Anyone buying Garmin Fenix 6

[akidokraja]

„Every couple of weeks“? As a longtime Garmin user this is hard to believe. Not doing any outdoor sport with the Fenix?
I had to recharge at least once a week and battery life got worse from model to model. Was down to 3-4 days on the Forerunner 945 (though with new usage of Bluetooth music streaming).

With zero exercise and all features on except Pulse Ox I get easy 20 days. With outdoor running with GPS every second day for around 45 min I get around 15 days. Music and Pulse Ox are the only two features that would drain battery faster. This is on 6x Pro Solar. Fantastic battery just wish the screen was colorful like Apple Watch but I am working on my own analog watch face to increase visibility in low light and without backlight.

 

[zerozoneice]

for pool swimming stroke & lap detection i strongly recommend against Garmin.
tried & tested. AW3/4/5 are still king of lap and stroke type detection in the pool.

Garmin may be good for other outdoor sports, but not swimming.

 

[AMessy]

I guess the lack of LTE wasn’t as much of a deal breaker for me as I previously posted...

I purchased a Forerunner 945 to supplement my AW5 LTE for workouts and sleep tracking. My plan is to wear the AW5 as my daily watch and add the 945 during workouts. Using both will allow me to use the AW5 for music and for communication in case of emergency During workouta/runs when I don’t have my phone.

I also use a Garmin Edge for cycling, so the Forerunner keeps me in the Garmin Connect ecosystem which I find “ok”. In fact I wish Apple had a workout focused equivalent which included the same licensed First Beat metrics that Garmin Connect offers.

I went 945 (basically a plastic Fenix) since I don’t plan to use this as a daily wear watch. If next year I prefer the Garmin over the AW I’ll likely upgrade to the next iteration of the Fenix instead of continuing my yearly AW upgrade. I’ll keep the AW5 around just for the LTE while working out and running at that point.

 

[ttate90303]

I've used a Garmin watch (305 Forerunner, Fenix 3HR, Fenix 5x (which I returned due to GPS issue) and currently a 6X Sapphire along side a AW5. For me I do a lot of what I call extreme hiking - 12-24 miles long day hikes. So battery life, tracking the route and the return routing capability are very important to me. I wasn't able to rely on the AW5 for anything this extreme. I still wear the AW5 to compete with friends in the daily activities but for actual workout (training for running some 5K's next year) the Garmin has been a great workhorse. I was able to download a training program from one of the coaches (Coach Jeff Galloway) to assist me in my efforts. Pretty handy. I like the programability of the workouts. So it will boil down to an individuals needs. Also most forums tend to have folks complaining about issues with a product - we don't often get enough folks who have little to no problem logging the positive experiences. Good luck and happy running.

 

[seashell81]

There is an app, (StepsApp) that does, infact sync steps between the two, you have to set it up though, and I forget how I did it. I have a fenix 5+ and the AW4, and the steps are maintained between both.

I’d love to know more about this. I have both a forerunner 735 and AW4 cellular. I’m very interested in a F6s pro due to having a few things next year to train for. My go to app is garmin connect as I like the Stats but I also like to have everything in one place! Thanks!

 

[richxps]

This is a great idea , I may also do this when my F6 comes.... Do you happen to know if your Apple Health rings close or get updated with any of your garmin data ?

I own a Garmin Fenix 6X Pro- I plan to use the Apple Watch series 5 cellular as a "safety" device. In other words, I plan to run with my Garmin on my wrist with the AW in a pouch or protective case.

If I get a call or, indeed, if I need to make one for whatever reason, I can easily do so with a device just the fraction of the size of my massive iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Anyone else with the same use case?

 

[NickYanakiev]

Sadly they don't.

 

[richxps]

Thanks for the update.. do you still use both ?

 

[NickYanakiev]

Yes. I just love running without a phone. I also like streaming music using the Apple Watch and comparing gps accuracy.
Opening Workoutdoors for a while to get a good lock has resulted in surprisingly adequate tracks vs the Garmin.

 

[richxps]

I agree with running out the phone , I also love the metrics that garmin offers vs the Apple Watch . Having the best of both worlds is not that bad lol .. just wish I could somehow merge data between the two systems

 

[NickYanakiev]

There is a way- Rungap gets the job done but doing this is too manual a process for me to bother with.

 

[richxps]

Thanks I’ll check that out , may just stick with garmin connect app since it has some nice data compared to Apple health ,, need to stop worrying about the activity rings lol

 

[oeagleo]

This is a great idea , I may also do this when my F6 comes.... Do you happen to know if your Apple Health rings close or get updated with any of your garmin data ?

There's an app (RunGap) that you can export an activity from Garmin Connect, and import it into Apple Health, and it will update your exercise, and activity ring, but not your steps ring. I've used it quite a bit. It's like .99c per quarter but you export/import many, many apps to and from with it.

 

[kitenski]

I agree with running out the phone , I also love the metrics that garmin offers vs the Apple Watch . Having the best of both worlds is not that bad lol .. just wish I could somehow merge data between the two systems

What metrics do you want on the Apple Watch? I've found workoutdoors app gives me everything I had on my previous Gamins.

 

[richxps]

Thanks I will try it ...Do you recommend any specific setting for the app ? I want to avoid having any duplicate entries... thanks again

There's an app (RunGap) that you can export an activity from Garmin Connect, and import it into Apple Health, and it will update your exercise, and activity ring, but not your steps ring. I've used it quite a bit. It's like .99c per quarter but you export/import many, many apps to and from with it.

 

[oeagleo]

Thanks I will try it ...Do you recommend any specific setting for the app ? I want to avoid having any duplicate entries... thanks again

There are no "settings", you just have to log into those external apps that you wish to import/export to/from. Say, to export data from an activity on Apple Watch/Health, you need to log on to that app, so RunGap knows your logon, and can attain the data. Then, say you want to export to Strava, and Garmin Connect; you would have to log on to those apps, (RunGap asks you this automagically) so it knows how to upload your data. Thats it, seamless, and works like a charm. As far as duplicate entries, you would have to make sure that you don't already have apps talking together, so, in the above example, if you had Garmin Connect set to upload activities to Strava, you could wind up with duplicate entries in Strava, other than that, no problems. You might have to do some test runs, I know I had apps talking to each other that I had forgotten about.. like 4 entries in My Fitness Pal.. LOL

 

[richxps]

Thank you

There are no "settings", you just have to log into those external apps that you wish to import/export to/from. Say, to export data from an activity on Apple Watch/Health, you need to log on to that app, so RunGap knows your logon, and can attain the data. Then, say you want to export to Strava, and Garmin Connect; you would have to log on to those apps, (RunGap asks you this automagically) so it knows how to upload your data. Thats it, seamless, and works like a charm. As far as duplicate entries, you would have to make sure that you don't already have apps talking together, so, in the above example, if you had Garmin Connect set to upload activities to Strava, you could wind up with duplicate entries in Strava, other than that, no problems. You might have to do some test runs, I know I had apps talking to each other that I had forgotten about.. like 4 entries in My Fitness Pal.. LOL

 

[DontGetTheCheese]

You don't need RunGap to get Garmin data into Apple Health but checking just now I didn't see any Apple Health data in Garmin Connect so there you will need something like RunGap. You will have to go into Garmin Connect to sync the Fenix unlike the AW which will sync in the background.

You may need to do some work to make sure the steps don't count twice, and I've had weird syncing issues, wound up with two workouts in some third party apps like LoseIt, but they'll work with each other, at least one-way.

My personal recommendation at this point, unless you need something specific to a Fenix, get a Forerunner, or a lesser Garmin. The GPS is better, the battery is better and I like the data presentation better on Garmin as well, but the AW does EVERYTHING ELSE better. There are too many holes in the Fenix to justify the high price for a casual user, unless, of course, like me, you blow money on this kind of thing.

 

[richxps]

Thanks for this info,so does any of your health rings get updated with the garmin data ?

You don't need RunGap to get Garmin data into Apple Health but checking just now I didn't see any Apple Health data in Garmin Connect so there you will need something like RunGap. You will have to go into Garmin Connect to sync the Fenix unlike the AW which will sync in the background.

You may need to do some work to make sure the steps don't count twice, and I've had weird syncing issues, wound up with two workouts in some third party apps like LoseIt, but they'll work with each other, at least one-way.

My personal recommendation at this point, unless you need something specific to a Fenix, get a Forerunner, or a lesser Garmin. The GPS is better, the battery is better and I like the data presentation better on Garmin as well, but the AW does EVERYTHING ELSE better. There are too many holes in the Fenix to justify the high price for a casual user, unless, of course, like me, you blow money on this kind of thing.

 

[PaladinGuy]

You don't need RunGap to get Garmin data into Apple Health but checking just now I didn't see any Apple Health data in Garmin Connect so there you will need something like RunGap. You will have to go into Garmin Connect to sync the Fenix unlike the AW which will sync in the background.

You may need to do some work to make sure the steps don't count twice, and I've had weird syncing issues, wound up with two workouts in some third party apps like LoseIt, but they'll work with each other, at least one-way.

My personal recommendation at this point, unless you need something specific to a Fenix, get a Forerunner, or a lesser Garmin. The GPS is better, the battery is better and I like the data presentation better on Garmin as well, but the AW does EVERYTHING ELSE better. There are too many holes in the Fenix to justify the high price for a casual user, unless, of course, like me, you blow money on this kind of thing.

Good to read this. I’ve toyed with getting a Fenix 6s for a few months, as I have a 30% off coupon. I mainly want a good build quality watch that is presentable for daily wear, long battery life, always on screen, GPS and good HR info, and all my data in one place. If you have a Fenix 6, how accurate do you find the OHR to be?

I just am not sure how much I’d miss my stainless steel Apple Watch Series 4. I’ve had every Apple Watch except the series 5. My debate is whether to get a Fenix 6s or wait for the series 6.

 

[richxps]

I actually used. 20% coupon on the 6 sapphire , if you can save 20 or 30% why not .. mine comes today and will use it for work and some workouts and use my Apple Watch the rest of the time ...I don’t mind having 2 and switch time to time , I was more worried about tracking my status in Apple health but this thread helped me confirm I should have no issue...

Good to read this. I’ve toyed with getting a Fenix 6s for a few months, as I have a 30% off coupon. I mainly want a good build quality watch that is presentable for daily wear, long battery life, always on screen, GPS and good HR info, and all my data in one place. If you have a Fenix 6, how accurate do you find the OHR to be?

I just am not sure how much I’d miss my stainless steel Apple Watch Series 4. I’ve had every Apple Watch except the series 5. My debate is whether to get a Fenix 6s or wait for the series 6.

 

[DontGetTheCheese]

Thanks for this info,so does any of your health rings get updated with the garmin data ?

I'm not 100% positive, even though I switch between devices. Typically if I'm using the Garmin for the day (or part of it), I won't close the ring because of the background activity I miss or I just won't care because I'm wearing the Garmin. But, I'm 95% that activities do work on the rings. I swear that I've had rings close after a big workout the moment I put the AW on.
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If you have a Fenix 6, how accurate do you find the OHR to be?

This is a hard question. The answer is certainly not as good as the AW, which is excellent, but most of the time OK, yet, not good enough. On the other hand, I find the AW's tendency to have me walking down the middle of the road a problem too (although right now I could safely do that).

I think I wrote about it here but I had an event of some sort about a month ago. It's 99% that it was a gallbladder issue (I'll probably lose mine) but there was slight heart rate wonkiness on the Garmin that causes me to question the diagnosis. Basically, my heart rate hit 130 in warm ups, really light warm ups, barely more than walking. I've hit that before but I was barely moving so it shouldn't have gone that high, probably. I've also had weird spikes when working out, like my heart rate jumping to 180 when it should be 140 or less.

The thing is, the Fenix is known to have oHR issues. Spiking, up and down, is a common complaint, so my issue is almost certainly a Garmin issue, but you get the problem, I don't know what's right and it's fair not to trust the oHR 100%. I have a chest strap and arm strap now.

Accuracy issues on the Fenix that I know about include,

• PulseOx: Typically about 2 to 3 percent lower than finger reader.
• Sleep: Mostly good, but sometimes, will record sleep with the watch off.
• oHR: Can be spiky and wonky.

The oHR is also limited by the band and size of the watch. The AW is a really good fit, which is probably a part of it's oHR accuracy but the Garmin is big, bulky and can be tough to get the fit just right. This probably affects oHR.

Weird spikes don't really matter, because they'll mostly average out, but they are freaky to see when other things are happening and a gallbladder attack is scarily like a heart attack.

 

[PaladinGuy]

I'm not 100% positive, even though I switch between devices. Typically if I'm using the Garmin for the day (or part of it), I won't close the ring because of the background activity I miss or I just won't care because I'm wearing the Garmin. But, I'm 95% that activities do work on the rings. I swear that I've had rings close after a big workout the moment I put the AW on.
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This is a hard question. The answer is certainly not as good as the AW, which is excellent, but most of the time OK, yet, not good enough. On the other hand, I find the AW's tendency to have me walking down the middle of the road a problem too (although right now I could safely do that).

I think I wrote about it here but I had an event of some sort about a month ago. It's 99% that it was a gallbladder issue (I'll probably lose mine) but there was slight heart rate wonkiness on the Garmin that causes me to question the diagnosis. Basically, my heart rate hit 130 in warm ups, really light warm ups, barely more than walking. I've hit that before but I was barely moving so it shouldn't have gone that high, probably. I've also had weird spikes when working out, like my heart rate jumping to 180 when it should be 140 or less.

The thing is, the Fenix is known to have oHR issues. Spiking, up and down, is a common complaint, so my issue is almost certainly a Garmin issue, but you get the problem, I don't know what's right and it's fair not to trust the oHR 100%. I have a chest strap and arm strap now.

Accuracy issues on the Fenix that I know about include,

• PulseOx: Typically about 2 to 3 percent lower than finger reader.
• Sleep: Mostly good, but sometimes, will record sleep with the watch off.
• oHR: Can be spiky and wonky.

The oHR is also limited by the band and size of the watch. The AW is a really good fit, which is probably a part of it's oHR accuracy but the Garmin is big, bulky and can be tough to get the fit just right. This probably affects oHR.

Weird spikes don't really matter, because they'll mostly average out, but they are freaky to see when other things are happening and a gallbladder attack is scarily like a heart attack.

A specific, recorded activity on the Garmin used to count towards rings. It will not count your steps and normal movement from the Garmin towards your rings. I’m pretty sure Apple won’t allow any other devices to count normal movement towards the rings. I’d probably switch back and forth between devices, it that worked.

 

[kitenski]

You definitely don’t get steps, standing time etc to credit your rings. Specific activities can sync but I’ve found the hr doesn’t transfer well over into Apple health. I might take a look at RunGap and see if that does a better job

 

[oeagleo]

I have a fenix 6 Pro Sapphire, and to be honest, it's going up for sale. The OHR is pretty much crap unless you have either something like an OH1 (which I do), or a chest strap for any kind of near accurate heart rate during an activity. The SpO2 readings I found to be off enough to cause alarm unless checked with my iHealth finger device, and to be honest, the only "good" thing that I will miss is the "everything in one place" feature of Garmin Connect. For a piece of kit that cost over $800, it's surely not that much better than my Apple Watch series 4 with WorkOutdoors, in fact, the "relative GPS Strength" feature of WOD is even better than the Garmin. Just my opinion, and to be honest, most of the features of the Garmin I don't/can't use, I'm not training for anything, except to shed a few pounds, and perhaps improve my health, cardio, and strength, and for me, the AW works just fine.