I've had the Garmin Fenix GPS wrist watch for about a month now and thought I'd share my thoughts. In brief it's a full GPS unit fitted into a watch. It has most of the features if not all the features of a basic Garmin GPS unit such as the Etrex and Foretrex series both of which I've used a fair bit. It's a full GPS set with selectable position format including OSGB, Irish OS, Lat and Long and a myriad of others. It has a compass, barometer, altimeter and temperature read out(more later). It provides sunrise/sunset and a hunt/fish calendar. There is also a map screen but it's a black and white pixel screen so it's not a full colour display but more later. I have a military type nylon watch strap I disliked the plastic/rubber strap.
There have been a myriad of upgrades since the original software which was 'buggy' at best by all accounts. Certainly the quickness of the fix is good and it's ease of use is simple using the few buttons on the sides of the watch. The large orange one is the main 'enter' and 'select' button dependent on the screen or role in use. The bottom left is 'back' button, the top left is the light button and ' power on/off' button. The right hand buttons are up and down both for zoom, pan and menu select up and down. It's very similar to the usual Garmin menu on their systems.
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The best thing about it is the amount of user selectability on the watch. This means that you can select what is displayed on nearly every user screen and choose how many screens there are to suit what you want to navigate. You don't need to plug this into a computer to make the changes it's all done on the watch. This is so good and it facilitates a quicker use of the system knowing what is on each screen. It's worthwhile taking the time and noting what you want on each screen and building the screens slowly. Looking at the first picture of the watch it's the 'Watch/Home' screen. On it I have the date, the time incl seconds, battery remaining and the time of sunrise. This changes to sunset if it's sooner. Quite a bit of info on one screen. The screens displayed when navigating (when the GPS is operating) allow you to change it to a 1, 2 or 3 data field and then select what it is and there is a lot of fields to choose from.
The OSGB position means that with a map you can locate your position on a map. I've used the SATMAP GPS systems displaying your position on a map display but I did find it limiting when planning or locating features around you. I've gone back to the paper map and good map case. For those interested the position illustrated is the Stromabank Hotel on Hoy.
One interesting feature is that the base map which isn't very good at all can be changed to another map as long as it meets the common Garmin map format. I haven't used this feature and don't want to give anyone a bum steer but check it out on line for how-to's. There isn't a lot of memory space on the watch but there is enough 20mb. The watch can speak to the basecamp app on the iPhone/iPad. Using the app, internet access is needed, you can create a number of waypoints on the map turning them into a route on the watch.
I use the OS Map App on iPad and iPhone this allows me to create a route, export it and then using Garmin Basecamp on the computer send it to the watch to navigate. Slightly convoluted but workable.
There are a number of additional sensors that can be added, Tempe for, you guessed it, an external temperature, heart monitor and bike cadence. The last two are focussed at the fitness side of life and after reading a myriad of web forums on the watch it is not a fitness/training watch.
Battery power is reasonable accepting that it's a GPS watch. Further details are available on the website and forums but you should get 18 - 24 hr solid GPS usage or 6 days without. Using the sensors especially the external ones no doubt eats it up but not greatly. I haven't found the battery a problem, it can be charged by USB from a computer or mains, plugging it in at night isn't an issue and I usually carry back up batteries to recharge phones and now my watch!
Further reviews and forum argument/discussion can be found at the links below. There is a lot of discussion about the benefits of sporting features and whether the Suunto Ambit is better but in amongst all of that is some very useful info.
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f296/garmin-fenix-ongoing-review-several-parts-746366.html
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/10/garmin-fenix-in-depth-review.html
https://forums.garmin.com/showthrea...-New-functions-to-add-and-needed-improvements
Down sides is the manual and I would like better apps for iPad/iPhone and computer apart from that I love it. So much so I recently bought a second one on ebay, seriously. In my defence a few drinks had been imbided so watch out on ebay there'll be one for sale soon.
p.s. that's not a scratch on the glass but a scratch on the screen saver. This was posted using my iPad any mistakes will be corrected tomorrow. I'll fix the pictures tomorrow.
There have been a myriad of upgrades since the original software which was 'buggy' at best by all accounts. Certainly the quickness of the fix is good and it's ease of use is simple using the few buttons on the sides of the watch. The large orange one is the main 'enter' and 'select' button dependent on the screen or role in use. The bottom left is 'back' button, the top left is the light button and ' power on/off' button. The right hand buttons are up and down both for zoom, pan and menu select up and down. It's very similar to the usual Garmin menu on their systems.
[The best thing about it is the amount of user selectability on the watch. This means that you can select what is displayed on nearly every user screen and choose how many screens there are to suit what you want to navigate. You don't need to plug this into a computer to make the changes it's all done on the watch. This is so good and it facilitates a quicker use of the system knowing what is on each screen. It's worthwhile taking the time and noting what you want on each screen and building the screens slowly. Looking at the first picture of the watch it's the 'Watch/Home' screen. On it I have the date, the time incl seconds, battery remaining and the time of sunrise. This changes to sunset if it's sooner. Quite a bit of info on one screen. The screens displayed when navigating (when the GPS is operating) allow you to change it to a 1, 2 or 3 data field and then select what it is and there is a lot of fields to choose from.
The OSGB position means that with a map you can locate your position on a map. I've used the SATMAP GPS systems displaying your position on a map display but I did find it limiting when planning or locating features around you. I've gone back to the paper map and good map case. For those interested the position illustrated is the Stromabank Hotel on Hoy.
One interesting feature is that the base map which isn't very good at all can be changed to another map as long as it meets the common Garmin map format. I haven't used this feature and don't want to give anyone a bum steer but check it out on line for how-to's. There isn't a lot of memory space on the watch but there is enough 20mb. The watch can speak to the basecamp app on the iPhone/iPad. Using the app, internet access is needed, you can create a number of waypoints on the map turning them into a route on the watch.
I use the OS Map App on iPad and iPhone this allows me to create a route, export it and then using Garmin Basecamp on the computer send it to the watch to navigate. Slightly convoluted but workable.
There are a number of additional sensors that can be added, Tempe for, you guessed it, an external temperature, heart monitor and bike cadence. The last two are focussed at the fitness side of life and after reading a myriad of web forums on the watch it is not a fitness/training watch.
Battery power is reasonable accepting that it's a GPS watch. Further details are available on the website and forums but you should get 18 - 24 hr solid GPS usage or 6 days without. Using the sensors especially the external ones no doubt eats it up but not greatly. I haven't found the battery a problem, it can be charged by USB from a computer or mains, plugging it in at night isn't an issue and I usually carry back up batteries to recharge phones and now my watch!
Further reviews and forum argument/discussion can be found at the links below. There is a lot of discussion about the benefits of sporting features and whether the Suunto Ambit is better but in amongst all of that is some very useful info.
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f296/garmin-fenix-ongoing-review-several-parts-746366.html
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/10/garmin-fenix-in-depth-review.html
https://forums.garmin.com/showthrea...-New-functions-to-add-and-needed-improvements
Down sides is the manual and I would like better apps for iPad/iPhone and computer apart from that I love it. So much so I recently bought a second one on ebay, seriously. In my defence a few drinks had been imbided so watch out on ebay there'll be one for sale soon.
p.s. that's not a scratch on the glass but a scratch on the screen saver. This was posted using my iPad any mistakes will be corrected tomorrow. I'll fix the pictures tomorrow.
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