Review on ⌚ Black Garmin Fenix 5X Plus Sapphire Smartwatch with Wi-Fi & NFC by Janis Berzins ᠌

Name: ⌚ Black Garmin Fenix 5X Plus Sapphire Smartwatch with Wi-Fi & NFC
Item: ⌚ Black Garmin Fenix 5X Plus Sapphire Smartwatch with Wi-Fi & NFC
Rating: 5

April 21, 2023

Good quality product, I rate this purchase excellent.

In general, with the advent of Garmin Pay, the watch has become much more interesting for everyday wear, sports functions have long been ideal for Garmin. I still can’t get enough of the quick-change strap system (in the 3rd strap replacement was just a torment), now you can easily put on a leather strap or just some bright one according to your mood. I thought for a long time whether to take the titanium version and came to the conclusion that it’s still not worth overpaying. The native titanium strap for sports does not fit at all, silicone is much more convenient and practical, well, there is a twofold difference in price with the complete absence of any buns and advantages compared to the usual one.
Hope you find something useful. :)

Pros

About a year I used the previous flagship from Garmin - Fenix 5X, so there will be small comparisons with this model. Among the advantages I would highlight: 1. The changed shape of the bezel and the glass is flush with it. It is quite suitable for a sapphire model, they look more solid than compared to 5X, where the glass is recessed. But if you choose the option with mineral glass, then this will already be a minus, because. mineral glass is much easier to scratch. 2. Significantly increased autonomy. On average, with 3-4 workouts per week (in the gym and pool, i. E. without using GPS), the watch lives for about 12 days. Previous 5X's only lasted 7-8 days under the same regime. An important point - the autonomy is strongly influenced by the selected dial, I recommend using the standard ones, simply by setting the necessary data fields on them. All third-party watch faces still consume much faster battery, no matter how simple they are (especially options like Activeface and the like). 3. Built-in memory for music. Now I go to workouts without a smartphone, it's very convenient. By the way, those who use the iPhone can synchronize music with iTunes, but only downloaded tracks on the computer, i. E. an Apple Music subscription is useless. Ah, one more nuance. Owners of waterproof headphones can forget about the music in the pool. I tried - the signal is lost. 4. Garmin Pay. Everything works perfectly with Alfa-Bank, we connected without any frills the first time. It is a pity that once a day you need to enter a password (and this is not very convenient from the buttons) and you can’t hang up quick buttons to call the wallet for some reason. Those. You can only go through the menu (long press the backlight) to go there. 5. Significantly increased speed. This is manifested in widgets, and in the menu, and in the search for satellites. Directly noticeably faster than in 5X. 6. Small visual improvements in the software. Well, for example, when scrolling through widgets, the position of the selected widget in the list of configured widgets is now visible. Animation when scrolling through widgets, etc. 7. All other advantages of the previous 5X remained in place.

Cons

Well, the shortcomings by and large also remained the same. But these are the ones that are especially annoying: 1. Weak vibration. The inability to adjust its strength and duration. It is especially inconvenient in the pool, where you practically do not feel vibration at all. 2. The inability to customize the sound tones, they can only be turned on or off. 3. All the same pedometer errors when driving on our domestic, not very good roads. :) But the mistake, when strokes were counted as steps when swimming, was nevertheless corrected. 4. A pulse oximeter is generally a prank if you are not going to climb Everest. :) And the measurement is done only at rest, i. E. for about 30-40 seconds you need to not move at all. 5. I expected this version to appear along with the touch screen buttons, as in the same Suunto. But apparently, the greed of the manufacturer did not allow this version to implement such features. Although they have experience, for example, the same Vivoactive 3 has a touch screen, and it is quite convenient in everyday life. When playing sports, the buttons are, of course, much more convenient. I think the sensor will still appear in future versions. 6. There are breaks in the connection with the smartphone. If you go outside the Bluetooth radius for a long time without a phone, then there is a high probability that upon returning the watch will no longer automatically connect. Easy to treat - just open the Garmin Connect app.