Navigation on Garmin Fenix 5X ... or some other device?

[Jonathan S.]

Any feedback on navigation with the Garmin Fenix 5X ... or perhaps some other "wearable" device I should consider ... or is this kind of a silly expenditure for only the benefit of not having to take out my phone for simple navigation?

I just noticed that the Fenix 5X has full-color topo maps -- including are only 100k, but apparently all the free 24k maps from GPS file depot and other sources can be downloaded onto the watch.
And the screen is supposed to be even more clearly readable in bright light.
I don't see anything in the user manual about downloading gpx files, but I've found some references on-line, and one reference (in an email excerpt from Garmin customer service) to a max of 10,000 points per track, so sounds like the memory is generally fine.

My ideal would be the ability to download a gpx file with a bunch of tracks for prior routes, and waypoints for various locations.
Then instead of having to keep my phone readily accessible and mess around with the usual difficulties of snow-on-screen or bright-light-on-screen, I could quickly see where I am relative to where I want to be ... anything more complex, and I'd take out my phone for Backcountry Navigator (which has been good enough for my purposes that my Garmin 60Cx hasn't been used for years).

One side of me is thinking that the messing around with the time and expense of buying and setting up a new device isn't worthwhile, but the other side of me thinks how neat-o it would be to quickly just look at my watch for easy navigation tasks.
I previously experimented with this on a Samsung Gear 2 paired with my Samsung phone and Backcountry Navigator, but both the watch and the pairing had lots of drawbacks.

Examples of easy navigation tasks would be:

• When the mank/crust/bareness line had moved up the mountain this morning from the prior day by ~500' vertical, trying to figure out whether the return from the ski trail through the woods to my skintrack was above or below me.
• Finding the usual types of concealed entrances to the usual New England secret stashes.
• Trying to optimize the return route from Adams SW Chutes to Lunch Counter.
• Deciding when to start contouring back from Hood Mississippi Head to the resort.

Thanks in advance for any feedback on the 5X or other wearables, or even just general disparagement of this entire idea!

[Jonathan S.]

Trying to optimize the return route from Adams SW Chutes to Lunch Counter.

Example of failed attempt at such optimization mid-August last year (although fortunately nowhere near as long as the picture implies):

[epilatow]

I'm a bit of a gear junky so i have a fenix 5x and i really like it as an activity tracker and an every day watch.

My personal experience with the navigation/maps feature is that its usefulness is mostly limited to following per-programmed routes. Ie, create a route ahead of time with some other utility, upload it to the watch, and then use the navigation/maps feature to follow that route. It's super convenient to glance down at your wrist and see that your still on roughly on track. Or if you end up taking a detour you can easily see how to get back to your route, etc. I've found it pretty easy to do this all this with my phone, creating routes with apps like Gaya GPS or EasyRoute, then exporting them to GPX files and into the Garmin Connect app to create a route, which then gets synced to my watch.

But the specific use cases you mentioned involve actual route discovery and planning, and unfortunately the fenix 5x isn't great for that. The screen is too small and the interface for panning/zooming involves lots of button presses. You can do it in a pinch, but really you're better off doing that on your phone with a larger touch screen interface.

[Jonathan S.]

[...]My personal experience with the navigation/maps feature is that its usefulness is mostly limited to following per-programmed routes. Ie, create a route ahead of time with some other utility, upload it to the watch, and then use the navigation/maps feature to follow that route. It's super convenient to glance down at your wrist and see that your still on roughly on track. Or if you end up taking a detour you can easily see how to get back to your route, etc. I've found it pretty easy to do this all this with my phone, creating routes with apps like Gaya GPS or EasyRoute, then exporting them to GPX files and into the Garmin Connect app to create a route, which then gets synced to my watch.[...]

Belated thanks for the review!
(Been too busy actually backcountry skiing here for a change instead of just resort uphill training -- what a great month we've had!)
That actually sounds exactly what I want to do with a watch.
(I think the context of my navigational descriptions made the tasks sound more advanced.)
Now that skimo race organizing hell is finally over for the season, I've ordered the watch, so that can be my evening computer tinkering task...

[ffmedic84]

Here’s a great review of the watch and everything it can do. It’s very lengthy though.
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2017/03/...5x-review.html

[cravenmorhead]

Yeah, I have an older version of the Fenix, either the 2 or the 3, and my experience is in line with epilatow's. It's great for wayfinding along a preset course, so either a tour you've setup a gpx file for, or a route into a hut etc. Not great for on the fly route planning and the like aside from allowing you to retrace the track you've just set. Though since it's also giving you altitude and distance and direction if you have a general sense of where you need to be it can help you get there. But if I find myself more lost than I should be or wondering if drainage A or drainage B is the one that looked better I pull out my phone/gps with topos.

[Jonathan S.]

Thanks again for the feedback -- very impressed by the watch so far!

I was able to transfer all my Presidentials Range waypoints and tracklogs to the watch using an ancient copy of Garmin Mapsource with just a few clicks. I looked into transferring more details maps but the basemaps that come with the watch seemed just fine. The screen resolution is quite impressive. My only major problem is that my waypoint labels are quite small, and my ability to read fine print is pretty poor with my contacts in. However, the watch topos were able to confirm a few times my position so saved me from having to take out my phone, turn on location, go to Backcountry Navigator, etc.

As for more generic features for this kind of watch, I've set up custom activities for "Skimo" (training & racing) and "Ski Tour" with various alerts, and different data screens. The customization is pretty impressive, and the extent of various features and functions goes on and on....

Immediately upon finishing a tour or training outing, the watch immediately sends all the info via Bluetooth to the Garmin Connect on my phone, which then uploads it automatically to Strava, and then Relive asks me if I want to create a video.
Some examples posted here (in addition to marveling at continued winter wx up north):
https://www.facebook.com/pg/NERandoR...=page_internal

Sensor accuracy impressions:

• The temp was definitely ready way too high -- have to buy a ~$20 accessory for an accurate reading. (Though seems really easy to clip it to a pack if you really care. Would be great for avy-related snow & wx obs work.)
• Vertical tally throughout the day has been accurate.
• GPS cold fix has been surprisingly fast, and track log seems very accurate.
• Instead of recalibrating the elevation manually as I've been accustomed to with barometric-only altimeters, I've just left it on GPS-based elevation. This has ended up typically ~100' low throughout the day, but good enough for my purposes, and nice not to have to manually recalibrate.
• Caloric count is also inconsistent, although that might just be a function of how during my first big tour I was wearing it on the wrong side of my wrist, and over a shirt too.

[sfotex]

[*]Caloric count is also inconsistent, although that might just be a function of how during my first big tour I was wearing it on the wrong side of my wrist, and over a shirt too.

Probably more of a function of the built in HR monitor being flaky. Mine seems to work ok for resting heart rate but it's all over the place when your working hard, especially when its really hot out. I got a chest strap HR monitor to take care of this.

I really like the mapping feature when I'm back-tracking and trying to figure out where the trail is on the way out...