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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Garmin Fenix 5X Review}}
The Garmin Fenix 5X is the top of the range of Garmin's running/outdoor watches. It has an impressive array of features, and it uses high quality materials to achieve a high-end look. It's only real weakness is its rather mediocre GPS accuracy, though this can be easily remediated by combining it with the [[Stryd]]. Of course, all this comes at a fairly hefty price, as the Fenix 5X retails for $700 (plus $200 for the Stryd.) '''Note: I've seen credible reports that the Fenix 5 and 5S models (but not the 5X or 935) have problems with their sensor support and I'd recommend avoiding those models until the issue is resolved.''' The Fenix 5X is also available as the [[Garmin Fenix 5X Plus]].
{{BuyAmazon|AZID=B01MQX3306|AZN=Garmin Fenix 5X}}
=Which Version?=
|-
| Price
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Within each model, there are choices of wristband type, with a metal wristband adding $150 and sapphire glass adding $100. There are also a number of color choices, though the 5X is only available in gray. So, which to buy? I'd recommend getting the [[Garmin 935]] as it's cheapest. The only reasons to buy the Fenix version are if you need the full color maps of the 5X. Of course, with the release of the Fenix 5, you can get the [[Garmin Fenix 3]] at a lower cost. The [[Garmin Epix]] is also worth considering as it has the maps of the 5X and most of the other functionality.
'''<br/>There are credible reports that the smaller Fenix 5 and 5S models are having issues with sensor support. The reports suggest that Ant+ connectivity is poor, as well as some suggestions that the Bluetooth range is more limited than it should be. (These problems do not seem to be in the related "plus" models, the Fenix 5+ or 5S+.)'''
=The Big Questions=
For a [[Best Running Watch| simple evaluation of a GPS watch]], I look at how well it can answer some basic questions. There are many things a runner might look for in a running watch, but I feel these four questions are critical.
=Physical Characteristics=
The Fenix 5X is a big watch, and it's larger than I'm comfortable with as a 24 hour/day activity tracker. However, on the run it fells okay even on my diminutive wrists. The watch straps rotate where they connect to the watch body, unlike the Polar V800 where they extend from the watch body and therefore don't conform as well. The materials are excellent quality, and while it doesn't have the simplistic elegance of the [[Suunto Spartan Ultra]] it's still very nice. The exposed bolt heads make the Fenix 5 look rugged and sporty, though it's a bit fussy visually. The only thing that feels a little cheap and tacky is the watch strap itself on the cheapest version. It's nothing like the silky smooth and soft watch material that Suunto use (Garmin watch straps always seem poor to me.) I find the weight of the Fenix 5X to be quite intrusive at times. I suspect it's the combination of the size and weight, as the thickness of the watch puts some of the weight further away from your body. When I swap between the Fenix 5X and the 935, the weight difference is quite dramatic. The display is reasonable, but when you compare it to the [[Suunto Spartan Ultra]] it seems a little small and low resolution. Given that the Fenix 5X is larger than the Fenix 5, I would've expected a larger display, but that's not the case. I suspect that the Fenix 5X is larger to allow for more memory for the maps, or perhaps more battery, though this is purely speculation.
=User Interface=
The Fenix 5X has the same user interface as many other higher end Garmin running watches. There is no touchscreen, but there are five real buttons that make the user interface fairly intuitive. Most navigation is done using the enter, up, down, and back buttons, with the common metaphor of moving in space between screens. The chart below is my representation of the Fenix 5X menu system. This only shows a tiny part of the overall menus, but hopefully it's enough to give you a sense of the way things fit together. In addition to the general up/down/left/right movement, there are various times when you need to do a long press a button to reach a menu.
[[File:Fenix 5X Menus.png|center|thumb|500px|A sample of the Fenix 5X menu system (click for a larger version.)]]
I generally find this a clean and easy to use interface, though I know some folks prefer the [[Garmin 310XT| 310XT]]/[[Garmin 910XT| 910XT]]/[[Garmin 920XT| 920XT]] style of interface that have buttons on the front surface rather than the sides.
[[:File:Fenix 5X and 920XT Buttons.jpg|center|thumb|300px|]]
Generally, I much prefer having real buttons to a touchscreen, as they are far easier to use with running. The only exception is when using a map display, where the ability to use multi-touch gestures such as pinching to zoom make things a whole lot easier.
One nice thing with the Fenix 5X (and a number of other Garmin watches) is that it will display some useful tips when you first start using it.
[[File:Fenix 5X Tips.jpg|center|thumb|300px]]
Note that the Fenix 5X can be charged while recording, but the location of the charging port makes it difficult to [[Charge On The Run]].
=Configuration=
Most of the configuration of the Fenix 5X is done directly in the watch, but there are aspects that have to be done via either the website, the smart phone app, or the PC (Garmin Express.) The main thing that you can't do on the watch itself is configure Connect IQ apps, watch faces, and data fields. The configuration on the watch is fairly intuitive, but the sheer number of configuration options can be a little bewildering, and if you have to do a factory reset, you have to apply all configuration changes again from scratch. While that's a bit of a pain, it's rarely a problem in practice, and more than made up for bite by the ability to configure the data shown during a workout without needing an Internet connection. Even better, you can configure the data shown during the workout actually during the workout itself. I find that surprisingly useful; just today it turned a little warm, and I was able to reconfigure my display to show the current temperature. It's not obvious (or it wasn't obvious to me) but you can copy a sports mode so that you can have multiple configurations for different types of work out. That way you can have a run based work out for easy runs, long runs, into full training, etc. this is rather nice, especially with the [[Stryd]] Footpod providing accurate pace information, which makes the pace alerts especially valuable. There is a limit that only allows two Connect IQ data fields, so having multiple workout types are allows you to have different combinations for different types of training.
=Connect IQ=
''Main article: [[Connect IQ]]''
Garmin's Connect IQ allows for the creation of apps to run on Garmin's running watches in much the same way you can run apps on Android or and iPhone. I've found the Connect IQ apps to be really valuable, only and we're starting to see the number of apps explode, and the quality of the best apps has become remarkable. Many of the third-party apps are better than the Garmin developed apps, and significantly better than the built-in functionality. Below are two of my favorite watch faces, "ActiFace" and "MinGearGearMin" along with two of my favorite data fields "Single Field" and "Flexirunner". {| class<gallery widths="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"|- valign200px heights="top"200px>|[[File:Actiface 2.png|center|thumb|200x200px|This is "ActiFace", my favorite watch face for a long time, with a nice graph of steps over the last week, plus lots of other data.]]|[[File:GearMin 2.png| center |thumb|200x200px |A rival to ActiFace is the "MinGearGearMin" watch face that improves on some aspects. I tend to swap between the two, and haven't found a clear winner yet.]]|- valign="top"|[[File:Single Field 1.png|center|thumb|200x200px| I find myself using "Single Field" more often than any other. It puts a lot of data on the screen in a nice, usable fashion. There is a lot of customization with this data field, and the display uses color to show heart rate and cadence out of range. Search for "Single Field" by "lcj2" to find it.]]|[[File:Flexirunner 920.png|center|thumb|200x200px|There's even more data on Flexirunner by IMGrant.]]|}</gallery>
As a tangent, Garmin gives us this heart rate graph widget, which color codes zone, shows heart rate, along with the minimum and maximum in the time window, so why can't we have something similar built in to the activity data screens?
[[File:Fenix 5X 02.png|center|thumb|200px|]]
=Activity Tracking=
The Fenix 5X has a similar activity tracking support to most of the rest of the range of recent Garmin watches. The biggest problem I find with the Fenix 5X is an activity tracker is simply its physical size and weight, and I'd much rather have a smaller watch for wearing 24 hours a day. You can get a lot of the activity tracker functionality on a much smaller device such as the [[Garmin Vivoactive]] or [[Garmin Vivoactive HR]]. The Fenix 5X will track various aspects of your daily activity:
* '''Workouts'''. Obviously, the Fenix 5X will track your runs, and will integrate that information into an overall picture of your daily activity levels.
* '''Steps'''. The step counting in the Fenix 5X is comparable to other devices. When you're walking or running its pretty accurate, but there are other situations where it's a genuinely ambiguous as to whether you are taking steps or not, such as preparing food in the kitchen. I found that the Fenix 5X recorded a very similar number of daily steps as other Garmin devices I wore on the other wrist, which gives me some confidence in their consistency at least.
* '''Intensity minutes'''. It's not clear how Garmin calculates "intensity minutes", but it seems to use heart rate to determine intensity, with high levels of intensity counting as a multiplier on the actual number of minutes. I've seen some strange discrepancy in intensity minutes when using the optical heart rate monitor, which is not surprising given the accuracy issues. I suspect that changes in the heart rate zone also impact intensity minutes, but the lack of transparency in this calculation makes it hard to evaluate.
* '''Sleep'''. The estimation of sleep can be a little flaky on occasions, but overall it seems to do a reasonable job. It's hard to verify the estimation of sleep, other than checking if the bedtime and rising time seem reasonable. I'm not convinced by the Garmin estimate of how much deep and light sleep you are getting, and I tend to ignore that information as suspect. I have noticed that changing time zone can really mess up the sleep calculation, but hopefully Garmin will resolve this at some point.
* '''Resting Heart Rate'''. It's unclear how Garmin determines the value for uses two methods of detecting resting heart rate. If you wear the watch overnight with the OHRM enabled, as this is not simply it will be the lowest heart rate that it records overnightsees while you're asleep. If not, then it will be the lowest one minute average it sees during the day. The value it records seems a little higher than I would expect, and I've seen some discrepancies when I'm wearing the [[Garmin 935]] and the Fenix 5X and the Garmin 935 concurrently. I keep an eye on the reported resting heart rate, as this is a potential red flag for [[Overtraining ]] or other health problems, but I'd only be concerned if I see a consistent rise over several days.
* '''Move IQ'''. Garmin will estimate when you're performing an activity even if you've not explicitly recorded it. So, if I walk the dog, which I don't add to my training log, Garmin will automatically detect this as an activity.
* '''Feedback'''. The area where Garmin really shines as an activity tracker is the feedback and inspiration that they provide. The Connect IQ watch faces can provide an overview of your weekly activity and how today is comparing with other days, which I find is a good way of motivating myself to get moving. Watch faces also provide a progress bar for how close you are to your daily step goal, though I wish that they'd implement some way of seeing your continued progress after you've hit the goal. Some days I can reach several times in my minimum goal, and it would be nice to see this visually. There are also a number of firework displays the watch gives when you hit your goal. These little firework displays could be considered cheesy or annoying, but I found over time that I really appreciate the little bit of positive feedback. You can also get more information on your activity by scrolling through the widgets on the watch, as well as a vast array of information and visualization on both the Garmin Connect smart phone app and their website.
=Training Advice (Firstbeat)=
The Fenix 5X gives several types of training advice, and I'm rather skeptical as to their value. As George Box once said "[[All models are wrong| all models are wrong, but some are useful]], and for the Fenix 5X, and I'm not convinced the underlying models are good enough to be of practical benefit. Most of the training advice comes from software produced by [[Firstbeat]], and it relies heavily on accurate heart rate information. The optical heart rate monitor built into the Fenix 5X will degrade any of this training advice, so if you're interested in using this information, I'd recommend doing all of your training with an external, chest based heart rate monitor. In some cases, you also need to have your [[Maximum Heart Rate]] set correctly, which requires you to have it tested not estimated.
=Navigation=
The Fenix 5X has the best navigation features of any watch I've tested. Not only does it include full color maps, just like the [[Garmin Epix]], but it can even function like a typical satellite navigation system found in a car. He is a quick rundown of the features:
* '''Full Color Maps'''. The Fenix 5X has preloaded maps of the US, and it's possible to download other maps (see details on the [[Garmin Epix| Epix review]]). * '''Breadcrumbs'''. During an activity, you will see where you've run as a breadcrumb line on the map. This allows you to backtrack or navigate a circular route that joins up with your earlier route.* '''Point of Interest'''. There preloaded lists of points of interest, allowing you to navigate to the nearest coffee shop, grocery store, restaurant, hospital, or whatever else you might need. You get turn by turn instructions, and you don't need any type of smart phone or network connectivity for this to work. This functionality is not available during a run.* '''Back to start'''. During go run, you can ask the Fenix 5X to navigate you back to your starting point, something Garmin calls "TracBack". * '''Courses'''. You can set up a course you like to follow and downloaded to the Fenix 5X and then follow that course during your run. I've found that incredibly useful when running ultras in situations where navigation is tricky. For instance, running along the trail that enters a campsite is a situation where it hard to know which trail to follow, or if you're on the right path as you leave the area. Another situation is where you are on a trail that has no turnoffs, so the organizers don't bother putting course markers out. This can be really unnerving, as you can't be sure there wasn't a turnoff that you missed, and having preloaded course brings a lot of peace of mind.* '''Compass'''. The compass provides useful navigation advice in some situations. With the GPS alone, you sometimes have to move a distance to be able to know the orientation of the map and reality, so a compass and give you your initial starting direction. I've had a number of runs in unfamiliar places where this is proved quite valuable.* '''Altimeter'''. Occasionally, an altimeter can provide valuable navigational insight, though typically you need a good topographical map to get much value from it. Knowing your current altitude can tell you if should you should be going up or down in order to reach a specific location.
=Sensor Support=
The supports Fenix 5X/935 support a vast array of different sensors and accessories. It's the first Garmin watch range to support Bluetooth sensors in addition to Ant+ sensors, which opens up some new devices. The [[Connect IQ]] also makes the Fenix 5X extensible, allowing companies to add support for their devices themselves, rather than having to negotiate with the Garmin. We've seen this with both [[Moxy]] and [[Stryd]], proving the real-world value of this approach. Below are the various supported sensors and accessories, along with the results of my testing.
* '''Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor'''. The Bluetooth heart rate monitor support seems to work perfectly. I tested it with the Suunto and the Polar H7 without any issues. (See below for notes on the [[Wahoo TICKR Run]].)
* '''Bluetooth Footpod. '''Bluetooth Footpod's are not quite as standardized as one would like, so there are more issues here. I tested with the Polar Stride Sensor, Adidas Speed Cell, and [[MilestonePod]] and they all worked fine except for one common problem. If you set the distance to "always" the calibration factor is ignored when you're running outdoors. The calibration factor is used when GPS is off in treadmill mode. This is not a problem with Ant+ Footpod's. (See below for [[Stryd]] Footpod.)
==Heart Rate Monitors & Running Dynamics==
In addition to the built in Optical HRM (see below), the Fenix 5X supports an external heart rate monitor. I found that this support worked fine, and I'd argue that you need an external HRM to get the benefit of any of the Firstbeat features of the Fenix 5X. In addition to the usual display of heart rate, the Fenix 5X will show a colored meter, and you can download various [[Connect IQ]] data fields that will show a graph of your heart rate. (I've no idea why this isn't a standard feature, as a graph of altitude is built-in.)
The Fenix 5X will also show data from the Garmin [[Running Dynamics]] heart rate monitor strap, including the Version 2 metrics such as left-right balance.
===Heart Rate Variability Recording===
Unlike earlier Garmin watches, you can turn on Heart Rate Variability (HRV) recording using a menu action, though the menu is a little buried. There's no HRV recorded when using the Optical Heart Rate Monitor (ORHM), only an external sensor, which makes sense given the issues with OHRM.
The Fenix 5X will record [[Heart Rate Variability]] (HRV) and export it in FIT format. This can be processed in [https://runalyze.com Runalzye] or other similar software. There's no real-time display of HRV, but that functionality is pretty rare.
[[File:Fenix 5X HRV Runalyze.jpg|center|thumb|700px|HRV from the Fenix 5X in RUNALYZE]]
==Stryd, Footpods & Cadence==
The Fenix 5X has first-rate support for the [[Stryd]] Footpod (see above), and also supports the standard [[Footpod]]'s. A standard Footpod will give better Cadence accuracy than the built-in accelerometer but to the Fenix 5X does a remarkably good job, and easy it's generally within a few steps per minute. The Fenix 5X also features a metronome to help improve your cadence, another really nice feature.
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|- valign="top"
Here's my Moxy incorrectly placed; I'd put the Moxy on my right leg with my Fenix 5X on my left wrist, which puts them too far apart and I didn't get a reading.
[[File:Fenix 5X and Moxy.jpg|center|thumb|300px|]]
While the Fenix 5X will record Muscle Oxygen Saturation data, neither the Garmin app nor the web site will display it. You have to download the .FIT file and import it into a tool like Golden Cheetah.
[[File:GC From Fenix5X SmO2.jpg|center|thumb|500px|An example workout from a [[High Intensity Interval Training]] session, showing both power and SmO2. This is the Golden Cheetah App, which is powerful, but not very user-friendly.]]
=GPS Accuracy=
I've tested the [[GPS Accuracy]] of the Fenix 5X with its initial release the latest GPS firmware, and it's possible that its accuracy will improve as the firmware matures. Based on my testing, the Fenix 5X certainly has plenty of room for improvement. At best, the GPS accuracy could be described as mediocre, and I think it's bad enough that it could significantly mess up your training. If you look at the middle, curved section, you can see that the Fenix 5X is doing particularly badly here. This is a challenging section, and reveals any weakness in a GPS watch. The right most segment with the right-angle turn is a section of the most watches do reasonably well on, but the Fenix 5X is struggling here as well. The tracks don't look too bad, you can see that the Fenix 5X is not able to calculate the distance correctly. The Fenix 5X doesn't get too badly confused going under the bridge, actually looks a little better in that area than the two Suunto watches shown for comparison. The blue lap markers are rather widely spread, again giving more evidence of poor GPS accuracy. It's possible that other versions of the Fenix 5 might have different GPS accuracy. It's possible that the plastic 935 might do a little better, but without testing it's impossible to know. (I buy all my test gear through retail channels. This allows me to be brutally honest in my reviews, as I don't need to keep the manufacturer happy in order to continue getting free samples or early access. The downside is that I'm more limited in the array of watches I can test. Therefore, it's unlikely that I will test other versions of the Fenix 5 at this point.) I've tested both the 4.20 and the 4.30 version of the GPS firmware (see below for details.)
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|- valign="top"
|[[File:BridgeFenix 5X 4.30.jpg|none|thumb|x300px|Here's the tracks from testing with GLONASS disabled for comparison.]]
|}
==GPS Problems==
As I note in my main article on [[GPS Accuracy]], most watches have "bad days" but I've found that both the F5X and the [[Garmin Fenix 5X Plus| F5X+]] have a disproportionate number of these problems. These "bad days" are not a general degradation of accuracy, but represent the watch either completely losing the GPS signal and recording a straight line, or zigzagging wildly, resulting in a massive error. I exclude these "bad days" from my results to ensure they don't skew things. However, I had a disconcerting cluster of these "bad days" and I really thought I had a hardware issue with my F5X, something that's remarkably improbable. (Hardware issues don't typically result in degraded accuracy but complete failure to acquire a signal.) When I started testing the F5X+ alongside my original F5X and saw similar issues with both units (though not at the same time) that I realized this is a more systemic issue. To see if this is a general GPS issue, I verified the accuracy of the Fenix 3 and the 920XT alongside the F5X/F5X+ and both the F3 and 920XT were fine. Then for no reason I can ascertain, these "bad days" went away.
=Optical Heart Rate Monitoring=
I've not found any [[Optical Heart Rate Monitoring]] (OHRM) implementation that's good enough to be useful, and the Fenix 5X is no exception. I believe that you're better off having no heart rate data than bad heart rate data. While a chest strap based heart rate monitor can have accuracy issues, these are generally dramatic and obvious, whereas OHRM can be quite misleading. (The issues with a chest strap heart rate monitor are also usually fairly easy to remediate, either with some electrode gel or a new battery.) The accuracy of [[Optical Heart Rate Monitoring]] (OHRM) will depend on a number of factors:
=Adding Stryd=
Adding a Stryd footpod is fairly easy, but make sure you disable auto calibration. For more details, here's a short walkthrough.
=Comparison Table=
{{:Best Running Watch-table}}
