It is closing on nearly two years since Garmin initially announced the first generation Fenix in June 2012. Since then the watch has transformed from what was originally seen as a hiking focused unit, to more of an ultra-runner’s unit, to finally settling in on a full-fledged multisport watch as seen now in the recently announced Fenix2.
I’ve spent the last six or so weeks with the unit, putting it through daily activities across a wide variety of sports. Last week, the Fenix2 started hitting retail outlets as the firmware moved into the production state. In the past week alone however, even further unannounced additional features have been added. Nonetheless, it’s time for my full in-depth review.
To be clear, Garmin sent me over a Fenix2 to start testing with until retail availability. Like always, I’ll be shipping that back to them in Olathe, KS, in the next few days and going out and getting my own via regular retail channels. That’s just the way I roll.
Lastly, at the end of the day keep in mind I’m just like any other regular athlete out there. I write these reviews because I’m inherently a curious person with a technology background, and thus I try and be as complete as I can. But, if I’ve missed something or if you spot something that doesn’t quite jive – just let me know and I’ll be happy to get it all sorted out. Also, because the technology world constantly changes, I try and go back and update these reviews as new features and functionality are added – or if bugs are fixed. So – with that intro, let’s get into things
Unboxing:
The Fenix2 comes boxed in two variations: One with just the watch, and one with a heart rate strap. Specifically, the HRM-RUN. I’ll dive more into the HRM-RUN later on, but it’s an important distinction compared to previous ANT+ enabled straps, as far as enabling advanced functionality on the Fenix2.
Inside the box splits into three pieces, two of which contain the goods. The third just sits there and looks pretty.
If you dump out the contents of those two boxes to the left, you’ll see the below. Note that the non-bundle version does not contain the heart rate strap (the two left pieces).
I’ll go ahead and walk through each of the components in the box.
First up, the power adapters. Note that some readers have asked what the difference is between the US and European editions are. It’s simple: It’s just the power adapter for the USB power block. That’s it. You can still use your Fenix2 with any USB port in the world, and you can still use the power adapter with a 99 cent adapter in any outlet in the world. So don’t fret too much there.
Next we’ve got the HRM-RUN heart rate strap. This ANT+ capable strap transmits your heart rate strap to the Fenix2 (as well as any ANT+ device in range that’s been paired with it). In that way, the HRM-RUN is just like any other ANT+ strap. However, it also has a secondary private channel that carries with it additional information only accessible to Garmin devices, that constitute the Running Dynamics pieces. So while you can use the Fenix2 with any ANT+ strap, you won’t get some of the Running Dynamics pieces without it. Also, it’s $40 cheaper to buy the bundle than the two separately (usually, it’s a wash price-wise).
Next, Garmin decided to toss in a fabric strap. This can be used with the screws and pieces seen below to replace the plastic strap. This is useful because it goes quite a bit larger, enabling you to place it over ski coats and the like.
You’ll use these two little incredibly sharp screwdrivers to remove the pins. It’s a two hand job. Ok, I guess that came out wrong.
Finally, we get to the watch itself. If you’re a past Fenix/Tactix user, you’ll notice a few changes up front. First, the buttons have been changed around. This (in my opinion) makes the flow much cleaner, and much easier to navigate. It also mirrors the Garmin Forerunner line. Second, you’ll notice the display is ‘inverted’, which means its white text on black background. This is non-changeable.
On the back, you’ll find the charging pins. The unit connects to a USB charger I’ll show you in a second. The reason the Fenix2 (and most other well waterproofed watches) use contacts like these to charge versus using a standard micro-USB or mini-USB port is for waterproofing purposes.
Here’s the USB charging cable. The cable can be used both to charge the unit, as well as to transfer workouts/tracks/routes/waypoints/maps/etc… Garmin provides apps for PC and Mac, but the device enumerates as a standard USB mass storage device, so that functionality will work fine on other operating systems like Linux.
The clip snaps onto the back, thus it would be able to pass the ‘ceiling fan’ test, which tests whether or not the charging clip is strongly enough attached to the Fenix2 to tie one end to a ceiling fan and turn it on. Aside from being fun, the more practical implication of this is that you can charge it on the go, without worrying about a finicky connection.
With everything unboxed, let’s see how it stacks up against other units.
Size & Weight Comparisons:
As always, I’ve combined all the competitive units in the running and triathlon segment together for you to get a feel for how they compare size-wise. Roughly speaking, the bigger ones are on the left side – and those are the ones we’re mostly comparing between.
Below, from left to right: Adidas Smart Run GPS, Suunto Ambit 2, Polar V800, Garmin Fenix2, Suunto Ambit 2R.
Next, I’ve flipped it over so you can see the depth of the units themselves.
If you look at the Fenix1 and Fenix2, you’ll see they are virtually identical. After all, they are basically twins, just not identical twins. On the visible side, the button layout changed. On the internal guts side, the unit received a slight change in the accelerometer to enable the swimming tracking scenarios, that wouldn’t have been fully possible with the same level of accuracy with the accelerometer that’s contained in the Fenix1/Tactix units.
And remember, these watches are part of a longer line of siblings that share nearly identical physical hardware, but change in software – from the Quatix for marine use, to the D2 for pilots.
For those that haven’t followed along on the Fenix journey, the Fenix1 actually has received substantial updates over the last 4-5 months. In fact, outside of multisport mode, power meter support (cycling), and swimming support – the Fenix1 gains almost all the features of the Fenix2. Even things like mobile phone uploads and satellite pre-caching. These features were introduced in beta recently, and will ultimately be brought to full production status on those units as well. However, neither the Fenix1 nor the Tactix will get the Fenix2-only features like swimming, multisport or power meter support. Expect to see Garmin cease manufacturing of those units by summer.
One minor little tidbit that I thought was interesting – the Fenix2 strap is slightly longer than the Fenix1 strap:
Next, while you’ll see the watch on my wrist throughout the review, I did briefly want to include what it looks like on a smaller female wrist – in this case, my wife. She’s tiny, and her wrist size is 14cm (or 5.5 inches).
She found it heavy for her, but I pretty much said the same thing when I wore it initially. She hasn’t spent any time running with it though, nor getting used to it.
Finally, when it comes to weights, here’s a lineup of the devices you’re most likely to compare:
The key difference in weight between the Fenix1 and Fenix2 really comes from the change to the back plate on the unit.
And for fun, here’s two more units you’re likely to compare:
As you can see, weight-wise they’re all basically in the same camp. Note that for the FR910XT, I had the quick-release kit on there, which likely adds a tiny bit of weight.
With comparisons done, let’s head onto actually using the product.
Running:
Without question, running is one of the most fundamental features of the Fenix2. And in that respect, the Fenix2 has come a long way in the running feature category since the initial release of the original Fenix. So while it’s easy to compare the initial review of the Fenix1 to the Fenix2, in general, all of features discussed in the first two chunks of the running section (Basics & Features/Functionality) are on both units. Where the features become Fenix2-only is within the Running Dynamics portion, and then the subsequent recovery/VO2Max/etc… pieces (separate sections). Don’t worry, I call those out specifically.
The Basics of Running with the Fenix2:
To start any activity, you’ll put the watch on and tap the red button in the upper right. This brings you to the sport selection menu. Don’t worry, you can lock the screen by simply holding down the upper left button (light), to prevent accidental sport triggering.
Once you’ve selected the sport, in this case running, the unit will search for any paired sensors – such as a heart rate strap. It’ll iterate through each one until complete, and then move onto satellite reception.
The Fenix2 automatically caches the satellite location data based on a download from Garmin Connect that occurs both via USB with Garmin Express, or via Bluetooth Smart and the Garmin Connect Mobile app. This satellite caching data helps to allow the unit to very quickly find satellites. In general, if I move to a new location on the globe and have up to date satellite cache data, it is in general taking me about 15-45 seconds. For example, two days ago in Mexico City, after walking out of the hotel and across the street, that’s how long it took. Whether or not the 27-story building was impacting things is unclear to me. If I haven’t moved to a new location and just walk outside my house and start the unit, it tends to find satellites in about 2-5 seconds (as it did about an hour later in a test in the same general area).
Once you’ve got satellite reception, you’re good to go, and can press the red button to start the activity recording. During activities, the red button is the start/pause button, and the lower right button is for creating a lap. Meanwhile, the bottom left buttons are for changing the view.
While running the unit will show you any data fields you’ve configured (see the Data Field section of the review). But in general most folks will use fields like pace, distance, heart rate, and time. For me, I prefer the lap variations of those. So I’ve got Lap Pace, Lap Time, Lap Distance, and then Heart Rate.
But, I can simply tap the up/down buttons and change to a different page, such as this one showing the Running Dynamics page:
Or this one showing my total run time and distance:
The unit will use GPS when outdoors to track your distance. In the event of a tunnel where GPS signal is lost, the unit will switch to using the internal accelerometer to measure distance and pace, and then upon exiting the tunnel it’ll switch back to GPS.
When you’ve completed your run, simply tap the red button again, which puts the unit into a paused state. At this point a menu is given for you to decide your next step.
You could resume it (if you plan to start running again), or you can save it. You can also discard it, as well as use the ‘Resume Later’ option, which is my favorite option for long activities.
With the resume later option, it’ll turn off the GPS to save battery, but will keep the activity without ending it. This is ideal for multi-day hikes, or places where battery life conservation is critical. Also of note is that if you were to run out of battery, the unit will automatically put the file into the ‘Resume Later’ state. To access it, simply tap the red button and you’ll see the option to resume/save/discard/etc…
Running Features and Functionality
I’m going to run through (no pun intended) a number of features the Fenix2 has. This isn’t really exhaustive, since there are so many smaller features that it’d be hard to include every single item. In general, these features are actually available across most sport profiles, but I’m just putting them in the running section for simplicity’s sake.
Auto Lap: Perhaps my favorite feature, auto lap allows you to automatically create splits based on a predefined distance – such as every 1-mile. I tend to use this on long runs where I’d like to more easily compare splits over the course of the run. On the flip side, I turn it off for interval runs, where I’m manually controlling my splits (or, having the automated interval or workout function do it for me). You cannot specify auto lap based on time, nor by position. It’s distance only, but in either kilometers or miles.
Auto Pause: This is useful for city running where you may stop frequently at stop lights. The unit automatically pauses the recording when you come to a stop, and then will automatically resume it when you start running again. The auto pause on the Fenix2 isn’t configurable, so whether or not the trigger point in pace is right for you might vary. Despite living smack dab in one of the biggest cities in the world, I personally tend not to use it, as I mostly just run a different direction when I hit a stoplight. I don’t much like stopping mid-run, as it simply lengthens the time I’ve gotta wait till I can eat cookies or something.
Virtual Partner: Virtual Partner allows you to specify a target pace that in turn acts like a virtual running friend. The Virtual Partner does not stray from the pace (even for hills), so it’s best used for flatter courses. As part of the Virtual Partner feature, the unit will show you how far ahead or behind the Virtual Partner you are – both in distance and in time.
Note that you’ll enable the Virtual Partner through the menus, but you’ll need to also add the Virtual Partner screen as a data page to your sport profile (just as if you were configuring other data fields/pages).
Alerts: Alerts allow you to set high/low thresholds for various events. For example, you can create an alert when you run 10 miles. Or an alert when your heart rate goes above or below a given threshold. Alerts can be defined for proximity, distance, time, elevation, navigational arrival, speed, pace, heart rate, cadence, and battery. While alerts might seem appealing (and they can be in certain scenarios), for most athletic pacing and or training efforts, it’s usually better to use custom workouts (see later section). That’s a much more refined way of doing it, whereas alerts are very basic.
Running Dynamics:
Running Dynamics is Garmin’s term for a number of new metrics that were added to Garmin’s top-tier running watch, the FR620 earlier this fall, and have now found their way to the Fenix2. These metrics attempt to capture various running efficiency data.
There are as of today three specific pieces of information that’s being captured:
Cadence: Total steps per minute – this has previously been available on the footpod, but this brings it internal to the HR strap (and inside the Fenix2 itself).
Vertical Oscillation: This is measuring the ‘bounce’ in a runner’s torso within each step. This is vertical motion, measured in centimeters.
Ground Contact Time: How much time your foot spends touching the ground, measured in milliseconds
Cadence has long been available on Garmin devices with the footpod, but the FR220/FR620 added it to the unit itself, using internal accelerometers. Then, Garmin extended that into the Fenix1 and Tactix watches, and now, it’s also in the Fenix2.
The other two, Vertical Oscillation (VO) and Ground Contact Time (GCT) are new to the FR620 and Fenix2, and not available on other units (nor coming to other units, such as the FR910XT). To see these metrics, you’ll need to ensure the Running Dynamics page is enabled on your Fenix2. This is done via the data pages settings in the running profile. Once that’s done, you’ll see this screen:
While running, the unit shows values for each of the three running dynamics pieces. Meanwhile, the edge of the screen will turn into a little needle, indicating whether you are at a low/high value for that particular parameter (i.e cadence).
You can change the upper value by holding down the menu button for a second, which allows you to select a different primary value.
This data is then recorded on Garmin Connect for you to analyze later. It is interesting in terms of correlation of fatigue to your values, or the impact of intervals or other varying workouts. For example, here’s a long run:
And then here’s an interval workout:
Like many new metrics captured by sports technology devices these days, there remains to be a clear-cut reason on what to do with these metrics (VO/GCT). Sport scientists don’t actually have any hard data or studies to clarify how best to use them. Thus, while it’s ‘geeky-fun’ to look at the data, there isn’t anything clear-cut as far as training guidance that either Garmin or anyone else will tell you to do with these.
Cadence is a bit more clear-cut given it’s been around for years, and there’s plenty of documentation on ideal cadence ranges to get the elastic recoil effect that high performance runners aim for. But when it comes to the other two metrics, VO/GCT, it’s still the wild west a bit. Note, do not confuse VO with VO2, as they are two totally different things. Speaking of which, now’s a great time to discuss VO2Max.
Race Predictor, Recovery Advisor, VO2Max Estimates, and Training Effect:
Like the FR620, the Fenix2 carries with it a number of new training progress functions. These functions aim to give you feedback on rest, recovery, and estimates on where you might find yourself on race day. To start, the quick list:
VO2Max Estimation: This utilizes information from the heart rate strap and heart rate variability (HRV) to determine a VO2Max estimation. This is then displayed following each run.
Race Predictor: Race Predictor uses simple lookup tables to take your VO2Max combined with age/gender and determine ‘best possible’ race times.
Recovery Advisor: Recovery advisor gives you the estimated time until your next hard workout. This counter is always available on the watch to see how much time is left.
Recovery Check: This status is provided about 6-10 minutes into the workout, and tells you how recovered you are from a previous workout.
Training Effect: Training Effect provides a score of a given workout and how impactful that workout was on your body.
All of these metrics depend on the heart rate strap, which is analyzing heart rate variation (HRV) data using algorithms by FirstBeat, a Finnish company that specializes in heart rate and calorie metrics.
The VO2Max piece is likely the piece that fascinates most athletes, primarily due to the ones-upsmanship game that people want to play on who has a higher VO2Max value. Ultimately though, there’s actually little that you can do to influence this number, as it’s largely genetic. And in that same vein, while an untrained person would see immediate and sharp increases in VO2Max over a short period, a well trained athlete won’t. And in fact, the more that athlete trains – the less likely this number is to fluctuate. Effectively, you plateau from a VO2Max standpoint. After all, if you could keep training and increase the number – we’d see everyone with a VO2Max in the 90’s, or beyond. Ultimately there are only a handful of people on this earth anywhere near that.
Which isn’t to say that your training or your race results will hit a plateau. As there are many things that impact your race day results. Looking at those results in the next feature – ‘Race Predictor’. This feature does a very simple lookup of your VO2Max estimation and compares it to tables of records of people of the same age and gender, and then gives you the race estimates. In reality, this should really be called “Race Potential”, which would line up with what it really is. It does not take into account any training you’ve done from a mileage standpoint, nor a pace standpoint. It’s purely based on the VO2Max value meshed with data from the Cooper Institute.
Next we have the ‘Recovery Check’. This check is done about 6-10 minutes into your run, and gives you feedback on how recovered you are, such as ‘Fair’. Ultimately however though, I’ve only ever seen ‘Fair’ or ‘Good’. In part, the challenge here is twofold. First is the science of it. For that, I think in general Garmin/FirstBeat probably have that figured out. The second part is the delicacy of it. Meaning that if you return a message such as ‘Terrible’, people get offended. No really, they do. I had people complain in the FR620 review because of seeing lower status on both the Recovery Check and VO2Max. Personally, I put that in the category of “Life’s not fair”.
Following along the recovery trail, we’ve got ’Recovery Advisor’. This value is a post-workout value that lets you know how long you should wait until your next hard workout. Now listen triathletes, read the previous sentence again. Which parts did I put in italics (hint: hard workout). Which isn’t to say that you can’t have a bike workout, or a swim workout, or even an easy running workout. It’s simply focusing on running, because that’s the only thing that the Recovery Advisor tracks today. It doesn’t take into account anything else.
In general, I find that the Recovery Advisor is a bit cautious, but actually not too far off the mark for what my schedule would have in it recovery-wise. Remember that your muscles only get stronger when you allow them recover, not when you workout hard every single day (go ahead, you can Google it).
Finally, we’ve got ‘Training Effect’. Training Effect is designed to give you a rough estimate of how ‘impactful’ that workout was. This helps you to structure an overall workout schedule with varying types of workouts that help to put in place a more cohesive training schedule. You’ll see it listed as TE on your summary screen:
Below, the table of those levels, from the Fenix2 manual. Note that these values take a few runs to calibrate, so don’t freak out if it says your 20-minute easy run was disastrously high.
Now, as I alluded to above – all of these features are run-specific, except training effect. They aren’t included on any of the other sports profiles at this time – just like the FR620. So keep that in mind from a training standpoint. If you run 20 miles on Saturday, then go ride 112 miles on Sunday plus a swim in there somewhere, by time you get to Sunday evening, the unit is really only aware of the 20-mile run from a recovery standpoint.
Treadmill Usage:
Finally, the Fenix2 supports the ability to run indoors on a treadmill – either with or without a footpod. In the case of without a footpod the unit will use its internal accelerometer to determine pace and cadence. It does this by ‘learning’ your pace and cadence while outdoors on GPS runs. It does this over time, across different pace ranges. So it’s not a one size fits all approach. Nor should you immediately open your Fenix box and go straight to a treadmill and expect accurate data. The more miles you have outside, the better.
Thus, in order to really put it through its paces, I’ve been running for weeks outdoor across pace ranges from 4:30/mile up to about 10:00/mile (+ some at walking paces). Hundreds of miles worth of data. In order to keep things as consistent as possible, I was the only one who wore the watch, and I always wore it on the same wrist. Thus, in theory, it’d be the most perfect data set possible.
So this week while in Mexico City I hit up the treadmill at the gym to test things out. Like most of my treadmill tests, I find a simple pace ladder or pyramid the most effective way to test accuracy. And thus, the results:
Looking at the paces, I had done a ladder starting at 5:30/KM (~8:50/mile), and going down to 3:30/KM (~5:40/mile) every 60 seconds, in 15-second/KM increments.
Above, is the Fenix2 pace using the internal accelerometer, and below with a standard footpod. In this case, you can see my increases in pace each minute (below), whereas above it’s a bit muddled. It appears there’s some smoothing added, likely to filter out things like touching the treadmill. I actually consider this a good thing, so I’m not complaining too much there.
The paces tracked very well in my ‘primary’ running zone (of about 6:30-7:30/mile), and tracked ‘fairly well’ outside of that, perhaps 5% off at the high/low end. In this case, the Fenix2 internal pace seemed to top off at around 5:55/mile, so a bit off, but again, in the ballpark.
This is a vast improvement over what I’ve seen both in other Garmin products (FR620 at release) as well as even earlier versions of the Fenix on a treadmill. In talking with them, they’ve spent a fair bit of time in this area. The data looks rather clean. It’s notable that while I didn’t do much with my left arm (where the unit was) as far as touching the treadmill, I did occasionally wipe sweat off without any impact to pace. Also of note was that for this test I actually did NOT wear the HRM-RUN strap, so everything was inbox.
Ultimately, for pace on a treadmill, I’d give the unit a “B+” rating currently. It’s not perfect, and does require a bit of outside running to fill in the pace tables for calibration, but it’s pretty close. And quite a bit better than what I’ve seen previously, which I would have given more of a “D” rating.
Now, the next piece is cadence. I had a look at this a few times recently with the Garmin FR220 and FR620, both of which can measure cadence internally. With the Fenix2, like the FR620, it comes from one of three sources: The internal accelerometer in the watch, the accelerometer in the HRM-RUN, and a separate ANT+ footpod.
Each measurement place has minor pros and cons to it. For example, on your wrist you’ll be prone to see small drops/spikes when you take a sip from a water bottle, or when you change the treadmill’s speed, as you’re impacting the motion detection there.
In my case, I’ve done a lot of comparison of data – and ultimately for cadence I see all three methods producing near identical results. As I noted, the only variation I see is in a scenario without the HRM-RUN using just the internal accelerometer and doing something with your arms that impedes measurement. But given that’s likely only a brief moment compared to your entire run, I’d really look to skip the footpod if your focus is cadence.
Swimming:
Probably the most significant addition to the Fenix2 is its ability to support swim tracking – both in a pool as well as in openwater. The unit utilizes much of the same functionality as found within the Garmin FR910XT for swim tracking. To enable swim mode, you’ll press the red button and go to Swim. At which point, you’ll choose either Openwater or Pool.
Pool Usage:
Pool should be any pool, be it indoors or outdoors. When in pool mode the unit uses internal accelerometers (not GPS) to determine your stroke and distance information. It does this by knowing the pool length, and then measures each time you push off the wall at either end of the pool. As such, inputting in the correct pool size is critical, which is why it’s the next question the unit will ask you:
The Fenix2 offers a few common pool sizes – like 25y/m, and 50m. But it also allows you to create custom sizes. Within this menu you can select any size between 18M/20Y and 150Y/M.
With that set, it’s into the pool we go. You’ll press the red button to start tracking. Because the unit is using accelerometers, it’s important to keep activities strictly swim-focused while the unit is recording. For example, if you stray to flirt with the life guards, pause the unit. Especially if there’s a lot of arm flailing going on. Same for jumping out and making a quick escape to the bathroom.
The unit has a number of swim related metrics it can display (see full listing in ‘Data Fields’ section later). The core one most folks tend to use is swim pace, which is typically given in time: 100y or 100m depending on the pool length. For example, you might have a pace of 1:30/100y.
In addition, the unit will track lengths (or straight distance, if you prefer), as well as time and splits. In this case, a ‘lap’ is really more like an interval, as it’s the time since you last pressed the button ‘Lap’.
You can create these laps to separate out different chunks of the workout. For example, I would create a split/lap for my warm-up, and then another one for each segment of the workout (such as 10×100). The lap button is used when you want to enter a rest break. This will automatically create a rest on the unit visible later on Garmin Connect between the intervals:
When on Garmin Connect, the unit will show your different sets, including paces for each one. You can dive down into per-length splits if you want as well. It’ll also attempt to identify the stroke. In my case, I keep my stroke attempts to purely freestyle, so I can’t really comment on the accuracy of other stroke types.
Garmin Connect (as well as the unit) will also show metrics like SWOLF, which is literally derived from SWIM + GOLF, and assigns a score to the number of stokes for each length. In my case, my pool is a bit messed up (dozen plus people per lane), so my SWOLF scores vary quite a bit depending on how many backstrokers I get stuck behind on any given length.
Ultimately though I’m able to very easily and accurately track swimming with near 100% accuracy across many workouts. The most important tip I can give on getting accurate results is to remember that everything the watch measures is based on motion. Thus, making a crisp and firm push-off the wall each length is important (you can do either flip or open turns, it tracks both fine). Additionally, stopping mid-length in the pool will confuse it. Try and avoid that (seriously, people have e-mailed in to complain that other units don’t track their mid-pool stops).
Now, since my initial post exactly 30 days ago on the Fenix2, there’s been a lot of feedback around adding in the FR910XT’s ‘Swim Alerts’ (which enable alerts on things like time or distance while swimming), as well as adding in the Garmin Swim’s ‘Drill mode’. I’m happy to report that the Fenix team has heard your feedback, and both will indeed be coming to the Fenix2. Here’s a shot on a recent beta firmware showing the Swim Alert piece just starting to be coded in:
Finally, note that no Garmin watches support the creation of pre-defined workouts for swimming on Garmin Connect. Meaning unlike running or cycling, you can’t create a workout on Garmin Connect and then transfer it to your unit to iterate through.
Openwater Usage:
Next, is openwater swimming (OWS). This mode is for any outdoor body of water that’s not a pool. For example, the ocean, a lake, or a river. Generally speaking, the body of water should be non-frozen for a successful swim.
In this mode, the unit uses both the GPS as well as the accelerometer. It uses the GPS portion to track distance, and uses the accelerometer to track stroke information. It merges the two together for certain data fields. In an openwater swim scenario, the GPS is constantly losing GPS signal each stroke (as it goes underwater) and then trying to regain it each stroke (above the water). As such, the unit gets rather messy data to work with. Data that might be off +/- 3-meters or 100-meters. So instead of giving you a precise path, it gives more of an estimation.
It looks at the general splatter of the direction of points and attempts to determine where you’re going and the distance associated with it.
While doing so, it’ll give you details such as pace and stroke rate as well as time and other common distance fields. You can create laps if you’d like (such as at a buoy or turning point).
Because it’s still sorta winter in Europe, my time with openwater swim mode has been slightly limited. I’ve had a couple of swims with the unit, but the most recent one has been a few weeks back in firmware. Thus my testing is limited, and I’ve been told the algorithms have been further refined since then.
Still, the results were generally positive. For my tests I wore four units. I used a Garmin FR910XT, Suunto Ambit 2, and then the Fenix2. I then added a Garmin FR620 as a ‘reference’ distance onto a little swim buoy floating behind me. This keeps the unit above the water at all times and records a perfect track of where I actually went to compare against the units on my wrist.
Below, you can see the results of this:
Suunto Ambit2: .52mi
Garmin Fenix2: .68mi
Garmin FR910XT: .62mi
Garmin FR620 (REFERENCE): .58mi
Overall, the results are roughly about what I’d expect (sorry, it’s fuzzy, it looked much clearer in the camera lens when I came out of the water).
In general, I look for about 10% error rate with openwater swim units, though at shorter distances it’s harder to assign a number as it usually starts to get closer the more you swim. Sometimes it’s spot-on scary, but sometimes it’s a bit further away. Thus, if using the unit on your wrist and then doing a race, don’t be upset when the distance don’t match. In all likelihood, the swim course wasn’t measured correctly…and your unit didn’t measure it correctly on top of that. It’s actually quite rare for most non-Ironman triathlon swim courses to be accurate.
When it comes to data afterwards on Garmin Connect, you’ll get maps of where you went (which are smoothed), as well as some basic information like stroke rate and distance/pace:
One strength of the Fenix unit is the much strengthened wrist strap. I’ve often stated that I’d be hesitant to use some devices on the market in the swim start of a triathlon due to the band being somewhat fragile. And ultimately, people have lost other units to the bottom due to such. In the case of the Fenix2 however, I’d be reasonably impressed if you could snap it off. The pins are beastly, and screwed in from both directions. I think it would basically take getting run over by a boat to pull it off. I suppose we’ll see by the end of the summer.
Cycling:
The Fenix2 greatly extends the Fenix/Tactx cycling support, primarily in the area of power meter capabilities. As part of adding full triathlon support, the cycling mode was further beefed up to include full ANT+ power meter compatibility, including the support of the latest left/right and related metrics for power meters from Garmin, ROTOR and others.
From a logistical standpoint, you can wear the Fenix2 either on your wrist, or on a bike mount for your bar. Garmin sells a simple rubber one for $9 that fits the bill. You can find a similar ones branded by other companies that all basically do the same thing. For triathlon bikes, you can use a solution like the profile designs one seen here, or, some of the newer Barfly options (Universal Mount).
When it comes to sensors, you can pair any ANT+ speed/cadence sensor, including both speed-only and cadence-only (as well as speed/cadence combo sensors). This is done through the sensors menu:
It’s in this area they you’ll define wheel size for usage either indoors or outdoors. You’ll also see an option as to when to utilize the speed/cadence sensor. This is somewhat interesting as this option isn’t found on most of the other Garmin cycling devices.
When it comes to power meter support, you can pair your ANT+ power via the sensors menu.
In doing so, you’ll also be able to set options including crank length (critical for Garmin Vector):
You can trigger calibration (zero offset) via this menu sub-area as well.
Within the power meter section you’ve also got the option to setup your power zones, as well as your FTP (Functional Threshold Power). Setting the FTP on the device is critical to getting the same Training Peaks values on the device as you’ll get on Garmin Connect and Training Peaks. For example, if I set my device to an FTP of 315w, but then I set Garmin Connect to 275w, I’ll see differences when I upload.
Speaking of which, the unit supports all of the power-meter driven Training Peaks values of TSS/NP/IF (Training Stress Score, Normalized Power, Intensity Factor):
When it comes to on-bike display, the unit allows you to select up to four fields to display concurrently on a single page. And just about as many pages as you’d like.
I cover all these later on in the ‘Data Fields’ section. These data fields include the left/right power meters:
Indoors on a trainer, you can go into indoor mode for cycling, and thus disable the GPS and get speed/distance data from an ANT+ speed/cadence sensor:
Afterwards, on Garmin Connect, your data is available for you to view. Or, you can take the .FIT file and upload it to any 3rd party site – such as Strava, Training Peaks, or Sport Tracks.
Finally, it should be noted that the singular omission from the Fenix2 is the lack of bike profiles. Meaning, you can’t have a road bike and a triathlon bike. You’d have to re-pair the sensors for each one individually. And unfortunately, there isn’t any mechanism to manually enter in the ANT+ ID’s like other Garmin Edge/Forerunner units. So you’ll have to ensure no other cyclists are around when you make the switch and re-search for sensors.
Multisport Mode:
The core differentiator when it comes to a ‘multisport watch’ and a watch that happens to do multiple sports is the ability to have a multisport mode. This is essentially a fancy term for ‘triathlon mode’, without making the duathletes feel insulted. What it means though is that in a race (or training) you can seamlessly transition from Swim to Bike to Run (or, back to Swim) – all as a single cohesive activity.
The Fenix2, like the Garmin FR910XT/FR310XT/FR305, contains a multisport mode. Within this mode you can take any of the different sport profiles (or your custom profiles) and mash together a multisport event. Note however that at this time you cannot add a pool swim to multisport mode.
For example, the traditional swim/bike/run threesome:
When in multisport mode, if you switch from swim to bike, then all your normal bike pages are displayed. And then the same when you go from bike to run, then showing all your run pages.
You can specify whether or not to include transition times in this. Note that as it stands today, upon uploading to Garmin Connect each of the sports are broken out individually into separate activities.
So the real benefit of using multisport mode is the quick transitions from sport to sport, and that it’ll show total time (such as in a race) from the first sport leg until that point.
Battery Life:
Of course, for many endurance athletes, the next question that follows is what does battery life look like. The unit supports multiple battery modes. At one end you’ve got 1-second recording with constant GPS on. This is the mode that most athletes will want to be in, as it updates most frequently (every second). This is especially true of anyone using a power meter, where 1-second data is critical for accurate analysis.
In 1-second mode (with GPS on and ANT+ sensors enabled), Garmin states about 16 hours with “good satellite reception”.
I’ve done two tests thus far that pushes the battery boundaries. For both tests, I use the ANT+ simulator to simulate sensors being used. In this case, I went with the ANT+ HR strap, but there’s no difference in battery consumption between one and multiple ANT+ sensors, it’s all the same. Next, I completed two scenarios with the watch. For the first, I placed the GPS inside, where I’ve got a GPS repeater hooked up outside a window. It’s not super-great satellite, but it does the trick.
For this first test, I hit just over 15hrs of battery life (15:07:40). The fact that I had less than ideal GPS coverage no doubt reduced my total time. The unit automatically went into standby at 13% of battery. The activity was saved, and I was able to resume it upon adding more battery.
For the second test, I put the GPS on top of my roof, and then connected a lanyard to it, as I was somewhat concerned the pigeons wouldn’t take it (seriously, these pigeons are vicious). I changed though from using a HR simulator to the Tempe ANT+ accessory. The reason for this was I was having some minor difficulties in ensuring clean ANT+ signal on the roof the entire time, which would adversely impact battery life. I validated with Garmin that the battery burn profile between the Tempe ANT+ accessory (which I could leave next to the unit) and an ANT+ HR strap is identical from the Fenix2 standpoint.
For this test, I just left it up there all night long, and the battery lasted about the same – 15:00:10. The unit automatically went into standby at 13% of battery. The activity was saved, and I was able to resume it upon adding more battery. For those curious, you’ll see a tiny shift in elevation as the pressure changes. In my case – about 5ft in total.
So both of those modes are likely suitable for the vast majority of iron-distance athletes. If you need to increase battery-life for an Ironman to cover the maximum allotted time of 17hrs, you could reduce the GPS sampling rate for one of the sports. I’d recommend lowering the rate for running, since the reality is that you’re walking the run if you’re finishing in 17-hours (simple math makes this a fact), and thus, it’s of less importance to have 100% up to the second data. Though, you’d be losing any heart rate sensor data – since that isn’t enabled in UltraTrac mode.
Next, there’s the ultra-long battery mode, which gets the unit up to 55 hours of recording time. In this mode, the unit samples GPS every 60-seconds. This means that it only gets a GPS fix every minute, and records it then. As such, this is not really ideal for running events, but is generally perfectly suitable for walking/hiking events.
To understand why this is the case, I’ve gone out and wore two Fenix units. One with 60-second sampling, and one with 1-second sampling. Then, I simply did a quick wander around the neighborhood and some of the curved little streets. Here’s the results:
Above, is normal GPS mode, which samples every second. Whereas below is UltraTrac mode, which samples every 60-seconds on GPS by default. Note this has nothing to do with recording rates. It’s purely how often the GPS is enabled/polled. You can configure UltraTrac for any polling interval you’d like – such as 20s, but how that impacts battery life isn’t fully clear. However, be clear that in UltraTrac mode sensors are not enabled – so there is no ANT+ data.
In the normal mode above you can see my wanderings around the streets (and people/cars/busses). However, below, you only see it picking up points every minute, cutting off entire sections of the route. As a result, the distance was substantially less as well (.42mi vs .55mi).
Finally, for those who really need even more battery – you can combine the Fenix2 with a portable battery charger, or solar charger. This works with any device that simply provides a charge (but not a computer, which switches the modes).
I’ve used both the little USB portable battery pack seen above, as well as the solar chargers sold by Garmin (made by PowerMonkey) at the end of the review.
Note that you can indeed wear the unit while using the charging clip with the battery pack. One option would be to put the solar charger (or small USB charger) in a CamelBak/similar and then just run the cable down to your wrist. The other option (and probably what I’d do), would be to temporarily stick the watch + charger in my backpack for 45 minutes or so to let it charge. It’d still be running/recording, just would keep you from getting tangled in cables.
Custom Workout & Interval Support:
The Fenix2 supports both the creation of custom workouts using a variety of parameters, as well as the use of simple interval workouts.
Starting with simple interval workouts, the Fenix2 can be setup on the fly from the watch itself to run you through a straight forward interval workout. To do so, you’ll start from the Workout Menu, and then go into Intervals:
From there you can simply start with the last interval workout you setup, or you can edit the workout. When you edit the workout you can define the work period (the part where you run hard), the rest period (the part where you lie on the ground gasping for breath), the repeats (how much pain), and then both a warm-up and cool-down.
For the work interval period, you can define it as either distance (miles/kilometers) or time, or, specify it simply as ‘open’, which means until you hit the lap button.
For the rest interval period, you’ve got the same options: Distance, time, and open. The unit will combine the work + rest interval period together, and repeat them as many times as you’ve specified in the ‘repeat’ option.
Finally, for both warm-up and cool-down you can specify to turn it on or off. There isn’t a pre-defined time with basic interval mode, it’s just until you hit the button again.
While in the workout the unit will walk you through each step and give you a countdown as you approach the next step. It’ll automatically create laps for each segment of the workout, which can be reviewed later on Garmin Connect or any 3rd party app.
Next, we’ve got the much more advanced custom workout creation mode. Within this mode, you can create an almost unlimited workout as far as complexity goes, with a slew of different steps and targets. For example, you can specify cadence, pace, or heart rate targets, as well as durations including both time and distance. Or, just until you’ve pressed the lap button to advance.
It’s easiest to create these workouts on Garmin Connect using a computer, and then transfer them to the watch using either your phone or a USB cable. Here’s an example of a variation on an interval workout I created on Garmin Connect:
Once you’ve transferred the workout to the unit it’ll be available both on the unit as well as Garmin Connect forever. So you can always come back and edit it later if need be.
Note that you can’t edit the custom workouts on the unit itself, only from Garmin Connect. But that’s reasonable, since it would be a bit of a mess to do so on the unit anyway.
While in workout mode, the unit will walk you through each of the steps and the targets. Now, at present there’s a bit of an odd bug where no matter what I define the step as (such as ‘Interval’ or ‘Rest’), it just spits it out as ‘Run’ on the screen. Garmin is working on fixing this. For my workout though, it still listed the targets (i.e. pace/cadence/HR), as well as times and distances. Given I roughly knew the workout structure, I was able to easily figure out when I had to run, versus when I got to be lazy.
Note that workouts cannot be combined with multisport mode.
Finally, it’s worth noting that in addition to both interval mode as well as custom workouts, you can define basic ‘Alerts’ which are triggered when you hit certain criteria. These alerts can be configured for any sport profile, based on the following attributes: Proximity, Distance, Time, Elevation, Navigational Arrival, Speed, Pace, Heart Rate, Cadence, and Battery.
Generally speaking, you can configure a minimum threshold, and a maximum threshold for most of the categories (such as heart rate). The unit will beep and buzz when you go under/over those thresholds.
Mobile Connectivity (Live Tracking, Uploading, Text/E-mail Notifications, etc…):
The Fenix2 builds slightly upon the mobile connectivity that was introduced in later beta firmware with the Fenix1 and Tactix units – which enables Bluetooth Smart connectivity to mobile devices for a variety of purposes. This connectivity includes the ability to upload workouts, enable Live Tracking, as well as turn the Fenix2 into a smart watch with notifications from any phone app on your device.
As it stands today, mobile connectivity on the Fenix2 stems from three difference places:
Garmin Connect Mobile (App): Upload of completed workouts, download of scheduled workouts, Live Tracking, Transfer of courses
Garmin Basecamp (App): Creation of waypoints, viewing of tracks
Native OS notification functionality: Configuration of Fenix2 as a smart watch for notification alerts from any app (e-mail/text/phone/Instagram/etc…)
I’m going to briefly run through each one and the functionality. Before that, it’s important to note that while the Fenix2 does contain Bluetooth connectivity, it requires a Bluetooth 4.0 or higher capable phone. This is any iPhone 4S or higher, or any Android phone with Android operating system 4.3, as well as Bluetooth 4.0 on it.
When it comes to Bluetooth on the Fenix2, there’s a few modes you can configure it for. These include leaving it on 24×7, enabling it only during an activity, enabling it only outside an activity, and enabling it briefly for sync only. Because the Fenix2 wasn’t designed battery-wise for Bluetooth to remain on 24×7, you’ll likely want to focus on using it only to sync data, or for the period you’d want to use it for. But more on that in a minute.
Garmin Connect Mobile:
Garmin Connect Mobile (GCM) is Garmin’s primary application for fitness focused devices to connect to phones, and integrate with Garmin Connect (the online site). The app recently went through a bit of a refresh about a month ago, which has increased the stability quite a bit after largely stagnating for a number months.
On the application itself, it’s roughly divided into four sections: Home, Community, Devices and LiveTrack. Home is where you’ve got a bit of a dashboard into your overall Garmin Connect stats – dependent on which devices you’re using. You can see some of these below:
Next, there’s ‘Community’. This is where you can look at people you follow and the most recent activities. This is similar to how other social media communities work. You can follow people, have them follow you, and restrict what they see.
Then we’ve got ‘Devices’. After we’ve paired up the Fenix2 to the phone, you’ll see it listed in the device settings. It’s here we can also click on settings and configure whether to automatically upload completed activities to Garmin Connect. Beyond this, there’s really not much more to configure specific to the Fenix2 itself:
With that, let’s head over to ‘Live Tracking’. This is where you can setup a live tracking session that allows others to follow your activity live. This includes your location information, speed/pace information, as well as some basic splits.
When you setup a live tracking session, you can invite people who will receive a link to a site to track your activity. Additionally, you can configure it to share on Facebook or Twitter. Finally, you’ll see an option for ‘Extend Sharing’, this means that the ability to see your activity will last 24 hours, otherwise, it’ll end as soon as you end the activity. I recommend always setting this to ‘enabled’, otherwise your friends and family who joined late won’t be able to see anything. Further, if you have a loved one following along they may become concerned when the page abruptly ends with no further information.
Once you’ve configured your settings, you’ll go ahead and click ‘Start LiveTrack’, which will enable the session. Note that this won’t actually start the activity. It simply starts monitoring. Folks can see a blue dot on a map of where you are, even before you start. It’s at this point that the e-mail notifications/Tweets/Facebook posts go out.
After those have been sent, people can then click on the link which takes them to a page on Garmin’s site which shows them your current progress.
They can change from metric to statute, as well as zoom in on the map, switch it to satellite view and see some basic splits.
Note that in the case of the Fenix2/Tactix/Fenix1, you cannot concurrently stream ANT+ metrics like heart rate, power, or cycling cadence. This because the chipset used in these watches does not allow both ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart to be used at the same time.
Said differently: If you want to display/capture/record heart rate data (or any other ANT+ data sensor), you cannot enable Live Tracking of that session. It’s one or the other. It’s a physical hardware limitation that will not change with a software update. Note that this is different from the Garmin FR220/FR620 & Edge 510/810, which do enable you to stream those metrics at the same time.
Once your activity is complete, you can save it on your watch and have it automatically transfer. You do not need to enable Live Tracking to do so. In fact, I rarely do, but I do use the upload functionality. When you finish the activity you’ll see an option that says ‘Sync’.
When this option is selected, it’ll temporarily enable Bluetooth Smart on the watch and connect to your mobile phone to the Garmin Connect app to upload the workout. This is perfect for folks (like me) who want to use ANT+ sensor data during a workout, but still want to briefly use Bluetooth Smart to upload the data afterwards via phone.
Now, the only catch here is that in my testing the upload process from the unit to the phone is incredibly slow. For example, a 40 minute run (with HRM-RUN ANT+ data), it took approximately 20-30 minutes. [Note/Update: Other users are reporting much faster times, in the order of a minute or less, perhaps it’s just me. Update 2: In the latest version, I’ve got my 2hr 30min run down to 8 minutes to upload…progress.]
In addition to uploading completed workouts, you can also transfer scheduled workouts to the Fenix2, as well as transfer pre-created courses. Both of these must be created first on Garmin Connect – and then sent to the Fenix2 from the app.
Lastly, by connecting to the Garmin Connect Mobile app, you’ll update the Fenix2’s satellite cache information, which allows it to quickly find satellites in a matter of seconds.
Garmin Basecamp:
Garmin Basecamp allows you to quickly create waypoints using online maps from your phone, and transfer those waypoints to the Fenix2 (or Fenix1/Tactix). In addition, it allows you to look at tracks (saved courses) on your Fenix, as well as look at saved waypoints that have already been created on your unit. Finally, it allows you to look at adventures from ‘Garmin Adventures’, which combine tracks (like hikes) with photos.
To start, you’ll need to kick your Fenix into Bluetooth enabled mode. Then, you can search/scan from within the app to find the unit. You’ll also want to sign into your Garmin Connect account, which enables you to save some items up to the ‘cloud’.
Next, we’ll start with creation of an adhoc waypoint. In this case I can choose to create a waypoint based on my exact location right now. From there I can select an icon, choose a name, and also give it a description. I can then push this immediately to the device, or save it for later use.
I can also create a waypoint in another location – such as a few miles away, and repeat/do the same process there.
From the app I can pull up existing tracks on my device. These are what Garmin Connect calls courses, and aren’t completed activities, but rather routes to follow. Within this I can look at the track, zoom in, change the map type and even edit the name. But I can’t edit the actual track itself. It’s a look but don’t touch sort of thing.
Finally, we’ve got Garmin Adventures. This has been targeted at the hiking/outdoor segment, but allows you to combine a track/route with photos and other information for someone to follow. Sorta like giving someone instructions with a photo book. The app will automatically show you nearby Adventures, but you can also search other adventures. You can pull up the photos from the adventure on the phone as well as any of the waypoints along the way.
Once you’ve found an adventure you like, you can go ahead and transfer it to your device. Once on the device, it’ll follow/navigate it like any other track (as discussed in the navigation section earlier).
Ultimately, the Garmin Adventures are ‘interesting’, but I’ve got the same complaint I did nearly two years ago: Why on earth isn’t it integrated into Garmin Connect? It sits there like the bastard step child never really getting the attention it deserves. I can only hope with the Garmin Connect overhaul there’s plans to pull it in, and integrate it. In the mobile connected world, Garmin is leaving so much on the table here. They could easily tie this into the phone app to allow folks to take photos, create an adventure and then send those to Garmin devices. Tons of potential…none realized.
Smart Watch Mobile Notifications:
Finally, in addition to fitness focused functionality, you can configure the Fenix2 to display notifications from applications and OS services on your mobile device. This includes everything from text message alerts, to e-mail alerts, to notifications that a friend has commented on a Facebook post.
You’ll simply pair the watch to your phone via the Bluetooth menu. Once you’ve done that, you can enable the notifications prompt within the Fenix2:
Apps then use the notification center to surface notifications to the Fenix2. As noted before, this can be any application that you’ve enabled. A notification can then trigger an audible alert, or a vibration alert.
The only challenge with this functionality is that the Fenix2 wasn’t really originally designed like a traditional low-power smart watch, from a Bluetooth notifications standpoint. As such, the battery life here is about 24 hours in this mode. So you’re basically charging it every day if you choose to leave Bluetooth enabled-on constantly. For most folks, I’d recommend against this.
Android Notes: As of today, all of these functions in the mobile action are limited to iOS devices and do not yet work on Android. Garmin is currently planning these to be enabled on Android devices in in a few different pieces:
– Garmin Connect Mobile Fitness Features: Live Track, EPO (Satellite Pre-Caching), Activity Upload, Course Download, Workout Download – ASAP, could be any day, or any week.
– Smart Watch Notifications: This is the notifications piece for things like text messages. This is slated for “Q2 2014”, so anytime between April and June.
– Basecamp functionality: You won’t likely see a specific separate Basecamp app on Android, but rather, see those features surface into an existing app. Which, is something I’ve somewhat argued for, for some time. The timeframe for this is also more Q2.
Garmin Connect Website:
As previously noted, Garmin Connect is Garmin’s activity tracking log and website. It’s where all data from the Fenix2 ultimately gets funneled to. While in the previous section I talked about the mobile uploads, I want to briefly talk about the new Garmin Express desktop app. This app aims to quickly upload your completed workouts to Garmin Connect, as well as keep your device up to date. The app had some initial first week teething pains back a few weeks ago, but seems largely functional when it comes to the Fenix2.
While the device is plugged in it’ll show you if you have any updates pending to install, as well as if any items were recently sync’d (or still to sync). When the device isn’t plugged in, it’ll remind you to update the device – a way of ensuring the unit is kept up to date.
It’s from here that you can associate it to your Garmin Connect account, look at how full the storage is, and also transfer additional languages to it.
While Garmin Express takes care of the ‘dirty work’ of uploading the files to Garmin Connect, you can still easily access the raw .FIT or .GPX files should you wish to. For example, if you wanted to upload them to Strava or Training Peaks. These are accessible just like any other USB thumb drive’s data would be, via the ‘Activity’ folder under ‘Garmin’. These files work with pretty much any 3rd party application out there without issue.
Now that we’ve got the data up to Garmin Connect, I’ll give you a super-quick rundown. I say quick, because I’ve been sprinkling parts of it throughout the review already in the relevant sections. Further, as it stands today Garmin is part-way through a large overhaul of the platform, so showing you how it looks today will likely literally change next week. In any case, here goes.
To start, you’ve got your main dashboard. This is where you can see an overview of various activities and connections you’ve made (like social networks).
Then diving into a given activity you’ll get an overview of all your stats for that particular run/bike/hike/swim. Along the left is summary information, whereas the right is graphs/charts, and maps.
You can click on any given chart to expand it, which allows you to also snip certain sections to zoom in on.
Down lower along the left you’ve got your laps/splits (either via auto-lap or via manual lap button pressing), as well as details from the Running Dynamics components.
Finally, towards the bottom you’ll see the device that was used, along with the firmware, as well as whether or not elevation correction was turned on. In the case of the Fenix2, it will rarely make sense to turn on elevation correction, since it comes from a barometric altimeter. However, at the moment there’s a bug with GC2 that doesn’t enable you to turn it off (nor, does it enable you to turn it on for devices that should need it). There’s also a visible bug in the temperature, which appears to be showing Celsius but with a Fahrenheit label (well, actually, a Fahrenheit label and a random question mark…so even it knows it’s confused).
Despite it’s bugginess in the current migration from GC1 to GC2, Garmin Connect generally does a good job at showing you the main stats on a run, ride, or swim. You can change mapping platforms between Google and Bing, so that you can find and see maps that make the most sense for your area. You can also export data from here, though I wouldn’t recommend doing that, as some of the data (such as Running Dynamics) isn’t included. Rather, I’d take the raw file off of the Fenix2 instead.
Garmin VIRB integration:
The Fenix2 follows in the footsteps of the original Fenix and includes the ability to control the Garmin VIRB & VIRB Elite action cameras. The Fenix controls the devices via ANT+, thus, the mode is not compatible with Bluetooth Smart enabled. You can access the VIRB control via the Menu button, which allows you to search for a VIRB and control it.
Note that you’ll need to set the VIRB to be remotely controlled. Once you’ve done so, you’ll have to basic options from the Fenix2. First is that you can take a photo. To do so, you’ll simply tap the left hand down button, which triggers the camera about .5 to 1.0 seconds later. The VIRB will follow any of the photo settings you’ve previously defined (i.e. burst mode, etc…).
You can also start and stop video recording from the Fenix2. To do that, you’ll press the start (red) button. Once the unit starts, it’ll display a counter showing you the recording time. You’ll also see the camera light turn to red.
The feature is particularly handy on a bike, especially if you don’t have a Garmin Edge unit (which can also control the VIRB) to trigger the camera. I only wish we’d see VIRB control also implemented on some of the other Garmin high-end running watches, such as the FR620. It would only seem like an easy and logical move to increase adoption of the Garmin VIRB.
Ski-Board Mode:
The Fenix2 includes a new mode called ‘Ski-Board’, which automatically calculates and tracks skiing/snowboarding runs based on when you board a chairlift.
I previewed this when it first came out last year for the Fenix1 (and before it had a trendy name), but since then Garmin has been chugging away adding a number of features in this area. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fit in a skiing trip in the last 6 or so weeks, thus, I haven’t had a chance to test it (but one reader did this weekend and noted it worked flawlessly). Nonetheless, here’s the low-down on the core features, which is known as ‘Ski-Board’ mode in the menu.
Ski Mode Run Detection: Each time you get off the lift and start to ski, it’ll automatically create a new lap within the unit. In addition, there is a run counter, which shows you how many runs you’ve completed.
3D Speed and Distance: As I covered in my post last year, this mode takes into account the horizontal and vertical components within the speed and distance calculations – basically accounting for the drop in vertical.
Ski Mode Auto Pause: This will automatically pause the time and distance of the track file when you are sitting on a ski lift.
Ski Pages Know When On Lift: While on the lift, the unit will automatically switch to showing you stats about your last run, rather than just stats about the chair lift.
Beyond these core features they’ve also added in more ski-specific data fields, such as total vertical drop and run-specific details around max speed, vertical drop, etc….
As you noticed at the very beginning of this post, the unit includes a fabric extender strap – which is specifically designed to fit over bulkier winter jackets, typically worn while skiing or snowboarding (unless you’re in Dubai of course). Hopefully I’ll be able to sneak in a quick getaway at some point to get some skiing in, though, at the moment my travel schedule doesn’t look good for cold-weather locales.
Navigation & Trail functionality:
When the Fenix lineup was originally introduced nearly two summers ago, it was built as though it was a hiking/navigation watch, ideally suited for multi-day treks on non-paved terrain. In fact, the team building the Fenix isn’t even part of the Fitness division at Garmin, but rather, part of the Outdoor division – which traditionally focuses on ruggedized handheld units. Of course, over time the Fenix has grown to be more fitness-minded, adding in the swim/bike/run components we see now in the Fenix2. But at its core, the Fenix2 hasn’t removed any of the navigation/hiking/trekking features that it started with or picked up along the way.
Waypoints/POI’s:
The Fenix enables you to navigate to predefined or ad-hoc waypoints, which are simply recorded locations. When you navigate to a waypoint, the unit takes the most direct route – like the crow would fly (assuming the crow isn’t drunk). It’s not like a car GPS that navigates based on known streets/trails (more on that in a bit). This is just point to point.
You can create waypoints either offline (using a computer), or via your phone, or directly on the unit itself. On the unit itself you can either program in coordinates, or if you’re staying at the spot you want to save for later reference, you can create that as a waypoint then. To create waypoints using a computer you’ll use either Garmin Basecamp or Garmin MapSource. To create waypoints using a phone, you’ll use Garmin Basecamp mobile. I cover how the mobile piece works later in the mobile section.
Once you’ve placed the waypoint on the device you can pull it up via “Navigate | Waypoints”. Or, if you want to navigate to a set of coordinates, then “Navigate | Coordinates”.
Once you do this, you’ll see a list of saved waypoints that you can select. After selecting a given point, you can pull up additional information about it as previously defined, or you can navigate to it.
When navigating to a waypoint you’ll be given a compass that you can use to follow the dots along the edge to the location. Further, you can also engage the map as well (more on that in a bit).
Note that the compass in the unit is a magnetic compass, and thus would orient itself based on the direction it’s being held. This is different from a digital compass, which requires you to actually make forward progress to determine the direction you’re going.
Routes:
In addition to navigating straight to a waypoint, you can also navigate along routes. Routes are simply breadcrumb trails that you’ve loaded onto the device to follow. Routes can be breadcrumb style, or a combination of direct-to-waypoint courses. You can load these routes via a number of methods, from phone to a multitude of Garmin desktop-based apps. For this section, I’m going to stick with the desktop app side of things. However, down in the mobile section I talk more about those options there.
In order to create the routes, I generally use Garmin Connect (web site). While I could use Garmin Basecamp (desktop app), or Garmin MapSource (desktop app), or 3rd party options, I find that Garmin Connect is the quickest and simplest. Further, unlike Basecamp/Mapsource, I can use Google/Bing maps and satellite imagery, which makes it much easier. While Garmin Connect is in a bit of a transition phase right now, you’re ultimately looking for the ‘Courses’ option, and then select to create a new course.
Once you do that you can simply connect the dots, choosing to follow roads or not. Obviously, if off-road on trails, you’ll probably not want to follow roads.
Once you’re done, you’ll simply select to ‘Send to device’, and then select the Fenix2. Alternatively, you could save the route/tracks (I’d do that anyway), and then transfer it from your phone directly – no USB required. No matter which way you choose, once you get it on the device it’ll all look the same. To access it, you’ll go to ‘Navigate’ and then choose the option to “Navigate | Tracks”, which enumerates up any courses sent to it from Garmin Connect.
From there you can select one of the saved tracks. When you do so, you’ll be brought to an overview page where you can get details on the track, including a map of where it is, as well as navigate to it.
When you navigate along a given track you can customize different pages to show various navigational metrics, such as your ETA or distance remaining.
The map screen will show a dashed line for the route, which you can see below going upwards and then across the river:
Meanwhile, on the compass, the two dots along the edge will indicate the direction of your next waypoint. You’ll simply line these up with the marker at the top of the screen near the word ‘Garmin’ to head in the right direction.
Basic Maps
Finally, the Fenix2 retains the Fenix lineup’s ability to load a basic map onto it. This feature was rarely (if ever) advertised, and even less information about how to accomplish it. My goal here isn’t to provide a full technical overview of how to do so. There are other, more capable, instruction sets out there already. Rather, just to make you aware that you can do it.
The maps are available freely from 3rd party sources, though, you could technically load a paid map from Garmin. Given the data quality though that the Fenix2 is able to present, I’m not 100% clear on the value of buying maps for the unit (versus using free ones). At a high level, these are the steps to get the maps onto the Fenix2:
1) Install Garmin MapSource application (PC)
2) Download applicable maps from free 3rd party site
3) Use 7-Zip (or similar tool) to unzip maps to a temporary directory (i.e. DesktopMaps)
4) Open temporary directory, use Maps Installer (see Step #2 for instructions).
5) Open Garmin MapSource application
6) Zoom in, and select tile area of interest, click Transfer > Send to Device
7) On the Fenix2: Add the ‘Maps’ data page to your data fields, via settings menu
Again, these are the high level steps, and this isn’t meant to be a tutorial or troubleshooting locale for loading maps onto the Fenix2. The Fenix2 has the same amount of space as the Fenix1, about 25MB. In general, map sizes are 1-3MB at these resolutions. For my entire region (Paris) of a diameter of about 50-miles, it was about 1MB.
In any case, once loaded onto the Fenix2 you’ll be able to access them after adding the ‘Maps’ data page to any of your sport profiles. Once done, the maps page will show up, with the Etch-a-Sketch style map visible:
You can zoom in by briefly holding down the Menu button, which activates Zoom/Pan options. In cases where you’re navigating a track, or, if you want to see where a waypoint is, you can display those on the map.
Ultimately, given the black and white display, and more importantly, the low-resolution of it, I find little usefulness in how it’s implemented today. That said, down the road in a future generation I suspect they’ll eventually transition to a color display, which would ultimately provide more value.
Day to Day Watch Functionality:
The Fenix2 can be used easily as a day to day watch. With Bluetooth disabled, the watch can go weeks in non-GPS mode.
The unit’s home/default screen can be customized in a variety of styles to show different information, from the sunrise to moonrise, and from the day of week to the time of day in multiple formats.
In addition, you can create multiple alarms. Alarms can be one-time affairs, or recurring alarms. In the case of recurring, you can configure it for daily or weekday alarms.
When an alarm triggers, you can specify whether you want it to be ‘Tone only’, ‘Vibration only’, both, or message display only.
Finally, the unit also supports the timer function (simple start/stop, as well as reset, notification, and auto restart), a simple stopwatch function (including lap support). Also in this menu area of the watch is the ability to configure alternate time zones.
Fenix2 Sensor Supportability:
Below is a consolidated list of the different sensor types that the Fenix2 supports today. I’ve covered virtually all of these sensor types in this first chunk elsewhere in the review. But this just consolidates them a bit:
– Running Footpod (ANT+)
– Heart Rate strap & HRM-RUN strap (ANT+)
– Cycling Power Meter (ANT+)
– Speed/Cadence Combo, Speed-Only, Cadence-Only (all ANT+)
– Chirp Geocache Sensor (ANT+)
– Tempe Temperature Sensor (ANT+)
Now, while it does support all the above ANT+ accessories, there are a few things it doesn’t support on the sensors side. The first is it doesn’t support Bluetooth Smart sensors (i.e. a Bluetooth Smart heart rate strap). It also won’t support any non-ANT+ HR straps, such as ones from Polar or Nike. And then there’s a few things on the ANT+ side it doesn’t support either, including both weight scales and gym equipment. Given Garmin has moved away from supporting either of those in recent products, that’s probably not too much of a surprise.
To sum it up, the following are NOT supported on the Fenix2:
– Any Bluetooth Smart sensors (BLE)
– Weight Scales (ANT+)
– Gym Equipment (ANT+)
– Polar straps of any sort
– Nike/Nike+ straps of any sort
I don’t anticipate to see any of those sensors not currently supported, being supported in the future. The one potential exception could be weight scale – merely because there’s still a small but vocal number of folks who have previously invested in ANT+ weight scales that request it often.
Data Fields, Pages, and Customization:
The Fenix2 offers a multitude of ways you can customize it, dependent primarily on which sport profiles you’re using. Within the unit it contains a set of default sport profiles. These profiles are as follows:
Profiles: XC Ski, Ski-Board, Mountaineer, Hike, Navigate, Trail Run, Run, Bike, Swim Open Water, Swim Pool, Workout (Interval or Custom), Indoor Run, Indoor Bike, Indoor Custom, Indoor Workout, Multisport
In addition to these profiles, you can create up to three custom profiles with a name of your choosing. It could be called “Kayaking” or “Cowtipping”, totally up to you.
Each of these profiles in turn contains data pages. These data pages contain data fields. Each data page contains up to four pieces of information (fields). You can have almost limitless data pages (no specific number was given, but the Fenix team has tested into the dozens of pages).
Here’s an example of a four-field page:
A three field page:
And a two and one field page:
Some pages can also have graphs, such as this:
You can customize any of the sport profiles (in-box or custom) with any pages you’d like. And in turn, any fields you’d like. The following fields are available for you to select from (click to zoom):
Finally, there are a number of other areas that you can customize in the watch. To cover all of them all would take pages upon pages. But, here’s the most commonly requested items:
Sounds/Vibrations: Whether there are beeps/buzzes for everything from pressing buttons to notifications to alerts to the alarm clock.
Display: You can tweak how long the backlight stays on (and how bright it is), as well as the contrast.
Time Related: You can change how the default time page on the unit looks, as well as which format (i.e. 12hr or 24hr), as well as the date, or even if seconds are displayed on the default page. Or whether sunrise/sunset times are displayed, or the date. Tons of flexibility. Finally, you can either go with automatic time zone, or override it to stay in a specific time zone.
Language: You can change the language to a slew of different languages.
Units: You can separately specify each how Distance, Pace/Speed, Elevation, Weight, Height, Depth, Temperature, Pressure, and Vertical Speed are displayed, with respect to metric or statute formats for each one. For example, you could show distance in kilometers, but elevation in feet.
There’s many more little settings in there, from the GPS update mode, to alerts to data recording rate and whether distance and elevation is recorded in standard mode or 3D mode, to the method the compass displays degrees. But the above covers the common requests.
Updating the Firmware:
The Fenix2 supports the ability to have its firmware updated. This allows Garmin to both fix/address bugs, as well as introduce new features.
The Fenix team falls under the Outdoor division at Garmin, not the traditional Fitness division that devices like the Garmin Forerunner and Edge units come from. Historically speaking looking at the first generation Fenix unit, the Fenix team has introduced a stunning number of updates and feature enhancements. Even as recently as a week ago it was still getting new feature updates – for a product released nearly 2 years ago. Hopefully that trend will continue with the Fenix2 and expansion of new features and bug fixes over time.
Updating the firmware can be done via Garmin Express, or Garmin Web Updater – both on a computer. Additionally, the Garmin Connect Mobile app will also notify you of firmware updates to be installed.
Generally speaking the update process only takes 1-3 minutes, and is painless. I haven’t seen a scenario yet in the last 4-5 weeks where I had to re-setup my settings or configuration. All of that has been kept.
Bugs and Miscellaneous:
As I’ve been doing on all reviews over the past year or so, I’ve been including a section on bugs and/or issues that I’ve seen within my timeframe using the unit. Do remember that a ‘bug’ is different than ‘by design’. For example, the lack of a feature is something I highlight within a given section is considered ‘by design’, whereas something not really working right is considered a bug. In the case of the Fenix2, such bugs fall into one of two categories: The device, and the platform (app/site).
Looking at the device side of things, the Fenix team continues to be mind-bogglingly efficient at resolving anything and everything I see bug-wise. Thus, after having the unit for well over a month now, any bug I’ve raised they’ve fixed. They’ve also added many (almost every) feature/tweak that I’ve requested. The vast majority of these feature requests were really requests coming from you (readers).
Now, there are a few areas that are potential grey-area bugs, where it’s likely a situation that they can’t do much about:
1) Phone upload times: This just takes a month of Sunday’s to transfer the file via Bluetooth to the phone. I don’t think this is so much a bug, as just a case of ‘it is what it is’. Update: This has been improved dramatically in the months since my initial review.
2) Saving a workout: Same thing here as well, this takes forever. In the grand scheme of life it’s not a big deal, but to wait a few minutes (or more) to simply save a workout can be a touch bit annoying. Update: This has been improved dramatically in the months since my initial review.
3) Swim does not show rest periods on Garmin Connect: This is part Fenix dependent, and part Garmin Connect dependent. Either way, it’s not showing the rest time (Added post-review).
Beyond that though, the device is really solid from what I’ve tested. Note that it’s slightly challenging however in that the Fenix team has been iterating versions quite quickly – so re-checking every single item on firmware released as often as yesterday is impossible for me.
Next, we’ve got the app. On the mobile app side, I’m just not seeing any issues functionality-wise there with respect to the Fenix2. It simply works, from my use of the iOS app. There’s the slowness piece on transfer I noted above, but beyond that – it all works.
Lastly, we’ve got Garmin Connect (the site). I talked about this a fair bit last week in my Vivofit review. As it stands right now, things are a bit of a mess in Garmin Connect. They launched a new Garmin Connect interface about a month ago, and it’s still pretty rough. In general, if you stay within the ‘classic’ mode, you’ll largely be fine. And in due time this will sort itself out. But for now, they need one of those 1990’s style ‘Under Construction’ blinky icons that web pages used to display.
Again, this doesn’t mean this is all the bugs out there. These are just the ones I saw during my use. As a single person I can’t possible test every possible feature in every possible combination to reproduce every possible scenario. Sure, I’d love to – but companies have entire teams of testers and they still miss things. So I do the best I can to note what I’ve seen above. If you have bugs, please post them to the Garmin Forums, or report them to Garmin. That’s the correct channel to get them fixed.
Comparison Tables:
Before we wrap things up I’ve put together the comparison charts of all the features of the Fenix2 and original Fenix, compared to the Garmin FR910XT, and Suunto Ambit 2 (closest competitors). You can of course create your own comparison tables using this link with any of the products I’ve previously reviewed/looked at, such as adding in the new Polar V800, which is Polar’s upcoming tri watch.
| Function/Feature | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT |
|---|
| Copyright DC Rainmaker - Updated April 29th, 2021 @ 5:06 am New Window |
| Price | $399 | $299 (on sale) | $319 | $399 |
| Product Announcement Date | Feb 20, 2014 | JUL 10, 2012 | APR 29, 2013 | OCT 4, 2011 |
| Actual Availability/Shipping Date | March 2014 | AUG 2012 | May 2013 | JAN-APR 2012 |
| GPS Recording Functionality | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Data Transfer | USB/Bluetooth Smart | USB & Bluetooth Smart | USB | ANT+ Wireless |
| Waterproofing | Yes - 50m | Yes - 50m | Yes - 100m | Yes - 50m |
| Battery Life (GPS) | 50 Hours | 50 hours | 50 hours | 20 Hours |
| Recording Interval | 1S to Variable | 1s to variable | Variable | 1s or Smart |
| Alerts | Vibrate/Sound/Visual | Vibrate/Sound/Visual | Sound/Visual | Vibrate/Sound/Visual |
| Backlight Greatness | Great | Great | Great | Great |
| Ability to download custom apps to unit/device | No | No | Yes | No |
| Acts as daily activity monitor (steps, etc...) | No | No | No | No |
Connectivity | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT | | Bluetooth Smart to Phone Uploading | Yes | Yes | No | Via Wahoo Fitness Adapter |
| Phone Notifications to unit (i.e. texts/calls/etc...) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Live Tracking (streaming location to website) | Yes | Yes (as of Feb 2014) | No | No |
| Emergency/SOS Message Notification (from watch to contacts) | No | No | No | No |
| Built-in cellular chip (no phone required) | No | No | No | No |
Cycling | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT | | Designed for cycling | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Power Meter Capable | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Power Meter Configuration/Calibration Options | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| Power Meter TSS/NP/IF | Yes | N/A | No | Yes |
| Speed/Cadence Sensor Capable | Yes | Yes (full support added Sept 2013) | Yes | Yes |
Running | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT | | Designed for running | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Footpod Capable (For treadmills) | Yes | Yes | Yes (internal accelerometer) | Yes |
| Running Dynamics (vertical oscillation, ground contact time, etc...) | Yes | No | No | No |
| VO2Max Estimation | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Race Predictor | Yes | No | No | No |
| Recovery Advisor | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Run/Walk Mode | Yes (Added June 13th, 2014) | No | No | Yes |
Swimming | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT | | Designed for swimming | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Openwater swimming mode | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| Lap/Indoor Distance Tracking | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| Record HR underwater | No | No | No | No |
| Openwater Metrics (Stroke/etc.) | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| Indoor Metrics (Stroke/etc.) | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| Indoor Drill Mode | Yes | N/A | Yes | No |
| Indoor auto-pause feature | No | N/A | No | No |
| Change pool size | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| Indoor Min/Max Pool Lengths | 18m/20y to 150y/m | N/A | 15m/y to 1,200m/y | 20m/22y to 100y/m |
| Ability to customize data fields | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| Captures per length data - indoors | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| Indoor Alerts | Yes | N/A | No | Yes |
Triathlon | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT | | Designed for triathlon | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Multisport mode | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
Workouts | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT | | Create/Follow custom workouts | Yes | Yes (As of Dec 6, 2013) | No | Yes |
| On-unit interval Feature | Yes | Yes (As of Dec 6, 2013) | Barely | Yes |
| Training Calendar Functionality | Yes (Added June 13th, 2014) | No | No | Yes |
Functions | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT | | Auto Start/Stop | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Virtual Partner Feature | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Virtual Racer Feature | No | No | No | Yes |
| Records PR's - Personal Records (diff than history) | No | No | No | No |
| Tidal Tables (Tide Information) | No | No | No | No |
| Weather Display (live data) | No | No | No | No |
Navigate | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT | | Follow GPS Track (Courses/Waypoints) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Markers/Waypoint Direction | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Routable/Visual Maps (like car GPS) | No | No | No | No |
| Back to start | Yes | Yes | Yes (added Aug 30, 2013) | Yes |
| Impromptu Round Trip Route Creation | No | No | No | No |
| Download courses/routes from phone to unit | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Sensors | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT | | Altimeter Type | Barometric | Barometric | Barometric, GPS (FusedAlti) | Barometric |
| Compass Type | Magnetic | Magnetic | Magnetic | GPS |
| Heart Rate Strap Compatible | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ANT+ Heart Rate Strap Capable | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ANT+ Speed/Cadence Capable | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ANT+ Footpod Capable | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ANT+ Power Meter Capable | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| ANT+ Remote Control | No (can control VIRB though) | Yes | No | No |
| ANT+ eBike Compatibility | No | No | No | No |
| Shimano Di2 Shifting | No | | No | No |
| Bluetooth Smart HR Strap Capable | No | No | No | No |
| Bluetooth Smart Speed/Cadence Capable | No | No | No | No |
| Bluetooth Smart Footpod Capable | No | No | No | No |
| Bluetooth Smart Power Meter Capable | No | No | No | No |
| Temp Recording (internal sensor) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Temp Recording (external sensor) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Software | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT | | PC Application | Garmin Express | Basecamp | Moveslink Agent | GTC/ANT Agent |
| Web Application | Garmin Connect | Garmin Connect | Movescount | Garmin Connect |
| Phone App | iOS/Android | Garmin Basecamp (iOS) | Suunto Movescount | iOS/Android |
| Ability to Export Settings | No | Yes (profiles XML) | Yes (online) | No |
Purchase | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT | | Amazon | Link | Link | Link | Link |
DCRainmaker | Garmin Fenix2/Fenix2 SE | Garmin Fenix | Suunto Ambit2 | Garmin Forerunner 910XT | | Review Link | Link | Link | Link | Link |
The tables are updated dynamically and thus if/when things change that’s represented automatically in this section. And again, remember you can create your own charts easily here with any product you’d like.
Which watch?
Trying to decide which watch makes the most sense? Well, there’s a lot of options on the market today, and almost all of them have a compromise in one way or another. There actually isn’t yet the ‘perfect’ device in terms of taking advantage of all the technology advancements we’ve seen in the last 6-12 months. Instead, the picture is still a bit fragmented. That said, let’s look at the options in the same general price range:
Garmin FR910XT: Up until the Fenix2, this has been the most powerful triathlon watch on the market. There’s no two ways about that. The Fenix2 coming along snuggles up next to the Garmin FR910XT, but doesn’t actually blow it out of the water. It adds areas like Bluetooth Connectivity – but at the cost of concurrent ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart (like the FR220/FR620). It also adds/has integration with a slew of devices that the FR910XT doesn’t support (i.e. VIRB, Tempe, Chirp), as well as Ski-Board mode and navigation capabilities that far exceed the 910XT. However, it does lack some smaller features currently, such as ANT+ weight scale integration. For those with a FR910XT already, who are primarily using it just for swim/bike/run, I’d probably stick with the FR910XT. However, if you wanted greater navigational features, Running Dynamics, or Bluetooth upload support – then I’d look more closely at the Fenix2. Ultimately, there won’t be a direct FR910XT successor this triathlon season, so the options you see on the table now in this price range – are the options that are available for the season.
Polar V800: Polar launched the V800 back in January, with the unit set to hit retailers later this spring (looks like May at the moment). The V800 is purely Bluetooth Smart only, so there’s no ANT+ support for folks with existing accessories/sensors. The exact specifications of the unit in a triathlon configuration remain somewhat murky though. Initial plans around swim functionality (lap tracking, etc…) have been pushed to “later in 2014”, and many of the planned phone and navigation features have suffered a similar fate. The unit’s built-in 24/7 activity tracker is a huge market differentiator to other devices on the market, however, the implementation of the device remains to be seen. At this point, I really can’t make a recommendation one way or another on the V800, simply because I don’t know yet what’s going to be included within the unit upon initial availability this spring (and my recent repeated asks have gone unanswered). And ultimately, that makes a huge difference in determining whether it’s basically just a waterproof Polar RC3 with Bluetooth Support/Activity Tracker, or if it’s a major new competitor in the market.
Suunto Ambit 2/2S: Suunto makes what is today the most direct competitor to the Fenix/Fenix2. Like the Fenix, the Ambit started off in the hiking/navigation realm, and like the Fenix2, it wandered into the triathlon scene with the Ambit 2/2s. From a swim/bike/run standpoint, the Ambit 2/2S is a very capable unit for racing and training. It contains the ability to load small ‘apps’ onto it, developed for the Ambit. Though, it lacks any of the Bluetooth capabilities, thus mobile connectivity is out. From a hiking standpoint, it contains many of the same core features as the Fenix2, though most would argue that the Fenix lineup has a greater breadth of features. Whether or not you (or most) need some of those features like ‘Man Overboard’ or ‘Area Calculation’ is likely a valid question to ask.
Garmin FR620: Let’s be clear up front, the FR620 is not a triathlon watch, and it never will be. It’s a runner’s watch – and that’s it. A really darn good one, but, still, not a device aimed at either triathletes or a hikers. It doesn’t contain a barometric altimeter, or any of the navigational capabilities of the Fenix2 (or FR910XT). it does however allow you to concurrently utilize Bluetooth Smart and ANT+, which means you can do Live Tracking while still using ANT+ sensors. And that in and of itself is a huge thing. While the unit will gain a cycling mode with ANT+ speed/cadence sensor support later this spring as part of a firmware update, however, Garmin has confirmed the FR620 won’t be getting any navigation related features this spring.
TomTom Multisport: The TomTom unit is a good option, but it’s also not really in the same price range as what we’re talking about. It also lacks all of the advanced features. If you were to put together a detailed feature matrix (even beyond what I have in the comparison tables), you’d find that the TomTom unit has about 5-10% of the total features of the Fenix2. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s not a good triathlon unit – as it is. Rather, the TomTom unit isn’t a good navigational/hiking/ultra type unit – it simply isn’t targeted there. And that’s perfectly fine.
Summary:
Make no doubt about it, I’m impressed with where the Garmin Fenix team has brought the Fenix over the last 2 years, culminating in the Fenix2. Many triathletes have asked Garmin to make a watch that doesn’t look like a bulky computer on their wrist, but still does all the swim/bike/run goodness. Now they (mostly) have that. By the same token, understand that there are tradeoffs right now in what the Fenix2 offers, especially around Bluetooth Connectivity.
The industry is simply in a slightly awkward phase where there’s a lot of new technology integration partly implemented and coming, but getting it all in one single killer device seems to be a bit elusive. When I look at ‘new technology integration’, I’m talking about integrated Bluetooth & ANT+ support (concurrently), integrated activity monitor/tracker (24×7), optical heart rate, and phone apps that not only simply pair to the device – but extend the functionality. In many ways, for any device on the market today you’re going to have to make some sacrifices.
But at the end of the day, I feel it’s better to pick a device that fits 90% of the bill today, rather than wait a season or two for a device that does it all (or, does it all until you learn about some new ‘must-have’ feature). After all, if the theory is that the device improves your training and thus your results (or simply brings joy), then waiting simply delays those training benefits. Which isn’t to say you should or shouldn’t pick the Fenix2. As the previous section outlined, there’s a lot of great devices on the market – all of them will help you train quite well. It’s the details that differentiate them. Hopefully, this post and its few thousand words on details helped illuminate those key device differences.
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Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.
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Since the Garmin Fenix is no longer sold, I recommend looking at
Garmin Fenix 6 Series:
Here's a few other variants or sibling products that are worth considering:
And finally, here’s a handy list of accessories that work well with this unit (and some that I showed in the review). Given the unit pairs with ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart sensors, you can use just about anything though.
This is a dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart cycling cadence sensor that you strap to your crank arm, but also does dual Bluetooth Smart, so you can pair it both to Zwift and another Bluetooth Smart app at once if you want.
This is one of the top straps I use daily for accuracy comparisons (the others being the Polar H9/H10). It's dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart, and in fact dual-Bluetooth Smart too, in case you need multiple connectons.
Seriously, this will change your life. $9 for a two-pack of these puck Garmin chargers that stay put and stay connected. One for the office, one for your bedside, another for your bag, and one for your dog's house. Just in case.
This speed sensor is unique in that it can record offline (sans-watch), making it perfect for a commuter bike quietly recording your rides. But it's also a standard ANT+/BLE sensor that pairs to your device. It's become my go-to speed sensor.
This wifi-connected scale will track your weight and related metrics both on the scale display and in Garmin Connect (plus 3rd party apps like TrainingPeaks). It'll also then sync your weight to your watch/bike computer, to ensure accurate calorie data.
On Sale!The HRM-PRO Plus is Garmin's top-end chest strap. It transmits dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart, but also transmits Running Dynamics & Running Pace/Distance metrics, stores HR data during a swim, and can be used without a watch for other sports. Also, it can transmit XC Skiing Dynamics as well.
And of course – you can always sign-up to be a DCR Supporter! That gets you an ad-free DCR, access to the DCR Quarantine Corner video series packed with behind the scenes tidbits...and it also makes you awesome. And being awesome is what it’s all about!
Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. And lastly, if you felt this review was useful – I always appreciate feedback in the comments below. Thanks!
Hi! I’ve just bought an receive my Fenix 2 HRM watch. I bought it to replace my Suunto Ambit (which is still a great watch by the way).
The new Fenix 2 works really well but during my first 2 trials runs with it, it seems that the watch lost the HRM band connexion suddenly (no bpm and run dynamics anymore) during the warm-up phase (like 10-13min.) and it never got it back afterwards.
–> I was wondering if it’s possible that I accidentaly shut down the ANT connexion while running (hitting a button for example) or if there are some tips to do to avoid this.
Beside this issue, the Fenix 2 is a TOP watch but still:
– I think somehow the digits are more readable on the Ambit
– The GPS acquisition is faster on the Ambit as far as I could see (even with the GPS data cached on the Fenix 2)
If you have advice for the HRM band it would be highly appreciated!
PS: Ubber congratulations for your blog, it is by far my reference for sport equipment!
Thanks Benoit.
No, there’s no easy/logical way to accidentally shut off ANT+ mid-way (purposefully via the menu’s, certainly, but not accidentally)
On the GPS, I’ll assume that you’ve cached the satellites (plugged it into Garmin Express). And, assume that you’re also on the latest firmware as well? Though, honestly, it seems like the latest firmware is slightly less ideal than some of the previous firmware versions…
I’ve have numerous HRM issues with my 410. Eventually they sent me the HRM3 I think, the newer style band. I believe it the one F2 is shipping with. The old one had a broken wire inside we suspect as the BPM data was very erratic. But even with the new one. I have issues. I’m not a zombie. and the thing stays wet. But I lose or have erratic data. Like BPM <50 during long runs. I have found that for me, for whatever reason, if I rotate the strap so the plastic HRM fob is just about at my left pec, under the nip. Maybe I have some weird bio-electric issues in me, I dunno. But lately the garmin HRMs have been a challenge. I know it is for others as I read it. Some days it works fine, other days not.
Just as a general note on troubleshooting HR strap spikes/drops, etc… check out this: link to dcrainmaker.com
Great! I’ve spent the last out reading multiple posts and hundreds of comments. Overwhelmed with ideas. Getting a polar softstrap. running a dryer sheet on the HRM fob. using electrode gel. soaking the strap in distilled water. scrubbing snap contacts with toothbrush. Or all the above :) I think I just subscribed to another three or four threads. Thanks for all the great info you have. Love the Mio optical concept also, but like many, I would need 12+ hours battery life for a few events I got coming up. normally the 7 would work. I love HRM training. Hard when I oscillate between 60 and 200
Good luck Ted , i have tried most of the above & still get trash data at the start of a run for the first mile or so on some occasions. I use both the polar & latest Garmin soft strap. I don’t know how common this issue is with other athletes but it does ruin the whole idea of these watches.
Hi, thanks for the reply!
In the meantime, I re-synced the HRM and now it works fine… almost!
Most of the time, the HRM tracks BPM + Running Dynamics but I already experienced two times in three weeks the fact that the BPM are measured perfectly through the run but the Running Dynamics stopped after like 10min. (out of 60min).
I updated the Fenix to the latest Firmware 2.6 today, we’ll see.
There is a relative and absolute barometric pressure or just the 2?
Thanks for the nice review
I need some help :-)
I’ll try to run a track in to my Fenix2, but I can’t find in the manual much info….
I just go to navigate, select the track and start running but is that de right way ?
Garmin forerunner 910 is first select the track, and than start the training but that is not possible in fenix ?
Given there looks to be a bit of confusion around navigation, let me illuminate a bit. There are two ways to navigate in the Fenix2:
Method 1: Using the navigation profile (Red Button > Navigate). In this scenario, you have a custom profile directly for navigation, where you can customize data pages/etc… like other profiles. Upon starting this mode you’re able to choose what to navigate to (i.e. a waypoint or route). At which point you can be on your merry navigation way.
Method 2: The second is to enable navigating something from an existing sport (Red Button > Sport name). In this case, you could start a sport (such as running or cycling). At some point either before or after starting the sport, you realize you need to navigate somewhere. To initialized that, hold down Menu > User Data > (Select thing to navigate to). Once this is done, it’ll enable the common navigation pages to use. You can stop navigation (without stopping your activity) by holding the Menu button again and pressing ‘Stop Nav.’ You can later (if you want) navigate to something else.
As it stands today, it sounds like folks are having some issues with Running Dynamics in concert with Navigation. I’ve brought that up to the Fenix team and they are investigating. I would be curious if the above two implementations don’t cover the navigation questions that folks are seeing. Cheers.
Aha! Thanks for posting. This was driving me crazy. I’d stumbled on the Menu/User Data/[Destination]/Go sequence as a way to start navigation, but I hadn’t found the “Stop Nav” option until now. Now my only question is why Garmin didn’t mention this in the user manual. It sure would have helped if they’d done so (and if their help desk had responded when I emailed them about this).
It would also have helped if the main menu included a “Start Nav” option instead of this function being buried several layers down underneath “User Data”.
One more suggestion. It would useful if you could alternate between the navigation screens and the activity-specific screens if you start navigating while some other activity is being tracked in the background. Right now the latter screens can’t be accessed once you start navigating. That’s another reason why many of us were confused about this.
Thanks for that Ray. My confusion comes from the fact I followed the steps you outline in method 2 while I was in a running activity. All my data fields appeared normal after I had selected a waypoint except that I noticed the distance ran had stopped at the point I started navigating. Any thoughts why this might be?
Hi Martin-
I see what you mean. One temporary workout though is to just configure the additional (running-specific) screens within the navigation profile, which then are enumerated back in the running activity once you start. It doesn’t address the lack of Running Dynamics pieces in that profile however. But, based on the discussion today I had, I think Garmin understands why that’s an issue. So hang tight.
So basically, as it stands today, when you trigger navigation while in another activity, it basically shows you from that point any screens you have configured for navigation, versus the current sport. I’d agree, that’s less than ideal.
Lanky- Hmm, I’ll go outside tomorrow and play with it a bit and see if I can replicate (it’s 1AM here, so getting a bit late).
Ray, using method 2 created a 3 min GPS loss when it jumped from Run to Navigate and it seemed to go haywire for the first couple of minutes, definitely buggy.
Also, by having just a single navigation activity means I need to create a bunch of navigating pages for the other activities, where it would be much simpler and cleaner for each activity to have its own navigate pages like fenix1
Thanks for the excellent review! I recently received my F2 from Clever Training and one observation and one question relative to run workouts. The question first: I am having trouble with target alerts not working during intervals. see link to forums.garmin.com. Have you heard or experienced any issues with target alerts during intervals?
Observation: When the target alert is working, it appears to be based on current pace and not the average lap/interval pace. This is a change to the behavior I experienced with the 610. I like this new feature and it seems that there are many on the forums that disagree. I’m sure where the greater body of readers here feel, but one vote to keep the targets based on current value and not the average lap/interval/segment value.
thanks again for your time and efforts!
On my workouts, I did get alerts when I was outside of targets. I did running ones that were HR, cadence, and pace driven. For those sections, it was when I specified them as ‘Interval’.
Of course, that was a few firmware versions ago, so whether or not things have changed (read: broke) since then, I don’t know offhand.
I agree with you that target pace should be driven by current pace, not lap average. As otherwise if you say ‘overachieved’ for the first portion of a lap and then went back to target, the unit would still be beeping at you. Most coaches would argue that purposefully slowing down below target simply to hit a final number is pointless. You should be at target, and if you overachieved, you should fall back to the at target pace.
Ultimately, I’d argue that if folks want average value alerting, that Virtual Partner is a better option.
Apologize for the display name change, but there are several Ted’s commenting so I added another letter.
I sincerely appreciate your efforts to help the community at large get a better understanding of the products and your efforts to communicate on our behalf to the development teams for product improvements!
Another run today with v2.50 and the pace alerts did not function again for intervals within a repeat. It does not appear that I am alone and only hoping you can add this to your list for the next time you communicate to the Fenix Team.
No other significant issues. Minor issue with Left/Right power data not making it to Garmin Connect. The data is captured by Fenix 2 and is available via Training Peaks. TE and PS is also not available via GC nor can I find it on Training Peaks yet. I expect time will pass and this will get sorted out.
Satellite acquisition is slower than 610 (almost two minutes). I will experiment with connect via Garmin Express on Windows vice MAC for satellite cache data..
thanks again and have a great day!
Thanks Ted. No worries about a display change name adding the D. I was mostly referring to someone posting under multiple names who was really the same person.
RE: Intervals with a repeat
Was that a custom workout or the straight interval function? I ask, as I did the custom intervals last night on 2.50 with repeats and pace targets just before it was released and it did work there for me (not that it helps you, but just trying to narrow down).
RE: TE/PS Power Data on GC
That was just enabled on Garmin Connect for workouts uploaded on or after March 25th. Older workouts aren’t seeing it. Training Peaks doesn’t support those fields yet. I believe Sport Tracks Mobi does though.
Thanks for the prompt reply.
It was a custom workout I created in GC.
Step 1: Type Warmup, duration 10 minutes, target pace
Step 2: Repeat 4 times (step A type interval, duration 9 minutes, target pace; step B type recovery, duration 1 minute, no target)
Step 3: Type Cool Down, duration 30 minutes, target HR.
The target alerts work for steps 1 and 3.
For the power data: I get L/R, TE/PS data from my 810, but the Fenix 2 data shows on GC as 100% left / 0% right and no data for TE/PS. On training peaks, the left/right data from the 810/Fenix 2 are consistent.
Thanks again!
FWIW, Satellite acquisition is much faster after connecting F2 with Windows version of Garmin Express. Not sure i can correlate the performance of satellite cache data to windows Garmin Express versus MAC, but I’ll take the performance increase.
hi ray, quick question.
when i export an workout from garmin connect to tcx or tpx file ( i have tried both ) and import it
to endomodo, everything get transfer over EXCEPT calories. do you know why? thanks
Unfortunately I don’t toy with Endomondo too much, so I’m not quite sure where the issue lies (Fenix/GC export/Endomodo, or somewhere else). Have you tried uploading the .FIT file directly from the unit?
no i havent. i guess thats the only way to figure it out. thanks
everything works normal when i import from the watch itself. thanks
Appreciate the review Ray – received my F2 via CT a week ago (ordered after your first impression review) so I read the full review to better understand functionality, tips, tricks, etc. What sold me on this watch, after using a bulletproof 310xt forever, was the advanced functionality above/beyond a dedicated tri watch. For example, I was able to use the F2 skiing this weekend and it was a blast! The auto-pause/lap functionality worked flawlessly for 3 days and it was fun seeing speed/elevation/distance summaries on the lift post-run. Having the outdoor team at Garmin bring in these useful pursuits while also creating a very well functioning tri watch seems like a very interesting branch on the Garmin tree. Don’t get me wrong, I will be doing IMLP this summer, so I want a “real” tri watch, but I’m more nonplussed about the shortcomings. Hiking with a robust hiking watch with compass, waypoints, etc, will be a lot more fun than putting the 3/910xt into “other” mode.
If I have an ask, and just one important ask, please Garmin create an option around inverted display. For the 40+ crowd, it gets hard to read, especially in shady areas or at oblique angles – especially if there’s a 4-field display (no, I will NOT use fewer fields!). Thanks again. (PS: hate to add to the problem, but the comments section has gotten out of control…)
I would argue the inverted display would also be useful to younger people like myself who struggle with visibility while running under heavy shade/tree cover. I’m having to turn on Fenix2 backlight in places where it wasn’t necessary with Fenix1.
It seems the curved glass plus the inverted display is what’s ruining it for me. But, hopefully the Fenix team can solve this by giving us an option for the inverted pages like those inverted “Swim” pages which should be enough to not have to turn on backlight.
Hi Ray (or anyone that knows the answer)
If I want to wonder in a park can I mark my start position and then at the end of the hike do I have the option of “Traking Back” to the start point? Can the watch take me back to a starting point if I am lost and cant find my way?
and if it does does it take you back by “as the crow flies” or does it take you back “thru the way you came”? Tracking the same route you just made?
Thanks.
You’re able to do both by either using trackback or simply creating a waypoint (on Fenix2 just hold down button) where you parked and then you can navigate back to that waypoint; pretty cool, actually.
Which button do I have to hold down? How Is that done? That’s seems cool to be able to find you car in the Parking lot of Gillete Stadium after a Patriots Game.
Also with the “trackback” option Is that a special menu that I have to go into? or is there a button that I have to press? How does it work? How can I get into “trackback”?
Sorry I known it is a lot of questions. But the manual is of no help and I know there are some experienced people here.
I would like to give it a try on a small area behind my house to test it before I head into any big unknown places. hehehe.
FYI: its not noted in the manual, but you can hold down the and it will go back to the clock screen, vs. pressing several times.
Hot-Key – which is holding the button, can be programmed. What is everybody using it for? My thought was to set for a Waypoint mark.
Hey,
I jsut got the watch yesterday, did a couple tests sitting on the couch and successfully uploaded a couple 30 second runs.
Today my computer updated something. Since then nothing will upload to Garmin Connect. I tried on my Iphone 5s, then my computer via Garmin Express. Both say error
I spoke to two people at Garmin support, they said the iphone does not work and Garmin Express has a bug that it will not work. The only way to upload it to manually upload it in Garmin Connect.
Have you experienced anything or heard anything? I was pretty suprised by Garmins answer was to just wait for a future software fix. Up until today Garmin support was always terrific.
Thoguhts?
It sounds like the support folks are confused and incorrect. You don’t by chance have a support case ID number, do you? Or, any chance it was Garmin Australia support?
I would re-try on both/either upload options. GC was in maintenance mode earlier today/last night, which may have prevented things. I just uploaded a Fenix2 workout without issue using Garmin Express (on Windows 8.1).
As for future software updates, they are working on addressing many of the items people have surfaced in the last week. I suspect we’ll see that soon, and I think people will be happy. By the same token, I’d prefer they spend the extra few days to ensure one change doesn’t break another.
Cheers.
Hey Dc, thanks for the reply and for everything you do, you rock!
I don’t have a ID number. The first person I spoke to was Benjamin. When he told me that the iphone and Garmin Expresss don’t work, I asked to speak to a supervisor. He passed me along to Caleb H. Who again said tough luck for now, that I have to wait for some updates.
I pushed him hard, telling him I just spent $450 on a device that one of the main new features is bluetooth and it doesn’t work? He apoligized and told me to wait.
I just deleted my iphone app and reinstalled it. I also turned on and off the watch. No luck :(
Hey Ray.
Firstly, thanks for the review. Awesome as always. ‘ve received my Performance bundle today and have two questions if you may that I don’t think have been addressed elsewhere.
1.) Just wondering on the Firmware. I’m running OSX and have Garmin Express downloaded but it’s saying that the Firmware is unto date at Version 2.2. Surely this isn’t correct? Is it because I’m in the UK? Are they slower in rolling out the updates to OSX users?
2.) Can you only increase your weight in 2kg increments? Surely this will produce inaccurate calorie information for the runs if not using the HR monitor?
Many thanks.
1) In the event Garmin Express is being a PITA, try out Garmin Web Updater instead. It works fine for updating the Fenix, and honestly, the web updater is the dependable guy that’s worked forever on anything USB related.
2) Interesting. I had set mine in pounds. But I agree in looking at it, a little bit odd.
I got my F2 a couple weeks ago and used it for my first 50k trail race (The Hat Run) a last weekend.
Overall I am rather disappointed.
(1) Maybe it was a glitch but at mile 26 the watch stopped recording. I happened to look at my wrist and noticed I had to hit the start button again to get it going.
(2) When I uploaded the data to Garmin Connect it did not record moving time or average moving pace. It recorded my Best Pace at 2:00 and Average Moving pace at 3:25. I would be the world 50K record holder if I had that kind of pace! It showed my total 50K time as 1:52.48 That’s off by several hours ;-)
(3) The screens on the round watch face are hard to read when you’re moving. They are not bright and clear like the 620 or 910XT, which I both own.
(4) I looked at comparable uploads on Garmin Connect and found that people who used a 610/620/910 seemed to have more accurate results including total vertical climbs.
I can’t say that I am too please with Garmin f%^^ the data on my inaugural 50K trail run.
Get with it Garmin.
(1) Similar thing happened on one of my v2.40 runs, but hasn’t reoccurred
(3) Same for me, especially when there’s shade involved, hopefully they could invert page to solve this
HI!
This is not a stupid question (although it seems).
How can one change the wrist band? After removing the first screw: that’s the easy part.
Assume that one screw can not be removed…
Hi,
Great review! Thanks.
May I ask you how accurate is the GPS in Fenix 2? I am a runner so my question is mainly to running mode.
Sorry if you mentioned the accuracy in your review but I have not noticed.
Now I have Timex Ironman Run Trainer 2.0 and the accuracy is not good (specially when running in parks, forest etc)
Thank you
Martin, on my 50K it had me doing a total of 32 miles. I noticed during the race that it was actually ahead of the other folks I was running with. Their Garmins were about at least 1/4 mile behind. One nice thing is that the GPS signal did not drop in the steep and hilly terrain we were in. My 620 dropped frequently when we were training on the same course.
I just did a 7.1 mile run today with the Fenix2 and 910xt. They were 2-7 seconds apart per mile, so pretty close.
Were you using two HRM? Or can one pair with two devices. With me F2 due to arrrive friday was gonna do my 15miles on Saturday with both F2 and 610. Wondered if I could compare HRM stats also.
You can pair a single HR strap to any number of devices you wish. It’s how I do all my testing.
With each passing day I’m getting less impressed with the F2. Seemingly obvious ways of doing things appear to have been ignored in favour of more unusual methods ( the prime case is the inability to have navigate as a feature within a specific activity. Who says “I’m just off out to navigate and I may run while I’m at it. Surely everyone goes for a run and then finds they want to navigate whilst running).
On the issue of GPS accuracy I had some shocking errors on my run today when you look at the route overlaid on a satellite image. Also have lost GPS signal frequently on 2 runs – something I never had with 305 or 910xt.
In short.. not happy!
You and I are in the same boat. The more I use the Fenix 2, the less I like it. Today I ran with the Fenix2 and the 910xt. The lap pace (auto lap each mile) was all over the place on the Fenix 2 but steady with the 910xt. When I compared the maps, the Fenix 2 was less accurate (GPS recording every second and WAAS enabled). The 910 was much closer to my actual run route and had me on the correct sides of the street. The Fenix had me cutting through backyards. Here’s a sample
link to i1059.photobucket.com
Also now that Garmin connect lets you see the elevation data, during this running loop the Fenix reported +603 ft, – 215ft while the 910xt reported +440, -437. This with the Fenix Altimeter continuously using GPS to correct itself.
Ray any word on when the next firmware update will be?
Ray would you happen to have any idea when extra charging cables will be available for order?
You can get them today. It’s the same cable as the Fenix1/Tactix. I use them interchangeably.
Order the performance bundle via CT (thanks for that connection Ray). Was pretty much sold on the F2 as my replacement for my 410. The 410 just won’t hack the ultras I am planning this year. Very excited that the F2 is coming on friday, but I have to admit all the negativity here has got me pondering. Granted its well known that blogs typically elicit negative comments or complaints or bugs when it comes to technology. Happy people aren’t reading this, the are off in the woods enjoying the F2. If you skip the pool issues. The post custom workout issues. The inverse display. How is the F2 working for distance/trail runners? I read some HRM drops and the fella that did the 50k. Hopefully those are anomalies. Folks got some positive experiences to share?
Ted, other than the 50K I have not tried it. I am just disappointed that the thing doesn’t properly record, or at least properly post data. In any case for the big bucks it should work perfectly right out of the box.
Ray,
How likely is that they will discontinue the Tactix due to the release of the Fenix2? If discontinued will they continue to release updates adding features like they have with the Fenix1? I just bought the Tactix 2 weeks ago and I am trying to decide what the future holds for it and if I should return it while I still can. I really like the Tactix, it looks better to me and I like the green light with white background. I am a mountain backpacker, so all the run/cycle/swim options I have no use for, but I do not want to own a watch that Garmin will abandon and not fix future problem or release useful updates. Please share your thoughts. As always thank you for the work you do making us educated consumers.
It’s very unlikely. It was just announced 4 months ago. I suspect we’ll continue to see feature adds, though, I never recommend folks buy any device based on the assumption of new features unless said features have been announced. It almost always leads to disappointment.
That said, if I was in your shoes, I’d swap it out for the Fenix2. Given you don’t have a specific need for the green backlight (specifically, night vision goggle support), I’d go with the greater flexibility of the Fenix2.
Again, just my two cents.
Ray (& those who use the 220/620 & Fenix2);
I thought it was ‘Fore armed is fore warned’ not information overload.
I’m looking to replace my years old 210 and have been looking at the 220 & 620.
I run (5-8k 3x per week – road, trail, beach);
I also swim 2 – 3x per week (3x 400m / 50m pool) using the Garmin Swim.
I have been reading too much and want a simple answer of what to upgrade to. Yes I already have a Swim but are willing to flip it to reduce the amount of watches etc if I can and the Fenix2 is up to it (ease of use).
1. I need to set up the watch for 2.5k laps in my 5-8k runs (Have NFI on how to set it up in my 210).
2. I use a treadmill / xtrainer after night shift if I’m too shattered to do my run/gym/swim separately and would like to know if the HRM-Run features trump the FootPod (at the moment I dont bother the footpod is all over the place on the treadmills at my gym). = Keep the FootPod or get the HRM-Run).
3. I’ve always wanted a Virtual Partner / Virtual Pace to see if I’m making my sub 11min 2.5k time (at the moment I use the Pace feature). Is it better or should I be looking at Race Predictor?
Other points
I dont care for the swipe face of the 610/620 after trying a 610 so its not about that.
I also really dont care about the features of the HRM-Run other than what I have listed above.
I wont be using it as a daily watch as I have one its really an update / upgrade.
I do a couple of 5k races each year, one 12k and a couple of 5k Trail Runs + at least 1 Mud or Obstacle Run.
Any help, opinions; users advise would be appreciated.
Honestly, I’d keep the swim and use that for your swimming. Personally, I’ll still largely use the Swim for my swimming, simply because it’s much thinner, and I never have to worry about battery, so it just hangs out in my swim bag 100% of the time. The unit wirelessly transfers to my laptop and all is done. Happy.
Which leaves you on the running side. Race predictor won’t help you too much on pacing, as it’s just a lookup table against your VO2Max, post-run.
Everything that you’ve said points me in the direction of the FR220 for you. The only exception would be Virtual Parnter, which is only on the FR620. But, pace alerts configured to hit you race time would work (as you’re doing today). The treadmill features on the FR220 and FR620 are the same (both using the wrist, not the HRM-RUN).
Just my two cents…
Thanks Ray.
It’s how I was leaning considering the jump in price point I was just thinking that the Fenix2 would handle the 1 or 2 obstetrical / mud runs I do each year.
Also do you have a link to were I can set up pace alerts (at the moment I just check the screen and make sure I’m up).
Hi Andrew-
I talk about setting up pace alerts within the FR220 review. That might help.
Ray – Any update on the time it takes to sync your workout to the iPhone? Is there an improvement? Also does is still take long to save a workout? Thanks.
I’ve synced my last 2 runs via bluetooth, a 4 miler outside and an 8 miler on the TM with the foodpod. It took the 4 miler about 40seconds to upload and the 8 miler about a minute or so. So overall not too bad, still slower than my 620 was, but i’m happy enough with it.
Hi Harish-
Just to circle back to this… I am seeing an improvement. Tonight I sync’d my 2hr 30min run (with HRM-RUN data at 1-second intervals) via phone. It took about 8 minutes to complete that transfer via Bluetooth Smart. Which…is a significant reduction from 40 minutes normally, but, not quite as good as some folks 40-seconds.
Thanks Ray. Good improvement though. Hoping it gets even better in the next update. Waiting to get my watch. On order!
In DATA FIELDS, can Fenix2 display the information of the clock?
I want to add a clock in 4-data fields in run Profiles.
However, there was Date, but there was not the clock info.
Of course the clock displays if I switch a page.
However, I want to display in main 4-data fields.
On my 310xt, for the clock, or current time, you look for a field called ‘Time of Day’. Might be the same in the Fenix.
Thank you goughy.
I found it on my Fenix2.And I am sorry to overlook.
Can I obtain VO2max when cycling (if I choose bike from the menu)? Or should I always choose run to make it work? It is the same for recovery advisor?
No, VO2Max is only available via running today. If you choose running but go cycling, it’ll likely be skewed, as there’s an element of distance that’s taken into account.
Hi,
I did a Cycling workout in the trainer, and when I uploaded to GC it sent the value for VO2max and the activity was labled as Cycling.
Strange. I don’t see it on mine (just double-checked), nor on the unit (usually it’ll show in the history field). Lucky duck!
Thank you for your quick comment. I agree it is skewed, but can one tell us that if we take a road up (4% grade) will fix the element of distance?
What will be that grade? It will be a solution for all bikers until they put VO2max for bike.
I’m not clear I understand the impact of grade on V02Max.
Sorry, I was not clear. I meant riding up into mountains with a designed grade (say 5%) that would force me to have the same distance like when running on flat (assuming the same training intensity: same HR).
I hope that doing so the VO2max will show the correct figure while cycling even though I will select RUN on my watch.
So, the only unresolved question will be to know the grade one needs to be able to compare running with cycling on the same distance.
Ray – are you sure that distance is taken into calculations when VO2max is calculated ? Take a look at link to firstbeat.com
Yes, last time I asked they are using an element of distance to determine VO2Max, which is different than the straight HR-driven value in the FirstBeat paper.
Ultimately, if you’re using the VO2Max function while cycling but in running mode, expect it to skew a variety of metrics – from VO2Max to WDR for treadmill running.
Hey Fellas,
I’ve done my first few custom workouts in the gym and my VO2 max keeps lowering. I saved a workout as Elliptical and Weights, and each time the metric got lower.
Maybe you can guys can help. Do I need to delete the distance field from the custom workout screen to prevent this from happening?
Thanks as always for the time spent doing all you do Ray!
Can one pair fenix2 with OS X-Maveriks (running macbook pro, for example). On my system I can not find the watch. I understand one needs android >4.3 (that is because of LowE not being supported until 4.3).
install LightBlue (from AppStore) and you can connect (piaring works). I could not sync though, any ideas why?
As noted, the app is only available to connect to the Fenix/Tactix line right now on iOS. They say it should be available “soon” on Android. 3rd party apps can’t connect to the device via Bluetooth.
It’s one of those “why bother” things. Even if you could pair with your MacBook Pro (I just made a halfhearted attempt, and it didn’t work), you don’t have any software that can do anything with it. It’s not just going to just mount on the Desktop. Garmin doesn’t make any OS X software that uses Bluetooth. Besides, Bluetooth is short range, and you might just as well plug your Fenix into the cable in that case. You know that will work and Garmin (and others) makes software (Basecamp, Express, etc.) that you can use with it.
Well… not quite right! What if you do not have the cable with you in a trip? Plus it will be nice to have a device (like a mac) that has bluetooth always turn on and when in range you could sync?
Now I see that one has to (manual) use another software to sync. I thought that being connected with a device that has internet and assigns the watch with GC account, fenix will do the job (ok, I was wrong)
It looks like I’m used with syncing my phone with my car (which automatically connects when in the car, no button pushed, nothing…)
No cable? Then how are you going to charge it?
I just went through this. If you’re traveling and you’re planning on using the Fenix for anything other than a watch, then you’re going to take the cable. You’ll need it. The big problem is that the Fenix cable isn’t a standard USB cable, so if you lose it or it gets damaged, you’ll have trouble getting a replacement right away. The kinds of cables that VIRB’s and Edge’s use are standard and widely available.
It’d be nice if it just synced up with whatever, but I’d rather it have WiFi rather than Bluetooth for that.
regarding fenix 2 ,can we manually add latitude and longitudes? does it support MGRS also like TACTIX??? in short does it have same navigational features as in tactix please…
is there any built difference between tactix and fenix 2? other than night vision goggle display in tactix which is green in color and for fenix 2 red,any other difference???
Yes, it supports MGRS, and you can manually add in coordinates if you’d like for navigation.
What Profile do you use to load MGRS coordinates for Fenix 2? I can load on Tactix, but only under Military Profile, and so far not on Fenix 2 under any Profile nor Custom, am I missing a step?
Have you changed the coordinate unit type on the Fenix2? It’s located under Menu > Settings > System > Pos. Format > Format.
no, I missed that step… Thank you very much! Wow, so really this device just needs to have the Tidal Information tool implemented, and I’ll no longer have to have the other surf/tide watch and will have everything on one watch, c’mon Garmin, please add the Tide info toolset to this Fenix 2!!!
On a side note, I’m currently running the installed 2.2, and have experienced freezes when loading History and misc from time to time, hopefully 2.50 addresses the multiple freezing issues and slow to connect HRM (fingers crossed).
Hi Ray,
I commend you on a most excellent review, very well written! I have spent about an hour reading comments and scouring the internet for a very basic function which I need: an hourly beep/chime/vibration function. I would be EXTREMELY surprised if it didn’t do this but at the same time I haven’t been able to find any facts on this. Do you know if the Fenix 2 does this without manually setting alarms? If so, will it allow me to select beep or vibrate or both?
Cheers
Hi Petrovski-
I don’t see any option in the menu’s for it, nor have I heard of it on either the previous Fenix1/Tactix.
Sorry!
Thanks for checking,, that’s kind of a dealbreaker since I use those beeps to align my biological clock. It shouldn’t be an astronomical development project for them to add a simple feature like this, would you mind bringing this small feature request up with them next time you are communicating with them?
An hourly chime/vibrate function that doesn’t require you to set up a bunch of alarms, is all.
Cheers
Great review….
For me it is a major minor that it does not support the Tanita scale.. Wanted to buy the F2 today, but am happy that I read thus review before..
Is there any news regarding an update maybe for supporting the Tanita BC1000?
Thanks and kind regards,
Jan
No change there.
Hi Ray,
Any idea when the Fenix 2 would be available in Europe (or more specifically in Belgium)? I’m really impatiently waiting for it, but don’t really find information on it, neither can I pre-order it yet on the site where I usually buy these kind of things (coolblue)?
Thanks in advance for your feedback
Grts Nicky
it’s available in France since last week
Got it in Spain last week performance bundle.
One if the few available, right now all shops show no availability for the performance bundle until end of April.
It’s available in the UK as well, directly from the Garmin Shop. Only one other retailer (Millet Sports) seem to be stocking it, or seemingly even aware that it exists because nowhere else (inc Amazon UK) lists it even for pre-order.
If it weren’t for this excellent website it probably would have flown under my radar as well! Thanks Ray.
FWIW, I received a “poor” notification from the recovery advisor this morning. I am a 40 year old in the middle of a marathon buildup, so I am not offended. It was my third run since switching over from the FR305.
Wow, nicely done! ;)
ha, I’m training too – and every day it says “Training Effect 5” and recovery time “71 Hours” – but then when I run the next day because I’m fine – it says “Recovery – Fair” – I don’t think it knows what to do..
I will say too – it seems to make no difference whether I run 10 minute miles or 8 minute miles and whether I run 4 miles or 10 – it always says “71 hours” – is anyone seeing anything any different? My heart rate averages in the 150-160 range and I usually have a few hills that push it to 175 – nothing crazy for the fact that I’m a 37 year old male.. VO2 shows 46.
Mine just gave me 37 hours for a run I just finished a few minutes ago. Personally, given how I wanted to die half-way through the run, I’ll trade you for the 71 hours.
Do double/triple check that your user profile settings are correct (Age/Gender/Weight/Lifetime Athlete setting).
My user profile settings are definitely set up correctly. I have run an average of 11 miles per day for the last six, so I was plenty tired this morning. I have a rest day tomorrow followed by a Saturday “non goal” race. We will see how quickly the watch learns. So far I really like it.
I double checked it – I’ve just learned to ignore it – because it’s yet to be right :-)
Is it possible that 71 is the max it shows? I got the same number for a 10k a 13k and a half. Average HR in all around 150 TE 5.0 in all.
My avg HR is 156 for my 5 mile run today (which is conversational pace for me) – I have a feeling it’s expecting me to be averaging 130’s and my heart rate just runs higher than that. I may have to lie on my age to get it to show me something besides a 5… ha ha
I saw a 77 last Sunday. So, I think it can go higher. That said, like the FR620 – I don’t put too much stock into it. And, just to be clear, while testing the Suunto Ambit, most of the time the two units put me within 1-3hrs of each other for recovery time.
Have you tried to manually set your HR zones – leaving user profile data as is?
Will try setting zones for my run tomorrow.
Did my long run yesterday, The ambit 2 shows 100 hours, Fenix 2 71 hours, average HR 152 and 153, TE 5.0 on both, 1:46h in Z4 2h total run. Weird, normally they are fairly close.
BTW is there a way to show how long I spent in each zone. I have that in Movescount but can’t find it in Connect.
No method to show time in zone on connect. Long asked for, never implemented.
Setting zones was the problem – today’s 10 mile run showed Recovery – Good and 36 hours (which is completely appropriate) – thanks!
It might take a longer time that I thought for the watch to learn about me, but today I got the first TE under 5, TE4.1 in 13.77km. 48 hours recovery. My Suunto gives me 43 hours and TE5.0
I know this is an old thread but… I got my first “Poor” recovery status yesterday. Ran a 10k race at 92% of max then went for an evening 1 1/2 hour run (I’m training for a really long race). Overall, I think it’s a useful tool and seems pretty correct for me. A medium length zone 2 run will yield a recovery in the 16-20 hour range which is about right, one workout per day. I also use my own brain and sense of useful versus destructive fatigue. Generally speaking, folks train too often at high intensity so would be well served to listen to advice telling them to rest after a hard workout (or to go less hard next time).
Hey Ray–
Since you’ve udated by adding the page jump bar. Just a thought, perhaps adding another sub menu on PRODUCT REVIEWS, to enable going directly to a specific item.
Thanks J. Not a bad idea, I’ll look to see if it can be implemented dynamically and in a way that only returns the most recent products (as otherwise, some of the categories would be massive). Just trying to keep it as clean as possible.
Ray, have you noticed basic Fenix2 v2.40 navigation issues?
Downloaded same track on both Fenix2 and Ambit2 and was surprised to see Fenix2 with a serious “Late Turns” navigating issues
Also, the 2 little navigating ticks tend to jump around quite a bit. Here’s the thread link to forums.garmin.com
Thank you for a fantastic review! I wonder if the Fenix 2 is the only new Garmin multisport watch in near future , or will there be a new Forerunner XT910 for example a XT920?
Just curious if there is a way to turn off the internal accelerometer during indoor running workouts? Until it warms up here in the Midwest US, it will be tough to get it calibrated here soon. Plus for future, when I import into Training peaks, or my workout log, I plan to use the treadmill mileage rather than the Garmin mileage. I would then only be logging time vs. HR since the pace data wouldn’t be there.
Thanks,
Brandan
Great review, Rainmaker.
I’d like to get your opinion on comparing the backlight readability of the Tactix (green) and the Fenix 2 (red). Color differences aside, I’m reading that the Fenix 2 “washes out” when backlit, unlike the Tactix. To me, the Tactix display (in both light and dark areas) is perfect! With adjusting the backlight and contrast settings, is it possible to have the Fenix 2 as bright as the Tactix WITHOUT any washout? General thoughts on this would be awesome!
Thank you!!
(It was because of your amazing review of the Tactix that I purchased that unit. Like others above, I’m debating if I should swap out the Tactix with the Fenix 2… but want to make sure the display is as good first.)
Adam
I LOVE my Tactix screen. I’m very unimpressed with the readability and bleeding in the red Fenix2 screen. I keep taking the Fenix2 off and going back to the Tactix so I can read it. FWIW, I’m sending my Fenix2 back to Garmin for that reason. It’s too bad because the menus are simpler and of course it does the multi-sport stuff but I just hate viewing it at night and I spend a lot of time training in the dark.
Thanks Troy! I’ll keep my Tactix based off of your reply. I like the Tactix display quite a bit and I’d hate to sacrifice readability for some features I might even use. I just hope Garmin keeps outputting updates for it. Thanks again!
I bought the Fenix 2 last week and have used it for Running and Swimming.
Previously, I have had all of the top line running/biking Garmin units (Suunto for Diving).
I am getting older with farsighted effects. I thought the reverse display would make it ‘easier’ to read… NOT!
Maybe it is just me but I can read the Fenix 2 during the day and in the pool… but come sundown… ALL bets are off. I can’t read a thing! The red looks cool in the house… but it isn’t as crisp as the photos!
I am re-boxing the Fenix 2 now and shipping it back to Amazon!
Thank GOD that I didn’t sell my 910XT… back in use this morning!
I will now wait for a FIXED Fenix 2 display and/or look at the Suunto Ambit 3.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Andrew
Just bought my fenix2 performer bundle, but my hrm-run seems defective, it keeps disconnecting. Should I take it back to the store? Anyone else with this issue?
There are a lot of complaints about the Fenix 2 being unable to connect to the HRM-RUN.
link to forums.garmin.com
Let’s hope Garmin will fix this soon.
I bought the Fenix 2 after reading Ray’s review, but I should say that I am quite worry as the Fenix 2 seems to be VERY buggy and the Fenix 1 was famous for all the bugs Garmin (the Fenix team) never fixed :-(
Thks Norberto. That looks pretty overwhelming! Where in those forums does Garmin list “Known Problems” so I can read through them and not have to call support as I’m not really the type to call support lines. I’d much rather deal with a person at the store I bought it from.
To my knowledge there is no official list of “known problems” from Garmin, only reports from users.
But I tend to believe that if multiple users are willing to lose some time to report the same problem, it is probably more a “bug” than a “user problem”…
Just as a friendly (general) reminder…please don’t change your display name in comments in an attempt to make things look like multiple people are reporting issues…it’s sorta not cool.
Hi Ray,
In case your reminder was caused by my reply to “Norby”, please be assure that we are not the same person, even though Norby is also my nickname as my name is Norberto :-)
Norberto, from Paris.
Great there s so many comments. Any easy way to jump to end of the page on ipad ?
It’s something I’ve added to the dev folks list to get added in. They’re just wrapping up new spring feature adds, so hopefully it won’t take long. Thanks for stopping by!
I guess its always the same.
A new product comes out. It is not perfect at first.
A lot of negative things get said (which I think should be done) and slowly things get fixed and then everybody gets used to the watch. When a new watch is again released we talk about the old watch as if it was the best thing ever and the new watch as if it were the worst thing ever. I can’t compare the previous one.
Its like a circle of life.
Same happened with the FR910XT hated at first and now very much loved (by a lot of comments in here)
I am glad a place like this exists.
LOVE this post! These devices involve advanced technology and are necessarily complex. Consumers get frustrated, yet your “big picture” perspective is totally accurate… by the time the ‘next big thing’ is here, people will say ‘yah, but my Fenix 2 was so much more reliable…’.
PS. I’ve had 2 weeks with my F2 now and, other than Garmin Connect display issues (not directly F2 related) I haven’t had any problems (running v2.4 firmware). I have not biked with it yet so I don’t know about the cycling cadence issue that some folks reported, but other than that it’s been great. Even more reliable at catching my turns (thus lap-count accuracy) than my Garmin Swim!
I love this watch.
I hope you’re right Haroldo. However, in my upgrade path with Garmin (405 -> 610 -> 910xt) each upgrade may have introduced bugs, but the overall user experience was improved with more features and newer hardware. The change from the 910 to the Fenix 2 not only introduced bugs, but took several steps back in feature set, ease of use, and functionality. My fear is that with a new team and new architecture, the Fenix 2 will never be as user friendly then the Forerunner series.
Only time will tell, but I will probably return the Fenix2 and take a look at it in a few months after a few more firmware updates.
I keep scratching my head about the numerous comments about the watch. Everyone seems to love the watch and then add a “but” which includes some serious issues.
I had to really think about how the 910xt was when it was it first came out, so I went back to the 1st posts in the Garmin Forums to see what the major complaints were. Lo and behold I found a post from myself.
link to forums.garmin.com
That was only a month after the watches release, 2 years ago!
Quick question;
In the section regarding the treadmill usage, what device were you referring to that you would give a “D” rating? The original Fenix? Do you think the original Fenix did a decent job with indoor, or should I get the footpod for that model. Thanks!
I was referring to the FR220/FR620 and first release of the Fenix1 beta software. Keep in mind that the (recent) 4.15 software for the Fenix1 beta contains the same WDR algorithms as the Fenix2, so I’d expect those to be the same after some time is spend outdoors.
Just as a heads up – Garmin has released 2.50 for the Fenix2. This addresses some of the issues/changes folks have reported/requests:
Changes made from version 2.40 to 2.50:
Added swim alerts
Improved custom pool length selection experience
Fixed issues with cadence data
Fixed issue preventing Foot Pod from being located for outdoor activities
Fixed issue with Foot Pod calibration
link to www8.garmin.com
As I noted a few days ago, I continue to consolidate items people report (including those on the GC forums) and push for changes. In general, I’m not seeing much pushback to common requests. You’ll likely continue to see fixes/changes based on that. Cheers.
I hadn’t upgraded it due to the multiple complaints here with the new firmware. Will do it now.
Hourly Beep/Vibrate function please!! :))
Any possibility on getting a Display “brightness option”. The contrast only works to a point, like TVs & monitors being able to make the white brighter would go a long ways in making up some of the inverted shortcomings. My cell phone has a lot of white on black & even smaller fonts and I don’t have many issues, but the white is white, not soft grey or off-white.
I like the way the inverted display looks very sleek, and not a problem on sunny days but you get into dusk or shaded areas and it can be very hard to read. As I have experience over the last couple of days.
Got my fenix 2. Great so far.
I tried following your steps to get maps to the watch and thought I was successful. Right after the map transfer I updated the firmware to 2.50.
I can’t see any maps on the navigation feature. Are these deleted after the firmware update?
Hey, got my fenix 2 and went for the first run. So far great.
Just a small hick up when I tried to calibrate my footpod via GPS in mid run and the watch stopped tracking my run.
BUT:
I followed your instructions and thought I was successful installing the maps. Transfer seemed fine but right after that I updated to the new firmware 2.50. Now I can’t see any maps. Does a firmware update delete the maps?
Hello!
Thanks for the review, I’m looking to move away from a set of problematic 910XTs, and I’m finding the full set of your reviews very helpful.
Two questions if you don’t mind.
The first, I read in one of your other reviews, you complimented a watch on how user friendly the buttons were even though they were on the side. I’ve found the 910xt front buttons VERY functional especially when ending a swim lap (they seem to be easy to find). How easy to press are these buttons in the position and touch sensitive are they?
Also, you’ve noted that the device only supports one bike profile, which is really good to know in advance. Do you know if this is a software limitation they’ll fix in a subsequent release?
All the best.
Johnny
They’re firm, but not overly sensitive. I don’t think I’ve had a mis-press yet, in either direction (meaning, got pressed when I didn’t want it to, or didn’t press when I wanted it to).
I’ve brought up the multiple bike profile piece. They understand the issue. But they haven’t committed to making a change.
I had a FR305 before this one and honestly I thought those buttons were extra hard to press. Specially while running in order to change pages to view different things. With the Fenix 2 it’s much easier yet not too much so as to accidentally press them during intervals and other work out that would require a lot of button pushing action.
I do remember a comment earlier when someone asked if the buttons were easy to press by accident while doing push ups. Rays answer was: I guess it could happen but haven’t happened to me although I don’t do a lot of push ups.
I don’t think there was a f/u comment after that.
haroldo
What you would notice though, but mainly if you had a FR series before it is the buttons are in diferent places. That takes a couple of run to get used to.
But definitely a non-issue for me.
Like everything it is a matter of adaptation.
I’m very happy that Garmin Fenix Team has accepted my report and released into 2.50 firmware the solution ! Thank you very much!
PS: Also thanks for alarm swim, I think that they also will release drill mode fast !
Hmm, my Fenix 2 is due today, great timing for the release of updated frimware with one of the items i was waiting for, Swim Alerts.
What does “◦Improved custom pool length selection experience” mean?
It means it saves your last used pool size in the quick-select menu. So if you setup a pool for 22.5y, it would always be there first to choose from.
Ah i see, thanks for clarifying.
Good to see the Fenix team are responding to user requests.
*keeps fingers crossed for multiple bike profiles
Hey fellas, how do you pronounce the Fenix 2? There’s a special character above the letter “e” (fēnix™ 2). Do you read it the same way as the city Phoenix or is it different? Thanks
Like the city Phoenix.
Great updates for version 2.50
Since they are listening to our requests I would like to join the group by saying”
“MORE BIKE PROFILES”
The FR305 had it. Cant be that hard to add right?
Thank you
In that case I want to add:
Full functionality of activities (run, cycle, etc) while navigating!
Runmetrics and all the stuff while telling me which way to go would be good.
Hi Ray!
Firstable, thank you for your grat review (as always)!
All my big worries are about the behaviour following pre-charged courses in the F2 (very important for trail-running). I had good experience with FR305, but poor with 310XT and very poor with 910XT. It usually get frozen while following mid distance to long distance tracks and, meanwhile it tries to go on, the GPS works dramatically sloooow. If I decide to follow the track in reverse it is too much for its intelligence and turns completely mad since the beginning, with the track on the screen appearing and disappearing all the time.
It is always like this. Even when the courses where created by the 910XT itself and downloaded via Garmin Connect. I think is the CPU (it seems a Pentium I with Windows8 as an ugly comparison) and can be the reason why no firmware update fixed anything during two years..
With Fénix 2 I was expecting nice performance in that item because Fénix 2 is really a GPS more focused on outdoor multisport activities in which navigating following tracks is crucial, so it should be optimized for that (and don’t forget, this is, in its nucleus, a GPS).
My question is…Will it be as disappointing as the related FRs or it works at least as the old, much cheaper and appreciated FR305?
Thank you very much in advance and have a nice weekend!
Hi, again!
Is there another way to navigate back to the beginning of the current track (nearest way back), besides the Track Back feature?
Sometimes you just want to find the nearest way home :-)
I have tried to find it, but I can’t.
You could set a waypoint at the beginning of your trek and simply navigate to that waypoint. I haven’t tried it but logically I believe that makes sense ;)
Yes, that will work, but then I need to remember to add a waypoint before I leave, and I will end up with a bunch of waypoints to be deleted.
I think I ”Navigate to start”-funktion is a good compliment to the “Track Back”-funktion.
Great review. Reading this has convinced me to buy the Fenix 2 Performance bundle!
However, Forgive me please if I’m being a bit thick but I have a few questions that I can’t find the answers to.
– In the ‘backlight’ settings, there is an option to ‘Auto Light after sunset’. I’m assuming this switches the backlight on automatically when it’s dark but it isn’t doing that. Is this a bug?
– ‘Indoor cycling’ activity, Is there anything I can purchase which will calculate the distance I’ve travelled?
– Live tracking when paired with iPhone, It seems you can’t use both the BT and ANT+ at the same time which makes this functionality a bit limited. Is this something that’ll be addressed in a later firmware update do you think?
Thanks!
1- the backlight options i think refer to when you press a key other than the “light” button. So if it’s “always” then any time you press a button, the backlight comes on. If it’s “after sunset” it only comes on when you press a button after sunset.
2- not sure
3- no, it’s a hardware issue.
Also, under the backlight settings, you can change the timeout from 5s, 15s up to 2 minutes, or also have it as “stays on.” so if you have it on “stays on” when you press the light button, then it’ll stay on until you press it again.
on # 2
Isn’t the Garmin Speed/Cadence sensor made for that? or maybe I misunderstood.
Ah, thanks Matt. That would make sense.
the Garmin GSC-10 cadence/speed sensor only shows cadence when use indoor. It would not show speed.
That’s not quite correct. It shows speed indoors, you simply need to configure the wheel size.
This discussion piece from a week ago from Paul and myself goes into a rather historical look at the functionality: link to dcrainmaker.com
I have calibrate my 700×23 wheel to 2096. And it still shows cadence only, no speed. I have even reconnect the sensor many times. Here is the response I got from garmin.
Thank you for contacting Garmin International.
I would be happy to assist you with this.
With the Fenix2, even when it is paired with the Speed/Cadence sensor, you will only get Cadence information on the device. The only way to get speed information would be to use the device outside, where as it is going to be paired with the satellites to get the speed information from that signal.
Maybe u can help me ray. Thanks
I have the Garmin GSC 10 cadence/speed sensor, I use it indoors and it shows speed, cadence and distance.
Can you please tell me how u set it up?
This is what I did
Setting>sensors>bike spd/cad>connect and also bike speed always on. (Manual calibrate wheel size to 2096 for my 700×23 wheel)
I use kurt kinetic indoor trainer. Thanks
I did exactly the same. But I did Setting>sensors>bike spd/cad>pair new…. then I made the back wheel spin. Once it found the sensor it I went back and calibrated the wheel size. As Ray said the default is 2100.
I also have a 700x23c.
But my wheel size calculation seems a little different then yours.
I used this graph to find mine:
link to bikecalc.com
My wheel circumference was 2230.
I also use Kurt Kinetic indoor trainer.
That’s exactly what I did….. So strange
JAY
Sorry I think a overlooked one thing and assumed you knew it already
In order to do indoors of “any sport” do the following.
Red Button> INDOOR>bike then follow instructions.
That if you have your Garmin sod/cad 10 connected and the wheel size already set.
Just do what we said before to set up and update your wheel circumference size.
Then if you want to start cycling INDOOR then to what I said. Red Button>INDOOR>Cicling it will show everything.
Let me know how you made up.
Thanks for your help. I finally got it to work. My speed maganet was a lilts bit too far from the sensor. So I had to relocate it. Thanks again
WARNING about the Fenix2.
Currently it is super buggy. And when you call for support they are not very knowledgable how to fix things. I feel like a beta tester, but I paid full price.
The fenix2 is considered a hiking watch. So when you call for support you speak to the hiking department. I have spoken to three representatives, and all of them clearly have limited knowledge to what a endurance/triathlete needs assistance with, which is Garmin Connect.
I have have/had 4 Garmin watches before this, the for running the 400 & 600, for my bike 500 and then triathlons 910xt. All of them worked beautifully and support was top notch. The Fenix2 is super buggy, support is from the hiking department that knows very little about Connect online or on your phone. After wasting a lot of time on the phone with support, the asnwer was to wait for new software to come out next month, this should fix things.
Reading online, I see the original Fenix was buggy and had a lot of issues. I’m starting to think that a watch developed and serviced from the Hiking department is not a good thing.
You have been warned.
Sincerely,
Frustrated
It would help if you could elaborate on the issues you’ve been having. Saying the watch is “super buggy” doesn’t really help anyone.
I haven’t had any significant issues with mine, so perhaps you have a faulty watch.
Also it was said on the F2 preview a few weeks ago that the team that built the fenix 2 was the outdoor team but that they had pulled some of the FR line personnel to work on it and make it friendly to Triathletes.
Your comment is really not very helpful.
Just stating that you’re frustrated it’s not very helpful. Rather state what you’re frustrated with in a constructive manner and that can raise the awareness level for it to get fixed. Also, make sure to call Garmin support line and open a case so that it’s on their radar.
Update: My issues were pairing and syncing, I couldn’t connect to my phone, garmin express or pair with anything. I made three calls and spoke to 7 different support reps in the hiking, fitness, phone and software department. All of them said I had to wait for a upcoming software fix to come out to get any syncing going.
Thanks to Ray, finally a top level rep called me and we figured out that one of my first activities got corrupted. It prevented my watch from pairing and syncing. We deleted the activity from the watch and all is well again.
I had a sync issue on my 610. Nothing I did could get activities to upload. Someone suggested that I might have a corrupt file on the device, or that abt+ sync had a stuck/corrupt temp file. Solution was to seeks where ant+ saved data and possibly delete some activities from what. Thankfully it was temp files. But I commited myself to not have a lifetime of activities st on whatever devices I have. Wish they had a delete after (1 d, or 1 week or 1 month) type of option. For now calendar reminders work
If you read through the posts above, you’ll see a number of bugs reported. Off of the top of my head this is what I see.
This is from a triathlete’s perspective who’s used the 910xt for the last few years.
Usability/Hardware
-Saving activities takes several minutes
-Viewing activities takes over a minute to view
-Bluetooth connections are inconsistent and can require repairing often
-Bluetooth uploads are slow
-Warning tones are too soft
-Warning tones aren’t differentiated (i.e. above zone, below zone, in zone…etc)
-Reverts to clock mode during an activity (not great before a race)
Swim:
-Less accurate swim metrics
-No rest intervals recorded during swimming
Biking:
-Cadence data in bike laps disappear in (both in Garmin Connect and Training peaks)
-Only one bike profile
-I find that HR and Power data is slightly different when compared to the Edge 800 and 910xt
Running:
-Cadence is off (compared to 910xt with footpod)
-HRM can take a long time to connect
-GPS is less accurate then the 910xt
-Altimeter is less accurate then the 910xt (which is a huge shock to me)
@Olu – Not to demean your experience as I understand many users have had the issues you outlined, but I feel inclined to be the voice of the silent-satisfied consumers who have had a better experience. I ran with my wife’s 210, my MotoActv, and my new F2– my gps data was nearly identical… now, I’d wager I go a LOT slower than you and maybe that makes a difference somehow, but for me the results were great.
I’ve also used my F2 and Swim simultaneously on several occasions now. The data is spot on with the only inconsistency being two missed turns by my trusty Swim that the F2 DID catch. I’ve found the alerts to be satisfactory, though I can see that being a concern for group runners or in city environments.
Unlike some folks I really like the display. While my first activity took a good minute to save, I haven’t noticed it doing that since. As for Bluetooth… well… I’m an Android user so I can’t really comment on that yet (which makes that my only real complaint to date).
All that to say, not every user is having issues. That shouldn’t diminish your experience or indicate that Garmin has produced a perfect device. They’ve obviously got work to do (especially on both the Web and Mobile Garmin Connect interfaces), but the F2 has been the least buggy fitness watch I’ve owned. NO, that’s not true. The FR60 was the least buggy fitness watch I owned. But, in comparison to my wife’s initial experience with the 210, my MotoActv, and a brief stint with the TomTom Multisport, this watch has been awesome.
I wanted to add that for the most part I’m a satisfied F2 user! The basis functionally of the watch is great. I have not encountered any huge glaring glitches making the watch unusable. I like the display, some of the issues are due my poor eyesight via contacts, but not totally unreadable (lighting plays a big factor). I think with some minor brightness tweaks, I’ll be in the happy camper crowd.
When setting up data pages, I don’t like that once you select the number items it appears you can’t change it. So if you want more/less items you have to delete the page, and start over (unless I’m over looking an option).
+1
got my F2 already sitting at home, just delivered. Anxious to get home. Understand/agree that there seem to be issue to be resolved. But for me, for the short term, its just plain running. Not swimming, or customized workouts, or navigation. Hoping it works. BTW. I must be misunderstanding all the navigation related troubles people are having. You start out with an activity (running/bike) and at some point you decide to navigate. Navigate what? to what? to where? Like (not trying to be sarcastic or mean) but you got lost and need to know how to get back to start? Whats an example of needing to “navigate” once an activity started? thanks
I agree. I understand many are having issues, but typically those that are dissatisfied post more than those who are satisfied.
I had a minor issue with the bluetooth, but it’s been resolved and haven’t had any issues with the watch. Many of the issues posted are also not bugs, but just inherent.
For example: Slow activity loading/saving was a known issue. Would I like it to be faster? Sure, but honestly I don’t mind it taking up to a minute to save. For me, I hit save, get in the house, make a shake, drink the shake. Look at the watch and it’s done.
Good question. Would love to have the answer for this also.
@Ted W.
Whether or not it is a valuable feature seems to be a moot point as this may be more user error than a lack of watch functionality (at least as far as I can tell)
For a more in depth explanation see @Rainmaker’s post #599
+1 on setting up data pages. I would like to edit the exiting pages, not start over..
No issues editing data pages (look a positive comment)
Settings > Activity > Run > Data pages > Page x > Edit
If you’d like to add or subtract fields, after hitting Edit, scroll down to the bottom and click Change Type
Yep, yep, worked like a charm. Either didn’t see the or it didn’t register on what it did.
Thx!! Make those changes easier.
My main problem with navigation is that when I engage it I loose all related Run Dynamics, I loose all the pages I set up for running and it shows only the pages for Navigation. I could set up most of them in Navigation, but I bike too and what I want when running it might not be the same as what I want when I’m biking so I would have to set up lot’s of pages. My main problem right now is that once you start navigating the watch stops recording certain parameters like the Run Dynamics.
It might be a CPU or memory problem, too much data to process with the Run Dynamics to be able to navigate and record it at the same time.
Then you have the problem with the slow turn indicators, sometimes it takes 20 o more meters until it shows the turn.
I use navigation to run new trails, I set the route using GC and let the watch take me, it’s kinda hard to do when you arrive to a bifurcation and don’t know if you took the correct trail until you’ve run 20 meters.
Cheers
+1 I have had an identical experience as stoops….Everything has been working perfect, basically no issues or complaints (aside from being an Android user).
I’m not trying to make light of anyone’s issues/concerns but after doing months of research to upgrade from my FR305, the F2 has seriously been a dream!
It all depends on how you use the watch. If you’re using a minimum of its features, you might be very satisfied because you haven’t seen or been exposed to snags/limitations on sensor related performance feedback or faulty navigation stuff which you rely on.
I’m nowhere near Olu’s athletic abilities, as I’m just starting my triathlon life, but I can definitely agree with where he’s coming from, while it’s not the successor to the 910xt, it was billed as a multisport training watch, and within those functions, I’m having similar issues: hrm-run keeps disconnecting, takes too long to save, same navigation issues Chou Li mentioned, can’t use pool on multisport, etc.
So, yes, if you’re not relying on fenix2 for training and navigation, then it’s working like a charm for you, but for those using the watch for its intended purposes are not going to be as satisfied when after running 20K we have no sensor feedback because hrm-run got disconnected somewhere along the run, or you can’t tell whether to go right or left on a trail because navigation is not working well.
So, all I want is for Fenix team to fix the watch so that it works for its intended training and navigation features and that’s it. Having said all this, I’m confident they’ll have this watch working like a charm, it’s just sometimes it’s hard as I’m relying on this watch to take me through my first tri and hopefully future ones.
Did my first 6mile run last night. It took maybe 30ish seconds to save. I did 14 mile run this morning and I would say it was maybe 1min15sec. Not quick for sure. But if you’ll indulge me. Its an annoyance to me also, but why is the “save” time so critical. After a tri or a training run are people that exited to scroll through the results data? Maybe Grab a water, stretch for a bit. When do. Data is there. Though I agree save is slow. And to top that off, once its saved, and you go to history and select that activity, then is take another minute or so to load :)
as a firmware developer I have a suspicion about the F2. Either #1 the hardware is underpowered for all its being asked to do and maybe the memory bus is small so saving and recalling data from memory is limited by the memory bus. #2 the read/write from memory algorithm in the Forerunner series is much better than the Fenix. I dunno the garmin hardware or firmware. If its a software API then a firmware update could improve read/write (which we all agree would be nice). If its a hardware limitiation, then we all just have to lean to deal with it, or get a different device.
This is my typical Brick workout during my build week weekends
4 hour bike. 1st hour under zone 1, 2 hours zone 1-2, 1 hour zone 2
quick transition (less then 5 minutes)
60 minute run. 1st 45 minutes zone 1, Last 15 minutes zone 2.
Multisport isn’t useful because I hit the lap button to separate Zones within each discipline.
Waiting for the watch to save the bike (which will take longer then 5 minutes) isn’t an option.
I hope it’s not a hardware limitation. Even the older Forerunners could save long activities in a few seconds.
Unless I’m confused though – on the FR910XT it’s the same functionality for multisport and lap button pressing.
I’ve been lobbying for a long-hold though on multisport. Perhaps I’ll win.
On the slowness on file saves, it’s been that way since Fenix1, then Tactix, then Fenix2. I’ve pointed it out in all my reviews. I don’t see that changing, pretty sure it’s a hardware limiter. Like someone else said, it’s a bit annoying, but not the end of the world.
You don’t need multisport on the 910xt to accomplish what I explained. You can simply start with ‘bike’, hit your laps during the bike then stop the biking activity. Saving even the longest of bike rides takes seconds. Once the bike is saved, it takes a few key presses to change to ‘run’ and you’re off. I’ve done this plenty of times.
I did read the pre-review and the review including the slowness of saving files. I don’t think slow can adequately describe a function that is 50x slower for a 2+ hour indoor ride and will only get worse with longer rides with GPS data added.
Hearing that this is the same for the other watches in this line, leaves me to believe that it’s a hardware limitation. Creating long lap press to change sports and short lap press to record laps will probably be the only way around this for these watches.
On the 910XT if you press/hold Mode you can switch sports and make an impromptu multisport. It doesn’t even seem to save the activity, GPS stays live, sensors stay connected. It’s quick.
I know many who in races do this simply to avoid an accidental lap press switching sports.
On the Fenix2 you stop, save, start (reacquiring sensors/GPS).
Everyone’s use and experience will vary. Like I said previously, I’ve trained and raced a couple of Ironman triathlons (and many other races) with the 910xt. The Fenix 2 is being billed as the next best thing in Garmin’s multisport watches yet, with Biking/Swimming/Running it’s not as good as the 910xt (yet).
@J.Stoops. I’m not sure what swim sets you’re doing, but currently (Firmware 2.5), the Fenix 2 doesn’t record rest between swim sets. This is a huge oversight.
I actually like the Fenix 2, display and found out that it’s easier to read then the 910xt on a sunny day with sunglasses.
Slow activity saving is a deal breaker. It took over 3 minutes to save a 2hr 25minute indoor bike ride with just HR & Power data. The same ride takes the 910 3 seconds to save. During the summer it’s not uncommon for a me to ride 4+ hours (HR, Power, & GPS data) and transition to a run within a few minutes. (Multisport mode is not an option because I need to record laps during both activities). I can’t see this working (for me) with the Fenix 2 as it is now.
I consider myself pretty easy to please and I’m willing to offer A LOT of slack for new devices. I’m a tech junkie and never return any of my gadgets (to my wife’s dismay). This is the will be first for me and probably the reason why I’m trying so hard to find a reason to keep this watch.
I will be silent now and allow everyone to enjoy their new purchase.
I must be missing something. I don’t think the Fenix 2 is being billed as the next best thing in Garmin’s multisport watches. It’s an update to their Fenix line which is an outdoors watch. Fenix 2 is still an outdoors watch with quite a few training features. It is not billed as a replacement to the 910xt and shouldn’t be viewed as such. I’m sure they’ll be an update to the 910xt in the next year or so. So let’s look at it another way, can you look for geocaches on the 910xt? Can you look up Sun and Moon info on the 910xt? Can you do Sight and Go navigation on the 910xt? Is there a compass? The 910xt makes for a poor outdoors watch much poorer than Fenix 2 does as a multisports watch. The Fenix 2 also makes for a decent day to day watch which the 910xt doesn’t. I have the 910xt and I’ll still use it along with the Fenix 2 but again it’s an outdoors watch with added multisport functions.
Okay I’ll bite. The tagline for the Fenix 2
“Full Featured Training Watch for Multisport Athletes”
I never said that the Fenix 2 has less or inferior features compared to the 910xt. I just find it hard to believe that a watch from the same company, isn’t on par with swimming, biking, and running, then the 910xt which is 3 years older.
The ABC and navigation functions on the Fenix2 are cool, but of little use to me day to day. I realize that maybe the Fenix2 isn’t geared towards me which I’m okay with. I’ll wait for the next great triathlete watch. It’d be nice if it was from Garmin, but only time will tell.
I’m with you Olu, I just posted my response above in this post link to dcrainmaker.com
In summary, if you’re using the watch just for running, then it’s working like a charm, but for those of us using it for its intended multisport training and navigation purposes, then it’s just not smooth sailing, yet!
I remain very confident that the Fenix team will have all those snags out of the way. Just, please hurry, I’m relying on fenix2 to take me through my first tri!
@Olu I totally understand your perspective, and given your skill level (thus the importance of the broader data spectrum) and your past experience with the 910, I can imagine how frustrating your experience has been. My swim sets are super basic, due to my fitness level (Triathlon has been my path to battling diabetes, blood clots, and a rare blood disorder), and because I usually only have an hour of gym time (including what it takes me to shower and dress) before I have to be at work, so it’s usually 2 or 3 drill laps (just simple stuff from Total Immersion Swimming), then 3-5 sets x 200m free style. I don’t even pay attention to my rest time (though I see now that it’s missing, though from the posts below it looks like it’s being recorded, just not interpreted by the site correctly)… the F2 has handled my simple workouts with ease. I am interested to see how brick training in multisport mode will work and if I’ll experience more of the issues others have raised. I certainly wouldn’t fault you for finding the device insufficient for your needs. You have to use what works for you. That being said, everyone gave up on the MotoActv due to it’s numerous issues with WiFi and Motorola’s poor web portal (among other things)… yet it was/is an amazing device. If it could swim, it’d be the ultimate tri watch. I still think it’s a better run/bike watch than anything else out there.
Seems like almost everyone’s issue with the slow saving is related to multi-sport and not being able to record laps, as it’s the lap button that changes between sports. Seems like a good solution would be to change the way it switches sport (long lap press and hold maybe?) which would still allow manual lap tracking in each sport individually?
+1 on Long Lap Hold to switch sports – would be extremely helpful
Another Multisport challenge I’m having involves the 3 std Triathlon sports but because I’m training, it needs to be Pool, Indoor-Bike, and Workout-Run as we have set up to practice transition times.
Problem is I can’t select Pool, Workout, and Indoor from Multisport options. Can this be easily corrected by Fenix team or is it more of some technical limitation?
I’m confident the Fenix team will have this watch working like a charm in no time! Keep up the great job, we’re all counting on you guys!
Yup, it’s something I’ve been talking with them about (long hold to switch sports in multisport mode), as well as lack of ability to do pool multisport.
+1
Ray–
Just double checking on F2 interface as I might be in the market for a new phone. My current phone has BT 4.0 and that is all that would be required in order to upload, once Garmin gets the Android app up and running correct? Don’t need to worry about being 4.3 compliance?
As long as you have Android 4.3 you’ll be good (and, a phone that has BT 4.0 – which is pretty common).
Currrently I am not able to pair or see the watch with my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Verizon version 4.3. I think there’s something wrong with the Note 3. I can see it with an iPod Touch 5g and Motorola Droid Razr Maxx. I’m curious if any Samsung Galaxy Note users are able to pair with the phone.
No, it’s not available yet on Android. “Soon” is the word form the team. Sometimes ‘soon’ from them means an hour later, and sometimes it means a week or month later. It was originally slated for March 2014, so, perhaps it’ll come out on Monday.
I take it that 4.4 (kitkat) is ok as well, and it doesn’t need to be 4.3 (jellybean)
On the garmin forums some people got the F2 to pair with Moto 4.3 devices, but not the Note 3. I have a Note 3 and the device doesnt recognize it. Someone else posted they got the 4.4 ATT KitKat update on their Note 3 and it now recognizes the Fenix 1. Lead me to think. #1. Motorola build in higher level of BT support into their devices. Samsung might have the capability but its limited by the android support. Either way, even with the device paired, you couldnt do anything until firmware for BT update is there.
“Now, the next piece is cadence. I had a look at this a few times recently with the Garmin FR220 and FR620, both of which can measure cadence internally. With the Fenix2, like the FR620, it comes from one of three sources: The internal accelerometer in the watch, the accelerometer in the HRM-RUN, and a separate ANT+ footpod.”
Do you happen to know whether these devices complement each other, or does the watch just grab whichever one is sending info first. I guess I am wondering if I wear the footpod, will it help solidify data, or if it just a waste of time.
Hey Rick-
This post earlier in the comments helps explain it: link to dcrainmaker.com
(Random tip of the day to others: Comment #’s as displayed on the page actually change dynamically – so #500 might become #508 some day. However, if you right click on the date/time of the comment, it provides a link to that comment. So if referring someone to another comment elsewhere, just copy/paste that link. The link is a unique comment ID number that always stays with it.)
Thanks Ray! Just used your random tip and it worked like a charm. I’m glad you mentioned it, as I would’ve never figured it out on my own.
Thanks for your awesome site, it’s the best place for athletes to make the most informed buying decisions, as well as voice our concerns for these products we’re relying on.
Hey Ray,
Thanks so much for the review! Love your site.
I just had a couple clarifying questions.
1) So this is in no way a 910 replacement (meaning there will eventually be a successor to that as well)?
2) Like a few on here I might be looking for a new watch and am leaner towards this one since because the longer update life (it’s newer, competitive team as you put it). Wasn’t happy that some features were not brought to the 310xt. Seems silly to buy a year old device (910xt) when this one is out and the successor to the 910 could be next year. Right?
3) Can you update firmware via bluetooth? or usb via linux?
4) HRM strap is not required for run cadence?
5) by personal records not working do you mean it wouldn’t add them to my dashboard if a run a faster 5k, 10k race, etc?
Thanks Jason
1) The Fenix2 is not a/the successor/replacement to the FR910XT. Different teams, different product lines.
2) I generally recommend buy what you can today that meets your training requirements. Waiting for unannounced/unreleased units generally leads in disappointment (or, at least, lost time with training benefits of a watch).
3) USB via Linux for updating sorta. You’re going to have to grab the .GCD file from a Garmin site with a bit of reverse engineering. That said, I’ve seen folks occasionally do it. The Fenix2 is supposed to support Bluetooth updating, but I haven’t seen/attempted it yet. It might not be enabled.
4) Correct.
5) On the watch itself. Meaning, the watch won’t pop up a message at the end and say ‘Best 1-Mile!’. On Garmin Connect that’ll all still happen just fine.
3) It’s not that hard to do. I’ve had to do it a few times on OS X with my Fenix 1 when they didn’t have a zip file containing only the GCD. Plug the watch in, and it will mount as a disk (assuming the usual settings in GNOME/KDE/whatever the cool kids use these days). Grab the Windows installer (the .exe), and run unzip on it. You’ll get some Windows fluff and the .GCD file. Copy the GCD file to //GARMIN/Garmin, and unplug and restart the Fenix. It’ll go through its update cycle, and then restart with the new version. The GCD file will disappear from the Fenix, so there’s nothing else to do.
Yuck, I forgot this is HTML, and it ate the angle brackets. That should be /wherever it’s mounted/GARMIN/Garmin
Hey Ray, it does not seem possible to set different heart zones and maximal heart rate for running and biking.
Any possibility it would be added by Garmin?
Thanks
Agree, it was present in the Fenix1..
Ray,
Glad I found your site. Loads of info and lucky to have your feedback and knowledge. I received my Fenix_2 today from CT and have not used it yet but have been working through all the configs, setting up my data pages for running and cycling, Got it connected via bt on GC mobile and then added hr and the garmin speed/cadence. Everything paired an is very intuitive. Even upgraded firmware with no issues. Now I have found an issue or either I haven’t figured how to resolve this yet. There is only one biking profile but you have up to 3 custom profiles so I was going to create a mtn bike profile so I could set up the Garmin speed/cadence on MTB profile with one wheel size and then set up the bike profile with another speed/cadence on the road bike with a different wheel size. At this point, I don’t see any where under the sensor setting to configure a wheel size period. Am I missing something?
Read through the comments. There are a few comments on this. Only 1 profile and there was some thing recent on wheel size but I don’t recall exactly what it was.
it’s under SENSOR-ANT-CADENCE/SPEED-CALIBRATE
So if I have smartphone notifications on, I can’t use my HRM strap?
As Ray noted above, “Note that in the case of the Fenix2/Tactix/Fenix1, you cannot concurrently stream ANT+ metrics like heart rate, power, or cycling cadence. This because the chipset used in these watches does not allow both ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart to be used at the same time.”
I used the BT notifications and as Ray also points out, it drops the battery life from weeks of use (including workouts) to roughly a day so notifications is a major drain on the battery, at least in the current design.
Hello Ray, Hello everyone !
This watch has great capabilities. But i find that for riding the display is to small.
Di you know if there is a project to build an app for a smartphone or just a display that would sync with the watch data and just show bigger figures ? this way you can stick with the watch on your wrist (especially for tri) and see the datas while riding
thanks
Good morning, I bought the garmin fenix 2, but I have not accepted it yet.
According to what I can read, the synchronization ANT with a computer does not work, I find that it is really a step behind fact to have to take away its watch for the syhchroniser during an activity (the 910xt synchronizes it).
Also, there are not tides, and of bugs wholesale trade is present, I have a fénix 1 nowadays and bugs is numerous also. When garmin is finally going to go out a finalized product?
I begin despairing.
For information I had one 305, one 310, one 405, one 910, an edge 800, a fénix and now I have a fénix 2 and an edge 810.
You won’t likely see any further Garmin units sync completed files to a computer over ANT+. There are a lot of reasons, but essentially it’s been problematic for many folks. Given things like WiFi and Bluetooth Smart to phones, it makes more sense to move in that direction. USB is just more stable than ANT+/Bluetooth Smart.
Any Strava users here? Example. With my 610, when I upload to Strava the “device” is listed as Garmin Forerunner 610. WHen I look at an activity from the F2, two observations. The final saved activity listed “Garmin fenix” not Fenix 1 or Fenix 2. The other observation during “search for devices” is the F2 shows up as fenix 2 (unit ID 3881772619). Yuck! Anywhere know where or how the names come from. Is it hardcoded device ids in the watch? Is there a way to Present the name as “Fenix 2” or something? Garmin Connect reconizes it as “fenix 2”
Mine also says “Garmin fenix”
Since I never had the Fenix 1 I’m ok with it
If you look at the activity in strava just it show th device just as Garmin fenix or does it have the unitID yuck also. I havent had a chance update firmware from v2.2 yet o maybe that will change what is displayed
Learning curve on the F2. got some initial first impressions, some likes, some annoyances, no deal breakers for me. But before I post that. Something I’ve not found in the comments above or anywhere else I thought to look.
1. What is WAAS. whats it do. why do I want/dont want it on?
2. When you hit the menu button. Seem to Settings. then you hit up/down to navigate to History
(continued from above)
is there a way to change the default order of things displayed once you hit MENU? I would like History to show first, as that would be the primary thing I want to examine. Rather than scroll through Settings, clock, Tools, Then history.
#3. it was not mentioned in the comments but when viewing the results and lap data for an activity (a run) you actually “scroll” through the laps. I guess I extra a page by page rather than pixel by pixel scroll. Not a deal breaker, but to scroll through say 26 miles will take some time. Is there a way to customize those summaries are jump page by page or something?
WAAS is only for north america to improve GPS positionning
Yes you can change some stuff in the order of your MENU, Setting/System/Menu thenk click on an item you can move it up or down
The datas at the end of a long activity are hard to read, i agree, i do not read them anymore on the watch, i sync and check on the phone
Anyone knows when would we have EGNOS (WAAS equivalent for Europe?)
Hi Ted W
Here’s a link with good explanation for WAAS
link to www8.garmin.com
A nuisance of a bug to address; every time I accomplish 60 minutes or more of training (HRM, Tempe, GPS are on and in Run or Custom Profile, the watch always Freezes! when loading the Details of the Activity and even view the map of the course I am still on FW 2.20, it is so frustrating…. The same can be said for the Tactix, because I am currently using both to compare data metrics, which are very close but not an exact match in the various data fields too, ughhh!
Attempted 2 more activities over 60 minutes, and it’s working now??? it appears to be 2 history activities that are corrupt somehow on both watches at that, the rest load on the watches to view without issue, how does its own files become corrupt? Anyways, I am experiencing many of the same bugs on the Fenix 2 that have been reported throughout both of your reviews and the Garmin Forums, but am keeping hope alive for the potential that this watch can offer.
Still awaiting for the Tides Info to be loaded onto the Fenix 2 on a firmware release, only makes sense with all of its multisport options, c’mon Garmin!
Hi Vincent-
I’m not sure why you’re staying on 2.20 but complaining about bugs? You have to realize that 2.20 firmware is literally over 30 revisions ago (only a handful of which were released publicly). There’s an incredible amount of change in between now and then.
As for tides, remember, it was never an advertised/promised feature of the Fenix2. I know that doesn’t change things, but I do want to make sure it’s clear to others.
Cheers.
Thank you for the reply Ray, and yes your website, in-depth’s and feed backs are Fantastic, and Truly Greatly Appreciated!
Honestly, the reason I’m still on 2.20 is because that is what my watch came installed with directly from Garmin, and I only have an iPad Air right now because my Laptop went on the fritz a month ago, so I can not upload the new firmware releases at this time.
That being said, perhaps like many others, if Garmin launched their new Flagship watch (with 2.20) one would hope it would have fewer bugs then what everyone has been experiencing. But the fact that Garmin with your input continues to address issues and really work towards improving their product is Amazing and why I will stick with Garmin. I’m in the Air Force, and am stationed on the CAL Coast which is why I keep crossing my fingers about the Tides. I originally purchased the Tactix off of your Review and love the green display for the NVG, but the Fenix offers everything and more compared to the Tactix, minus the Tides, which I find extremely useful, even if it’s just to advise me which beach to head out to that day Lol!
One last thing, will Garmin fix their 2400 time setting, on the Tactix military time is fine, but on the Fenix 2, the 2400 military time is like a clock, meaning 24:00 or 17:33, when it should be 2400 and 1733 without the “:” between the numbers.
Thank you Ray for everything and all of your time!
I need to retract the military time comment, apparently neither the Tactix or the Fenix reflects military time without the “:”, so they both need to be addressed if possible.
Ughhh…. Disregard, both have true military time display options…
Having updated to 2.5 I now have the Swim Alerts, which is great. The only problem is I have my swim units set to Metres but I only seem to be able to have Yards in the swim alert??
Or am I missing something obvious?
Forget it, i’m a dumbass.
If you press on and set the alert you get to change the units.
Great review, Ray.
One question. You wrote that “there won’t be a direct FR910XT successor this triathlon season”. What about the next season? I’ve heard that the folks at Garmin are working on the 920XT.
Virtually all successful companies are always working on new generations of highly successful products.
great review !
I have a problem with navigation. I set up pages with pace distance HR, ascent, vertical speed… in the navigation profile but curent pace and distance won’t work on the watch, blocked on 0:00…
The problem with running dynamics during navigation is known but someone else has the same problem with pace and distance ?
Hello Ray, hi folks,
Ray , first of all: thank you very much for your great Garmin Fenix2 and Polar v800 Multisport Watch In-Depth Reviews!
I have got this Fenix 2. As I had only Polar watches all my life, this Fenix is a new planet I had to discover yet.
The problem is, they sell this watch wihout an manual and I can not find any anywhere. Please, can anyone tell me where can I get one (in German or in English) ???
Herzallerliebstes Danke Schön for your answer!
Bleuette Naomi
There you go:
German:
link to support.garmin.com
English:
link to support.garmin.com
Thanks for the response to #774. I just wanted to add is it possible that some of the bugs/issues people are having is because the unit has been fully released yet? I went to REI, Dick’s sporting goods and 3 sports (local tri shop) and asked about it and none of them had even really heard of it. Additionally, did a little more digging and both the REI and clever training websites have release dates of mid April. Or is that just that they sold out that quickly and are already on backorder? How has everyone else gotten theres? Via garmin website?
Ordered mine from the Garmin (UK) website on Sunday, arrived the following Wednesday. That was because I ordered the watch only, the watch and HR strap bundle is quoted as 5-8 weeks.
I bought mine up at REI 2 weeks ago (in store)
Got mine delivered from REI website last week, they must have sold out
Ray – your reviews are great and i spend quite a bit of time reading them before buying. I just purchased a Fenix2 and I have a question. I am having a really had time seeing the screen. I looks really dim to me and I have messed with the contrast but doesn’t seem to get any better. It sure does not look like any of the pictures I have seen. Is there any magic to making the numbers more visible?
I always like to the the latest and most up to date gadgets when I get them. I struggled a bit with this one. I think the Fenix2 has more than I will ever need. I ride mtn bikes mostly (have garmin 800). Have started running a bit again and will be trail running more when it warms up. I also plan on a off-road sprint tri this summer. My question is… would the Fenix1 have met all of my needs??… I would like to track my metrics for my off road tri, and I am assuming the Fenix1 will still track my time in an open water swim, just will not get any metrics (which I don’t care about really). Can setup my own activity to be like the tri mode on the Fenix2?? I don’t use a power meter on my mtn bike so I don’t need that.
I am also assuming the black letters on a white back ground will be easier to see??… oh yeah, I also have the footpod and that will work with the Fenix1.
I also plan on using the navigation quite a bit. The ski mode would be nice but not needed.
Ray – any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
Anyone else with some good feedback feel free also
So I did my first race with the Fenix2 today. Couple of issues Im wondering if anyone else has seen in multisport mode. I apologize in advance if this is posted elsewhere. I read through as many of the near 800 comments as I could.
1. During both my bike and run split, it has my total distance as being from where I hit lap when I started and then where I hit lap when I finished. E.g. Where I biked out of the transition area to where I reentered it was about a 0.5 difference, and that was my total distance annotated for the bike portion. When I pull it up on Garmin connect it shows the whole loop, but still only shows total distance as 0.7miles. I am able to manually change the distance, but I would like it to track accurately. The run was basically the same, with my total run only being 0.2 miles.
2. No HR data, and by proxy, no run cadence or anything. I don’t know if this is since it started with the swim, and the only thing the watch does before saying ready is finding satellites, but I had no HR data for the entire event.
3. And lastly, similar to HR, it also never picked up my speed/cadence sensor. Basically my watch today was able to give me split times, and did GPS recording for me, albeit it did not depict the mileage accurately.
On a different note relating to swim only days, whenever I do a few repetitive laps of strictly backstroke and use proper flip turns, the watch adds 1 length every 2 lengths I go. (25yd pool, I actually swim 50, it shows 75, I swim 100, it shows 150). I know others have commented they have inaccurate swim data, but other than the distance being off when I backstroke, everything else has been pretty spot on.
Thanks anyone for any advice or feedback!
Hi folks,
Adding the watch and HR strap bundle Garmin has got a Manual i found here by myself:
link to static.garmincdn.com (German version)
link to support.garmin.com
But I couldn`t find anything about Heart rate variability (HRV),( the variation in the time between two consecutive heart beats),which my Polar RS 800CX shows.
Please: does anyone know if /wether (?)Fenix 2 can show Heart rate variability (HRV) during running ?
Herzliebsten Dank !Mille fois merci! Thanks a lot for your answer!
Bleuette Naomi
I talked about it in the review a little bit (in the comparison table as well), but in short, no, it does not do HRV/R-R recording, nor can it display it.
Hi, I have my fenix2 from yesterday. I’m pretty impressed with this watch, thanks Ray for your review!
Today I went swimming and to make the long story short:
– It had perfect stroke detection for me (trying three different styles).
– there was an issue with no rest periods displayed on GC. I guess because the .fit file for swimming is slightly different to the garmin swim one.
Regarding the latter, I’ve been in touch with Aaron from Sporttracks.mobi and in a few hours, they’ve been able to solve the rest periods issue and now it’s working flawlessly on this online program, displaying correctly rest periods and all the other swimming metrics. Give it a try if you want!!
It seems that Garmin has changed slightly the .fit format for the fenix 2 and thus GC and other sites are not showing data correctly. I guess it’s a matter of time GC will display it correctly as sporttracks.mobi already does.
Good catch on the rest periods. I noticed that as well but completely forgot to put it in the bugs section. I’ve added it, and will follow-up with the Fenix team on it. I suspect, as Aaron noted, that it’s more of a GC issue. But either way, it’s a Garmin issue.
Just a heads up for people doing pool swims with the Fenix 2.
TL;DR: Pool rest time (between intervals) is broken on Garmin Connect, and probably for other websites too.
We’ve fixed the SportTracks.mobi import and will have an update to the PC app next week.
Long version if you’re curious:
The watch writes pool data to FIT files in a completely different format than previous Garmin devices.So different in fact that even Garmin Connect doesn’t handle it properly. Sigh.
One of two things will happen to fix this:
1) The Fenix2 firmware will be changed to write FIT files in the old format.
2) Garmin Connect will be updated to handle the new file format.
If the F2 team is aware of this and able to do #1 I’m hopeful. If on the other hand they expect Garmin Connect to read the new format… considering the fire going on in that team, I would not expect a fix for many months.
Ray, what is the difference between USB and garmin storage mode?
Wondered the very same thing. Trying trying to find aout. If I can decipher will reply again
Interesting. I just tried it on my Fenix 1. Put it into Garmin mode and it prompts you when you plug it in whether or not you want mass storage mode. Say no, and it simply sits there and charges, and it doesn’t show up on my USB bus. Say yes, and you’re in USB storage mode, as usual. So it seems to be a way for you to plug it into a computer with the USB cable and still have it operate normally rather than automatically flipping to mass storage mode.
For the Fenix 2 with Garmin mode I get the same prompt. If I say no, Garmin Express will open. If I say yes, Garmin Express does not automatically open. Instead Windows AutoPlay opens – asking what I would like to do with this device.
Hello Ray (and all),
I just upgraded from Garmin FR610 to Fenix2 (I wanted to track swims and I’ll likely try a triathlon this year).
My first few comments:
– the menu system is quite different: needs a bit of training
– I find the fenix much easier to wear: despite being thicker/bigger, the band is not straight and that makes wearing the watch quiet easier
– the reader of a past activity on the fenix2 is… a simple reader and it it not structured. While on the 610 you can easily go through laps, here you need to scroll long pages of information to get there. And the scrolling ain’t that fluent.
– Satellite capture is better but not impressive
– Not being able to sync with your Android (I’ve got a Nexus 5) is a pain. You can do better then this Garmin!!!
– not being able to edit workouts on the watch is really a pain. In day-to-day operations, that would still be ok, but on long prolonged trips, if you are travelling w/o your laptop (which is my case) and you don’t have a iphone (again my case), workouts are a real trouble.
– you’ll miss the touchscreen, in particular when configuring your screens
More to come as I use it :-)
Manuel
Also went from 610 to F2.
– I don’t miss the scroll tap/scroll but found myself doing it out of habit. I was tired to the touchscreen personally.
– its gonna take time to learn watch features and menu. Agree.
– can’t sync with android. Nice to have once it works, but since I can’t do it now with 610. Not missing spit personally.
– go run a 10+ mile run and on most garmins including 610 looking at history pretty quick. I like seeing just a lap summary. The lap number time and pace. Clicking on lap show more lap detail. On f2 you literally scroll through all the details.and with the HRMrun there are lots of details to display. Quickly looking at at mile13 of 18 would take awhile. Th scrolling pauses as the F2 presumably loads more data. Not a deal breaker for me. An annoyance, yes. But I don’t often have to look at that data on the watch. Mostly offline examination. I will post more about 610 to F2 as well
Hey Ray,
Just got my Fenix 2, Charged it for the first time overnight and took it out today for a 15 mile run. When I finished the run I hit the Stop button in the upper right hand corner, after this, the watch froze up. I brought it home, put it on the charger and still can not get it out of the frozen mode. Any suggestions or hear of this occurring?
Hello Ray..great review on an obviously a great product..just need some advice..I’m a runner, and planning on buying my first GPS watch..I found that manuat workout creation, interval training, and virtual trainer will be essential for me..but I don’t need oscilation/ground time, VO2max feature that 620 offering..so it seems that the FR220 is the watch for me..but I found that the forerunner series, having built with minimal n unobtrusive design in mind is a little bit too small and toyish for my taste especially if I’m using it as my daily watch..that’s why I’m considering the fenix p/tactics series..as for this time, which would you recommend?will I do well with the fenix1/tactics?or should I just jump to fenix2?and no, I don’t really need the live tracking capability
Thanks before ray
I just got my new Fenix 2 and it leaked on its first shower 2 hours after arrival. I am a bit nervous as my Suunto Ambit 2 has been immersed many times with no problem and apparently the Fenix has a history of problems.
Found a peculiar cadence issue, when using my footpod for treadmills, but not for outdoor running, so now not getting cadence. It seems, the only way to get outdoor cadence is to manually turn-off footpod under sensors and then turn it back on for indoor, a total PIA!
Couldn’t they fix this by allowing sensors to be managed from activities rather than this constant On/Off mess?
This weird setup can also eat up precious battery life when doing activities where I never use hrm and footpod, like in hiking, bike, navigate, custom, etc. This needs to be seriously looked at.
Does anyone know who is selling this watch for immediate delivery? I’m seeing mid April from most of the sites. Any leads would be appreciated. Thanks.
Received my fenix 2 on Friday. So far so good. I am very happy with the watch and it’s abilities. Went for my first run on Sat and all seemed to work as advertised. I was a little surprised at the “save” time because it seemed to take much to long. The one issue I have found so far is “pairing” the watch with the Garmin Connect and Garmin Base Camp apps. I can pair with the phone easily and without any problem, however the app’s see the watch but fail to pair. Anyone else have this issue and found a work around?
I had the same issue. Didn’t have time to try it again as I will seldom be using the watch and phone app to upload my WORKOUTS. (I rarely travel and don’t really need to have my phone and watch warning me of new emails etc. so I don’t connect the watch to the BT/phone.
Hey, thanks for the great review and all the comments. I’m considering getting the Fenix 2 mainly for trail running and climbing/mountaneering and I’m concerned about the accuracy of the altimeter and barometer.
Here’s a couple of questions that perhaps someone could answer:
– Did garmin send out any updates that allow setting the altimeter to “fix-altitude” mode?
– How accurate are barometer and altimeter when changing elevation with variable atmospheric pressure? I would expect using gps altitude data to help in that situation, but I’m not sure that the Fenix 2 actually does that.
Thanks for any answers!
I can partly self-answer my second question: this video
link to youtube.com
reports that the Fenix 2 uses both gps and barometric data for altitude.
It is still not clear to me if this is used to improve barometer data with both altitude and pressure changing; if anyone has comments on this, let me know..
I think another user reported this, but I am seeing an issue after the update to 2.50 that everything being recorded is 1/100 of the actual distance. I raced the Oceanside HIM yesterday, the bike distance was .56 and the run was .13. It looked the same uploaded to Strava. Here is a link to the GC for the bike: link to connect.garmin.com My 810 recorded it properly: link to connect.garmin.com
It did this for all three events, and actually I just noticed it did this for the warm-ups I did the day before. It recorded the distance on the maps. Any ideas?
Edit: Another quick sidenote… the laps showed up correctly, the totals are just wonky. The fenix also lost / never had connection with my power meter or HRM. The sensor connections seem to work okay in single sport, just not multisport.
Brian, nice work on the HIM split! I’d be curious to compare elevation differences with the two units with elevation correction disabled on both. Also I don’t see cadence, HR, or power data on the Fenix 2 page. Was that intentional?
There is also a huge difference in calories burned. I know it’s not so important for some people, but I just want to know how they measure this.
I did a bike/run multisport training on the weekend and saw the same thing happen. Both of the total distances were 1/100 of the actual, but the lap information was correct.
I use tapirik to send data over to Strava, and the distances were correct over there.
I’m on the 2.5 firmware, didn’t try a multisport workout before 2.5 though
Why tapirik to upload to strava? Strava can be uploaded directly when watch is hooked up via usb.
Ive been sitting on stock v2.2. But only doing basic runs. No need even for 4 data fields. I actually prefer reading with 2 or 3 max. 4 might be hard to read while running. I think my running dynamics page stopped appearing during the run but I believe it was saved. Need to upload to GC to check.
Thanks Olu! It was a fun day out there. I had the cadence sensor, power meter, and hrm connected in transition before the race on the Fenix, but it was not recorded. I have video from the Garmin Virb for a 3rd set of data too, but it started recording about a mile late. Its interesting looking at the variance between the 3 devices.
Thomas, I re-exported the data from GC then up to Strava and it showed correctly in. The first time I used Connect Stats on IOS and that is where the bad data in Strava came from for me.
The 810 had my HR data where the Fenix did not. I assume this is where the calorie difference came from.
Ted, I don’t really have a good reason beside laziness. With my old Garmin 305 I got tired of doing double uploads, and I don’t know if it was the watch, computer, usb cradle, or what, but it seemed about 50% of the time the communicator plugin would get to 100% but never transfer the workout so I had to quite the browser, reseat the watch, and start the process all over.
Now that I have the F2 and it can grab the fit files directly I may go back to uploading direct to strava.
I was pleasantly surprise though that even with GC showing my multisport workout at the wrong distance, when tapirik synced the workouts to Strava the distances were correct.
Overall I’m loving the F2 and besides this small glitch the watch has been perfect for all my other workouts
How many hours of activities can be stored in fenix2 memory? Ambit2 only 15/16 hours!!!
The Fenix2 contains 25MB of memory. Without maps, you’re starting at about 22MB of free space.
On average with full ANT+ sensors with 1-second GPS recording enabled you’re going to burn about 100KB (.1MB) of space per hour. Thus, roughly speaking the Fenix2 in a worst case scenario would be 220 hours of recording time before offloading.
Of course, if you need to go beyond that without visiting a computer/phone, you could go to Smart Recording, which will greatly reduce the file sizes.
Had my second run today.
Pretty buggy. I tried some scenarios like navigation while recording run. Pretty bad/not usable. Would also be better when 2 activities are used at the same time both “page” set up appear after each other.
It also got confused with the alarms in term of distance. After quitting navigation it had to manually turn off”on my distance alarm again.
Worst:
After 13.5km the device lost the connection to the HRM and footpod. Tried all get it back. Restart/Resume, all. As of that point the distance was stuck and time still counting. Therefore my pace was going worse by the second.
I messaged fenix@garmin.com and sent them my connect activity link.
Pretty disappointed that even after the loss of sensors the GPS did not “smartly” jump in and proceeded to correctly track distance/pace.
Also I would highly appreciate a more distinct use of the lap button. Often when I wanted to go “back” it started a new lap. “Hold” for lap or “hold” for back in activity would be meaningful. Either one of those.
I am having trouble loading maps onto the fenix2. I’ve followed the instructions, downloaded the lower resolution maps, moved the maps over, and renamed the image file.
When I load the map during a workout it does not show anything other that what it previously did. Is there something you can point me towards as a better reference?
Thanks!
Well ugh crap, just experience my first F2 glitch, and have no real idea if it was software or hardware. This after thinking to myself that I could live with the inverted display. Note, updated to 2.50 just a couple of days earlier.
Was doing an easy 12 miles, and good thing I decided to run with my FR305 as well as the F2. I was just past the 10.25 mark on a rail-to-trail & there short afterward the watch totally froze up. Time & distance was stuck 10.25 miles & 1:37, no buttons would do anything. Finished the run, and was forced to do a hard reset, to bring the watch back to life. After reboot it showed a run time of 1:57 but the same 10.25 miles. So the time kept updating, but no GPS track.
Loaded both watches to GC, to see the details. It appeared that when I made a trail flip around at 10.25 miles is where the F2 lost it cookies. I can’t really tell if it lost GPS connection or what, I just have a straight line back to my finish point.
So needless to say I’m not too happy, not too sure if this was a flunk or otherwise.
Does anyone know if the HRM-Run accelerometer will work without sensing a heart beat.
I want to strap it to a paddle and see if it will record any measurements, hoping it can be used to record something that can then be used to calculate true stroke rate. i.e.: It may record cadence from the roll of the paddle from left to right??
I think using a normal footpod may be cheaper/easier (it’s much smaller and can probably be waterproofed more easily). I recall some discussion about that in the footpod FAQ on Ray’s site – but not sure if this is actually feasible.
If not sensing a heart beat, if I remember correctly from my earlier testing, it’ll actually shut off eventually.
For kayaking, there’s not much today that works there using existing stuff. For example, I tried a footpod on my kayak paddles once – no luck. Same with in between bars, no luck.
There are however kayak paddles that do work with the Fenix2, here’s one here: link to dcrainmaker.com
The comments mention another company as well.
I’d give the open water swim mode a try. You’d get speed and course data, and it may even give you a stroke rate, if it considers paddling similar enough to swim strokes.
Thx. The kayak power meter is a bit of overkill for some simple metrics I’m after. I have not tried the Fenix2 as yet to see if it will see paddle stroke rate in swim mode but I have friends that have the 910 and it doesn’t see it. The hand mustn’t travel far enough or something.
I had my first night session with the F2 today and can see why there is so many comments regards regarding the screen. Yep, the 310XT is a lot easier to see the data. Butt ugly watch though compared to the F2.
The Vaaka Kayak Cadence Sensor may be my option.
link to facebook.com
Dear Ray,
I had a big issue with my Fenix2 during a 2 hours ride on Saturday. All seemed to work fine with during the ride except for a few seconds I obtained the message “Lost Satellite” , approximately at the middle of the ride (I was in a clear area, with sunny weather, no building, no tree …)
When I uploaded my activity on GC, the graphs (speed, elevation …) appeared with a very strange behavior (just one line with a crazy time reported below ) …
link to connect.garmin.com
The total elapsed time was reported as 155 hours !
I exported the data in GPX format, and I observed that the date reported for few points at the middle of the file was suddenly “april 2019” !
I found in the Garmin forum that someone had the same problem …
link to forums.garmin.com
If I look also in his GPX file, I observe that there are two points with the wrong date … “april 2019” !
I sent an email to fenix@garmin.com, but if you can stress them with this problem, it could be great since I think that’s a major issue with this new watch.
Thank you in advance for your support !
DC
No reply to my comment …
Nobody here experienced the same problem ?
Did not have the April Date glitch but I also commented on problems with tracking that just dropped.
Emailed to the support as well but no response yet.
Hi Ray,
Thank you for your in-depth reviews, it helped me to choose the right watch for me being a long time 310 XT user who planned to buy Forerunner 620 but just ordered Fenix 2 based on your reviews and my partner’s input on the watch it’s phsyical appearance :-).
In order to even more enjoy Garmin’s devices I have following question:
Do you have a view on Garmin’s roadmap to support Windows Phone or the demand for it?
This could be a differentiator that can push potential buyers to prefer Garmin versus their competitors.
Thank you,
Ivan.
I’ve asked here and there, and thus far there just hasn’t been much demand that they are seeing (at least, enough to justify an app). I would suspect that as they continue to consolidate development from a bunch of fitness apps (Basecamp, Garmin Connect Mobile, Garmin Fit) into a single app (Garmin Connect Mobile), the justification case may improve for Windows Phone users.
On “route” navigation, can it display ETA and ETE for Waypoint?
Or is it only the destination of the route?
I want to set it in the top of the mountain which is a midway point of the hiking.
Yes. Oops, realized that I forgot to include the navigation data fields in the data field section. I’ll get them added in. In any case, they are as follows:
Bearing, Course, Final Dest, Final Dist, Final ETA, Final ETE, Final VDST, Final VSPD, GR Dest, Next Dest, Next Dist, Next ETA, Next ETE, Next VDIST, Off course, To Course, Turn, VMG.
As far as I can tell, If you dig into the watch, it appears all the marine and aviation functions found in the marine and aviation variants of the Fenix 2 are still there for navigation etc. It seems (at a quick glance) that all they did was rebrand the watches and rearrange the menus…
Either way its pretty awesome to me :).
hello, i just bought fenix2 my question is where is the on and off of the watch?
Press the “light” button
Hi, thanks for review!
Am I right that only negative sides compare to FR620 are:
– no built in WiFi
– size and weight (not really negative for me).
And what is a material of the watch itself? Is it plastic or metal?
Can you compare display’s contrast for Felix 2 and FR620? I found FR620 display the weakest point. It is so contrast in ads and really not as good in reality (colours are almost not noticeable at all).
Ray, I bought the fenix2 from CT. Thank you for the discount. Am I safe to use tapiriik for connecting GC and TP as you do? Some comments in your site suggest Garmin is no longer supporting the idea. Thank you!
Thanks for the great review Ray. I got to use the Fenix on a few workouts recently including running and biking and I must say, I like it much more than my 910xt (which is now on ebay). The technology is definitely newer, the watch face is round (personal preference for me), and the battery also lasts a long time. I love how quickly it picks up the location once you turn it on – literally a couple of seconds!
The only downsides for me so far have been:
1. Takes longer to save and load activities than the 910xt, or any other Garmin I’ve used. Not sure why. It doesn’t freeze, but it does take it a minute or so to save the activity and loading it from the History folder is about the same. I do wish that was snappier.
2. The temp sensor reads much higher when its on your wrist – to be expected though.
Other than that, I’m loving it so far! Looking forward to any updates from Garmin on the loading speed. Thanks again for the review.
Ray/Fellow Athlethes, I have a Fenix 2 custom workout question:
I would like to see time remaining till the end of the current lap (i.e. a countdown to zero) when the workout is in progress, what field do I need?
Much appreciated.
From other Garmin devices, it should be ‘distance to go’ or ‘time to go’ but it does not appear that they have exposed those data fields to the user. I just completed a run workout and there is a ‘Workout’ data page that included the time to go data field, so I assume the fields are available to the system.
Hopefully, I just can’t find the right place in the settings or it will be another item for the feature enhancement list.
have a great day.
@ Ted D – many thanks for your suggestion. I took another look and cannot find a ‘time to go’ field.I have a ‘Workout’ data page and I believe it does not have a ‘time to go’ field. Does it not count up instead?
I have searched a fair bit but cannot find it in the data fields menu….
i stand corrected. I must have confused the workout on my 610 vice the F2. The manual does not state these data fields are available on the F2. The manuals for the 610 and the 810 do list these data fields.
Sorry i could not be of more help and I apologize for any confusion I may have caused.
@Ted D – no need to apologize, you were trying to help and that I really appreciate. I suspect the ‘time to go’ or ‘distance to go’ fields might be a feature request. I found it really useful on my 910XT.
Thanks again.
I thought I’d just drop a note in here that this watch may not be as problematic as the impression that these comments or Garmin forums may give. I agree that we seem to be a couple of firmware releases away from true stability, but the watch has given me no real trouble. Garmin has things to fix, but this hardly appears to be a broken product. Now, if you aren’t happy after purchase by all means return it. But if you’re considering it but aren’t sure, know that at least some of us are satisfied.
I’ve had mine for just over a week and have used it for 10 events so far. Mostly cycling and running, including free runs, more complex workouts transferred from Garmin Connect, and a half marathon. No lost data, no glitches or pairing issues with other ANT+ sensors, no strange cadences, and only one instance of heart rate spikes on a chilly morning which were fixed by re-wetting the HRM.
No problems syncing runs or bike rides to Garmin Connect Mobile on an iPhone 5S. Bluetooth notifications and alarms work as expected. Slow saves and loads as everyone has mentioned, but no failed saves or lost workouts. No issues with missed heart rate out of zone alerts on interval repeats.
This is a big upgrade from my old Forerunner 110. I had all kinds of heart rate spikes from the old style Garmin HRM, and the basic fields were very limited on that watch. I picked up the Fenix 2 with the intent of using it not only for running, but also for hiking, camping, trail running, and photography (geotagging) so that I wouldn’t have to carry a bulky handheld GPS any more. No chances yet to do those things, but hopefully soon.
The inverted display is simply a take it or leave it thing. It’s definitely inverted and not simply all pixels set to black. Any software invert will still leave chunks of the display black. I have no trouble reading it whether in sunlight or clouds, but haven’t tried dappled forest light and can’t comment on that.
I did run into the “unit shuts down when trying to calibrate footpod” issue, which was fixed with 2.50. After 2.50 I was able to calibrate the footpod successfully to the GPS in the middle of a long weekend run with no issues.
I do agree that Navigate should be part of activities and that sensor configuration should be per-activity.
Steve – thanks for the positive post. I am guilty of only posting my issues. I previously posted that I had/have several issues: satellite acquisition and workout target pace alerts. I have executed a hard reset and satellite acquisition is now hard to measure it is so fast! I am still having difficulty with interval target pace alerts, but strongly believe it is more likely user error.
I have two tickets submitted to Garmin (pace alerts and power meter drop outs), but it is more to correct my behavior or interpretation of the data. I encourage anyone with currently available features that are not working as advertised to open a support ticket with Garmin.
Enjoying my F2.
Steve,
Thank you for the positive post. I too like you am very excited about this watch. I got mine Friday and spent most of the night and Sat going over the functions of the watch and rereading posts inside this article to get all my pages how and where I wanted them for running and cycling. I got up Sunday and got in a short run to just get a feel of the watch. I wore my 310xt to compare runs, but had to wait about 8 minutes for the 310 to get a satellite lock before it was ready. The F_2 found the footpod and HR strap in about 3 seconds and at about 7 seconds I was ready to start. I ran a short neighborhood stroll on both sides of the road. F_2 worked fine with no glitches and saved in about 4 to 5 seconds when I stopped. I didn’t sync over BT but instead came inside to PC and started USB sync. I have been using the long ant stick that came with 310 but the new smaller version and garmin express picked up the 310 with no configuration or refresh and was surprised it started downloading automatically. Looks like the Garmin Express might be a nice upgrade to the original ant uploader. After getting both into GC, after all these reviews, I was expecting the route to be off, but both map routes were almost identical and overall numbers were real close. They never had me drifting from the side of the road I was running on and it even had the curves in my route when I had to run around parked cars on the side of the street. And it was a completely overcast morning. I went out later and ran a GPS footpod calibration that was also very easy to find and configure. I hope to get in a road ride tomorrow and send it through some more paces, but so far I am completely satisfied for a cutting edge unit. A few more code releases and we all should be good.
Great review! Just out of curiosity, what do you think Fenix2 compare to Ambit2? Through your experience.
Hi Daniel-
I include my thoughts on that within the ‘Which watch?’ section: link to dcrainmaker.com
Cheers.
Hi Ray,
Do you think that there is any chance of Garmin include tide information on the Fenix 2 in the future?
Thanks
Do not plan on it at all…. I’ve inquired ever since Fenix 2 was released, and from both Ray’s prior comments and the Garmin forums, Fenix 2 is not geared like the Tactix in various aspects to include “Tides” and Fixed Barometric pressure amongst some others I.e. GPX data.
If Garmin were too combine all features of their other device watches, we’ll, then that would be idea and fantastic for us the consumer, but less products to sell $ based and focused towards their target audiences.
That being said, if the Fenix 2 is to be the Garmin flagship multi-sport gps watch which includes Jumpmaster???, then “Tides”, one would think is a given, since it is a factor to consider within its various profiles, especially with “open water” Swimming.
There’s always a chance. If it were added (and again, not saying it would be), I would guess it would be US-only, like the Tactix. That said, I think looking at the various feature requests, there are certain features (or fixes) that folks appear to want more (i.e. multiple bike profiles).
Fantastic and very helpful review. I got my Fenix 2 last week via CT and absolutely love it! Better value than the FR 620 IMHO. Some people were wondering about the GPS accuracy – seems pretty awesome to me. I ran a few courses that I know well and the F2 is spot on. This morning I ran with the 620 and the F2 – 6.25km on both, In terms of bluetooth uploads, I have found that the more history is on the F2 the longer it takes. I cleared out all activities last night and the upload of the 6.25km run took less than a minute. On Sunday, the upload of an 20k run took almost five minutes – but I had seven runs on the F2.
So I wonder if what it’s doing is transfering all your history over to the app, but once all that is done garmin connect is deciding that it only needs to save the new data, not the old? So less history on the device, less to transfer.
Hi, thanks for a geat review! just a few questions.
Is the curved glass done in the same way as on the tactix, so it won’t reflect light?
Does it have implemented temperature measuring?
When the background light is on, does it only light up the showed data, or does it light up the whole screen?
Are there any disadvantages for the fenix 2 compared to the tactix?
Thanks a lot,
//Rasmus
Yes, same as Tactix
Yes, reflects Temps, however slightly skewed due to wrist/body temperature; recommend Tempe sensor accessory (size of a foot pod) for true air temperature.
The entire display lights up with contrast adjustment (red seems a bit more washed out compared to the NVG green for night, but user/eyesight varies).
Disadvantages/Advantages are based on user needs, if using for athletic multi-sports training then Fenix 2, if using for more Navigational Military Mountaineering, then Tactix.
IMOP and based on all the reviews, user comments, and Garmin Forums, I’ve been reading to exhaustion and owning both devices.
On the fence myself and testing both devices alongside one another for a couple of weeks, but for my needs I’m more then likely going to return the Fenix 2 and keep the Tactix.
~ comment for Ray, btw, I finally have the latest Firmware on both now Lol!
It seems nobody asked: it is possible to have more statistics shown (or show nothing) after each lap?
I only get the time.
No, there’s no customizable lap banners in the Fenix2.
Hi, geat review! I just have one question: How do you get each data page to contain four pieces of information (Fields)?
@Helge – this is how you do it using Running:
Menu > Settings > Activity > Run > Data Pages
Select the page you to update (e.g. Page 1)
Edit > Change Type
Select the number of fields you want……
I hope this helps.
Along this same line. I was running some hill repeats today and my friend who also ordered the performance bundle via CT asked the elevation I couldnt find it. On the spot (with activity running) i got into settings, figured out how to add a new page, and stumbled across elevation. I hit back, back back, and the elevation page didnt appear at first. Accidentally hit the lap button and held my breath thinking that others have had lock up from that. then the elevation was there. Nice! My question is this though. What data field would it be called to have that graphically picture of recent elevation. i would like to see the numeric current elevation and the 2nd data field be that bar graph picture thing. What is that field called. thanks!
@Ted W, to see the elevation information you want, I would ‘Add Page’, then scroll through the options until you see the ‘Altimeter’ data page. Note from the Manual:…Displays your current minimum, and maximum elevation and a chart of the elevation history.
Another option would be to add a single field page and add just the Elevation field from within the Altimeter Category. I am not sure if this will give you the chart…..but at least you can try the two pages!
Thanks! Dr. D. Probably while you were typing this I stumbled on that. I was looked at the data screen for a trail run (something i will be using shortly), and notice that the “running dynamics” is not included. But an “altimeter” page is. I went back to what I added to the run profile, and it was our second idea. Just elevation. I added the altimeter page also. Will compare on next run, possibly deleting the elevation page.
Had an odd occurance on a run on saturday. The running dynamics page was not there for my “run”. I had enabled virtual partner prior to that to try it. Not sure whats up with that yet, but thought it strange I didnt see it. The data was recorded though
Thank you, it works! :)
Thank you, it works!
Hi Ray, Thank you very much for your answer.
well then, no HRV/R-R recording.
The real problem I have with Feni2 is that : The watch -not me! -needs recovery !
Let me explain, please: When I finnished with my 2 hour run. I store the data, that needs about 2 minutes !
I go back to time display and want to start right away a new running, then the watch is dead about 15 minutes (after the 2 hours run, not after a 1o minutes run) that means it does not get heartbeating, no foot pot no satelit. Do I give her a rest of 15 minutes I warks properly again.
Would anyone pleas so kind to test this on its Fenix and tell me if that is common on Fenix Watches or is it only a problem I´ve got with mine!
I would glad to read your answer!
Herzliebsten dank! Mille fois mercy! Thaks a lot!
Bleuette
I haven’t seen that, and have done very similar activities. I’d definitely ping Garmin support to get them looking at it.
Does anyone else find that their ground contact time gradually decreases the further you run? ha ha
Surely this can’t be right as my speed didn’t increase for the entire run – in fact, all of my runs look like this :-)
link to connect.garmin.com
Your cadence increased, and thus, as a result if speed stays the same – then GCT would have to get faster.
I guess what throws me is my cadence only went up 3-4 steps per minute, but GCT went to <175ms – which even based on your runs where you have a much higher cadence than I, your GCT isn't that low – does that make sense? The last mile, I intentionally ran like a grandpa to see if I could get my cadence up :-)
My experience in the 1 week of owning my Fenix 2 is positive, but i do have 1 request/issue:
I have set up the Units in my settings to show ‘Distance’ in Miles, this is how i want it for Running and Cycling. However this means that in my Openwater swim data pages it shows distance as miles also, when i would like it to be Metres. Is is possible to be able to have a different type of unit of measure for different activity types?
I would like Running and Cycling profiles to be Imperial: MPH for Speed, Miles for distance, Min/Mile for pace.
But i would like Openwater swimming to be in Metric: Min/100m, Metres for distance etc
Pool swimming seems to work ok and display in Metric even when Cycling and Running are set to Imperial, i guess this is because i have specified the pool length myself?
Is this possible with the current firmware? And if so, how? Because i cannot seem to work out how to set this
Alternatively could it be implemented in a future firmware update?
Thanks.
I received my Fenix2 over the weekend (and was quite impressed by the way). Additionally to my run and bike training, I go to the gym a couple of times a week. In the gym, I do usually do a 20 minute warm up on a treadmill or a bike and then do weights and other stuff for the rest.
I was hoping to track this in multisport mode but it seems that it is not possible to customise the predefined activity to include indoor sports. Neither can I see a dedicated activity for fitness or weight training (it would only measure time and heart rate anyhow).
What is the recommended mode of using the F2 in the gym for general fitness training?
Anyone
does WAAS consume more battery?
The Garmin Website doesn’t say it.
Does the older HR strap work with the Fenix 2. If so does it lack anything that the newer version offers?
Thanks and keep up the great reviews.
I’m also curious about this as well, as the tracks on my out and back runs thus far haven’t been as precise as with my 305.
It does.
You just won’t have the new metrics that comes with the new HR-RUN strap but otherwise it seems (from previous posts) that you get everything else, including VOMax and recovery time etc…
The only thing you don’t get is Vertical oscillation and ground contact time.
If you’re seeing precision issues, validate that you’re not on smart recording, as that reduces the quality of the data.
Something to take note of also, is it seems “smart recording” is the default for at least the Run/Bike profiles. Question does the 4-7 second range for data recording apply to all sampled data (GPS, tempe, altitude, HRMrun, etc) or just the GPS? I guessing all, but was curious enough to ask. I will need to check what data save setting on my 610 is set for. I’ve noticed my activities are generally “shorter” with my F2. maybe its from smart recording not having the same precision on routes.
All data streams are recorded with less frequency.
General views on v2.50 ?
I am encouraged that more “positive” posts are coming up. As the whole chain was becoming overly negative IMHO. I still have my 5 day old F2 on the stock v2.20 firmware. I’ve only done some “runs”. And it works. I havent the need for 4 data p/page, in fact I think I would prefer just 2 per page and create a second page. 4 on this display would require more attention I think :) That said, I was hesitant to move to v2.50 as it seemed like people were getting lock ups with just standing/simple operation. Generally speaking. How tried the device for awhile with v2.2 then later updated. What did you notice? I dont need all the swim stuff yet, so those alert and update are not of immediate value to me. My satellite sync was very fast first day, and a bit slow the last three. Slow like my 610 which seems like forever (1-5 minutes) to sync.
I updated to 2.5. Absolutely no issues. If I wouldn’t have read about the 4 data fields, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference to the stock 2.2. Satellite reception seemed to be improved a bit but cannot tell for sure.
After reading the review and all the comments here over the past days I’m still unsure about using navigation and activity recording at the same time.
There seems to be a work around if you want to start navigation after having started an activity but my question is this: When you upload a route/course to the watch, could you just start to navigate it and then start the recording of a run for example? That would be quite useful when running in unfamiliar areas and I believe this is a basic function on the Ambits.
Thanks!
Hi Sebastian-
You can do as you describe. The core item right now that’s a bit messy is that it uses the navigation fields instead of the running fields. So if you start navigating mid-run, your running field selections disappear and they are replaced with navigation fields. Rather than simply adding the navigation fields.
And while you can customize the navigation fields, ultimately you’ll likely have them different for different sports.
Finally, there appears to be an issue where in navigation mode, Running Dynamics are not recorded.
Hi Ray,
been following on your in-depth reviews for some time but this one somehow seemed even more IN-DEPTH than others. Perhaps because there are so many more functions to cover. I thought it was never going to end. And once I eventually made it all the way to the end of your review, decided to read a few comments. And here I am few hours down the road writing this comment after having read some 900+ others.
Thank you for you hardwork indeed, I am sure we all appreciate it very much as the buzz in this comments section proves anyways.
And nice pics as well, Fenix2 on the roof with Notre Dame on the background, nice compositions ;-)
Petr
Thanks Petr – appreciate it!
I paddle a surfski and I am from New England. This means a good part of the year I paddle in a dry suit and 2mm neoprene gloves. The longer strap so that I could wear the Fenix over my dry suit sounds great but I was wondering if the buttons are large enough and spaced apart enough to still be useful with my gloves? Has anybody tried this or have an opinion?
the button placement shouldn’t be a problem, but I would be leary of having 2 velcro strap failure points if you brush against something and unhook the watch and it falls off your wrist. The rubber strap seems much safer
Bought mine from CT. Got it late last week and have been wearing it daily. Received several compliments. I am uniformed LE and I’d looks great in short sleeves. I was worried about the red on the start button and on the upper right of the screen. Some photos make it look orange. It’s not. It looks like the red on the H&K 416.
Did my first run today and everything worked perfectly, even the upload via BT.
The BT notifications are great.
Thanks for the support via CT, Doug, I appreciate it!
I tried multisport for the first (hike / trail run / hike) time and all the distances worked perfectly on the watch, but all of my downloades to Gramin Connect showed .05 miles vs 5 miles. Has anyone else run into this?
A lot of people having the same problem.
It seems a very common problem when in multisport mode.
There is a previous post from Brian here: link to dcrainmaker.com
Post 855 as of now.
He did a 70.3 with the Garmin 810 and with the Fenix 2. Take a look at his results.
Just as a heads up, I did bring this to the Fenix team’s attention with links to the various people who reported it here. Like other items reported, they’re cooking on it.
Probably will be fixed with the next update.
Thanks – glad it’s not just me :). I did a couple mile walk today just to test it and that seems fine so I guess it’s only in multisport mode.
Anyone
does WAAS consume more battery?
The Garmin Website doesn’t say it.
Hi Haroldo-
I’ve confirmed with the Fenix team that enabling WAAS will consume more power than not.
Don’t suppose they offered insight into how much. Or to quantify it?
No, no quantification.
Do you think there’s a significant benefit to enabling WAAS? Does it really make that much of a difference?
There’s some good posts by GPSTrackLog about it. For me though, living in Europe, I don’t get WAAS (North America only). In my case, I’ve seen no issues without it on the Fenix2, all my tracks were solid.
Really the main benefit will be for Geocachers looking for the best accuracy to find caches and those that hide them will want WAAS along with waypoint averaging to mark their caches. For sports you can turn it on or not, it won’t make much of a difference for us.
Fenix is compatible with EGNOS too, see this thread:
link to forums.garmin.com
Well this is confusing now: this link to www8.garmin.com says otherwise.
We will need a clear response now. Enabling WAAS mean enabling EGNOS too?
Correct. Enabling WAAS means enabling EGNOS. You can actually see when EGNOS kicks in. If you go to “GPS Tools” menu, and then “Satellite”, and scroll down you will see IDs of satellites from which watch is currently receiving signal. Anything up to 32 are regular GPS satellites, above that are WAAS and EGNOS (and also Indian and Chineese equivalent systems) satellites. For example in Europe my Fenix locks on Sattelite with ID 39, which is Inmarsat 4-F2. When switched on, EGNOS in theory improves horizontal accuracy from 10 m up to 3m. As for the power consumption – it increases as GPS chip performs extra signal decoding and position correction calculations. However this increase is small. I do not know what chip Garmin has used in fenix, but I would assume it should not be more than extra 1mA of current. Fenix has 500 mAh battery so you can do a math how the watch operating time will decrease with WAAS/EGNOS enabled.
I have done what you said (enabled WAAS) but in “Satellite” I see a page with only 12 satellites with the number 32 being the biggest.
Am I doing something wrong or this simply means that I do not benefit from WAAS?
Btw, cool detail Empewu – appreciate it!
And now.. 910xt ou fenix 2???
If you don’t have the 910xt, get the Fenix 2. There are definitely bugs to iron out, but I’d be surprised if the Fenix 2 isn’t clearly superior to the 910xt in every measure in a few months (if not sooner). It already can do a TON more then the 910xt, but IMO what the 910xt does now, it does better then the Fenix 2. For that reason, I returned my Fenix 2. In the future, if it surpasses the 910xt for triathlon training/racing, I’ll consider buying it again (as long as it’s still ahead of the competition).
I agree. I have both and I’m training with the 910 for now until the bugs are ironed out with the Fenix 2. I’m currently getting familiar with the Fenix 2 features. I have a tri this weekend and will be using the 910 for it.
Hi Ray,
great review. Thanks very much. I am interested in the watch but I fail to understand why Garmin has not introduced swim workout functionality for any of its watches. I have a 910xt and would most likely stick with this if the workout functionality was introduced. Surely there is no coding or unit capability reason why this cannot happen. Could you give the team at Garmin a poke about this? Or at least get them to provide a reason why this hasn’t happened yet.
Regards
Tim
I’ve asked repeatedly and never really got a good reason one way or the other. Typically speaking, when that happens, it means they’re holding out for introduction in a new product, but that doesn’t mean immediately. Sometimes it’s years later. I’d agree, it seems like an easy one to knock out.
My Fenix 2 keeps reverting the Pace unit of measure from Miles to Kilometres. This occurs in all profiles.
I have tried restarting but this does not fix the issues.
All other units of measure seem ok, the distance stays at what i set it (Miles) is anyone else having this problem?
I guess my only other option is a hard reset but i was trying to avoid this as i will have to set the watch up again, anyone have any ideas?
Thanks Ray for the great review and everyone for the comments.
I just ordered the performer bundle from CT; it says that it should ship “mid to late April”, hopefully it’s not going to make me wait too long..
I’ll post my impressions as soon as can try the watch!
Hi Ray,
Just one question, i know that it takes a bit of time saving a workout especially for long workouts with gps… My question is, during multisports, when u switch from one sport to another, does it save first the previous workout then start the new one or it saves after the whole multisport is finished? Cause if thats the case, during an ironman event, from bike to t2 to run, before the workout is saved, you are out running already..
By the way, great review! The watch looks awesome!
Hi T3,
I just used that feature and it doesn’t take the time to save everything before switching to the next activity. It saves the entire multi-sport activity at the end.
I found out the hard way however that you must press the transition (lap) button once to start the transition, then again to begin the next sport. I lost half a mile of recorded running while in transition mode because I thought you only had to press it once. That was my bad…
When you download to Garmin connect it also recognizes everything, including the transition times as seperate activities, which I didn’t like. Not sure if there is a way to customize that.
No way around that.
Unless garmin decides to change things.
Hi Dennis,
Thanks for clarifying. This is just my concern, i know that there had been a lot of issues on this watch based from feedback but am still looking positive that they would resolve if not all atleast those essential once.
By the way, how long did it take to save your longest activity so far?
Thanks!
My longest activity so far has only been about 1 hour 45 min and it took a few minutes to save, but it didn’t seen terribly long. I didn’t time the process, but will the next time I do a multi-hour hike.
I chose the Fenix 2 over the 910 because of the Nav and Altitude capabilities since I like to spend my free time in the woods or mountains, but still enjoy running and cycling. The all in one was attractive to me.
Like everyone else – thank you for such a brilliant review.
I’ve had my Fenix for two weeks and have done several runs, hikes and fitness equipment workouts. I’ve found that the included HRM monitor matches almost perfectly with hotel gym equipment hand helds as well as my new Sole E-95 Elliptical. I geeked out and wore both the Sole HRM and the Garmin HRM at the same time and they matched almost perfectly as well and the calorie burn reported was extremely close.
I was a little bummed that I couldn’t use them Interchangeably, but apparently the Sole HRM is not ANT+.
So far I’m very happy with my decision and am looking forward to some altitude i.e. snowshoeing and backpacking as I live in the Denver area. Was up at 12,500 a couple weeks ago right after I ordered my Fenix and was really Jonesing to play with it… It’s finally getting warm enough to get the bike out soon as well.
I’m not a triathelete, but this really helps to motivate to stay in appropriate heart rate zones and it’s great to be able to track distance as I increase my endurance.
In multisport mode, fenix 2 can’t find ant+ sensors ( hr, spd/cd, power), if I start with open water swim. When I hit lap, after transition, no sensors found… I have to start with bike leg, find sensors, then go to OWS and other legs…
Anyone have the same issue?
I’m seeing the same issue as well as the 1/100 totals for each individual sport… I’ll try your work around… Good idea! I love the watch otherwise! I wear it daily.
Are people only seeing the 1/50 or 1/100th issue when using multisport with v.5? Or have others seen it. Particularly with either the Run or Trail run profiles.
Just did a TM workout and hit “skip” when it was searching for gps, didn’t realize there’s an “indoor” option. But is there a way to turn off gps once in an activity?
For anyone with the Fenix2:
Does the Fenix2 provide the same (or similar) step by step guide for a workout/training plan created on garmin connect as the FR620?
I own a Garmin 310 unit that I use in the following scenarios:
1. Unmounted straps inside swim cap
2. In my pocket skiing (no straps)
3. “quarter” quick release mount on wrist strap for running
4. “quarter” quick release mount on bike stem
Does the new fenix2 support the unstrapped quick release scenarios? I cannot find info on wether the straps can be unmounted like on my 310 unit.
Technically yes, but you’d have to remove the strap, which takes screwdrivers to do, so probably not something you’d want to do every day.
Do you know where the Fenix 2 .TCX files are stored? I can’t find them anywhere. . .
@Chris – I suspect it only saves to a .FIT format. I also tried looking for it and could not find it……
My way round it has been to save my workouts from Garmin Connect as .TCX format.
Correct, only saves .FIT, and GPX for some of the activities. From Garmin Connect you can simply export .TCX, though, there’s some limitations there (no export of Running Dynamics). Out of curiosity, which application are you using that supports .TCX but not .FIT?
@Ray – runkeeper.com does not accept the .fit file format from my fenix2. It only imports .gpx/.tcx files.
Again many thanks for all you do.
Thank you for the response. I wasn’t looking for the proper format. Hah
@Ray: I was looking to import some test runs into google earth. IIRC, my 310 and 910 had TCX files, so I was looking for the same thing.
@All: I was an idiot and forgot that I can export straight out of Connect into Earth. Carry on, nothing to see here.
Ok did a 5 miler today, with no foot-pod or HRM strap. And I thought I would at least have cadence info captured from the watch, but no it was not there. Am I wrong? Any ideas why not?
My $1 says you had a footpod setup/paired in your profile, but didn’t run with it. Another reader reported the same thing, and I believe (but will test it later today), that’s been fixed in the upcoming firmware version.
Ahaa, yep I do have the footpod setup. I’ll try turning that off today to see if that works. I was just wanting to see how well the F2 captured cadence w/o the pod or HRM. Glad to know that it is being addressed, as that would be a lil bit of a PIA.
WHAT?
Within Multisports-Mode it does not try to connect to the sensors when each new activity starts?
That is very stupid and makes this very useless when you want to track cadence within the race!
I would assume to time keeps starting as soon as I tip the lap button after transition and then is finds the sensors in the background.
It appears (for some, but not all) to be a 2.50 bug, not something that was there a few firmware versions (since I tested that and saw ANT+ data was coming across).
First of all, I have followed your blog intently since I got my 310xt eons ago! Best reviews on the net — anywhere. I’m considering replacing my 620 with Fenix 2. Do you know if the F2 accelerometer+indoor workout captures activities like ergo rowing (I guess at least calories) to any point?
No, no capturing of rowing or similar events. Calories it would, since that’s heart-rate strap given.
So is the point of indoor workout vs indoor run etc. purely semantic?
Workouts done indoors are used for custom workouts (i.e. with steps).
An indoor run is simply running indoors without instructions.
Hi Ray
I’ve been having a problem with the Pace/Speed Unit of measure, when i set it to Miles so that i get speed in MPH it keeps resetting itself to Kilometres once i come back out of the menus.
I only got the watch on Friday 28/03 and updated it to Firmware 2.5 on the same day. I’ve tried a hard reset and that made no difference.
All other units of measure stay on what I set them, it is only Pace that keeps changing itself.
This problem happens in Running, Cycling and Openwater, the Pool swim setting still displays pace correctly (as min/100m). Presumably this is because I have set the Pool length in Metres when I switch to that sport.
I wondered if it was related to having my Pool length set in Metres so I set it to Yards and the problem still occurred.
Hvae you or anyone else noticed this problem?
Hmm…let me poke on that. That’s interesting because I had actually thought I saw something similar on Saturday, but since I had just done a full reset testing something else I had chalked it up to me forgetting to set it to Miles vs Kilometers. Let me see what happens tonight on my run.
Hi Ray
Did you get a chance to check last night? Did you find the same problem?
Yup, I did check it out. That issue did not show up for me. But then again, I’m also a few firmware revs ahead right now. So, one way or another, it appears it might be solved.
Hi Ray
OK, that’s good news, thank you for checking and confirming.
I have to say I have high hopes for the Fenix2, it has the potential to be a great blend of day to day watch and triathlon training tool.
There are a few issues that currently prevent it being used in a multisport event but I’m confident these will get ironed out in future firmware updates.
Ran on the treadmill again last night but the watch recorded 4 miles when I only ran 3 – no big deal, I can just edit the data after import.
But – it majorly messed up the VO2 estimates and even if I delete that activity out of garmin connect, there’s no way to get my VO2 back to where it should be – any idea anyone?
Hi Chris,
I had exactly the same issue. Since I had only few outdoor runs, it wrongly estimated the distance on the treadmill and calculated a race speed of 3:20 min/km although I was running at 5:00 min/km. As a result, my VO2max value shot up from 47 to 51. For 15 mins running quite impressive :-)
Wouldn’t it be great to have the possibility to manually input distance, elevation, or other metrics before the F2 makes its calculations? Same issue with indoor cycling of course, even though it wouldn’t calculate the VO2max.
It seems from Rays TomTom Cardio review that the TomTom allows manual inputs after indoor activities.
Thinking I will have to hard reset the watch if I care about the VO2 settings, but as that will also reset it learning my pace for running indoors seems like a catch 22. Wish there was a way to tell it to ignore an activity so that it doesn’t skew data :-( Guess I could always go back to my footpod, but was kinda excited to not have to use it anymore
Hi!
Question:
Satellite pre-cache work with
connect.garmin via USB or
Garmin Express via USB or
Garmin Connect Mobile via bluetooth?
Thx
dvorcsakl
I believe that is correct. yes.
Hi Ray,
I found some info that “barometer lock” – the ability to use the watch as barometer for weather changes detection instead of an altimeter, has been dropped for Fenix 2, even when both Fenix 1 and Tactix have this.
Can you please provide more information on this feature? I think it can be a dealbreaker for people who would use F2 as an outdoor watch for multi day hiking/backpacking trips.
The post where I found this link to forums.garmin.com
Thank you very much.
p.
Hi Pete-
I went back to the Fenix team and asked for a bit of a clarification here on this. In short, the Fenix2 actually has the capability. In fact, it’s on by default, which is probably causing some of the confusion.
Here’s a little table they sent over explaining the differences: link to dcrainmaker.com
Hopefully this helps a bit.
Thank you once again Ray. I really admire all your time and effort you put into this.
p.
Just a quick follow-up on this..
From what I read in the user manual and from using the watch for a few days, the behavior seems to be that the watch assumes that any pressure change is due to an altitude variation if your gps is off and it will “scale” the barometer value to the pressure you would have at the altitude where the last altimeter calibration was done.
This behavior probably works well when you’re on the move, but it leads to a fixed pressure read from the barometer and wandering altitude reads from the altimeter when the watch is sitting on your desk inside and the weather changes. BTW, the number you read from the barometer stays fixed (due to the behavior I described above), but the graph is updated with the actual pressure changes, which is confusing.
To get the actual new pressure number, you need to recalibrate the altimeter.
Do people agree that this is actually what happens?
I think you’re right or very close. IMO it was a very bad decision to cut the option to set the altimeter to fixed in the Fenix 2. In current state the barometer reading is useless when staying on one spot – even if I knew the current elevation, I wouldn’t want to recalibrate constantly.
I agree..
Ray, will you have any chance to bring this up with the Fenix team?
I guess that implementing this should be straightforward and it just needs an option somewhere to set the altimeter to fixed and only show pressure changes as actual barometric changes..
@Rainmaker:I haven’t seen that, and have done very similar activities. I’d definitely ping Garmin support to get them looking at it.
Hi Rainmaker,
no sooner said than done..;-)
Garmin Support find out, it´s a problem if you have “Auto Pause” on. (Version 2.5) Same with this: After about 40 minutes (not sooner)you stop again, the watch didn´t get heartrate, didn´t get foot pod signal and didn´t get satellit signal at all. It breaks down.They helped me to make a hardware reset to get my wach alive:
1. switch off the watch (press light, down,get it out)
2.Press light (power)+down+back at the same time. if hearing first piep let off “Light” and “Down” button, if hearing second piep let off “Back” button
3. Set language
so I got my watch alive and from now on I always run with “Auto Pause” off until softwareupdate solves the problem.
Thank you very much for your answer Ray. Have a nice time.
Bleuette Naomi
Thanks for reporting back. I don’t typically use auto-pause (mostly because I end up getting myself all confused pressing buttons when I’m not supposed to). Hopefully it’ll get addressed in the next firmware. Since they know about it, usually that’s the case with this team.
Which, is a good reason/reminder to folks in general that if the Fenix team doesn’t know about a problem, they can’t fix it. In general, I’ve found this particular team does usually fix problems pretty quickly once they know about it.
As always, great review. I live in Europe but travel a lot and want to buy the Fenix 2 in North America (a lot cheaper)! Can I upload/change the basemaps on the North American version and replace it with European basemap?
It doesn’t come with a/any basemap, but you can load whatever basemap you’d like.
Thanks DC. That was quick. Do you know what the difference is then between the European and North American version of Fenix 2? Garmin in Denmark told me the difference is that the North American version is loaded with basemap for North America, and the European one of course with European basemap.
Nope, it’s simply the power adapter. That’s all.
OK, So I finally pulled the trigger on the Fenix 2; it will replace my ancient FR301. Do you know when CleverTraining is going to start shipping the Fenix 2 Bundle?
Also, I know you have said garmin says that “soon” they will release the Android app update. Anything new on this? Have they changed “soon” for “next week” or something?
Thanks!
Hi Mauricio-
Working to get some clarification on updates/timelines as we speak. Clever has been pestering Garmin, and waiting on when exactly the next batches will be coming. All retailers are roughly in the same boat at the moment there (no exact update on next batch).
Nothing new on Android yet.
Hi Mauricio (and others)-
Just as an update on Clever Training Fenix2 orders. As with before, the non-bundle continues to be in-stock.
Garmin has provided timelines for the bundle shipping, with a small-ish chunk of them scheduled to arrive late the week of the 14th, and then all remaining backorders the following week, at which point CT should remain in-stock for both variants from there on out. As always, backorders are fulfilled based on when you placed you order.
Thanks for the support, I appreciate it!
I posted this on the Garmin forum and Slowtwitch. Also posting it here in hopes someone from Garmin may address these issues. Watch is good for training, but not really race ready. Glad I still have my 310 for NOLA 70.3 next week.
Fenix 2 Problems
I’ve only had the watch a week, but here are the problems I’ve encountered so far:
1. The watch will not pair with Ant+ sensors in multisport mode after the swim. You have to pair with the power meter, speed, cadence and HR strap manually at the beginning of the bike/run.
2. Distance for multisport activities was divided by 100 when uploading to Garmin Connect (0.25 miles instead of 25 miles). This messes up all of the lap data.
3. Reviewing multisport data on the watch after the race is almost impossible. There is no summary for each of the legs of the race. You literally have to scroll through every “lap” of the bike leg to get to the run. If you auto lap every mile, then you have to scroll through 56 laps in order to see your run data. Summaries of each leg (like on the 310xt and 910xt) would be very helpful.
4. Cadence numbers on running is double what it is when using a foot pod (the fenix is counting every step, while the footpod is counting one foot) so if I’m used to seeing a running cadence of 95 on my 310xt, I now am seeing 190. Not a big deal, but still would be nice to have the number divided by 2.
5. Today I went to spin class, then went for a run immediately afterwards. After saving the spin class file, I tried to start a new activity and the watch would not let me. It kept asking whether I wanted to resume my indoor biking activity. I had to delete the spin class file before it would let me begin a run.
6. The watch would not pair with the HR strap once I started the run activity after spin class. I had to turn the watch off and back on again for it to pair. Pairing with the HR strap took a long time. Usually it pairs very quickly.
7. I cannot upload to Garmin Connect Mobile. The watch just says “syncing” for a very long time (15-20 minutes) before I finally give up and just upload using the clip.
I really hope these bugs can be fixed. I like the Fenix2, but I’m glad I kept my 310xt so I can use it until the glitches are taken care of.
It is not just multisport data that is hard to review. All activities are the same. A configurable summary or levels of summary detail would be a nice feature.
Regarding cadence. I have see it in terms of the count on one foot or two. Isn’t counting both feet the more commonly accepted method for reflecting cadence?
RE: Items 1/2
In general, it sounds like Multisport Mode items went out the window in 2.50. The team is aware and has plenty of data to correct.
RE: Cadence
The world was fully aligned until last September. Every major device on the market (Garmin or otherwise) all used the one-foot metric (thus roughly ~95spm). Then, with the FR620, to accomadate the HRM-RUN, they went to a two-foot system (doubling it to 190spm). They made a sweeping change on Garmin Connect, but this didn’t impact older devices that showed single-foot still.
Yes, it’s confusing, and use, it’s stupid (in my opinion).
RE: 5/6
I think those should be fixed, I brought them up as well after noticing them.
RE: 7
Yeah, it takes a way, my complaint as well.
Hi, I need to do a hard reset since my VO2 max is not giving any result. One last try before I have the unit replaced.
How can I do a hard reset? I have followed the Fenix Youtube video but it does not work
Thanks a lot for the help
@David C How can I do a hard reset?
Hi David ,
I managed it . How? See my post above #995
@Adam Cadence numbers on running is double
Hi Adam, as a Jack Heggie Runner (” Running with the whole body”) and Chi-Runner comming from Polar RS 800 CX I was confused first, that Fenix count every step and I had divided it throu 2 , but now I appreciate it a lot the watch shows me my 180 cadence. I will not missing it. (Hope Polar V800 will do the same )
@. The watch would not pair with the HR strap once I started the run activity after spin class. I had to turn the watch off and back on again for it to pair. Pairing with the HR strap took a long time. Usually it pairs very quickly.
it seems that the same problem I had, when I store my running data und tried to run right away once more. No catching Heartrate, no foot senor, no satellit.
When I run with ” Auto Pause” on from about 45 minutes on and I stand still, the watch will stay in “Auto Pause” and nothing helps to make it running again, but only full hardware reset.
I hope they will manage the problem. I hope Polar will do better work with V800 coming soon Ray will test and compare it..please, please , please!!!
Herzallerliebste Grüße!
Bleuette Naomi
Here is the link to her instructions.
link to dcrainmaker.com
It is possible that a watch has a color display? Try to keep hold light button until the shutdown – on my watch is yellow color :-)
No color display. Were you wearing a yellow shirt reflecting off the glass? ;)
Are you sure?
link to img97.rajce.idnes.cz
link to img97.rajce.idnes.cz
Same place, same light.. No yellow shirt.. :-)
And this is from FW:
TXT_Black_Green_STR
TXT_Black_Orange_STR
TXT_Black_Red_Black_STR
TXT_Black_Red_STR
TXT_Black_STR
TXT_Black_White_Black_STR
TXT_Black_White_STR
TXT_Black_Yellow_Black_STR
TXT_Black_Yellow_STR
Hello, today i use the garmin fenix 2 for the fist time in a treadmill run and i see that the pace is not accurate. i start at a 10km/h pace and the watch tells 5min/km pace istead 4min/km is way too diferent. i not use the footpod i use only the watch and the HR run belt.
can i calibrate the fenix 2?
if i use the footpod the pace is more real?
thanks
Ricardo,
there might be a typo in your answer, but 10km/h equals to 6km/min pace
yes i know, i retype the question :) . i start in treadmill in 6min/km and the watch tells me 4-5 min/km, this difference is huge. do you have the same problems? how can i calibrate the watch?
thanks
There is a couple of links to previous questions on calibration. Just click on them and read thru see if any of them help you at all.
1- link to dcrainmaker.com
2- link to dcrainmaker.com
3- link to dcrainmaker.com
4- link to dcrainmaker.com
If you are looking to run ONLY with the watch and NO FOOTPOD then the answer can be found on the section of running near the end on the topic Treadmill Running. It says:
“Treadmill Usage:
Finally, the Fenix2 supports the ability to run indoors on a treadmill – either with or without a footpod. In the case of without a footpod the unit will use its internal accelerometer to determine pace and cadence. It does this by ‘learning’ your pace and cadence while outdoors on GPS runs. It does this over time, across different pace ranges. So it’s not a one size fits all approach. Nor should you immediately open your Fenix box and go straight to a treadmill and expect accurate data. The more miles you have outside, the better.
Thus, in order to really put it through its paces, I’ve been running for weeks outdoor across pace ranges from 4:30/mile up to about 10:00/mile (+ some at walking paces). Hundreds of miles worth of data. In order to keep things as consistent as possible, I was the only one who wore the watch, and I always wore it on the same wrist. Thus, in theory, it’d be the most perfect data set possible.”
I short:To run without a footpod indoords you need to run with it outside a lot in order for the watch to learn your speed/pace and accurately measure your pace when you run Indoors. Then it will be accurate.
Another way around running for weeks outside is: Calibrate the footpod as in the links above.
Hope it helped.
The first time I tried running on the treadmill, the first mile was wrong, but the next 4 miles were almost exact. The next time I ran, it got off by 25% – I think it’s supposed to “learn” your running speeds – but I can’t figure it out either
Yes, it helped a lot. thanks. best regards
Hi Ray,
First of all, I’ve to say that I love your web site. I got into running two years ago because after reading your blog I realized that running can be fun and feed my inner geek at the same time. I got RCX5 and run almost 1000 miles since then.
I’m torn between V800 (Polar just seems to keep dropping the ball with different aspects of their products) and Fenix 2.
Can you please comment on how rugged Fenix 2 is? I zoomed in on the pictures and there seems to be quite a few scuffs on it already and it’s a pretty new watch.
Also, do you know if Fenix 2 hardware would allow for a similar to v800 “Activity tracking” during the day, mostly step count and show it on the overall activity log? Do you know if Garmin plans on implementing it via Firmware update later?
Thanks!
The Fenix2 hardware isn’t really suited for an activity tracker mode unfortunately, and thus in discussions with them, it’s not on the table right now.
As for how rugged the Fenix2 is, it seems rugged to me. It’s always an interesting question though when folks ask, because it’s highly dependent on what you do with it. For me, I’ve been running with it for basically two months now, and riding, and wearing it here and there. It’s sat in my backpack pocket full of sharp/pokey/scratchy things. So it probably has some scruffs, but I’d say that’s the case on any device I’ve used from any company.
I’ve whacked it against walls (concrete and otherwise) while running, and it still seems fine. I guess that’s kinda my baseline. If it’s slightly scuffed up after hard use, I’m OK with that. For me, it’s not meant to be a museum piece.
As always, fantastic review. I’m mostly a runner and cyclist. I currently use a Timex Run Trainer 2.0 for running and a Cateye comp. for cycling. I am however looking to do a couple Tri’s this summer and wanted to upgrade to a better watch to be able to train/monitor all pertinent data in all three sports. I was considering either getting the Garmin 910xt or the Fenix 2. I understand the 910xt is the industry standard but it seems that the features on the Fenix 2 are on par for the most part with the 910xt. I don’t really have a need to run both Bluetooth and Ant + concurrently so that’s not an issue. Assuming that certain bugs can be hammered out on the Fenix 2, which watch would experienced triathletes recommend?
I’m a runner and competitive stair climber. I was initially looking into less-advanced GPS watches for running purposes, but decided to research watches with altimeters to track training and racing up the stairwells of buildings. This watch seems to be the most favorably reviewed watch I can find of GPS watches with altimeters. My question, though, is how does this perform in a stairwell? Does it accurately capture ascent inside of a building? That’s the kind of info I’d like to have before I shell out $400 for something like this. Because if I can’t find a watch that does that, I’d be better off just getting something less fancy.
That’s a hard one to answer. If the stairwell is well ventilated it should be alright but it there’s an artificial pressure produce for example air conditioning then it may not. Commercial aircraft have pressurized cabins which give incorrect altitude values also in a car with air conditioning on and the windows rolled up you can get incorrect results.
Ok, for fun, I just went out and tried it in my stairwell. I went outside and got a fix with GPS to theoretically calibrate the barometric altimeter. It gave me 12m and stabilized on that.
Then, I walked up the 6 stories to my apartment. It ended up giving me 28m and climbed all the way up until I stopped at my door, and then it stopped.
My stairwell is enclosed, but open at the bottom into a courtyard and random windows that might be slightly cracked open along the way. Thus, air flows pretty freely and no artificial pressure is being built up.
Hope that helps.
Hello everyone!
First of all many thanks and congrats to Ray on this excellent review (in fact all of them are as thorough as I wished for). I have been a follower for sometime but this is my first post.
Where I live (Madeira Island) the orography is so “agressive” that the terrain maps cannot be that precise. That means I can do a 10K run in an almost flat path that goes along a mountain slope and in reality only climb 40m, but with the little GPS and map errors the final result is like 700m climbed (even with a very precise iPhone 4S GPS/GLONASS). The slopes are so steep that a 5m deviation error from the correct path may mean a climb or descent of about 200 – 300m between two points.
So this was my main reason to buy equipment with barometric altimeter!
I have an Edge 510 and tested it in my building elevator as soon as I got it.
I have to say I was very impressed as how accurate it was with the altitude even in this confined space. It just kept steadily displaying between 2-3 meters elevation gain/loss with every floor travelled.
The theory is that as long as you’re not behind a sealed door/room, airflow always equalizes pressure to outside, no matter how small the gaps are (in this case the elevator cabin doors and shaft). This makes sense, since it is very difficult to create a sealed environment, just the laws of physics in play, I guess… Good for us geeks that crave for accurate data!
I received my Fenix 2 three days ago but with a bittersweet felling, since I got myself injured last week and haven’t been able to test it so far (badly bruised/ruptured quad).
In the meantime, I’ll soon perform the “elevator test” again with the Fenix 2 and post some feedback on that. I am expecting the same degree of accuracy…
Good workouts to everyone,
Rui
Quick update,
Elevator test completed – Fenix 2 did great.
Link to video
Also tested walking up some flights of strairs (sorry, can’t run at the moment) – great as well.
Link to video
Perfect review as usual
I decided to buy it, but I hardly see the numbers on the screen. Garmin must imrpove contrast/visibility
Absurd!!!!!
Thanks for the great reviews. I’ve introduced your site to several people. Well done.
I live in the UAE and tech stuff here is slow coming and often 2-3 times the price of the USA. I’ve been trying to get the Fenix 2 for a month or so. I have a friend in the USA until April 16. I was going to buy the Fenix 2 bundle from Amazon and have it express shipped to my friend. Now Amazon says it will be in stock in 1-2 months! Any ideas where to buy this online and get it to Seattle before April 16? Direct delivery to the UAE is not much of an option. I can go through a 3rd party like Aramex, but this just costs more money and time. Thus, friends returning from the USA are the best! Thank you.
Hi Jeremy-
You won’t likely get the bundle before Apr 16th from anywhere. Any new orders are looking like mid to late April.
If I was in your shoes, I’d probably get the base unit now and then order an HRM-RUN strap separately. It’ll cost you $40-$50 more, but that’s way cheaper than 2-3 times the cost of the entire Fenix2. With the Clever Training discount and shipping for free in the US, you’ll pretty much make up that cost right there alone (compared to buying overseas at 2-3x). Just my two cents.
Jeremy, the Chicago Garmin store is able to immediately ship both items with a discount to help compensate for not having the bundle available, but you’ll still wind up paying $40 extra for it, and does include free shipping. I don’t live in Chicago, but a colleague clued me in on it, and it’ll arrive by the time I return home from my overseas business trip.
I was wondering if someone knows if there are plans to support (indoor) rowing by this watch, like strokes/min?
There aren’t any plans at the moment.
Do you know if garmin intends to add support for pace zones in the fenix?
It isn’t something I’ve discussed with them. But I can ask next time we chat.
Thx for such a great review!
I have two questions, maybe You can provide a hint:
1) Speaking of custom profiles: is it possible to set up the rowing profile?
When indoors I’m using the rowing machine.
How would I start to set up such a profile?
Is this explained in detail somewhere on the Garmin side or on the Internet?
At the moment I was not able to find anything.
2) As I am using the bundled I have the HRM strap.
I have some problems with the watch recognizing the strap correctly.
Especially between two activities, f.e. cycling and walking.
Best regards,
Adrian
1) You can setup a rowing profile, but honestly, it won’t get any rowing-specific data (like strokes). Rather, it’d just be heart rate data with custom screens.
2) If you’re seeing an issue where you lose connectivity to a strap between activities, that’s been addressed in an upcoming firmware update. I don’t know if that’s a Monday release thing, or the following week. Though, it is on the list and based on how large the list is, I’m guessing it’ll come out soon.
And a third question, hopefully with an easy solution.
Can I setup the F2 as Fitness Monitor without the separate footpod sensor?
So that it counts my steps with the integrated accelerometer?
Thx.
You can go into an indoor treadmill mode, but honestly, it’s not really designed to be that kind of activity monitor (like a FitBit or Vivofit), and thus, won’t be terribly accurate.
Hi Rainmaker,
I just bought a Garmin Fenix 2 recently. Can you advice me on how to sync my device to my garmin connect app in my iphone? I turned the bluetooth ‘on’ in both my iphone and the watch and eventually connected. But my recorded activity in the watch does not upload into the apps in the phone.
Kindly advice. Thank you
Once paired, go into history and select ‘Sync’ to sync the activity to the phone.
Ray, great review thanks. Wrt data filrlds when I run, your picture shows 4 data fields. I only see the capability to do 3. Any thoughts?
You’ll need to ensure you’re on the latest software version, as it wasn’t introduced until recently.
ray, sorry to bother you again, but i tried up to update the firmware and after 10 minutes of nothing happening, i took the watch off the usb chord. Now, when i attach the watch to the usb chord, the battery charges but my computer does not recognize the watch. I tried up to update the firmware through garmin web updater but it is saying ‘no device found ‘
any thoughts ?
Hi Justin-
Hmm, that’s strange. Double-check the USB mode and see which function it’s in, also, try rebooting your computer (as well as the watch). I typically use Garmin Webupdater to update my Fenix, simply because I tend to trust it more.
I’ve had this problem too. What computer are you using. Im using the latest version of a MacBook Air and im wandering if it’s an issue with the Mac rather than the fenix. Partly because it’s recently happened with an old forerunner 210 as well as my fenix.
Google search for this as a Mac problem has been fruitless. But a reboot always fixes it.
Cheers
One thing I would like to see added to the history menu is a ‘Delete All’ option in the History section, maybe after the list of activities? I tend to not auto delete mine when I upload to garmin connect as I then load them from the Fenix into Sporttracks directly from the watch. But currently to delete activities I have to load the activity and then select delete, and do that for each individual one. So a Delete All would be a great addition (for me anyway, and it’s all about me isn’t it ;) )
You can just delete the activity files from within Windows Explorer (or the equivalent on a MAC). When the fenix 2 is connected to the USB cable, it shows up as a removable drive called “GARMIN fenix 2”. The activities are stored as .FIT files in the Activities folder in the Garmin folder. You can copy them to a different folder on the computer or delete them.
Yeah, I know. But as DC said, if there’s something you’d like to see then add it here. I just thought it could be a handy feature.
Upon further review, the fenix 2 already has the ability to clear the activities:
1) Hold the MENU button to get to SETTINGS.
2) Scroll to SETTINGS > > SYSTEM > RESET >HISTORY and press the STOP/START button to select.
3) Confirm that you want to delete the entire HISTORY.
Yep, thanks hwc. Will teach me to not fully explore all the settings. Didn’t get into the reset menu…. doh.
Took my Fenix 2 on my first bike ride today, rode 32 miles with the HRM and never lost signal with the strap or GPS. Had to cut it a little short as weather was moving in… The milage and speed tracked right on with my current bike sensor (not Ant+) so don’t think I’ll need a seperate cadance sensor for the watch. Rode downtown Denver to the flagship REI store and used the auto pause function which was great since there were a few lights we had to stop at and they didn’t mess with the data. Still very happy with the purchase.
After reading your 4iiii review do you think this could be a solution to the problem of transmitting data to phone and sensor at the same time?
No, the Viiiiva strap goes from ANT+ sensors to BLE sensors. Further, the Fenix doesn’t support Fenix sensors. Sorry!
Ah well. To be honest, how many apps and sensors and devices do I need to display the same info!! Oh yeah, as many as I can!
Living in Dubai so the season is coming to an end due to the heat. Gives me the summer to mull it over between Fenix 2 and 910XT. Suspect I already know the answer!
I used to do that, Viiiiva connected to the Ambit 2 via ANT+ and to the Xperia Z with BTLE. I used that setup with the Fenix 2 so my wife could follow me and got at the same time 2 backup GPS and HRM streams :) (Fenix 2, Ambit 2 and Z)
Cheers
Can i connect Fenix 2 with Samsung S4 and what is the best device for skiing and snowbording Fenix 2 or Ambit 2?
It does not yet connect to Android devices, hopefully shortly. The Fenix line has a ski/snowboard mode, the Ambit line does not.
Hello,
Waterproof 50m means that watches will survive dive to 50m if you wont press buttons? From time to time I do freediving/spearfishing and compass/gps would be really usefull tool if its really able to survive pressure. Thanks
I’m not quite sure if it’s designed for button pressing at 50m, but definitely no problems at slightly less depths.
That said, interestingly, this is something that a custom rig I had developed for testing just finished build on Friday and I’ll be picking it up in about two weeks. Looking forward to what’s coming there…
How well would you say the GPS accuracy is for short hard curves? The 910 is abysmal (the 99% overall accuracy is nice) but useless when I want to do laps with short hard curves. Any better performance with the newer chip set? I think I like the extra functions and look of the watch over the 620, but sometimes I feel like I’m better off with a $50 timex.
The short hard curves also matters to me for trail running and skiing.
The gps system updates every 1 second. The best that any gps can do is connect your route at every 1 sec and that means for hard fast turns it will underestimate your route. With smart recording on it will be even worse.
SYNC TO iOS APP FAILED
I received my Fenix 2 from clever training last week. Their service is good.
Been playing around with the watch. Since the newest firmware update, I can no longer sync the watch with the iPhone app through BT. It keeps saying Sync Failed. This is very frustrating. I even reset and deleted all the workout history and it still gives now that. Tried reinstalling the app and rebooting the phone. Still no luck.
I am quite disappointed to see such a critical error this early. I am also unable to find help on the web.
Hi King-
I’d go ahead and delete the pairing and re-pair the phone. Ensure you forget it within the iOS Control Panel, as well as in the Garmin app.
Else, i’d just give a quick ring to Garmin Support and they can help get you sorted out.
I have the same issue with connect mobile and already did all that and it´s still not uploading.
Pretty frustating, thanks Rain,
Best.
Hi
First of all, thank you for the broad and deep review you have done. I am a very novice runner who after six months of training with a cheapo HR watch is willing to have a GPS watch which can provide better running metrics and stats as well as custom training capabilities.
I was thinking on the FR220 and was absolutely decided, however the Fenix 2 came into my way. I like going hiking to the mountains, but I am missing a GPS device to leave the usual routes and explore new paths and to hike through unknown lands for me (using tracks that people have already done).
To sum up, I think of the Fenix 2 as a nice device to run as well as a handheld and comfortable GPS for hiking. Its waterproofness could make it for those days in which I go surfing in summer. An all-around device after all.
However, I am reading everywhere that this device is aimed to ultra runners and triathletes, and I am afraid of not taking full advantage of the device or that I am the only “novice runner” who is wearing such an expensive gadget in his left wrist.
Thanks!
I don’t run at all, except for a very occasional interval workout of walking/jogging on hilly route around my house. I’ve used the Garmin 405, the Garmin 610, and now the fenix 2. Used them all for walking, for strength/fitness workouts in the gym, for Airdyne intervals, and for hiking. The hiking specific features (and especially the battery life) make the fenix 2 a better choice for hiking.
I don’t expect to use the mapping feature of the fenix 2. I have a Garmin Montana with detailed Garmin topo maps installed. I almost always load an existing GPS track of my intended hike so I can make sure my track is on-course.
goodmorning, i have already bought fenix2 and the only think that i dislike is when i swim in the pool i have these three sections…top: interval distance – middle:interval time – bottom: interval pace
the wrong of the watch is that when i press the lap button the interval time does not stop and immediately the next lap begins but i have to press it twice…i want to ask you if there ia another option in order when i press lap automaticaly resets and begins the new lap…thank you
Hi, While swimming with Fenix2-Garmin Swim or 910xt in a pool, if you press lap, you mean you’re going to start a rest interval, thus the rest interval time starts counting, then if you push ‘lap’ again you’re telling your watch you resume swimming again and then a new swimming interval starts!.
What it is confusing is that because of a bug, when you analyze your swimming on Garmin Connect, rest periods don’t appear between your swimming intervals as they should, but hopefully they’re going to fix that soon.
thanks for your answer…i appreciate it.
Hello, Anyone else having a problem with GPS accuracy with 2.5 software? My watch is set to 1 secod sampling and GPS accuracy set to Normal. I’ve already tried the hard reset. Actually nothing helps and the difference between actual running path and what then is shown in Garmin Connect is sometimes over 50 meters (approx. 100 feet) in an open areas with no high buildings or trees! That’s all after waiting for at least 4-5 minutes before starting to record. Same things after 30-40 minutes of running.
Hi
Nope, i’ve done 4 runs now with both my Fenix 2 (firmware 2.5) and my 910xt (one on each arm) and they both give virtually identical routes in Garmin connect and both follow the roads i ran pretty accurately.
I had/have an issue when I connect the F2 with a MAC version of Garmin Express. I am currently running v2.50 with 1-second recording, GPS Normal and WAAS enabled.
With Mac Garmin Express version 3.1.3.0 and looking at the accuracy data field, the value remains roughly around 80 feet.
With a Windows version of Garmin Express, the accuracy is roughly 40 feet or less.
It was not a strict experiment with only one variable (Garmin Express Version), but enough for me to consistently only sync with the Windows version.
I wanted to say that I’m enjoying my Fenix 2. I purchased the FR 620 last fall but I’ve been focusing on the trails much more since December / January. I actually feel like I get more for my money with the Fenix 2 and am very happy with it. The backtracking feature has already come in handy when I was on a new trail this past weekend. Don’t get me wrong,the FR620 is an amazing watch. I just wanted something that’s more oriented to my running.
Ray,
Thanks for the review and all of the great work that you do on this site.
Hi just got the Fenix2 this week. Everything works fine but i have problems in the multisport mode. First of all in bike section it says HR not detected. This is the same with run section with the addtion that run dynamics do not work either.
There is absolutely no problem when using these modes by it self, only when using it in multisport mode that i have a problem. Does anyone else have this problem? any solutions?
Hi Mhom-
Within 2.50 a bunch of issues were introduced for multisport mode. All of which (to my knowledge), including the ones you noted, have been fixed in an upcoming firmware update. I don’t have/know the timelines for that.
Thanks for the reply. I have upgraded to 2.50 but still have the problem that says HR not connected in multisport mode. No such problem in the individual modes themselves. when going into multisport mode it just skips finding the HR process totally and goes straight to GPS..
No, that’s what I was referring to – the issues were introduces in 2.50. They remain there until the next version of the firmware is released.
Ok i get what you were saying now…thanks..have my first event in 2weeks and really hoping they fix they issue by then
Hi Ray,
can the internal accelerometer (WDR) be used for showing the instant pace? I can imagine that this could be more accurate than using lap average pace with GPS – as instant GPS is a bit erratic.
Especially when you change speed rapidly.
Or is it still necessary using a foot pod to get the proper instant pace?
Cheers,
Christian
Cheers,
Christian
Different GPS devices differ when it comes to how smooth (or not smooth), the GPS instant pace is. I don’t really have any issues with the Fenix2 instant pace, though, we always differ a bit.
That said, here’s the order for WDR, but it’s not changeable by the end user:
link to dcrainmaker.com
Thks for the great review and the valuable comments section. Couple of lingering questions.
Your comment link: “Run cadence hierarchy: HRM-Run, Footpod, WDR (Trail Running and Running modes only” Is pace hierarchy same?
So, is HRM-Run ultimately more accurate on cadence than footpod? How about on pace?
On treadmill usage, you compared pace for WDR (Fenix2) and footpod. What about HRM-Run? was it better than footpod?
For pace it’s: 3D Speed (horizontal+vertical(If turned ON)), Footpod (if set to Always), WDR (Indoor Mode only), GPS, WDR (Outdoor Run mode), UltraTrac is always GPS…no hierarchy
The HRM-RUN doesn’t do pace, only cdaence. For cadence, it’s really a wash when it comes to the HRM-RUN or the footpod. There are very edge scenarios where you’d slightly different results with the footpod vs HRM-RUN, such as if you managed to double-skip a step or something (such as avoiding someone who cut in front of you). But it’s so rare it’s not really even an edge case.
My buying scenario is kinda complicated: Don’t really care about gct & vo, but for treadmill usage, if hrm-run cadence is a wash and WDR distance/pace is decent, then maybe bundle makes more sense than buying fenix2 + $25 refurbished footpod, even though already have an old hrm2?
Does 3D-speed carry additional processing overhead? Aside from skiing/hiking, should it be used for runs/bike involving some 30-50 ft hills? Or use it anytime any hill is involved? Any guideline on when it makes sense to use 3D settings for run/bike activities? Should I just select 3D on Trail Run and not turn it on for Run? (assuming those are 2 separate/custom activities)
Honestly, I don’t bother to use the 3D speed/distance for much of anything. The difference is so trivial for most non-Alps type scenarios that it just doesn’t matter.
As for your treadmill option, I’d agree that not buying the HRM-RUN makes sense. However, you might just want to try the unit without the footpod first and see how accuracy works for you. It might be good enough you can save the additional $25.
Thks Ray. Is fenix2 on backorder on CT?
The bundle with the HRM-RUN is, but the stand-alone Fenix2 is not. You can use the little drop-down box on the CT page to change which one, which in turn updates the in-stock status.
Appreciate the support!
Forgive me if this has been asked already: Will they be adding Walk / Run alerts to this watch?
Thanks
It’s not currently planned.
What probably drives me craziest right now is – say I set an alert for “Heart Rate above 190” – once I hit 190 – great, alert goes off, but if I don’t immediately return below 190, the stupid thing keeps alerting me OVER AND OVER AND OVER ha ha ha – for that reason, I can’t find a useful purpose for alerts…
All of the Garmin devices will continue to alert at you like an alarm clock would until you go back into zone. Basically, it’s to remind you that you’re out of zone.
FANTASTIC review! I can’t believe there’s this much to learn about a watch wow!
After hours spent on this page, I have to agree with Petrovski, it’s a little odd that they don’t have an hourly vibrating or beeping function. Would you be able to inquire about this to the team? I went on their forums and did a feature request as well as sent an email to their fenix at garmin dot com account, but no replies. You said you are some firmware revs ahead of us regular folk, do you know if this has been implemented?
Any light would be appreciated…
Someone even offered to provide them with source code for it apparently..
Ben
Hi Ray,
is there any way I can disable speed, cadence and distance when doing something indoors? When I do circuit training, weight training or similar it always records distance and speed. I created a custom activity but can’t find a way to only record HRM data.
Thanks!
Outside of going into indoor running mode, no. But even then, you’re probably going to get some wonky distance data wandering around. That said, it won’t affect calorie burn as long as a HR strap is worn.
Sure. I just finished an indoor workout with the fenix 2. Warmup, core exercises, power exercises, and weight lifting, etc.
I just selected INDOOR and then STRENGTH which is a custom profile I put together, mostly with screens that show heart rate, lap time (which I used to time sets and rest periods. You could use a running profile, too. Just depends what data screens you want. I did the whole workout today looking at one data screen with total elapsed time, heart rate (%max), and lap time.
It doesn’t try to start GPS. I told it to SKIP looking for speed/cadence sensors when I started the workout (I’ve got it paired to bike speed/cadence sensors on an Airdyne). I get a workout with 0.0 mile distance. Basically just heart rate versus time:
link to connect.garmin.com
Looks like Garmin has released 2.6 firmware for the F2 now!
Indeed. Here’s what’s in there:
Changes made from version 2.50 to 2.60:
Improved ANT sensor connection speed
Improved activity saving speed
Improved vertical speed stability
Improved cadence support
Improved pace alert labels
Fixed issue with activity recording if resuming after completing a workout
Fixed reporting of Multisport activity distance
Fixed potential issue with connection to ANT sensors after a Multisport activity transition
link to www8.garmin.com
Also, for those curious – I asked about getting swim rest periods to show up in GC. They’re working on adding it.
Loaded 2.60, I was hoping I could try re-syncing an existing multisport session in the hopes Garmin Connect would recognize at least the distance properly, unfortunately it was a no go. I’ll go record a new session and hope for the best.
Do we know if this release addresses the random hanging that requires a reboot (I hit one of these on a trail hike this weekend on 2.5 and its was not fun to have lost my data for a while and have to reboot my watch in the middle of a trail hike)
Thanks
Robert
Great news regarding the swim rest periods, that, together with the forthcoming drill mode, will make my Garmin Swim unneeded :-)
Have they added the ability to choose Pool as the first dscipline in Multisport yet?
Hopefully mutliple bike profiles and a fix for the Swim rest times is coming soon.
Hi Ray
I’m curious, what do these two actually mean?
Improved cadence support
Improved pace alert labels
Oh and btw, this has to go down as the longest comments section on any of your reviews surely??
I am enjoying the Fenix2. No problems or glitches yet but I haven’t been very demanding yet either.
Sensor pairings have all been fast and simple. Setup has been straight forward even considering a different layout to my 310XT.
<60min recordings save in under 60 secs, 2 hours recordings about 2-2.5 mins.
I am not enjoying the reversed white through black screen, especially so as most of my running and biking is during twilight hours.
I wanted to like it, I do prefer blacked faced analog watches and black faced gauges for deep diving but this is much harder to read. I have adjusted the contrast up and down as well as brightness and using the 4 field layout (which is essential) makes it even worse.
I am sure glasses or contacts would sort it out but I don't need them for the 310XT so it is a bit disappointing.
One vote for the option to have black writing on white background.
Thanks again Ray for the review and your follow up to comments.
Regards Wiz
i did an obstacle run yesterday. mostly on streets but around 0.6 mile of it was underground. i was expecting it to track my distance through the internal accelerometer but it did not. the map shows a line between the start (10:38) and finish (10:58) of the tunnel, but the time and distance “in” the tunnel were not reported.
link to connect.garmin.com
does that feature only work if you put it in indoor run mode?
i suppose i would have been fine if i’d have worn a foot pod, right?
didn’t do great in parking garages either, but oh well.
My answer is based on comments made previously.
So from what I understand in order for your watch to work in the way you described you would need a footpod. Once it goes into the tunnel it looses GPS and starts at that time to use the footpod to measure distance/speed/pace. In other words, once GPS speed=0 and footpod speed> or = 1 the watch switches to the footpod.
It has an internal accelerometer that learns as you run outside and can be used for indoor running but the watch (while running outdoors) will only do what you are describing (tunnel scenario) if you have a footpod.
Ray can correct me if I’m wrong.
No, it should failover back to the WDR pace/distance when GPS speed = 0. I’ve tested this in a tunnel near me that I run in often (about half a mile).
You’re on 2.50 (looking at your activity), and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t broken in that rev (it was broken a few different ways at different revs, but I thought 2.50 was good).
Any chance Auto Pause was enabled? I’d agree it likely took you more than 12 seconds to run through the tunnel, which, is probably about the time it would have taken for it to lose GPS signal.
Is there a way to make a backup of the fenix 2 system/data pages settings? On the fenix 1, it was easy to just save the ‘profiles-folder’, but even thou I save the entire Garmin-folder it does not save the settings/daga pages.
Ray,
There was a reader who posted about a color screen a few days ago. I believe your response was that it didn’t have one, and then he replied with 2 photographs showing a yellow line across the screen and one with 4 quadrants of green/blue/gray along with a few lines of code (assuming he grabbed them from the watch). I’ve been watching the comment to see if you had any thoughts on the photos, but the original comment and your response are no longer in the feed. I’d love to hear your thoughts on his original comments.
Hi Jonathan-
It’s still there: link to dcrainmaker.com
I don’t really have any comments, I need to follow-up with the team and see what the deal is. I see the yellow, but the other quadrants all sorta look the same to me, just different brightness levels. But perhaps it’s just the angle of the photo.
Jonathan, i believe the comment is still there (#1019). But there is no answer… Maybe the colour screen will be for v5.0 ;-)
Dear Ray,
I had my first try with the “Ski” mode during past week-end, and I really enjoyed it !
It works very well, all the runs were correctly cropped in different laps, with useful information on the watch during each lap.
link to connect.garmin.com
I have just one question. As I’m still with the “old” Garmin Connect, do you know if there is more skiing related information on the new version of Garmin Connect (like vertical speed, D-, slope …) ?
Regards
DC
Hi DomiC-
Cool, great to hear (and lucky duck!).
In looking at your file on both legacy and modern Garmin Connect, I see no differences. You (may) be able to look at that activity on Modern here: link to connect.garmin.com
(hint: Just add /modern/ into the URL)
I have the Fenix 2 with the HRM-Run. Now I ordernd the footpod an da Vivofit but I am not spüre, what to keep.
Fenix 2 + HRM + footpod
Fenix 2 + HRM + Vivofit
Fenix 2 + HRM + footpod + Vivofit
If i want my steps counted (indoors and outdoors).
Will I get them. counted only with the Fenix 2?
Or only with Fenix 2 + footpod?
Is the footpod the addon/sensor which I can send back easiest without loosing functionality?
Need some advice.
Thx, Adrian
Right now, counting steps as a 24×7 experience is really only the Vivofit. You can kinda do it with the Fenix2, but not really in a way that works well.
Medium-term, you’ll soon be able to get the data consolidated between the Vivofit and Fenix2, so you’ll have a cohesive picture. Thus, I’d return the footpod.
I love my Fenix 2. just bought a second speed cadence sensor for my cyclocross bike. For some reason, the Fenix 2 does not want to pair with the sensor, It is pairing with my first bike no problem , but not with the second bike. Any comment would be appreciated? Is there an option for a second bike? I have tried different options, exchanging a new sensor at the store, resetting my watch etc…
Thanks
Richard
What speed cadence/speed sensor did you get. I am thinking about something to put onto my road bike (Which is current sitting on an indoor trainer). I know some of the sensors can do “distance” based on cadence and rpm or something. Recommendations?
the garmin GSC10
I assume you mean you tried a “New Search” (at least that’s what it’s called on the Fenix 1)? You can only pair one GSC-10 at a time, and it will remember which one you paired with and won’t pair with another until you forget the first. And make sure the new GSC-10 is working properly by putting it into the mode where the light flashes whenever it detects a magnet crossing a sensor.
Thanks, would you know how to forget the first unit?
Richard
Turning the sensor off followed by a “New Search” has always worked for me on the Fenix 1. But I don’t often use my Fenix for cycling.
I think this might be a limitation of having only one specific ‘bike’ mode, whereas the 310/910 have three, and each can pair with a different gsc10. I was wondering if you could make a custom activity that could pair with a different sensor??
Just chiming in to say another vote for inverted display option and run/walk alerts. Sorry to add more noise to the conversation but seems like this is the best place to provide that feedback to them.
Maybe Ray has a suggestion. But as Garmin (I think) still has yet to Create a “Fenix” forum. What can we do to help convince the web/forum team to CREATE a home for all of us. We can post all our bugs. Success. Post questions. View answers. The Fenix REALLY needs to have a forum. Its a complex device. I posted a new thread asking the the same just now. Maybe if we all comment an get enough traffic it will help?
Hi Ted-
It’s something I’ve pushed for. I also pushed heavily at the executive level for actual Garmin employee presence in the forums. That worked out, though, admittedly perhaps a bit too well.
The reason there isn’t a Fenix forum is that back in the December-ish timeframe, a rule was put in place that any new forums created must have a Garmin employee present/monitoring the forum. So some teams have stepped up and got new sections created (i.e. Vivofit, Garmin Connect Mobile), but others are still working out the logistics of that.
How hard are those logistics? Couldn’t they just create an Outdoor section with just 2 sub-forums #1-fenix/tactix/D2 and #2-fenix2 that way they can kick that off and allow the other outdoor teams to join when they’re ready! It just doesn’t seem like rocket science, plus it can help them fix the bugs much faster!
Again, technically it would take 1-2 minutes. But this is forcing a behavior change.
Remember, up until about 2-3 month ago – there were actually no Garmin employees in the forums except one guy covering some of the Outdoor software pieces (Basecamp, and then VIRB Edit).
I guess you’re right on the behavior change. But that change will bring many added benefits to them, primarily with being able to more quickly solve bugs in the same way the Connect Mobile and Express teams are benefiting.
They have to worry about their employees’ sanity. Imagine having to answer the questions from those people on the forums who think these devices are magic, or answer all those endlessly repeated questions that people don’t bother to use the search function for or to Google. There are disadvantages for Garmin to having their employees on the forums as well as advantages. I’m in favor of it, myself, especially after seeing the VIRB Edit developers there, but there are downsides for them.
I’ll willingly do it, go ahead gamin feel free to hire me!
Sorry Paul S, but Ray already does that and way more for tons of devices, besides having a full time job! So, that employee’s sanity doesn’t fly, unless they hired the wrong employees, which believe me, I’m beginning to suspect that may just be their real problem!
I’ve called their support desk before, and they told me to do a master reset, and since problem continued I’d have to pay postage to send my fenix 2 for repair! I told them my problem was all over their forums, and despite that, he said it had never been reported! I wound up hanging up as I refused to send the watch for repair. To me this just sounds like lazy employees trying to get rid of calls with as little effort as possible. i guess replacing the watch is easier for them than taking the time with real troubleshooting and follow up. Have never bothered calling them back since.
Ray,
I know the invert display option is very limited, however do you think the Fenix team will be able to do any enhancements of the displays in any ways ie. brightness, fonts sizes etc.?
This is a serious problem for me, too. If they don’t give us a fix or an option, like that “inverted swim page” within my remaining 60-day period, I’ll have to return my fenix2 to CT.
I’ll continue to bring it up, but honestly folks, I really don’t expect it to change (in the same way the Tactix is the same).
It’s not a problem with the Tactix because it’s a higher quality inverse display that doesn’t bleed in the same way the Fenix2 which is why no one has complained from the Tactix side, as supposed to the ongoing complains from fenix2.
We haven’t heard a NO yet – so there is still hope! Tell them to crush our hopes or help us! :-)
I think the only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger at this point is that horrid inverse display.
I love the inverse display, no issues whatsoever. Just wanted to make a comment as one of the people happy with this product.
I’m happy until I’m forced to turn on the backlight in low contrast areas, indoors & outdoors, where it wouldn’t be needed if there was an inverse display option. If a fix doesn’t come by the time the V800 ships, I’ll just return the watch, as it’s really annoying to keep hitting the light button on/off.
What I did when running near dusk is just set the backlight to ‘stays on’, which somewhat solved that problem. Since I wasn’t going time-wise anywhere near the limit, leaving the backlight on even for a few hours wasn’t a problem at all.
Thks Ray, hadn’t really thought of that, as I just left it on default.
I am guessing that I am at the far end of the spectrum. Curious about how much some folks are using their displays during an activity as twilight/dusk. Meaning how after are you moving at such a rapid pace that something on the watch is critical to see, to the points is frustrating and a deal breaker? I look at whats displayed from time to time, but constantly checking pace or cadence or HR or time, at least for me results in a complete breakdown of any peace, serenity, or mental fortitude during an activity. And at dusk/twilight, that much time not looking where you are stepping can actually be hazardous. Each of us have deal breakers. Guess for some its the display. I love the display, personally, and if I am not mistaken, the inverted display will result in lower battery usage, a bigger plus for me.
I bought the watch for training purposes, so I need to periodically check that I’m on track with what I’m supposed to accomplish. In my case, battery usage is the total opposite for me, as from now on, I’ll need to leave the backlight on, to get rid of having to continuously hit the light button. If there was an inverse option, I wouldn’t have to turn on the backlight to begin with.
I probably check my watch when running every couple of minutes, sometimes more often. I wear my watch face in, so it really is more a quick glance when my arm is swinging up. So it’s even more critical that the display and numbers are easy to see.
That being said, I found that the Fenix 2 with 3 fields was actually easier to read then the 910xt with 4 fields during a sunny day (with polarized sunglasses).
I don’t usually run at dusk, but will often run before sunrise. In that case I have a headlamp to backlighting is not an issue.
Hi Ray
I just wanted to add my details to the long list of people complaining about the font size. My point specifically is during the Workout mode which is one of the main reasons I bought the F2. I find it virtually impossible to read the actual details of the particular step ie/ time, HR zone or whatever it may be – particularly towards the end of a tough interval workout. Also, I know you mentioned it in your review but it would be fantastic if they could actually provide the ‘Step’ description and not just Step1, Step 2 etc etc but use Warm Up, Interval, Recovery etc as you have to virtually commit the workout to memory. I’ve resorted to carrying a printed copy of my workout in my pocket so I can refer to that which defeats the purpose!! I have contacted Garmin as well with my concerns.
Cheers, Clint
I’m with you on the lack of display options. I’m was almost going to pull the trigger today on a purchase but my Ambit 2 gives me options on display invert. I really hope Garmin releases the option to change it. In doors, I like my display core to be white. Outdoors, I prefer the display core to be black. Oh well, maybe next year. :(
Can we expect inverted display?
I doubt that.
I would agree there.
It looks like the activity save time is dramatically reduced with firmware 2.60. I did an hour of indoor soccer today, and the activity saved in seconds :)
I haven’t had the time to do a run or anything since the 2.6 update, but I so wanna do one to test that out. Has loading of activities gotten any faster too?
Last night I updated to 2.6, and well I can confer to the fact that the F2 does indeed save much much faster. That is the good news from my experience. The bad news is the foot-pod being active but skipped is still causing issues uggh.
So this evening I choose to do a short 4 miler on the TM.
1) Selected .
2) Waited for the HRM find.
3) Skipped the foot pod (as on my other shoes).
4) Started my run, shortly thereafter, I notice no distance or pace (crap).
5) Finished about 30 minutes, stopped & saved ZERO MILES.
6) Went back & deactivated the foot-pod.
7) Started another run, distance & pace now working.
Gee whiz Garmin whats the deal here, why can’t we get the foot-pod status right being in/out of the mix. Now I’m beginning to wonder, I’m sure the software things will get fix. My long range concern is whether or not I can live with the weak display.
1) Selected Indoor Run (got wiped due to angle brackets)
Hi Ray,
i recently bought a Fenix 2 based mostly on your review (i was between this one and ambit 2)
I believe i made the correct choice! :)
My usage is mostly swimming (both pool and open-water) but also a bit of everything!
So far everything about this watch seems great!
I do have something that troubles me though:
When recording an activity, on the watch i get the lap/interval times with seconds accuracy,
but when they are uploaded to Connect i can see tenths of seconds!
Is there any way to display tenths on the watch?
It’s not vitally important, but especially in sprints, a difference between lets say 36,1 and 36,8 is significant!
Thank you and keep up the great work!
I’m not aware of an option to customize the lap banners to show tenths of a second.
Hi Georgios
I share your point of view. Tenths of second are important at least for interval training (running). This is why I will probably buy the ambit 2 whereas my initial choice was the fenix 2.
Just a question : if you customize one of the data page to display the time of the last lap. Does this page displays the tenths of seconds or only seconds like the lap-info you get after a manual lap?
Patrick
Hi Patrick,
so far i haven’t found a data page that displays tenths…
For me, it’s not a deal breaker, but I would like to have it!
Hopefully, Garmin will include it in a future update since obviously the watch measures it….
Georgios
Hi Georgios,
Thanks for your reply. I know that this is a detail, but regarding to the price of the watch this is a deal breaker for me and for that reason I will wait for the V800 and make my choice between the V800 and the ambit2 (unless garmin includes that feature before…)
Thanks again
Patrick
Grrrrrr – first big glitch. HRM dropped connectivity six minutes into my run then the whole thing locked up at 4.4 miles. That was before the 2.6 upgrade so I’m hoping the lockup issue was addressed. Of course it was during run at a corporate meeting with my peers that I’e been bragging about the darn thing.
Ray – I’ve question about current pace displayed on screen – It’s rounded to 5 seconds (like in Forerunner 620)?
Yes, it is. Even in the case where the F2 is paired with a foot pod. Coming from the 910XT, I was a bit surprised when I discovered that, but IMO, this makes sense as pace is not a very accurate value, especially calculated from GPS datas.
FYI, average pace (either for the activity or for the lap) is not rounded to 5 seconds.
I’m pretty sure I understand this correctly but, after reading for hours so far, haven’t found the definitive statement I’m looking for – can the Fenix 2 communicate with multiple Ant+ external sensors at one time? Specifically, if I use the Fenix 2 for cycling, can I use the Garmin speed/cadence bike sensor and the HRM-Run heart rate strap at the same time? I understand the Fenix 2 cannot concurrently use Bluetooth (e.g. LiveTrack via iPhone) and Ant+ sensors, but I want to be sure I can track cadence and heart rate while cycling.
Thanks in advance.
Yes you can. Usually the F2 comes paired with the HR Strap but you can also pair a new cadance/speed sensor into it
As Haraldo has already said, yes, you can definitely use multiple ANT+ sensors at the same time. Just wanted to offer up some reassurance.
I currently use my F2 with both a HRM and a Footpod (both ANT+ devices)…so I’d say yes.
NMS16 – could You tell my how Fenix 2 display current pace – rounded to 5 seconds or to 1 second? :) Thanks
And for even more reassurance ;-), I can add that I use the F2 with 3 Ant+ sensors at the same time : HRM-Run + FootPod SDM4 + Tempe (temperature sensor) when running, and HRM-Run + Speed and cadence GSC10 + Tempe when biking, without problem.
Also, you can sync the HRM-RUN strap with the Fenix2 and with a Garmin Edge 510 at the same time (for instance if you want to carry it in your backpack, for backup)
Yes, no problems on multi-device to HRM-RUN. I do exactly that when testing the Fenix2 on rides (with an Edge 510 as well).
Since it’s common to find more negative posts than positive posts on the internet, I thought I would offer up a positive affirmation for those looking at purchasing the Fenix 2. After reading DC Rainmaker’s most excellent in-depth review and reading hundreds of comments, I ordered the F2 through Clever Training with DC Rainmaker’s discount code. Clever Training’s customer service and communication was outstanding, and after a short wait, I had the F2 and HRM-Run Strap in hand.
I immediately updated my F2 to v2.50 and used it on a few short runs. And then last weekend, I used it on a 41-mile trail run and it performed flawlessly. Mileage and barometric altitudes were spot-on. I’ve since updated to v2.60 and I’ve put the watch through some hiking and navigation paces over the last couple of days while I actively recover from my long run a couple of days ago. Tomorrow, I’ll put it through a workout on the bike and then I’ll start using it even more for trail running. Everything has been working great and I’m impressed with how fast the Fenix Software Team is putting out updates and correcting bugs. Anytime a new product like this is released, there are going to be software issues…the real measure of goodness is how fast the problems are corrected, and so far, this Garmin Team is doing an outstanding job.
Just wanted to throw out a positive post and the positive experience I’ve had so far. And I want to publicly thank Ray for providing such an incredible resource for the world to use. Thanks Ray!
Bryan
Second that!
Thanks for your positive feedback, Bryan.
I wouldn’t have said anything else (except my last week-end run was just a 42.2 km run, not a 41 miles trail ! Thus, I was not focusing on the altitude… But, anyway, the F2 worked fine during the course (better than me !) and after, when importing data to Garmin Connect and SportTrack 3).
And, yes, lot of thanks to Ray fot his incredible work ! Ray, living not so far from you (I mean, comparing to the majority of your readers : I’m just about 600 km from Paris), I promise the next time I’ll go to Paris, I’ll make a jump to the Girl CupCakery !
+1 I absolutely LOVE my F2. got it as a replacement to my FR305 and everything I’ve used it for so far has been amazing (running, hiking, downhill skiing). The fenix team has been super responsive with nearly weekly firmware updates constantly improving the product.
2.6 has fixed every problem I’ve had except inverting the display. They are close to perfect! The save time was very quick today!
Hi Bryan,
Just wondering when you ordered your F2 – I’m in Australia, ordered and paid for the Performance Bundle through Clever Training on 22 March and am being told they won’t have them in to ship until mid April – yet you already have yours…
Lee.
Let me start this by saying that I am also very pleased with my Fenix2, so far. No glitches at all.
BUT… (and this is a major but really) to be honest, when you buy a €450 / $450 + product from a company as big as Garmin, you would expect (and even have the right to demand) that it works OK out of the box (this was firmware 2.2 or so). Many of the guys just lost workouts due to the many glitches the watch came with. Again, not acceptable from an experienced company like Garmin. We are not talking about minor glitches, we are talking about major failures like equipment “freezing” or losing connection to sensors or GPS. in the middle of a workout.
I do agree that they are fixing the issues at a fast pace, but they should not have existed at the release – that was indeed a month ago. It is like the first costumers (paying the full price) are being the beta testers…
As far as I know this as been the case with (too) many Garmin products, including the fisrt Fenix, the 910XT, the Edge 510 and the Forerunner 620…
Awesome review, I have being using the fenix 2 for the last few weeks. Not bad.. but definatly not a replacement for the forerunner 910xt. A few of the negatives, the display is hard to read during activity, and the red light makes the display harder to read at night. The battery life during bluetooth mode/ smart watch mode is limited to 15-24hours which is pain if your using it as an everyday watch/ exercise watch. The post activity review is slow to load and difficult to review and much better viewed on garmin website. The auto-pause function is not variable speed pause as you have previous mentioned which is a pain for cyclist. The indoor swim function is similar to forerunner 910XT but seems to count more laps?? Hard to say which watch was right because I loose count after I run out of fingers and toes. Not a bad all round watch but not a replacement for forerunner 910xt.
I agree, i feel the Fenix2 has a number of shortfalls in comparison the 910xt, and number 1 below means that i cannot yet let go of my 910xt as the Fenix2 cannot be used in a Pool based Triathlon.
(1) Cannot set POOL as first discipline in Multisport- My first ‘warmup’ Triathlon of the season is Pool based.
(2) Only 1 bike profile
(3) It would be nice if you could turn OFF data pages as you can on the 910XT. I think it’s great that you can have more data pages on the Fenix 2 than on the 910 and that you can move the around. But when i train i have many pages set up, when i enter a race i switch off most and only keep the essential screens to save time scrolling in a race. As far as i can tell, when you clear down a data page in the Fenix it forgets what was displayed, the 910 remembers. So when you open up the data page again to 4 fields it knows which 4 you used last.
(4) It would be great to have different units of measure for each sport. For instance in Running and Cycling i have distance as Miles, which means that Openwater is Miles too, i would like that as Metres
(5) Another problem i ihave with ‘Units of Measure’ is that my Pace/Speed setting keeps reverting itself back to Kilometres, many times i have set it to Miles so that i get MPH but it always changes itself back to KMH. This happened on 2.5 and now on 2.6.
(6) The alert text is too small to read. I ran last night on a custom workout and the alert text at the end of each interval was un readable, even if i stopped it was difficult to read and i have good eyesight. I changed the brightness and contrast and got a good crisp display on the screen but the text is just too small to read when moving.
(7) I like the inverted display, in watch mode i think it looks good. However when training at night it is a problem. It would be really useful if the option was available in each sport to choose inverted or non-inverted. Or maybe even choose between watch screen/mode or non watch mode.
Having said all of that i really do love my fenix2 and hope these issues get ironed out.
I train virtually every day, be it cycling to work or swimming in the lunchbreak, so being able to wear the watch as a day to day watch gets many less raised eybrows than the 910, and the fact it needs charging less frequently make it a great little training tool.
I know that I returned my Fenix 2, but I keep tabs on these forums to see if the Fenix 2 will catch up to the 910xt. I agree with you Gary, and I’m still scratching my head, because this page is littered with comments about how much people love this watch and in the same posts mention major flaws or bugs with the device.
What I can’t understand is why functionality that has been solid and consistent in the Forerunner series watches are now issues in the Fenix 2. Is the software in the Fenix 2 completely different then the Forerunner series? As a long time Garmin user the OS on the Fenix 2 seems like a step backwards, like going from OS X to OS 9
Like Gary, I workout out daily and now that I’m hitting 17+ hours per week, there are a few more issues that make the Fenix 2 less then ideal.
I posted most of my issues here: link to forums.garmin.com
1) Inability to edit workouts on the watch: I have several types of workouts that I do that increase time within intervals week to week. It’s much easier to just edit them on watch to change the interval times (ie change and interval from 10 minutes to 15 minutes)
2) I need different tones for above zone and below zone, especially on the bike. I use power warnings when biking and I never have to look at the 910xt to tell me what the warning means.
3) Fast saving. The bike segment of my weekend brick workouts are now going over 4 hours. I need manual lap function during the bike AND I like to get off the bike and onto the run within 5 minutes. Can anyone tell me if a 4 hour bike with GPS, Power, Cadence and HR data can save that quickly yet?
Olu (still hoping the Fenix 2 will be better then the 910xt)
Yes, they’re totally separate device lines, totally separate teams in separate financial divisions and totally separate code bases.
I’m not saying it’s an excuse – but just pointing out the reality of the situation. On the flip side, the Forerunner team would (and never has) iterated this fast to either add features or fix bugs. Take for example adding a cycling mode to the FR620. It was asked in September for last year, agreed to in January, and promised to be implemented by June 20th.
Whereas, take for example your request for Swim Drill Mode and Alerts (which, btw, that was where that request originated). I brought it up one day, they considered it the next, and it was agreed to and implemented a couple weeks later (alerts, with drill mode now in beta). In some cases, some of the features folks have asked for have been agreed to within 24 hours of folks proposing them, and implemented less than a week later.
Again, doesn’t excuse things not quite working the way folks wanted, but I’d much rather be in this boat’s crew than a different boat.
Thanks for the quick response. It’s good to hear this and it makes it much easier to understand why the Fenix 2 is having issues with functionality that has been stable in the Forerunner camp for years.
Like I said above, I really want to like this watch and I want it to replace my 910xt. I’m on my 4th 910xt (and expect this one’s barometer to fail any day now) and would like something a bit more dependable.
I will continue to follow closely and will probably bite the bullet (again) once swimming functionality surpasses the 910xt and running issues are a bit more stable.
Yes I will agree, like this boat better the other(s). Lets hope it continues.
Dear Ray,
First use today of my F2 for a custom workout … and unfortunately big issue :-(
To summarize, I created a simple workout on GC, and transfered it to my F2 (firmware 2.60, HRM-run, foot-pod) …
– 15min warm-up
– repeat 3 times
– interval 2km with target pace 4:30 to 4:40 min/km
– recovery 2 min
– cool-down until Lap button
I started the workout, all was fine during the warm-up,
perfect during the first interval with sound/vibrating alert when I was outside of the defined range (I was to fast :-)),
and surprisingly during the second interval no more alert (no sound, no vibrating, no message on the screen) even if i was once again outside of the pace’s range (too fast ;-)),
but finally during the third interval the big issue occurred, after around 230m, no more connection to the HRM and to the foot-pod … pace was blocked to “0:00” as well as the distance was fixed to 230m !
I tried to manually reconnect the HRM and the foot-pod, but without success. I deactivated the food-pod and at this time the distance restarted to increase but the pace displayed was always 0:00 … :-(
You can have a look to the result on my GC account, strange behavior for the second half of the workout …
link to connect.garmin.com
It would be great if once again you can push this information to the Fenix team, thanks a lot in advance !
Regards
DC
Target alerts during intervals is an issue several users have experienced. See link to forums.garmin.com
I have experienced the behavior on versions 2.40, 2.50 and 2.60. I have a support ticket open with Garmin and anxiously awaiting resolution.
The HRM/foot pod connectivity may be a separate issue that I thought was corrected in version 2.60.
Please open a support ticket with Garmin for the target alert issue. I’m hoping that the more users that report the issue, the quicker we may see a resolution.
i hope this helps and have a great day
@Ted D
Thanks for your reply.
I use the version 2.60, the connectivity to the HRM/foot-pod was effectively improved and no more issue or long waiting time when I start activities … but it seems to subsist a bug during the workout with a suddenly lost of connectivity !
And I need (after the end of the workout) to reboot the watch to pair again the HRM/food-post, otherwise impossible to re-connect.
Which firmware version are you using? 2.2, 2.5, or 2.6
as mentionned … 2.6 ;-)
Ive tried to replicate your issue and everything worked for me. But fact is I dont have foot pod so I am just guessing that there could be problem while watch tries to read data from more speed sensors?
DomiC,
Thanks for sharing the problem you encountered, it does help to ID what’s wrong and what can be fixed. However, as Ted D has already mentioned, the best course of action you can do is to open up a support ticket directly with Garmin. This is the fastest avenue to fix the problem.
DC Rainmaker is an awesome guy and he’s very interested in ID’ing bugs and consolidating trends for the Garmin F2 Software Team, but there’s only so much that one very, very busy man can do. So while it’s ok to post it here, you can do an even better service by opening up a support ticket directly with Garmin too.
Hopefully your issue can be duplicated and resolved. Best of luck in your training and thanks for sharing!
Bryan
If you can open a bug/issue with Garmin, it would definitely be appreciated. I am tracking them all on a roughly daily basis, but in this case they’re going to want a small pile of files from you from your Garmin.
Btw, for the person(s) that had the issue where a paired but not worn footpod was causing failure on WDR cadence – I think you’re good in the next rev. I thought I had passed it on, but found it later in my drafts. They were able to easily repro. Also, rest times are in the on-deck position, as are a few other swim things that were previously promised.
Dear Ray, Bryan and others
Thank you for your reply, and your idea of submitting a request to the Garmin support.
I have already done it, but living in Switzerland, the Garmin support here (as the website) seems to be an external part of Garmin and in my experience this support is more dedicated to hardware problems, warranty, more than technical and software issues … I also tried to open a ticket at the US support but I received a notification that I must contact my swiss support :-(
That the reason why I also post here, since I think it’s a faster way that my bug reaches the ears of the Fenix developers ;-)
Regards
DC
Glad it was an easy repro & fix!!
Thanks Ray!!! Glad to hear about the ‘swim things’: This is really good news!! ;-)
After reading your review while in the US I purchased a Fenix 2. Many thanks!
One thing i am stuck with, I have done an open water swim, while swimming it was giving me temp readings. I have uploaded the data to garmin connect and I cant find the high low temps. I was hoping to keep a log of these even if there were not 100% accurate.
Cheers
One issue that I experienced recently with the 2.5 has been that the watch did not display the distance during a run. It started off normally, then froze up at 0.15 miles and stayed there. Timer, Altimeter and HR kept working just fine. If I were to click stop, then resume, the distance on the display would jump up, but would freeze immediately after activity was resumed again.
Once uploaded to Strava, the distance was correct. On Garmin Connect and the watch (even with 2.6), it’s showing a distance short by about 4 miles total under the activity history. It seems the watch wasn’t able to process and display the distance, and then wasn’t (isn’t) able to read it back correctly.
I’m not sure if anyone else has experienced this glitch, but the only way I was able to have the distance record AND display again was to do a master reset. Hopefully 2.6 will prevent this from happening again.
I haven’t noticed questions from the ultra running community, your review doesn’t really get into it either. I’m an ultra runner and want to upgrade from my Forerunner 405 to either Fenix 2 or 910XT…or even 310xt (just don’t like the look and size too much) mainly for their battery life. Does anyone here have a ny experience with these watches on the trails during races of 50mi and up? This is a fantastic review of a GPS watch by the way…Thanks a lot!
I haven’t ran a 50 with this watch yet, but I can say that it handled a 7hr bike ride just fine. The 910xt’s battery will likely last a bit longer, but you can charge the Fenix 2 on-the-go while it’s running (have a small portable charger of some kind, like an Anker – size of chapstick).
That said, the 910xt has lasted me for 14+ hrs of messing around running in the Grand Canyon before, and did a fine job. I think because it’s such a new watch, there hasn’t been much experience with it on the longer runs yet for most.
Guillermo,
Last Saturday, I ran 41 miles on the trail with my F2 and had plenty of battery life left. (And I’m not a fast runner by any means.) With the battery testing that Ray did for his review, and based on my experiences with the watch so far, I’m confident that you should get at least 15 hours of use, perhaps more. And that is with GPS tracking set to one second and ANT+ enabled.
Hope this helps,
Bryan
Used the Fenix2 on the South Downs Way 50 miler last Saturday. No HRM or live tracking. GPS set to normal and smart recording. After nearly 8 hours 33% battery remained.
I ran 31 trail miles last week, I dont recall the exact battery remaining figure, but i believe it was 55-60% remaining. That was for 5h45min elasped time, including about 30+min driving time to get there. I have the F2 setup for 1sec GPS recording. I have a 50 miler in about 4 weeks that I will use the F2 on, and later in October much like Andrejs is sounds, I’ll be running a r2r2r in the Grandcanyon. I plan to bring some type of usb charger for that just to give a little juice during breaks. I haven’t sold my 610 on ebay yet, but its day it coming.
I’m still very interested in getting one of these, but waiting for it to make its way to some ‘reputable retailers’ (shall we say) over here in the UK.
Glad to see a lot of the initial bugs are being ironed out quickly, but the main complaint still seems to be the inverted display. Thankfully, I’ve still got pretty good eyesight so I’m hoping it’s not going to be too much of an issue, but is there anyone out there who doesn’t actually find reading the inverted display difficult?
Its fine I dont have problem with that but I agree for older people it could be difficult. I think from technical point of view reversing inverted display is not problem but I think watch would look much worse like on DC pic link to dcrainmaker.com. And that could also be reason why Garmin hesitate with offering this option.
I don’t. It is easy for me. No problem with it. I actually think it adds to the cool. The watch is all black and has a white display. It looks good in the wrist and it gives less of a GPS feel and more of a regular watch feel.
The red backlight for darkness is also pretty cool.
The only time I’ve found difficult to read it is at dawn or dusk. There’s those 4-8 min of low light where there isn’t enough to read the white on black and the red background is still not strong enough. But honestly that is not a problem for me.
Obviously if that is the main time when run (dusk or dawn) then you should think about it.
I can honestly say that I’ve run with the watch in several lighting situations and I can’t complain. I can read it just fine.
Like Haroldo, inverted display is definitely cool looking, have gotten several compliments. v2.60 has made it more solid, but my main lingering problem is that I run mostly in twilight hours, so an inverse option would help quite a bit, even though I’m way under 40 and with great eyesight. If you don’t run during those times, then I’ll say buy it, as it’s a great watch, and visibility issues might not affect you.
I like the inverted display as well. I have some across a couple of times where either in daylight (with polarized sunglasses) or at night time with red backlight that its been a little challenging to read. But upon reflection, the only times that it has been true was when I was moving and the arm was swinging. I dont yet have all the data, units, alerts committed to memory so if i switch a data page or an alert vibrates, and I look at the watch, I sorta need to slow down to hold the watch more steady. For me thats a none issue. as I’m training for an ultra, I’m supposed to take walking breaks. I’m not the type to constantly look at the watch anyway. I leave it on the cadence or HR screens and just glance at those numbers. and since i know where they are, they are now easy to see, dark/light, backlight on/off, as I know what I’m looking for. I like it. and I personally think the red is kinda cool.
Hi Ted, I now understand why you don’t need to look at your watch often! Ultra training is way different than triathlon training when at times you’re dealing with much smaller 10k races, so training might include 400m segments, instead of your 10 mile segments! lol
With 4 kids under 9. My triathlon days are over or at least on hold. I could do an Olympic without too much extra training, not a PR caliber race, but a good effort race. If folks are doing intervals than need tight precision, I could see needing to look at the display more often. Never tried, but would interval alerts help? I typically look at the display very little. On my 610, I turned off all notifications, beeps, vibrations, as I didnt want any reminder of anything. I became very in tune with my HR and RPE, occasionally would double check. The F2 is still so new and COOL :) that i still have must of the default all. So its beeping and vibrating for all sorts of stuff. Not even sure half the time what for. But I understand your point about some precise Tri training regimens. might need more “display” time.
I did try workouts, but it seemed buggy and I could no longer make my own 400m laps when using a track field, also the alerts were the same tone, so couldn’t tell if I was over/under. But who knows maybe all that’s been fixed on v2.60. Definitely, agree on the F2 coolness factor, in fact one FR620 buddy of mine tells me that the only thing he doesn’t like about his watch is that the coloring makes it look like it came out of a cereal box, whereas my F2 looks more like a serious manly watch! Definitely like the COOL factor and I think it’s the coolest looking watch Garmin has ever made :)
Adam,
As far as readability of the screen, I’ll throw in my thoughts too. I like the black screen, a lot. My eyes aren’t terrible, but they aren’t the best either, and I don’t have any problem reading the screen. Now, let me admit up-front, I’m an ultra-distance sort of guy and I don’t run fast. I’m usually staring at the watch during a walk-break, but I also have no problem looking at it when I’m running either. It’s rare that I run this fast, but the other day I was running a trail segment at 8:30 per mile and I did not have a problem reading the display while I was running. Also, my particular pair of polarized sunglasses (Oakley Radar) works extremely well with this watch. It eliminates all glare and makes the watch very easy to read at any angle.
Now, with all of this being said, I can see why some people wouldn’t like the inverted display. It doesn’t have as much contrast as you’d find on a white display with black lettering, so I can see this being somewhat of an issue for a few folks that are trying to read the display quickly, or if they have poor eyesight. I’ve done two runs now where I’ve started in the dark before sunrise and as Haraldo mentioned, there seems to be a 4-8 minute period in which the display is difficult to read no matter if the red backlight is on or off. It’s right around 20-25 minutes prior to official sunrise. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still readable…but I had to put the watch closer to my eyes and take an extra 1/4 of a second to make sure I was reading it correctly. But, keep in mind, we’re only talking about a 4-8 minute period here. As for deep shade, I have not had a problem at all reading the display.
And last but not least, I completely agree with Haraldo and Ted’s comments about the watch looking cool. The inverted display does exactly that. The watch looks more refined and I received a number of comments from fellow runners that I’ve talked with on the trail.
In summary, there are some pros and cons to the inverted display. For me, the annoyances are extremely minor and honestly, I just shrug my shoulders and continue running on down the trail.
Hope this helps,
Bryan
I don’t really have any issues with the display either, maybe because I try to keep it to 2-3 fields max page. Preferably just 1-2 per page since anything smaller does get harder to read. But it was the same story with my 910xt. I like the F2 screen and as stated above, I think it adds to the watch.
Also, I may be late to the game, but I just discovered an awesome feature where the backlight will turn on automatically only after sunset (for alerts or when you press buttons) !!
Well I’ll be darned. There it is: Settings > General > Display > Backlight > Auto Light > After Sunset.
Thanks Andrejs!
Bryan
Would be interested to try this. Wonder specifically how it works. I’m guessing that once it hits “sun-up” that it would turn back off
In the UK, Cotswold Outdoors have them in stock for delivery and store pick up. Recently had a 20% offer code as well so £288 for the watch only as opposed to £360 full price.
Thanks for the replies and opinions.
That’s great Neil, not sure why they don’t show up on Google shopping, but perhaps I’ll pop in and give one a try!
Hi Ray and everyone. In swim pool mode, Last Lenght Pace is rounded to multiples of 4 (i.e. 1.48-1.52-1.56-2.00….)? I’ve never seen another number (like 1.53 or 1.55 etc.). Did you notice the same issue/behavior? Anyone notice the same?
Are you training in a 25m pool? At a guess I’d say it was taking your time for the length and multiplying it by 4 for 100m pace, so all values are multiple of 4?
I’m very satisfied with my Fenix 2 except unusable baro / alti. It just randomly readjusts. Garmin unfortunately took away the necessary option to set either baro or alti to fixed which was present in Fenix 1 I believe.