The Fenix 5 Plus added full colour maps, Trendline Popularity Routing, Music playback capabilities along with headphone connectivity so that you can listen to tunes whilst training, contactless NFC payments with Garmin Pay, a new GPS chipset, Climb Pro, a Pulse Oximeter, more improvements to battery life and a full dataset of 40,000 worldwide golf courses. Yes, it now comes loaded with full topographic maps of Europe. The Fenix 5X added topographic mapping and a number of related navigational and mapping features. The Fenix 5 added loads of things such as a larger screen, more colours on the display, increased battery life, a gyroscope, compatibility with lots of new sensors, FTP estimation, training load functionality, Live Group Tracking, Strava Live Segments, additional sport modes and plenty of other things too. The Fenix 3 HR added a wrist based optical HR monitor. Over the years they have iterated the watch a number of times and each version has of course had new features. Garmin are now onto the Fenix 6 and the Fenix 7 is likely to be released later in 2021.
Now, after years of constant use it is feeling a little long in the tooth. I have replaced it with a like-for-like model from Garmin at a much reduced price after one of the buttons started sticking. I first got it in early 2015 and I was one of the first to get one in the UK. My Fenix 3 is now quite old now – well, only in technology terms anyway. With so much going on in such a cool device you wouldn’t think there was much that they could add to it. It even tells me where my car is if I’ve parked it in a large super-market car park and forgot where I left it! It also has a thermometer built into it, but that isn’t great as it’s too close to my body heat so doesn’t really give any meaningful readings. It has a barometric altimeter so it tells me what elevation I’m at, and it uses the altimeter to give me storm warnings as well. I use it to tell me what the tide times and heights are and to tell me when sunset and sunrise is. It can tell me what my lactate threshold is based on run pace and effort and my cycling and run VO2 Max as well. It tracks my sleep, it tracks my steps each day, it tracks my heart rate variability and it tracks my training load and corresponding stress and recovery levels. For many of the activities I do I often plot a route online before leaving and then use my watch to help me follow it so that I don’t get lost. However, unless the terrain gets particularly tricky or I find myself a little unsure I tend to just rely on my watch these days.
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I do of course have (and know how to use) a map and compass as well. If I’m out walking in the hills or trekking up a mountain I use it, not only to track where I’ve been but also as a navigational tool. Sometimes I’ll use the virtual partner to race myself, and others I’ll use it to help me train at a certain power level, pace or heart rate zone. Whilst training I might use it to help me stick to a certain pace or follow a particular set of training intervals. Although that is a little redundant as the accelerometer in my heart rate strap is used for all sorts of running dynamics these days.
I also have a footpad on my running shoes that it can connect to if I want. It even counts the waves that I catch and tells me how long they were! I’ll have it connected to my heart rate strap for most of the above and my power meter when I’m using one. I also use it whilst windsurfing and surfing. I use it running, wherever I happen to be running and I use it whilst kayaking, surf-skiing or paddle-boarding.
I use it whilst cycling, either on my road bike, mountain bike, gravel bike or indoors on the trainer. I use it whilst swimming, both in the pool and open water. In fact, it’s unbelievable what it can do and just how much I use it. It also connects to my phone and acts to a certain degree as a smart watch as well. It’s essentially a GPS tracking device complete with a whole host of other sensors.It also connects to many other devices such as heart rate monitors, cadence sensors, smart trainers and power meters too so can track every aspect of your training and racing. There are however many things on it that I use every day or even several times a day and many many others that I use on occasion.Īs a quadrathlete and triathlete I use many of the sport related features as that’s what it is all about really. It has so many features that there probably are some that I don’t use (I don’t play golf for a start so don’t use that part of it). I use it every day, not only as a timepiece but also many of its other features too. You know I can’t resist a good gadget, and my Garmin Fenix 3 watch has to be one of the best.
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