View Full Version : Garmin Fenix 4 HR
Anybody here using this watch? Pros and cons?
I'm mostly interested to hear about the accuracy... or lack thereof... of the altimeter/barometer/compass/gps.
Sorry I meant to write Fenix 3 !
I use one religiously. It syncs with my iPhone for detailed breakdown of my hike thru the Garmin Connect App. Henceforth my Trail name " Gadget".
The syncing requires cell or Wifi to download but the watch will usually store several days of hiking.
It's nice (for me) to glance at my wrist for Avg Pace, Miles, elevation Gain, Current Elevation, etc while I'm hiking.
Downside it usually requires recharging after each big day (16 or more miles).
Screenshots below from Garmin Connect App.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170623/c06efc88a24680a9b55ba59604727b11.pnghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170623/794ce6b949dc722ce298d236d8315050.pnghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170623/a3efa59399ba81cedeb10da63aa804a4.pnghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170623/196903d15a7246945822256b28e8c076.pnghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170623/ae41ebe3c40c51fdb897506279bd46f4.pnghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170623/e1fc3f73c37ede7e0ae0fea4cf91652a.png
Hope this helps.
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Do you find its measurements to be accurate?
I love my watch. As far as measurements, in April I did an out and back day hike. I used my fenix and my Oregon.I reset the watch at the turn a round but did not reord the return trip on my Oregon. When I got back home, I compared the two legs. The distance out was the same on the Oregon and the Fenix (1.2 miles), but the distance back was only .9 miles. It maybe that i did not start the watch on the exact spot where i stopped it on the outward leg. The other difference was that I activated the Russian sattelites on the return trip.
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Do you find its measurements to be accurate?
Seems to be close. I've compared it to the distance on my IPhone AT a Hiker app.
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Cool!
I've been wearing mine for the last 4 days to get more acquainted with it. I have to admit that I do find it a bit complicated but I'm sure I'll figure it out before I head out for my section hike on the AT on July 22nd. In the meantime, I'll play with it while hiking local trails. I wish it came with an owner's manual. I know there are tons of tutorials out there but having to watch the same thing over and over again eats up my data plan and I'm sort of old school that way... I prefer paper.
Russian satellite eh Glen? Lol
Cool!
I've been wearing mine for the last 4 days to get more acquainted with it. I have to admit that I do find it a bit complicated but I'm sure I'll figure it out before I head out for my section hike on the AT on July 22nd. In the meantime, I'll play with it while hiking local trails. I wish it came with an owner's manual. I know there are tons of tutorials out there but having to watch the same thing over and over again eats up my data plan and I'm sort of old school that way... I prefer paper.
Russian satellite eh Glen? Lol
Check out online videos.
https://youtu.be/2xIEM1yqTpQ
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https://youtu.be/85CZ9Xya7QA
https://youtu.be/RiV7TDYJqns
https://youtu.be/B9A0NHr0bnc
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I did check the youtube videos when I got the watch but I find they barely skim the surface. I downloaded the owner's manual from Garmin this morning. That should help.
Yep, sounds like a joke, but the Fenix can receive the GLONASS signals as well as the US Signals. Supposed to increase accuracy.
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Yep, sounds like a joke, but the Fenix can receive the GLONASS signals as well as the US Signals. Supposed to increase accuracy.
I'm not familiar with GLONASS. I saw it mentionned when I was reading on the watch but I have no idea what it is and haven't got around to read on it yet. Now you've got me curious...
Really starting to like this watch... or maybe it would be more accurate to call it a device.
I still have a lot to learn about it but so far I'm pretty impressed. A few questions for those of you who are more familiar with it... If I'm out on the trail with my cell phone turned off for a few days, will the watch send my activities and stats to my Garmin Connect account via satellite so that my family can follow my progress or does it need cell service (via Bluetooth) to send info to the account? And if so, lets say that I keep my phone off while walking and turn it on at the end of the day to synchronize the watch to it, will it send the day's info (provided there's cell service of course) or does the phone need to be on all the time that the watch is in navigation mode? I looked in the owner's manual but couldn't find anything about this. In an ideal world, I'd keep my phone off as much as possible to save battery life.
Thanks a lot, much appreciated !!!
Yep, sounds like a joke, but the Fenix can receive the GLONASS signals as well as the US Signals. Supposed to increase accuracy.
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It does improve accuracy
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I tried an experiment today. I took two short hikes today, leaving my cell phone at home. I recorded the hikes on my Fenix, and when I got back to the house, I synced the watch to my phone (Garmin Connect). After the sync, I checked that the hikes had uploaded to the Garmin Connect website, which they did.
So, to answer your question(s), you do not have to have your phone turned on to record your hikes, and when you turn on your phone and have cell service, the hikes will upload to the Garmin website.
I tried an experiment today. I took two short hikes today, leaving my cell phone at home. I recorded the hikes on my Fenix, and when I got back to the house, I synced the watch to my phone (Garmin Connect). After the sync, I checked that the hikes had uploaded to the Garmin Connect website, which they did.
So, to answer your question(s), you do not have to have your phone turned on to record your hikes, and when you turn on your phone and have cell service, the hikes will upload to the Garmin website.
Thanks! I did the exact same experiment today with the same result which means I'll have to turn my phone on every evening. I was hoping not to have to do that to avoid expensive roaming fees in the States and to not have to worry about keeping one more gadget charged while on the trail but it's doable.
Offshore
07-01-2017, 14:04
Anybody here using this watch? Pros and cons?
I'm mostly interested to hear about the accuracy... or lack thereof... of the altimeter/barometer/compass/gps.
Had a Fenix 3HR Sapphire for a while and the location services were really pretty accurate. The wrist based heart rate was useless, though. Since I wanted to use it for activities in addition to hiking, I wound up getting rid of it. Besides the heart rate inaccuracy, I got tired of firmware updates that were one step up and two steps back. I was also surprised at how easily the dark bezel scratched with normal wear. In the end it was great hardware that was hobbled by poor firmware.
I'd read that the Fenix 5 has better heart rate performance and uses the newer ConnectIQ 2 platform, but users are reporting connection issues with ANT+ sensors (even ones made by Garmin) and I don't want to buy into that headache. Besides, the sapphire version of the Fenix 5 is $700 - too much to pay to be a beta tester.
Thanks for your input Offshore.
The heart rate monitor is probably the thing I'll use less. I would have been just as happy had it not have one but it came with it. As far as the updates are concerned, I haven't has it long enough to be sick of it yet so we'll see how that goes.
Offshore
07-01-2017, 16:13
Thanks for your input Offshore.
The heart rate monitor is probably the thing I'll use less. I would have been just as happy had it not have one but it came with it. As far as the updates are concerned, I haven't has it long enough to be sick of it yet so we'll see how that goes.
My experience was a year ago and the main issue for me was the heart rate - and to be fair, wrist-based heart rate monitoring is really in its infancy so in retrospect, my issue was with the technology and not the watch. The watch really is good - if I wanted it for primarily hiking, I would have kept it without a second thought. Couple of tips: If you have everything working, be sure to read user posts on the Garmin forum for other user reports before updating the firmware to a new version. Also, take a look at the free hiking (and lots of other) apps in the ConnectIQ store. I used Hike and Hiking App Pro and really loved them.