Background
The Garmin Fenix 5 Plus is the company’s latest product. Like its predecessor, Garmin Fenix 3, a favorite for those interested in outdoor adventures, the Garmin Fenix Plus 5 gathered an incredible following.
The Fenix 5 Plus is the most advanced multisport watch available. It was a fantastic deal, and then Garmin enhanced it by adding music storage, contactless payment support, and upgraded navigation tools.
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Features
The Fenix 5 Plus is equipped with features that make it ideal for cyclists. The improved navigation on the Fenix 5 Plus is a standout feature. Garmin’s full-color topographical maps for Europe are included (with the option to purchase regions elsewhere). The maps are ideal for cyclists who want to use maps they’ve generated on Garmin Connect. It’s clever enough to suggest routes that avoid the roads with more traffic, instead opting for smaller trails and roads used by other cyclists.
It has a thermometer, a heart rate monitor, and a barometric altimeter.
One of the most exciting new features is the ability to connect your music if you have Spotify Premium wirelessly. This is an excellent option if you want to ride without being distracted by your phone. The only issue is that it will drain your battery if you use it constantly.
It can last 18 hours without GPS but only 8 hours with GPS, which is disappointing compared to the Fenix 5.
You’ll get all the notifications you’d expect from a smartwatch. If you’re using Android, you’ll be able to respond to messages using your watch.
Cycling Features
When it comes to cycling features, the 5 Plus will track inside activity but is built for the outdoors. The Galileo tracking feature assures no black areas on your journey, even when you’re in the woods or other regions where GPS is known to fail. It also lets riders use a feature called TrackBack, which allows them to go back over a route.
A race pacer is available on a few of Garmin’s devices. It allows you to set a time and distance goal for yourself and gives you a slight push as you go.
When you’re done riding, it gives you detailed feedback on your aerobic and anaerobic fitness levels, graded on a scale of 1 to 5. After that, it will suggest a rest period in between training sessions. You can get this data for up to 7 days, and it will also offer you an estimate of your VO2 max.
This watch was designed to track your activity. It will give you the fundamentals of how many calories you burned, how many steps you took, how many floors you climbed, and how many active minutes you spent.
It also includes extensive sleep tracking, which divides your night into REM, deep, and light sleep segments and any time you were awake and how much you moved around.
If you enjoy outdoor cycling, the Fenix 5 Plys boasts a waterproof certification of 10ATM, allowing you to ride near (or even in) water.
Indoor, cycle, and mountain biking are the three predefined cycling profiles, each providing significantly advanced data suited to your two-wheeled activities.
Finally, it works with both the Radar series and the Varia Bike Light, which are known for being incompatible with other devices. The smooth connection with your Strava account is possibly the best feature.
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Other Features
- Garmin Pay can be used to make contactless payments.
- Live tracking lets your family and friends know where you are in real-time.
- Sleep monitoring.
- It can be used to locate the phone.
- During the day, Garmin Move IQ will track your less adventurous activities.
Design
The Fenix 5 Plus is a giant device. It’s a hefty 86g (but a titanium version is available for 76g). It’s substantially heavier than its Forerunner 935 sibling. Despite its weight, it’s pretty attractive, and you shouldn’t feel inclined to change it when you go out. The wristband, however, is replaceable, so you can switch it out for a silicon, metal, or leather one if you want to modify your style.
The advantage of being such a beast is that you’ll never lose sight of the map on your wrist when riding!
You can pay a little more money and get a scratch-resistant glass screen ($100 more). The display has a resolution of 240 by 240 full-color pixels, making it extremely simple to read in direct sunlight.
Advantages
- Cycling-specific GPS functions are fantastic.
- Maps in color and the option to retrace your route
- Spotify Premium has a function that allows you to listen to music wirelessly.
Disadvantages
- When compared to alternatives, it is expensive.
- The use of music and GPS drains the battery quickly.
- Heavy
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Summary
You get just what you pay for, which is not something worthless. It is unquestionably one of the most excellent multisport watches available. It will actively promote your growth and proper rest and recovery times, ensuring that you do not overtrain.
Every aspect of the Fenix has been designed with care and accuracy. Garmin put everything they had into the Fenix line, and the combination of music and smart navigation enhances riders’ enjoyment and control of their journey. The only actual disadvantage is that you only have so much time to use everything all at once because there’s so much on board. The battery life is quickly depleted, so as much as you’d like to take it for a longer trip, you’ll be looking for a charger soon.
