46 NOVEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 381
SPECIFICATIONS
THEFENIX5Plus is one of atrio of
multisport devices (alongside the 5X Plus and
5S Plus) that make up the Fenix 5Plus family,
which offers asubstantial updateover the
Fenix 5line.It’s awatch that’s built forgetting
active in the great outdoors, with full-colour
maps and brilliant routing capabilities,
including the ability to createround-trip
courses on the fly and get directions home.
It’s also an absolutebeast of awearable,
with achunkysteel body that weighs 86g.
That’s alot heavier than any plastic fitness
tracker like the Garmin Forerunner 935, but
irrespective of its bulk it’s agood-looking,
comfortable watch that can be worn
everywhere.The watch is also compatible
with Garmin’s QuickFit 22m bands, so you
can swap out the sporty silicone band for
ametal or leather alternative if you want
something smarter.
ROUTE MASTER
The 240x240 transflective displayiseasy to
read in any conditions, even if it’s abit too
quick to pick up greasy fingerprints, and
you can easily enable an LED backlight with
apress of the top-leftbutton. It’s agreat
screen forviewing Garmin’s full-colour
TOPO maps, which come pre-loaded and
cover all of Europe.
These maps make it easy to follow
running and cycling courses you’ve created
on Garmin Connect then synced to your
watch via Bluetooth, but better still, you
can createcourses right from your wrist.
Indeed, wherever you are,the watch lets
GARMINFenix5Plus
★★★★★
£479•From http://www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
TheFenix5Plusachievesacombinationof
featuresthatyousimplywon’tfindanywhereelse
FITNESSSMARTWATCH
you choose adirection
and distance and then
creates three round-trip
routes to choose from.
The Fenix 5Plus uses
Garmin’s Trendline popularity
routing to generateroutes that
avoid busy roads in favour of smaller
roads and trails used by runners,
cyclists and hikers. Although we found
this to be very useful in cities, in the
countryside it would sometimes struggle to
find trails and instead routed us down roads
that we’d rather avoid on foot.
Another new feature is ClimbPro,which
analyses the routeyou’re following and finds
all the climbs you’ll have to tackle.When you
reach those individual climbs, you can use the
ClimbPro screen to see how much more uphill
work you have to do.It’s brilliant forlong trail
runs in hilly environments, where knowing
what’s around the corner can help you to
decide whether to take it easy or push on
harder.Some watches have breadcrumb trails
without the maps, and these are usually
enough to steer you through arun, but having
the maps to provide context is invaluable.
Onboard Spotify integration is another
welcome addition, although it delivers abig
blow to battery life. The Fenix 5Plus normally
delivers arespectable 18 hours of GPS usage,
but this drops to just eight hours if you’re
also listening to music. Still, it’s abetter new
feature than Garmin Pay, an NFCpayments
system that’s currently only supported by
Santander in the UK.
SIGNAL BOOST
The Fenix 5Plus tracks all manner of
activities, but it’s clearly built forthe
outdoors. Besides its 10ATM waterproofing,
the addition of Galileo tracking helps to
minimise black spots; we were impressed that
the accuracy of its distance tracking never
seemed to dip when running in forests or city
centres, where trees and tall buildings can
playhavoc with GPS. It also locks on very
quickly,usually within 10 seconds.
Less accurateisthe heart-ratetracking.
The optical sensor is okayduring low-
intensity runs, but the accuracy drops
when you increase your effort. It was still
usually within 10-20bpm of chest strap
readings, but lags behind sudden changes
during sprint intervals. We suspect the
watch’s bulk makes it move around more,
reducing the sensor’s accuracy.
This is the only issue with the Fenix 5
Plus’s sports tracking, however.Itcollects and
presents data well, and has some nice little
bonus tools such as the race pacer,which lets
you set atime and distance target and gives
youcuesto keepyouontrack.Onceyoufinish
your training session, you’re given immediate
feedback on its effect in terms of aerobic and
anaerobic fitness, each scored from zero to
five,along with an indication of how long you
should recover forbefore your next workout.
It doesn’t sell you short on everyday
activity tracking, either.You get all the vital
metrics –steps, calories burned, active
minutes and floors climbed –which are
available in the My Dayscreen or on your
watch face if you set it up to show them.
Sleep tracking is also well supported with
different feedback data, although the tracking
aspect could be better: the Fenix 5Plus
sometimes counted time spent awake in bed
as sleep,and failed to record acouple of
instances where we woke up unexpectedly.
IN GOODTIME
Garmin has thrown everything at the wall with
the Fenix 5Plus and most of it has stuck, with
the new navigation features being terrifically
implemented. Having been using it forweeks,
we can sayits versatility and features easily
make up forany rough edges, which do exist,
but can generally be looked past.
Overall, it’s asensational bit of kit that
justifies its price,which is no small
statement when it costs £479.
NickHarris-Fry
PEDOMETERYes•HEART-RATEMONITORYes•DISPLAY
SIZE1.2in•RESOLUTION240x240•OSSUPPORTAndroid,
iOS•BATTERYLIFE18hours•WARRANTYOneyearRTB
- DETAILSwww.garmin.com•PARTCODE010-01988-11
46
watch via Bluetooth, but better still, you
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Indeed, wherever you are,the watch lets
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