Garmin Fenix ​​5 - why would anyone need this?!

I confess without a beating - I can not write a solid review or a Garmin Fenix ​​5 watch. If you are looking for it, I invite you to run or triathlon portals or to the irreplaceable source of infinite knowledge, i.e. dcrainmakeraor our native - el Kapitano. They are people who know what functions are needed for professionals, they have a comparison to previous models and can express a cross-sectional opinion (or should be able to - I can not judge).

More than half a year after the launch, it's enough time to think about buying Garmin products. After a month with Fenix ​​5 I can fully consciously say: Garmin does not offer a watch that would be perfect for me. Fenix ​​5 is a top watch in their ladder, by reviewers called boldly: the best in the company's history and probably the best on the market. Do I eat it? Very. Does he have everything I could imagine: let's say. Is it perfect? Absolutely not.

I am writing this from the perspective of an amateur, the so-called cASUAL. A mortal who can not imagine a situation in which someone says: I need a Garmin Fenix ​​5 watch. However, it's no wonder that the vast majority of people will say the same about bicycles for 20k or 40k, and we all know that they are cool and if the budget allowed , we would only buy such. This text will not be professional, it will be true for most of us.

What do I want from the watch?

Not really much. I would like him to measure the distance and pulse while running. The distance is to be accurate, the heart rate may be more or less and agree on a scale macro. If the reaction is delayed by a few dozen seconds, it does not do it to me.

He's supposed to keep it on the battery long enough so I do not have to stress about it. Maybe it's a bit of OCD, maybe long hours in my youth over Fallout, but if something is below 50%, I start to worry. Even if 50% means 3 days. I like to have the right supply, even if it is unjustified.

Music or music control. It may be of poor quality. In a sweaty ear while running it does not matter to me anyway.

Counting the number of pools. I can not count above 10. At trainings, thoughts are so run down, and the head is so absorbed by throwing insults on this guy, which stands at the end of the track and waits for me, only to slow the pace when I approach him, that counting is not an option.

ANT + service, because watts from the trainer.

... and so much, not much.

A telephone?

The phone is ok, especially with ANT + support. In addition to being somewhat uncomfortable with him, he has one serious problem: he is a telephone. Due to the rich internet life, farts me all the time. It usually starts somewhere around the 5th minute of the run. I run, I am aware that something is waiting for me in my pocket. I know immediately that I will lose this fight and I will check it sooner or later. It does not make sense, I look straight away. Someone on the internet is wrong: lost training. Well, how is this: I have to wait an hour with my accurate retort? Or maybe it's some extraordinary stupidity and now 55 minutes I will be nervous about what people are clumsy. Exercise with the phone is worse for me. Cutting off the rope to which I weld for 20 hours a day has its pluses.

How do watches work?

There are a lot of companies, products probably release similar. There is Polar, which has long been a common opinion that he stopped a dozen or so years ago. Tom Tom is well-known for the fact that their applications cause depression, he is Suunto ... who just is, and a thousand and 3 now popular smartwatches.

For each of the manufacturers, the range looks like the ladder starts with the lowest model, which is enough for training, and each subsequent one is almost the same, but .... Here comes a blind circle called: so maybe I'll make this sting up. I fell into this trap. I always fall in it

What to buy?

Panda swims with the Garmin Swim watch - it works great. I can do it a bit, and now Tom Tom Spark 3, which has everything I need, and in the best version even the heartbeat and music after BT. Then it is already inclined, some random devices, Garmin 735XT because the reviews super, then 935XT, because the battery and barometer, some giants, because cool, Fenix ​​5, because high-end, Fenix ​​5X, because maps ... and we are at the end of the chain.

The ideal choice would be 735XT for me. The problem is that most watches are like running shoes. They are great, but if you want to dress them somewhere outside of running, it looks like you're going with your compatriots to the bench beneath the block. It's such a plastic-fantastic. Today, in retrospect, I know why.

Nice things are better than average things

The whole plan, as usual, goes to the head once you hit the store. You look at such a Fenix, you look at 735xt and other treble inventions and feel as if you were comparing a plastic spring from a kiosk with an original Matchbox. As soon as they fall off the table, one will fall apart and the other will make a hole in the floor. Well, it probably is not, but what can I say that they look like this.

Fenix ​​looks like she's just about to come back from Siberia with Bear Grylls. The only problem is that Bear Grylls has a hand in opposition to us. The wrist brace, like the wrists of most endurance athletes, is not wearing unnecessary meat. You're standing in this shop, you're looking at the salesgirl and what will you tell her? That you have too little? Oh no! Certainly not! I'm leaving the Fenix ​​5X store. I am in the USA, there is a weekend between Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday - I saved so much that I can buy something nice now ;-)

How much does it normally cost Fenix ​​5x? For this:

Am I a small one?

Garmin Fenix ​​is ​​available in 3 sizes. 5S version for girls, large version and a very large 5X with maps. I thought maybe I could buy a flaky handle on the steering wheel and this 5X would replace my Wahoo Element. I apologize to Elemnt for such a thought. There are also different stripes, different fasts, different sets and so on.

The problem is that the Fenix ​​5 store is only available in the version without sapphire glass, which would probably survive longer than me. Later, it turns out that there is also WiFi.

Will I miss the map? I doubt it. Quick? Of course. Wifi? Not really. Wifi would allow me to post a workout about 45 seconds faster ... or not. Because I'm still paired with the phone and puts it in front of the block, and from WiFi I would wait for the entrance to the apartment. Well, but on the other hand, my OCD would be quieter, because I would turn off Bluetooth on the phone in the end.

What can he do?

I will not write this point. This watch can do anything, and I will never use 86% of these functions. I mean, he could of course have more.

He could play music from Spotify (or from mp3, which I would put there once and was sentenced to the end of my life). He could take photos. He could be controlled by a voice using Alexa: speaking Garmin running start it would be great. He could transmit HR data after ANT + so that I would not have to wear a belt when riding a trainer (as he rightly pointed out Morning Runner - this option is, I just missed it)so it could be smaller! It's like wearing a Walkman instead of an iPod Nano!

What do I use?

I hardly download the watch. I will recharge it once a few days, but probably less often if it was not for this anxiety when less than 40% is shown. Objectively they say it is too big and too heavy. This appearance compensates. This is one of those things that you look nice and nice to touch. Taka Beyonce. Moving with this is a ball, but what is not done to be beautiful?

But maybe it's just mine it seems to me. My last watch was from communion and someone gave it to me ... he smoked on FE.

Like any other athlete. The watch does it before you even start a conversation. You go into the doctor, you see that he's in Forerunner's hands, Fenix, whatever, you know, the conversation will stick. At company meetings, it's like going out on a pipe together. You find it immediately their people to talk to. Garmin Fenix ​​5 is too big and too heavy. I would not trade it for anything else. Senselessness.

Swimming pool

Garmin Fenix ​​5 counts pools correctly. If I was swimming alone on the track and it always bounced off the wall, I would say very well. But it is not like that in life. Everywhere lurks the guests who swim on their backs on the fast track, what they are talking at the end of the track, what are waiting for them to sail to move. At the recycle with the tipper (whatever it is called), sometimes it will take a wrong turn ... do not ask. Sometimes, in the middle of the pool, you have to change the style to not kill someone. It all affects accuracy. You can safely assume that at the 25m pool, the watch will make a mistake twice per kilometer, at least once on the Olympic. Nothing, but if someone settles temporarily in minutes per kilometer, the difference is significant. I doubt, however, whether someone does this except me.

The heart rate sensor of the wrist, of course, under water does not work ... because you know, after all, we live in the nineteenth century.

* I thought a little about it - I do not know how much this watch is wrong, because I'm getting lost quite quickly with my own counting. I know, however, that with similar swimming I can have an average of one kilometer between 18 and 21 minutes - a large difference. I need to focus more or rent my own track.

Running

While running, I look mainly at my heart rate, as a beginner I have a problem with maintaining a constant speed. I'm not even sure I'm running 4:45 or 4:30. The watch helps a little, but in looking at the current speed in my case is a bit of a goal. I can treat indications as +/- 10sec. What's different with the kilometer summaries, these are great.

Such requirements would probably meet every equipment. I felt the need to measure for the first time at last year's Independence Run, when it turned out that under 40 minutes there are no more hares and how to target in 38 minutes? So I decided to move a bit behind the hare and then overtake him, which was a disgustingly bad decision considering how many people must be overtaken later.

During the run, I look at the arrow, which shows the color of the effort according to the heart rate and every kilometer to the summary. I run in the dark, so the fact that when I raise my hand to look at the display, it highlights, it is great and works perfectly.

You can control the Sprophity on your phone, but it requires switching to a different screen, so it's faster for me from the headphones. It is beautiful for the fact that all these connections do not require special configuration in the watch and everything happens by itself.

I see little data about activity in Garmin Connect. Basically the same as the phone with the accelerometer. With this Wahoo Tickr you can not compare. But it makes sense, for this you need a belt on dogs, for example HRM-Tri: then we'll get info on the quality of the run (deviations, etc.).

Bike

Riding with a watch on a bike is cool - I can not see anything. Especially when I wear long sleeves and winter gloves, then I do not even see the watch. I can wear it on the sleeve, of course, but then the HR measurement will not work. Besides, it's very cool. I could mount it on the steering wheel, but then I would laugh at myself. If I ever turn around on the bend, I feel that half the watch will be on the asphalt. And generally, I think, how the imprint of the watch would fit into the cycling tan in the summer.

In Ultratrac mode (i.e. less frequent GPS coordinates) the battery can withstand 75h, in normal mode + heart rate reportedly daily. For the ultras super, but why is the charging socket placed so that it does not give you a chance to recharge it when it's on your hands? Well, what a new slot (apparently the standard for Garminów from now). I have such cables in the house of the arts, and I feel something that will soon be their pieces zero, because with cables like socks.

The cable itself is very cool, it stays firm and costs ... the tip.

Oh ... and of course we have live segments from Strava! (if we're premium;))

After a few hundred kilometers on a bicycle, I understand why a large screen is needed in such a watch. Either the sight defect has grown, or the reading of any values ​​from a smaller one would resemble a little return to 21 "TVs and 14" monitors.

Diagrams

I like to sit at work and look at my charts and numbers. I can review, analyze, draw conclusions and not implement a recovery plan. For example, about sleeping, or even generally ... about life. Because Fenix ​​5 measures your heart rate all the time. When I sleep, when I eat, when I go - I can say with a clear conscience, for example it was a hard visit to the bathroom.

What do I need this for - I do not know. Maybe if I used a diet that I always start tomorrow, I could use the actual amount of calories I burned during the day. In conjunction with MyFitnessPal, I could control the balance accurately ... if I wanted to.

I can trace how much sleep and how much sleep I need to cut unnecessary surplus of shallow sleep. It turns out that if I wake up an hour earlier, I would be as much asleep - theoretically. But it's nothing, the coolest thing is to watch what time I woke up in pee. Below we can see the classic scheme: wake up at 4 am for a moment, sleep for a moment, say I can not stand by 7, visit the bathroom. And every day!

The watch knows that we woke up of course only when we move. If at 4 in the morning you look at the ceiling for 30 minutes, thinking about going to the bathroom, or if you can endure these 3 hours - he will not notice it unless you cling to the bladder.

I can also check, based on my resting heart rate at night, if I'm tired. You know - as if I did not recognize it myself:

And of course the key thing about every sport watch and smartwatch - counting steps and defeated floors. It never bothered me and I will never understand it. Especially since the less one goes, the more strength is left for other sports. From the day I have Fenix ​​5 I go twice as much.

Now even the trash from the house probably more often (probably not - Panda)

Things

In addition, the Garmin Fenix ​​5 has, of course, one hundred million functions that I will use once in my life or two if I want to show them to someone. Configuration of all fields for separate activities, configuration of the main screen (tips, numbers, many numbers, diagrams, etc.). A flashlight (in the sense: a screen in white), a compass, barometer, altimeter, thermometer, gyroscope, notifications from the phone (also from Messenger), notification of notifications configurable depending on the state of the watch, warning about the storm - is what to click. For this probably a basil of things, which I forgot to remember and which I will use even less times (ie zero).

The accuracy of GPS (especially when we support it with GLONASS) is very good in the context of the equipment available on the market and very bad in the context of the 21st century and the fact that people have been flying into space for ages, and cars drive themselves. Many of my gears (the tracks should practically overlap) looks like this:

The accuracy of my heart rate monitor, which many people complain about, is very good to me - even on my hairy and thin hands - only a little late. Before the activities, however, the strap a little dopinam, everything kept stiff and the sensor did not reach outside light. The problem sometimes occurs on bicycles or on ellipticals, when hands are flying in all directions. There are momentary distortions - totally acceptable to me, but probably not everyone has.

When it comes to the barometer, compass and this type of bullring, I have no objections (but I do not use it for any other purpose than to check whether they work).

* Virtual things

An important issue for several years is Garmin IQ, that is, the possibility of uploading additional ones applications. On the one hand, great, on the other, when I look at all these applications, I remember the moment when I am looking for any software open source. This is like GIMP - it can do the same as Photoshop, but after opening it you have the escape reflex - you want to close it as soon as possible. In the crap of badziewia and screens, which present 100,000 values ​​simultaneously, there is also some pearls. Some that I will never use, but they are. For how much Uber will arrive, where I left the car, advanced weather, and even Flappy Bird games. Once you find one, it turns out that you either have to pay the dollar or there is a disclaimer hidden in the description: *** Warning: there are many other apps from working. I can even set my own background in the clock with the Face IT application, but it is just as practical in the long run as having my photo with the dog on the phone display - cool, but at the expense of readability.

Yes - this is the equivalent of the open source world. You can do a lot, but basically you do not want it.

Garmin Connect itself, although better than it used to be, is also a return to the previous century. The fact that most of the training applications have UX such that on a good morning deters anyone who would like to start the adventure with structured activities. That's why apart from watching my dream, I hardly ever go in there. The watch does it for me. I do not trust him, but it's cool to watch. The algorithms are based on Firstbeat - softs used by professional teams.

Because when it comes to the control of training and fatigue, it is seemingly modest here, but the devil is in the details. Estimation of the VO2 max value, lactate threshold tests, a summary of each training and its effect on fatigue and form, the time needed to rest, etc. I am more obviously trying to enter the red field with the inscription overtrained than doing optimal workouts, but it's me ....

And all this is cool, only the load and fatigue are based mainly on the condition of the body, not on the legs. I do not know about you, but if something disturbs my training, it's my legs. When at 7:37 I try to drive up the driveway * on the Świętokrzyski Bridge and my speed, it brings me closer to losing my balance and yet my feet are burning - I know that yesterday the training was good (* there is practically no drive at the World Championships).

If you're looking for something that will help you in your workout, without having to look at the charts, charts and accurate planning, the watches can quite solidly help you. Just like most applications on the internet. And cheaper counterparts of these watches. And bicycle counters. And in total, there is probably something similar everywhere ... And how to add the fact that swimming is not included in the load, because I will not swim with a belt on the chest and that I do not count the trainings from other devices, and I ride a bike with Wahoo Elemntem - it loses all sense.

The moment I recommend ... or I do not recommend it

I really do not know. There are watches much cheaper than the ones that can practically do the same. They are also lighter and smaller. There is competition, which also can do a lot and looks like a Katowice Spodek, arranged on the hand. Garmin Fenix ​​5, despite its colossal size, looks damn good. This is one of those watches that look like freshly removed from the wrist of rich guys, which just ended up eating children (or what are the rich guys doing). I can not imagine who could say that I need this watch. I know, who would say he wants it - almost everyone.

For me, there is nothing better at the moment, but again - I only know functional comparisons from the Internet, I will not use the vast majority of functions, I would need a much cheaper equivalent and it is hard for me to get used to carrying such an anvil in my hand. But damn it - it's nice and solid. I look at him and I'm Bearem Grills in the city jungle, I'm Tommy Lee Jones in the Pursuit ... I only wish I was neither Froom nor Eliud Kipchoge - on their hands Fenix ​​would look funny in contrast to his smaller brothers like Forerunnery . Even Jan Frodeno uses Forerunner and looking after photos, probably only in training ... and that's what I would prefer to be.