Why You Shouldn't Buy a Garmin Fenix 5X

Number 1: Garmin makes an unreliable product, be it the watch, the software, or their website. When I first got the Fenix 5X, I couldn't get Garmin Express to recognize that it was connected to my Windows-based laptop. I tried the MacBook Pro, and it finally recognized it. The next time I connected it to my laptop, it recognized--horray--but then, when it began installing an update, it didn't. Back to the MacBook Pro, where it continually disconnected and reconnected itself over the course of a half an hour. Incidentally, my husband's Garmin watch had the opposite problem. The MacBook Pro wouldn't recognize it, but my PC laptop does.

And the website. Talk about going in circles. I needed to return the maps I bought of Washington and the PCT on an SD card (because they can't be used with the Fenix 5X; you have to buy the download version...but the owner's manual of the Fenix 5X takes you to a page where you can buy the SD cards), and every time I clicked on Returns, it told me I needed to contact support for a RMC (return merchandise code). When I clicked the link to contact support, it took me back to the page I was on previously...and around and around I went.

Number 2: The price. I found it on Amazon for $600. I wish I had found the Sunto Traverse, which is only $419 and gets great reviews. I am four days past the return date on Amazon for returning the Fenix. Who knows? The Fenix 5X got great reviews, too.

Number 3: Accuracy. So far, I've run 15 or so times with the watch, and only two of those times have I found the watch measuring accurately. I kept making excuses for it: it was raining and windy; it was snowing; I was in heavy tree cover. But if it doesn't work in those conditions, it will hardly be worth using in western Washington.

So now I am stuck trying to get the Garmin watch to behave and work properly.