It has arrived - Garmin Fenix watch/GPS

[Ent]

Um? Fenix again locked up! It was happy until I locked the buttons and then would not unlock or change. Holding down the off switch for a while and it rebooted. The automatic Save track option meant I did no lose the track from the last day.

Apart from the above it worked a treat for the weekend. It however has lost the element of trust.

It is brilliant for track following as at 120 metre scale you get to see enough detail and scope to work out quickly if you have missed the track.

Battery life is rather average at around eight to ten hours in this mode.

Great toy but me thinks a proper GPS better bet.

Cheers

[Ent]

Hi

And the Fenix is now dead!!!! Switched on GPS and eventually froze. Reset and did not switch on. Great start for walk, not. Piece of Garmin junk.

Regards

[andrewbish]

Sorry to hear this - the Fenix was sounding very promising.

[photohiker]

Piece of Garmin junk.

Aw c'mon Ent. Wait for firmware 3.1

Have you considered the Suunto Armpit?

[wayno]

i'm waiting for when they put phones, cameras and locator beacons in watches. and then they die.....

[roysta]

And the Fenix is now dead!!!! Switched on GPS and eventually froze. Reset and did not switch on. Great start for walk, not. Piece of Garmin junk.

That's a pity. How much different is that to the Foretrex 401, which I have.
It seems to work quite well.

[Ent]

Hi

The Fenix was/is a promising bit of gear but suffers from Garmin's crummy firmware with more versions released than you can poke a stick at. I had upgraded to the latest version but this turned it into a total disaster.

I have a feeling that there is something electronically wrong as it was getting more and more unreliable before finally locking up completely.

Anyway when I got it home I plugged it in the computer and it went into USB mode. Ok unplugged it and it gave a low battery warning with 0% charge. It appears that it locked somewhere between on and off. Charged it up and it appears to be working. And yes it was showing 99% charge before locking as it had just been fully charge that morning.

I found much the same behaviour with my Garmin Edge 305 bike computers as did my friends with theirs. Work well to begin with and then increasingly gets niggles before failing totally.

Frankly, the Fenix can not be trusted in the bush. My Garmin 62s has driven me up the wall at times but never stopped working. The simpler Garmins are pretty much bullet proof but their "adventure" activity range are flakey.

I will talk to Jonny Appleseed today. I had rather hoped that it was terminal as at least I could say failed hardware but it will be typical Garmjn hogwash of claiming everything is ok and the new firmware had fixed it when it has not, etc , etc.

Basically a nice toy when it works but no way would I trust it. Very much like their Edge 305 bike computers, built to be almost good enough.

Cheers

[wayno]

are you able to pull the battery?

[wander]

You cannot pull the battery as far as I know.

My Fenix did work fine and still does except that after cleaning up (it got somewhat covered in mud and such after a bit of forest / creek / swamp wandering) after last trip the thermometer and altimeter both stopped giving a read out. Gave it another wash (just cool water) and still no T and A. A few on and offs and that sort of thing. So back to the shop it has gone while they still remember me as having bought it.

I was very happy with it in the field, it did what I was looking for it to do without issue.

[Ent]

As mentioned after plugging the Fenix into the computer it came back to life so I went into diagnostic mode and found the little beast seems to have a few issues that is growing by the day. The locking is becoming more common and appears related to switching modes when it is searching for satellites. Some times it picks up location very quickly and other times five minutes or not at all as it locks. This is the same route that I walk every work day.

The unit does not enjoy not being connected to the computer to clear the memory and if you allow the current track to build up points you get long delays on start-up with locking increasingly common.

I noticed that battery left will report say 10% after a day’s tracking which is expected but in the morning with the GPS being switched off over night it will report to say 77% battery capacity. Indeed the battery level is now increasingly jumping around all over the place.

Today a new problem came about with the display madly switching between functions. After some button pushing and gentle tapping, it stopped doing this and worked which suggests that the up arrow button is now sticking. This could explain why I cannot unlock the buttons at time and therefore some of the lockups.

Ok the unit is obviously defective but in an intermittent way. However, it appears that there are problems with at least one button, battery reporting, and software locking. In all one sick puppy. Be interested how other users find theirs. Ie. it mine just a bad one or is the bred not reliable. I and my friends found the Garmin Edge 305 (bike computer) flacky before dying.

Now to find out how good the Australian warranty is.

Cheers

[wander]

I go told Friday that whomevermakesthedecision has decided to issue me a new replacement Fenix the day mine arrived on their desk, but forgot to tell the retailer who has followed up for me and is just sorting out the paperwork to get the new unit delivered.

[andrewbish]

New YouTube promos for the Garmin Fenix.

http://theadventureblog.blogspot.com.au ... s-his.html

[Ent]

Persevered with the Fenix and also played with the custom displays. Must admit I do like the device but it is not really up to its claims with battery life. On continuous tracking about ten hours pulls it up. Would not be such an issue but to charge it you need time, the charging dock (which is very easily damaged when crushed in the pack) and a USB battery pack. Frankly a Garmin Extrex 10 or better is a cheaper and more reliable bet. The OSM download of map feature is however very handy when following a route in difficult conditions. So much easier to look at the watch than muck around digging out a GPS, especially if you use twin poles.

But enough is enough as it must go back due to the screen fogging up. No good it working but you can not read it due to condensation. The jamming was traced to a sticking button which was got pass by a few quick taps but on the weekend the display completely fogged up on the inside which suggests a very average job of weather sealing.

Here is the picture.

And this was much better than when in cold conditions after three hours in a warm vehicle.

Cheers

[wander]

ent, there is a bit of discussion about this (water ingress into the unit) on the www. Return the watch for replacement asap. Yours looks V bad.

[roysta]

when you consider the apps you can now get on your smartphone it makes you wonder whether you really need these units.
I'll stick with my Foretrex 401 for basic stuff.

[Ent]

ent, there is a bit of discussion about this (water ingress into the unit) on the www. Return the watch for replacement asap. Yours looks V bad.

Hi

Johnny Appleseed confirmed that the early production models had issues with seals that have been fixed on the new production runs. So watch has been sent back. Here is hoping for a quick turnaround.

We play pretty heavily with electronic gadgets and all have issues. Some unexpected and some just asking too much. It is the extreme weather conditions that sorts them out.

A dedicated GPS like the Garmin 62S or better still the Garmin Rino or the Extrex range just work when a lot of smart phones pack it in. The Lifeproof case has made the iPhone a handy piece of kit and MudMap 2 now supports OSM vector files so very handy. But cold will kill an iPhone with the battery dropping from high to dead in no time at all. Keep the phone warm and then less an issue plus when it warms up often the phone will work without needing charging but other times no.

The Fenix is handy addition as it makes track following say in the snow easy and also for recording your trip. Sunrise and sun set features also handy. Plus the remote temp sensor is great for answering the question how cold it was. Like minus three one night we were camped out.

I use twin poles so that is where the Fenix shines. But the old basics of less than three shall never be and a map with good compass still is good advice especially in winter Tassie.

Cheers

[wander]

I am pretty happy with the Fenix and as has noted being on the wrist means that it is simple to access and as such I do use it rather than not stop and dig out a larger toy.

I have played with other toys including smart phones in the field but the map pic is always so small and scale is a muck around, it is not as good a proper map that the fact the Fenix does not have a map or if it does it is very very poor it is actually a plus for me.

I usually end up carrying a smartphone anyhow as well and as has been noted their are a lot of apps that you could use this as a gps. But I choose to use the Fenix as a GPS and leave the smartphone for getting weather and as a back up (given I am carrying it anyhow) should the Fenix fall over. Not that I am that reliant on GPS and it is new to me after 20 years of map and compass (which continues).

The ability to change the displayed data in the Fenix is very good. But it did take me several months to figure I could have 1 of the data screens providing a continuous read out of the coordinates (which I then read straight onto my laminated marked up trip map) rather than marking a way point every time I wanted to know the coordinates of where I was standing.

On the Fenix battery I carry a Socket battery and put the Fenix on charge every night as a matter of routine. The worst I have seen is the Fenix battery down to 50% on 1 day. On 12 days through the Southern Range loop I still had Socket battery at the end even with using the Socket to keep the smart phone charge topped up as well as the Fenix. So this system works OK and I will have a warning well prior to running out of battery so as to ration use of the toys to needs only rather than the usual run all the time. A bit like the reason I carry the fuel in 2 bottles so I can monitor when the change over is to gauge how thigh the last few days will be.

[Ent]

Full marks to Johnny Appleseed for getting a replacement shipped and delivered just in time for the OLT nine day stroll having to wrangle Garmin Australia into gear. Sure I had to turn up at Startrax on Friday night and ask them to dumpster dive their recent delivery bins but they came through. In my dealings with Johnny Appleseed I have found them excellent and well worth the extra Australian price premium, which from me is the highest praise. Meant a very quick setup time with OSM maps copied on. So how did it perform?

Well my Fenix had a fellow gear freak that we meet on the walk for company and it was interesting to hear his views. He also owns a Suunto Ambit competitor to the Garmin Fenix but (unsurprisingly to me) found it a very poor performer with ridiculously short battery life and complex user interface. So the Fenix came with him. His is an early production model as well. On the last day it exhibited the typical lockup and reset to factory settings when the battery just collapsed. Plugged it into one of our battery packs and it came back to life, but minus all the data. In typical style until then the Fenix was winning his affection. Sadly the Fenix reliability issues is rather typical of Garmin's "sports" GPS range. Frustratingly Garmin with their "industrial" grade GPS such as the 62S and Rino 650 are simply bullet proof but their sports models are very poor. So Garmin get your act together and pluck up the courage to recall the first batches. Ok, that will not happen as Garmin is notorious for denying problems.

So how did the new "improved" model perform. Well not great. At Frog Flats the screen started to fog up on the inside but then cleared and did not reappear. This is exactly the way the first Fenix's problems started. So much for the improved seals. The buttons to lock the display proved to be as "sticky" as the first one but experience has taught me not to give up and lightly tape the buttons and they will respond. As the trip went on this problem started to disappear.

Ok, you have fallen for the UL bug and decided that a Fenix is for you. Well battery life on the new Fenix was much better with six hours of walking and tracking still having sixty percent of battery life left. But you still windup carrying a large amount of storage batteries plus the charging cable so the UL aspect is bit of a myth for a multi-day walk.

But the big issue was the satellite lock time. Much of my walking is down up in the north of Tasmania rather than southern troll territory and many of the valleys run south to north so get a reasonable view of the sky with satellites but down in Pine Valley the unit struggled. The attached screen shot shows in green (teal?) the Fenix track and the Garmin 62S and Rino 650 plots. The straight lines are due to the Fenix not locking onto satellites. Puzzling the unit once locked in performs quite well. Worthwhile mentioning that the basic Garmin Extrex 10 locked in within a minute, in fact much quicker. So if you are depending on the Fenix as your only GPS then in deep east/west valleys you will be in big trouble locking onto satellites on start up and be much better advised to carry a much cheaper Extrex 10 or another dedicated Garmin/insert your favorite brand GPS.

Fenix start up satellite lock can be dismal. Note Garmin's maps placement of mountains. Yeap, Garmin does not give a toss for peak baggers.

But if you treat the Fenix as a toy rather than a tool then you are rewarded with a great gadget. I had the remote wireless temperature gauge connected and it was brilliant tracking the temperature changes as the fronts hit. Temp would drop from eight to five degrees then rain would turn to snow and the windchill start pushing the outer-shell making you appreciate it and a base layer that remains warm despite becoming wet.

Having ready reference to distance covered and time taken made planning ETA easy for a group with walkers new to the OLT. This was especially useful on the long legs in adverse weather. I need to work on OSM to get zoom levels better sorted as tracks disappeared once past 200 metres level.

In all the Fenix is a great toy but a useless tool. Here is how it compared to the other GPSs carried by me. Again notice the location of the lake, and no I do not walk on water.

GPS tracks compared. Anyone wants to walk on water buy Garmin's maps.

Cheers

[findbuddha]

Have you fully updated the Fenix's GPS software? One of the recent updates supposedly greatly improved lock time. (I got mine just after this update was released so can't compare to what it was like originally).

[Ent]

Hi

The unit is brand new so not sure if it is the latest version. Hang on I will check. It is version 3.10 and the latest is 3.40. O'boy yet another chance to brick a device.

Cheers

[Ent]

High stress as the unit goes through the update process. Wait, panic, relax, wait, breath, panic has it frozen? No, relax, but why has the update bar gone backwards? Relax it is booting up, hang on it is updating firmware again? O'boy I hate firmware updates but at least the second display is moving. It is showing the date and appears to be working but I need to reconnect it to the computer. Ok it is updated and lost a megabyte to the software bloat. Lets hope this improves it finding satellites it but the notes do not suggest any change to the locking on performance.

Cheers

[findbuddha]

Also check that your GPS software is version 2.60

[Occam]

Currently on third unit.
No1: failed seal.
No2: failed.
No3. Working largely as advertised, have to manually upload files to Garmin Connect.

Time will tell.

[Ent]

Currently on third unit.
No1: failed seal.
No2: failed.
No3. Working largely as advertised, have to manually upload files to Garmin Connect.

Time will tell.

Um? I get the feeling that Garmin have not fixed the seals and instead just replacing a watch under warranty when it goes faulty with another watch that will have the same issue. After the OLT walk here it is at the Arm River Track fogging up again. Not happy Jan.

Attachments

Second Fenix, same problem!

[GPSGuided]

1st generation technology/product... Wait and see.

[Ent]

1st generation technology/product... Wait and see.

And forget about the customers that brought a product with substandard design/construction? No Garmin need to address this quality issue on their newer range of gadgets. Can not fault the older model GPSs for construction standards but anything in the fitness range is very suspect.

Cheers

[GPSGuided]

And forget about the customers that brought a product with substandard design/construction? No Garmin need to address this quality issue on their newer range of gadgets. Can not fault the older model GPSs for construction standards but anything in the fitness range is very suspect.

No, I was referring to potential buyers. With 1st generation products, it's always wise to sit back and see. It's too common to see design and production bugs in 1st gen products and may take one or two further generations to resolve. That's just the nature of product development in the 21st century. Yet again, it's always exciting to play with a new technology. Half of the fun lies with all the bugs and the bragging factor.

By nature, you'd be lucky to get a recall. They would prefer to swap products than a total recall. This is also why many people love REI.com. Purchases through them may be returned for the life of the product.

[Ent]

My frustration is the seals are claimed to be fixed and software updated to improve locking on to satellites. Err? In my experience nothing had changed on these fronts.

Johnny Appleseed are great to deal with but sending back again with the same problem impacts on their freight costs as well as my purchase costs. Plus it takes at least two weeks of non availability.

I will write to Garmin about it but I am expecting the typical either non response or take it back to where I brought it for replacement mantra.

My strong recommendation is not to buy the Fenix. This is a pity as it is a good idea that is great for monitoring the walk and planning the next one. It's recoded trace is not bad but a standard GPS makes a better data monitor at the fraction of the cost.

Regards.