Garmin Fenix 5 Sapphire Multisport Watch

Garmin’s fenix 5 is the follow-up to the brand's veritable fenix 3 and fenix 3 HR — we’re not sure what happened to the fenix 4. I am a big fan of these watches, not only for their functionality and versatility, but also their durability. They are powerful enough to all but replace your dedicated head unit, but can also accompany you on any adventure. In fact, I liked the fenix 3 so much that after I finished my review I bought it! One of the few niggles I had with the fenix 3 was its lack of Elevate HR sensor, although the sensor was added to the fenix 3 HR when Garmin updated the watch. However, I had mixed results when I tested the fenix 3 HR's optical sensor. The fenix 5, as you’d expect, not only gets the Elevate HR sensor, but is also available in three versions: the fenix 5S, fenix 5 and fenix 5X The biggest difference between the three watches is the size of their faces, — 5S - 42mm, 5 - 47mm, and 5X - 51mm — and the 5X has mapping capabilities included topographical maps, street maps and turn by turn directions, and can find points of interest — more on this later. The 5 and 5S see the same feature set and are also available with mineral glass and sapphire screens, the 5X is only available with a Saphire screen. All the Saphire models also get WiFi connectivity. We’ve had the Fenix 5 (not S or X) for the past few months to find if it can fill the big shoes of the Fenix 3. New charging, features, screen and more! The first thing you notice out of the box is the size of the watch. The fenix 5 is noticeably smaller and thinner, but is actually a few grams heavier than its predecessor weighing 88g compared to the 84g of the fenix 3. The new watch also gets Garmin’s QuickFit bands, which allow for tool free swaps with the push of a small lever on the inside of the band. Garmin fenix 3 owners can also take advantage of these bands. The band itself is made from softer rubber than the fenix 3’s, but I did notice a small split developing in my preferred notch. Garmin has also decided to bring back the clasp with squared off edges from the fenix 2, which can eat into your wrist over time though, especially on MTB rides where you are getting jostled around. The fenix 5 also get a new charging cord, which has been updated from ‘The Claw’ to a more traditional plug. The advantage to this updated plug is it’s much more compact, but unfortunately the most efficient charging position for the watch is screen down, so I had fears of scratching the screen. The new watch also gets a 64 colour, slightly higher resolution screen that's been upped from 218 x 218px to 240 x 240px. Claimed battery life has also increased — 24 hours in GPS/HR mode, 60 hours in UltraTrac mode without HR, and two weeks in watch mode. I found these to be pretty close to true, although it’s tough to completely test the accuracy of the UltraTrac mode as I’m not out riding for 60 hours at a time. Garmin has also changed the menu hierarchy on the fenix 5. Everything is pretty intuitive, and I’m not sure if one is better than the other, but it is noticeably different. Connectivity Given that Garmin owns the ANT+ protocol it's not surprising that the fenix 5 supports just about every ANT+ sensor under the sun, including powermeters and even some more obscure ones such as Muscle Oxygenation sensors. It can also connect to Di2, eTap and EPS drivetrains for ANT+ shifting support. The biggest news is that Garmin has stopped dragging its feet on Bluetooth sensor support and the new watch will play nice with HR, Power, Speed and Cadence, as well as running foot pods — which are likely to be available in subsequent software updates. I was able to get the watch to connect to a range of sensors with no trouble on both Bluetooth and ANT+, with the watch recognising the external units almost instantly. With the Fenix 5’s rugged exterior it also does a pretty good impression of a smartwatch, with the Bluetooth connection also allowing for onscreen notifications from your phone — it will even display emojis. It also tracks steps and sleep patterns too. I immediately turned the notifications off though, as there are few things that grind my gears more than my watch and phone buzzing at the same time. With the connection to your phone, the watch also connects to the Garmin Connect app. Here it will not only sync activities to Garmin Connect — and automatically push them to Strava, Training Peaks, or wherever else you’d like them to go — but also facilitate over the air software updates and access to the Connect IQ store for watch faces, widgets, data fields and more. My test watch was a Sapphire version meaning it also had WiFi connectivity — the standard version doesn't have a WiFi chip. So at home the watch will automatically connect to your home network and upload your ride as well as download updates. This method is supposedly faster than Bluetooth, but in reality the difference is minimal. Last but not least, and as you’d expect fro