Garmin Fenix 5X Sapphire Review: The Best Sports Watch?

Multisport watches are great investments for any outdoor sports enthusiast. Even dedicated athletes can benefit a lot from strapping these wearables around their wrists. So for today, let’s take a closer look at one of the best multisport watches money can buy, the Garmin Fenix 5x Sapphire.

While outdoor sports seem like the most unlikely thing to do in the middle of a pandemic, it definitely doesn’t stop a lot of people from engaging in such activities. As we slowly return to our normal routines, more and more people are going back to their old habits again.

I can imagine our fellow fitness enthusiasts and athletes just itching to go back to running, hiking, and other outdoor activities to feel the fresh air hit their faces again. And I can understand why.

Working out inside four walls or at home alternatives just doesn’t feel the same as being able to climb the tops of mountains and feeling the intensity of going through and overcoming a rough terrain.

So if you’re someone who is going back to their active lifestyles and planning their next outdoor adventure, you might want to take a look at our review of Garmin’s best multisports GPS watch, the Fenix 5X Sapphire. Who knows? This might just find its way at the top of your outdoor essentials list.

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Overview of the Garmin Fenix 5x Sapphire

To cut to the chase, the Garmin Fenix 5x Sapphire is probably hands-down the best multisport watch you can get your hands on right now. In terms of activity and performance tracking and GPS-based mapping, it really has little to no competition in the market. If there was, this particular wearable will still be most favored.

For quite some time now, the Fenix 5X Sapphire has been widely praised for its premium rugged design, impressive features ranging from activity, performance, and fitness tracking, and terrific battery life.

And with such a wide array of features including onboard GPS mapping, multi-sports tracking, storm alerts, a built-in pulse oximeter, smartphone notifications, and much more, I don’t see anyone getting tired of this wearable anytime soon.

To put it simply, the Fenix 5X Sapphire is the culmination of all the features we came to know and love about Garmin watches. It took a long time for them to perfect this and safe to say, all that waiting was worth it.

But every great product doesn’t come without flaws. One of the few things to keep in mind is that their smartphone notifications aren’t that polished. Basically, you can only receive messages and calls but you won’t be able to answer or reply to them. You will still need to whip out your phone for that.

Another thing is that there is very limited customization on the notifications you want to receive. You can only either receive them all or turn them off completely.

I don’t find these things that big of a deal especially if you’re here for the Fenix 5X Sapphire’s onboard mapping and activity tracking, but it would definitely be nice if Garmin worked on polishing those other features as well.

Features & Specifications

• Product Dimensions: 2 x 0.7 x 2 inches
• Manufacturer / Brand: Garmin
• Item Weight: 3.46 ounces
• Display Size: 1.2 inches 240 x 240
• Band Width: 51 Millimeters
• Connectivity Technology: GPS
• Compatible Devices: Smartphones
• Human Interface Input: Buttons
• Extra Special Features: Built-in navigation sensors include GPS and GLONASS capability to track in more challenging environments, 3-axis compass, gyroscope and barometric altimeter, heart rate monitoring, smart notifications, automatic uploads to Garmin Connect online fitness community and personalization through free watch faces and apps from our Connect IQ store, TOPO U.S. mapping, routable cycling maps, and other outdoor navigation features.

To see what you’re getting inside the box of the Fenix 5x, check out Garmin’s video preview below.

What We Love About The Garmin Fenix 5X Sapphire

Now let me give you a breakdown of the features that we love about the Fenix 5X Sapphire and why I think this is the best multisports watch up to date.

GPS Mapping

One of the best selling points of the Fenix 5X Sapphire is its onboard GPS mapping. Aside from its ability to track your activities and your whereabouts quite accurately, this particular wearable also allows you to download GPX files of maps right onto your device.

This way, you can have a plethora of routes to choose from for your next outdoor activities such as cycling, running, jogging, and so much more. Additionally, this also helps in making navigating around these areas a lot easier for you.

Fitness, Performance, & Activity Tracking

Garmin is one of the best when it comes to activity tracking. It’s what they are known for. So it comes as no surprise that the Fenix 5X Sapphire performs just as splendidly.

To sum it all up, you get a wide range of onboard sensors that include GPS, GLONASS, pulse oximeter, a compass, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, barometric altimeter, thermometer, and optical heart rate (HR).

In addition to that, this wearable also measures workouts pretty well. Such sports include your basics like swimming, cycling, running, and more unique workouts like yoga, etc. can be tracked pretty accurately.

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Our Least Favorite Things

As you already know, no product is perfect and we’re bound to find a few flaws here and there even with our most favorite devices. So here are some of the things we weren’t a big fan of with the Fenix 5X Sapphire.

Bulky

If you’re larger than the average-sized person, you might not encounter this particular problem. But for most people, you might find that the Fenix 5X Sapphire is quite bulky and feels chunky around the wrist.

Understandably, comfortability comes down to one’s personal preference but I definitely can see this becoming a problem for some people. It might even be a dealbreaker for some of you if you prioritize comfort more than anything else.

Aside from comfortability, a bulky watch around your wrist is also prone to get caught in your sleeves or your backpack straps. And I don’t know about you, but that would give me a certain level of annoyance that I could live without.

Thankfully, Garmin listens to their users’ pleas and they were able to remedy and address the size issue by sizing down the watch through their next models in the same lineup.

So if you find the Fenix 5X Sapphire too big for your wrist but really want to enjoy its impressive features, you can look for other options in Garmin’s Fenix lineup.

Expensive

Another thing that holds back the Fenix 5X Sapphire is its very pricy price tag.

While I think the Fenix 5X Sapphire is one of those devices that are worth the splurge, especially with the number of onboard features you’re getting, the expensive price point is understandably not for everyone.

At the end of the day, people have set budgets on what they’re willing to spend and if you think that this wearable comes at too high of a price, then there are definitely much more affordable options in the market for you out there.

In A Nutshell

Now that we have finished discussing the things we loved and disliked about the Fenix 5X Sapphire, here is a narrowed-down list of the good and the bad with this multisport watch.

Final Verdict:

Overall, despite having a few flaws here and there, the Garmin Fenix 5X Sapphire still remains supreme as one of the best multisport watches in the industry. It shines in terms of activity and fitness tracking. This is the type of watch that looks out for you once you get into more intense training sessions or sports activities.

While it’s undeniably on the pricer end of things, I think this is a pretty great investment if you’re serious about your outdoor activities. You really won’t get the same extensive GPS mapping from anywhere else. If you can spare the money, why look for anything less, right?

So if sports and an active lifestyle are some things you value, this multisports watch is totally worth it.

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