6. Value for money is the score divided by the price (at the time I last updated the table.) Your needs may be different, so you might weight the different aspects of the watches differently, or be basing your decision on different criteria totally. Hopefully this table will give you a good starting point for your decision.

5.1 Score Breakdown without a Footpod

5.2 Score Breakdown with a Standard Footpod

5.3 Score Breakdown with a Stryd Footpod

5.4 Basic Features

6 Navigation Features

For "navigation":

• Color Maps gives you full color maps, rather like a smart phone, with roads and paths marked out.
• Track Outline is a display of where you've run, rather like a breadcrumb trail. If there are maps, the outline is superimposed otherwise this is just the outline on its own without any context.
• Course Outline is an outline of a route that can be downloaded. I've found this useful during ultras or in unfamiliar cities where I've needed to know where to go.
• Back To Start is a simple arrow point to your starting point, so it won't help you backtrack.
• Back To Waypoint returns you to a previously marked location using a simple arrow to point.
• Compass. A magnetic compass can help you orient yourself or the map. Without a magnetic compass you have to be moving for the GPS to give you a sense of direction.

(Older Reviews: Polar RC3 GPS, Soleus 1.0, Motorola Motoactv.)