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Once you have set out for an active lifestyle, there’s no going back. You need to track your steps, runs, and workouts to keep those tummy rolls in check.
And truth be told, the hours of binge-watching shows have gone out of hands.
It’s time you tried out a few sports, hit the gym and went for morning walks. That said, a GPS watch can be your perfect travel and fitness buddy. Garmin Fenix 5 and Garmin Forerunner 935 are excellent options to explore.
Be ready because you’re getting the long-awaited Garmin Fenix 5 vs. 935 battle right here!
Garmin Fenix 5 vs. 935
Garmin Fenix 5
Garmin Fenix 5, the ultimate workhorse of a multisport GPS watch, is not going to be your mediocre activity tracker.Let’s see what it has in store.
To begin with, Fenix 5 flaunts the gorgeous look of a traditional black watch; steering clear of the rectangular shapes in contemporary smartwatches and truth be told, it’s a relief because haven’t we seen enough of that already?
Downloading the Garmin Connect app on your phone will help you calibrate the watch and receive up to date statistics on your phone.
Its 47mm size is just perfect for keeping a low profile. The 22mm QuickFit band will fit your wrist snugly.
Its slate-gray bezel with black silicone band does give off a serious vibe for a sports watch. Not to mention, the fact you get to download new watch faces was a cool thing to add.
If you choose the sapphire glass option, you get built-in Wi-Fi on the smartwatch.
The regular Bluetooth Smart option works just as fine. Its GPS feature effectively calculates the distance in your preferred metrics.
A good satellite coverage is denoted by a green light on its high-visibility (240 × 240) resolution screen.
Supporting the standard notification center on your phone, Fenix 5 will show you texts, reminders, and social media notifications from any app in real-time.
Additionally, you can view your performance on the numerous customizable data screens on the watch.
The optical sensor below the watch face monitors your heart rate 24/7 and instantly updates to your phone via Bluetooth.
Moreover, the automatic workout recognition system is a great spec in the Fenix 5.
PROS
CONS
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Garmin Forerunner 935
Garmin Fenix 935, packed with a large activity center and premium tracking system, will help you trace back your daily movements and adapt to a healthy lifestyle.
For starters, the Forerunner 935 looks absolutely fantastic. The black silicone strap and reinforced polymer-made bezel create an expensive look that you can show off at the gym and outdoors.
But what we truly love about the Wi-Fi compatible 935 is its extended dynamics for cycling, swimming, and running.
Training status, aerobic training effect, anaerobic training effect – all are available besides its meticulous wrist heart-rate monitoring system.
It branches out to additional features such as BPM, Lactate Threshold, Heart Rate Viability (HRV) stress tests for giving you a real-time overview of your cardiac performance.
Other than music controls, notifications, texts, and reminders display, Forerunner 935 blew us away with its unbelievable battery life that lasts two whole days on GPS mode and 2 weeks in regular mode!
Important apps like Uber and Accuweather have a user-friendly interface on the smartwatch.
You can download free watch faces and apps from Connect IQ as well as customize data screens.
Now your friends can follow your runs, triathlons, swimming and cycling performance, daily goals, and vice versa with LiveTrack or GroupTrack.
Good news for the Strava Premium members! Now you can sync your running and cycling segments, display leaderboard rankings, and get segment alerts.
PROS
CONS
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Garmin Fenix 5 vs. Forerunner 935
Garmin Fenix 5 and Forerunner 935 are in for a tough competition. While both of them measure your heart-rate, steps, distance, and extras with great accuracy, let’s find out which multisport GPS watch cuts the deal!
Sport Usage
Fenix 5 has a variety of core sports features that cater to your needs. Indoor running on treadmills, outdoor running, hiking, etc. are made easier to track with Fenix 5.
Although it is just as suitable for swimming, Forerunner 935 is best for pool and open water swimming. It’s largely due to the 935’s vivid display, lightweight feel, and sensors.
From heavy training, climbing, triathlons, skiing, snowboarding to golfing, Fenix 5 is so accurate to measure the transition between different sports.
Widgets and Controls
Although neither of the two smartwatches has the touchscreen option, looking on the bright side, it greatly contributes to their long battery life.
Connect IQ has some ride-sharing, tracking, and weather update apps that you can download.
Both Fenix 5 and Forerunner 935 will make a user-friendly interface for those apps instead of showing general alerts on the notification center. We liked Fenix 5’s performance better.
GPS and Sensor Accuracy
Both of the smartwatches have an excellent GPS connectivity that tracks your route, distance, stride length, and so on.
It is so keen that the transition from sitting to walking to running and changing sports is also recorded with a specific time interval.
Fenix 5 impressed us with its real-time HR monitoring and clear-cut motion sensitivity.
Laps in public pools are also recorded with the best possible accuracy. However, Forerunner 935, with its Wi-Fi connectivity, was faster in uploading stats to Garmin Connect.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can download triathlon plans, structured workout plans from Garmin Connect, and your Fenix 5 will be calibrated accordingly.
Also, you get to upload your daily steps count, running, cycling, triathlons, skiing, or swimming performance to Garmin Connect’s Online fitness community.
Training Status is a built-in fitness tool that goes over your overall activity stats and tells you how far you are from your daily goal. This way, tracking improvement on your Fenix 5 is quite easy.
When you’re cycling with your friends, GroupTrack allows you to see their position in real-time.
Apart from group sports, you can also view their daily running and walking stats.
Garmin Fenix 5 is excellent for triathlons because you get lap alerts, lap time, and a customizable lap banner.
Within a lap, you can view your lap details and afterward receive recovery period metrics and run summary in terms of speed, time, distance, and previous records.
Garmin Forerunner 935 has extraordinary detail of your running, walking, and cycling sessions. Smart connections, HRV stress tests, Training Status, and segment alerts for Strava Premium users make 935 stand out.
Conclusion
As a multisports GPS watch, both Garmin Fenix 5 and Forerunner 935 are worth the buy.
But Fenix 5 did a remarkable job with its sharp sensors, error-free tracking, easy widgets, smart alerts, and finally, round-the-clock activity monitoring as well as comfortable interfaces for Connect IQ apps.
Nevertheless, make sure you inform us of your opinion regarding our Garmin Fenix 5 vs. 935 post.