Garmin Fenix 2 Performance Bundle (Includes Heart Rate Monitor)

I have had this watch for several months now and feel comfortable writing a review. This watch was purchased primarily for hiking so that I wouldn't have to always pack the handheld gps. I am a big data geek so I always love my gadgets and this one is right up at the top. After having this for a while I also decided to try trail running and this combined with some awesome trail running shoes (Salomon Speedcross) made me really enjoy trail running. I was able to pair this with my heart rate monitor and see on the map based on elevation and grade how my heart rate responded. I also use it for regular outside runs and then on the treadmill. The more you use the watch outside the better it gets and calibrating to your stride and cadence and can track your indoor runs without a footpod. There is usually a variance but you can go into garmin connect and edit this. I also messed around with this while cycling but I have a garmin edge so I don't really use the watch for this purpose. I think it would work well for cycling but I would personally buy a mount to mount to the handlebars. The storm alert feature is pretty cool and so far works well as long as you aren't changing elevation too quickly, which can set off a storm alert. I also recently purchased a garmin virb ultra 30 action camera and the watch can control it and you can also use the metrics off the watch to do g-metrix overlays with the video. This has turned out to be really fun. So far I have never had an issue with the battery life but I haven't used it on any backpacking trips, just long day hikes. I have some power packs that I think could be used to easily charge it on longer trips so I don't really se this being an issue.

One of the best cross sport watches i have ever used. The only drawback is that the display is too small if you choose to have 3 or for fields per display screen, i wish they could combine the back lit display of the Garmin 620 with this watch, but as an engineer i know that the drain on battery will be huge. On another note, the battery lifetime is awesome and really Fenix 2 can operate as a normal watch for two weeks or more and for sports you can use it for much more lengthy periods than the 620. I tried it for Biking, Open Water Swimming, Pool Swimming, Jogging and believe it or not, flying (Checking the QNH, Temperature, heading and compass) and it work just perfect. UPDATE: Used the Fenix 2 on a one week skiing trip in Austria, this watch is AMAZING for skiing, i also have the "Recon Instruments" skiing google with all the stats. This watch bypassed the Recon Goggle in stats and performance data accuracy. The autostart, autostop feature is really accurate, the watch will stop logging data once you are in gondola or on ski lift and starts again automatically when you are going downhill. The speed recording is very accurate. What is really good is the "Calorie" counter which was also very helpful in determining my food intake. I did not expect it to work this well for skiing, but surprisingly i was able to leave my Recon Instrument google in the room and utilize only the Fenix 2 for all the statistics i require. A quick note about battery life, when in SKI mode the batteries will last around 12 hours only so you need to recharge the watch overnight. In comparison the Recon Instruments google if left on display mode will only last around 5 to 6 hours.

Not having great luck with this watch thus far....Getting a Garmin not looking to be the best idea currently Watch #1: Purchased this bad boy the morning before a 15k. Was EXTREMELY excited when it arrived to finally get more feedback from my runs than what my cell phone offered. Software installed fast and easy. Device updated clean. First run was good. Plenty of data, then run 2 happened. The watch was sluggish, non responsive but still saved my data. After I synched that night my heart stopped. The buttons stopped working. I could not cycle through the screens. I could reboot the watch but I needed a hard reset. The button needed for the reset failed so I was out of luck. The watch was nothing more than a paper weight. This was a few days before my next race and I was in a panic. Thankfully Amazon picked up Garmin's slack. Watch #2: My second watch arrived the night before the race... thanks again Amazon! It worked perfectly through my run and the week following, until I went to load the details of my run after saving the activity. The watch froze on a loading screen. Could it just be that this run had multiple laps and was taking longer to load...Nope, friend has the same watch and screens load around 20 seconds. This is in the minutes. Worse yet I was forced to reboot and again lost a great runs data. I then find that I can recreate the data loss issue and contact Garmin. They are of no help. basically tell me to ensure I have the correct firmware, which I had already told them my firmware version when documenting the issue. They have provided little to no help since. Edit. Garmin offered to replace my 1 week old device (purchased new) with a factory refactored device that would only have a 90 day warranty. My new watch had 1 yr. EDIT: Watch #3: Died within 12 hours. On my first activity after opening the box I attempted to save and display the activity details. There were 10 laps to be displayed and the device stayed on the “Loading” screen for over 4 minutes before the screen went back and the device became completely unresponsive. After trying all options to restart the device I contacted the seller who is processing a refund. I will note that Garmin did later contact me and advise they reviewed my case and serial numbers advising that the thread stating I would receive a refurbished device was incorrect and they would send a new device. Unfortunately Garmin never addressed or even acknowledged my actual issue. Knowing someone who also had a Fenix 2 we were able to test the scenario observed with watch 2 and were unable to recreate the issue on his device. This entire ordeal with the Fenix 2 has been thoroughly frustrating. I wish I could recommend this device, but after my experience I cannot. I will try the Suunto Ambit S2 next.

a great feature-set only let down by being a Garmin. Some of the features of the Fenix2 are vast improvements over the original. The stop/resume button is instant (not req'ing 2-3 actions) - great for running and stopping at a traffic light. the watch overall is faster going from menu-to-menu or acquiring satellites which is great. But Garmin just can't seem to get UI well. You can no longer change activities as flexibly as with the original. In "bike" mode if you use a bike that doesn't have a speed/cadence sensor, it won't override to GPS speed and you end up with a workout saying 0 speed and 0 distance. So you have to use a "custom activity". But custom activities can't be assigned to a specific type such as making a "Mountain bike" activity that is based on a "bike" import. So when you import, it defaults to "other" in Garmin Connect, and something else in Strava. In the original Fenix you could create a custom activity (indoor trainer) and assign the activity to a type (bike). No longer. So after each of those workouts, you have to now do work online to clean up the mess. And creating those custom activities is quite a chore - the menu labyrinth is deep, broad and not always intuitive. And for example, if you use the "bike" features in your custom activity you'd think Garmin would be smart enough to know this was a bike activity but it doesn't. Or if you use the factory-set "bike" activity that if it couldn't find the speed/cadence sensor it would default to using its GPS to calculate speed and distance but it doesn't. So you are left creating custom activities if you want to track bike commuting or mountain biking or cross riding if you want to see different data or don't have Garmin sensors on all of your bikes. The original Fenix was more flexible in allowing you to do that. Additionally, the Garmin is now double-entering every workout, one with all the data, one with mostly zeroes. A slightly different duration is given to the same workout, however. Very confusing. I will say that once you account for its many UI failures and learn to live within its limitations, it's a pretty good device. Battery life is really good. The watch comes with two straps, a traditional silicon buckle and a velcro strap that give good flexibility. The new HR strap fits comfortably. The charger works fine but again - Why does Garmin continue to make so many charger types? My wife and I have 5 Garmin products and each of them uses a unique charger type. Sorry, but that's just cynical 90's style forced-accessory revenue generation. Even Apple is better than that. Lastly, this is an Outdoors watch. It maps your activity. You can set waypoints. You can use it to get places and go home. Yet for a ~$450 device, Garmin gives you _no map_ to go with it. You don't get any resolution in Basecamp, and while clearly you can load maps and many in the forums are using actual maps on the watch, Garmin gives you a blank screen. It would be nice to have a medium-resolution map with such an expensive watch. At the very least it compels you to utilize the watch more. It's gonna be interesting to see what becomes of Garmin in the coming years. Ipads/tablets are making their way into airplane cockpits. All the tech companies are getting in to smart watches. Certainly their gen1 devices are not going to do it but an Apple or Android watch with built in GPS and better battery life is going to create a compelling alternative unless Garmin gets its act together. Meanwhile I'm going back to Garmin Connect to reassign my workouts and delete the duplicate activities.

Excellent all around endurance sports training watch. Very user friendly and doesn't take long to figure out how to use. Everything works as advertised and the watch itself is a quality piece. GPS doesn't take long at all to lock on to a signal and the more you use it the faster it gets. More importantly the GPS is very accurate, probably within a couple of seconds per mile (for example: watch says you ran a mile in 5:00 the actual time is ~ 4:58-5:02) Battery life should be more than adequate for the most. The specs hold true according to my experience. The included charger is a piece of cake to hook up the watch to and time to charge is actually pretty quick. I was thinking about going with the new Fenix 3 but it really doesn't add anything at all significant that the Fenix 2 doesn't have. Oh and the Fenix 2 just looks better in my opinion. I wear my Fenix 2 everywhere just because it looks so badass. Yeah its a bit large and not exactly the lightest watch at 3 oz but you will quickly adapt and even forget you're wearing it. So saving $100 and going with the Fenix 2 is the way to go unless you just love wasting money on rather meaningless "upgardes" just so you can say you have the latest / most expensive model. So in ending I would certainly highly recommend the Garmin Fenix 2 to anybody serious about tracking their training. No need to spend any more $$$ as this watch has all you'll ever need more than likely.

So far so good. I've had it for 5 weeks and it works good. It seems to struggle picking up satellites if it's cloudy, but every gps watch I have owned had that issue. It does everything advertised. It really is an awesome watch. I'm not sure what the Felix 3 has over it, but this watch was have the price and did everything I could imagine and more. See DC Rainmaker's blog for more extensive review. Only downside is its big. Not as big as some gps watches but if you are used to the 210 or one of the other smaller Harmon models it'll probably feel awkwardly large at first. If you are a smaller person, you might want to try on the Felix 2 or 3 at a retailer before buying this watch online. Just a thought Only time will truly tell just how good this model is, but I'm very pleased so far.

No watch does it all, but this watch comes really close. I reviewed all the available watches in the same class as this one prior to buying. The only downside I saw here was that you can only run ANT2 or Bluetooth at one time, not both simultaneously. This isn't a big deal for me because I sync it with the usb dongle, and you get the ANT2 wireless USB adapter you prefer to sync wireless, but you cannot do live run and location tracking data to your phone at the same time you're using your ANT2 devices like the bundled heart rate monitor. Other than that, i'm still finding out new things that this watch can do even beyond the very excellent and exhaustive review done by one of the best fitness watch bloggers, DCRainMaker. Magnetic compass, altimeter, barometer, internal and external temperature, cadence, vertical oscillation, waypoints, track back with graphical representation of course taken (albeit in black and white with zoom functions, but just know this isn't navigation on your phone - it's designed to get you un-lost, that's it), suggested run recovery time, VO2 Max calculation updated after every workout, and multi-sport use for Biking, Running, Swimming, skiing, climbing, hiking, trail run, 50+ mile runs with extended time setting, and navigate. and more...

This is my first fitness watch, which I got because I do alot of running and some hiking. I’ll review it from the perspective of someone who's never had one before. The first thing you’ll want to do after charging the battery and setting it up, is to hook it to your computer and download the firmware update. This update will allow it to automatically upload your workout statistics after you’re done, wirelessly over Bluetooth, to the Garmin Connect app on your phone. Next you’ll want to link your Garmin Connect account to whatever other fitness apps you use— in my case it’s MyFitnessPal. This allows Garmin Connect to send your workout to MyFitnessPal, and for MyFitnessPal to send your food calorie intake to Garmin Connect. It’s alot to set up at first, but in doing so, after your run is over, simply hitting Stop, and then Save, will automatically save, upload, and sync everything by itself. No further effort on your part is needed. And quite frankly, I like that. Go ahead and get the chest strap heart monitor with this. It’s overpriced for what it is, but is still worth it. It gives you a far more accurate calorie burn count, which is why you’re considering one of these to begin with. One of the concerns of mine before I got it, was, I run on a hilly and rugged path, so I often have to stop to walk. Will I have to constantly change from Run to Walk? Will I have to always hit Stop and Start? The answer is no: just let it keep going. It'll tell you “Recovery Level: Good”, so it’s already programmed to compensate for that. Just set it to Run, hit Start, and let it ride out from there until you’re completely done. The heart monitor knows whether you’re running hard or not, so your calorie burn tally can vary day to day, even on the same distance. The compass is good, screen light works well enough, and the light/dark contrast is actually adjustable too. I have mine set up so that it’s always Bluetooth paired with my phone (less trouble to bother with) except when paired with my heart monitor. I’m not playing with my phone while running. Because of that, I do need to charge it every night. I considered the Fenix 3, but Amazon Prime had this for a killer price. Glad I got it.

Scrivo questa recensione dopo 2 mesi di utilizzo (nuoto, bici e corsa) del mio fenix 2. Ho scelto questo modello rispetto al fenix 3 perchè NON sono interessato alle funzionalità di fitness tracking presenti sul modello nuovo ed il prezzo (attualmente) è molto conveniente. Naturalmente avrei preferito il display a colori del fenix 3 ma il risparmio giustificava la scelta. A dispetto della dimensione, l'orologio è molto leggero ed una volta al polso non da alcun fastidio, neppure in piscina. Il GPS prende il segnale in maniera quasi istantanea, questo è un'enorme miglioramento rispetto al vecchio garmin 305 ed al più recente fenix 1. La fascia cardio ha il sensore per misurare durante la corsa a piedi, l'oscillazione verticale, il tempo di appoggio, il numero dei passi e la falcata, dati che possono evidenziare la propria dinamica della corsa ed eventualmente indicarci su quale aspetto lavorare in modo specifico per migliorare, inizialmente non pensavo neppure che potessero essere di mio interesse. Nel nuoto è molto valido, riconosce automaticamente lo stile, conta le vasche ed ha una modalità esercizio (drill) che permette di inserire manualmente la distanza quando non c'è movimento delle braccia (quando si fanno gambe con la tavoletta ad esempio). Non ho avuto ancora modo di utilizzarlo in acque libere per verificare il funzionamento del GPS, lo farò con la bella stagione. Per la bici, accoppiato al sensore ANT di cadenza/velocità, ha tutto quello che serve per allenarsi col cardio (non ho il power-meter). Come tutti i garmin che ho avuto, tutte le pagine sono personalizzabili (da 1 a 4 campi) ed i menù sono molto intuitivi ed immediati (questo soprattutto rispetto a polar e suunto, dove il manuale bisogna leggerlo quasi sempre per poterli sfruttare al meglio). Le funzionalità della firstbeat di training effect, recovery time, VO2 max (dopo un mesetto di rodaggio ed "autoapprendimento") mi sembrano decisamente veritiere e danno un'indicazione concreta, immediata e, a mio parere, molto utile, all'atleta amatore fai-da-te. Non avevo mai avuto un cardio con la vibrazione per gli alert, è una funzionalità che apprezzo ed utilizzo molto, rispetto ai soliti "bip-bip", qui è impossibile non accorgersi dell'avviso. La batteria si carica in circa 1 ora e mi dura circa 15 giorni, la mia settimana tipo prevede 35-40km di corsa a piedi (aperto), 6-7km di nuoto in piscina, 2-3 ore di bici (per il momento più sui rulli che all'aperto). Non ho mai utilizzato (e non mi interessa neppure farlo) tutte le funzioni legate agli altri sport, la bussola, i vari "tool", le notifiche provenienti dallo smartphone (messaggi, email ecc.), tantomeno lo uso nel quotidiano come orologio visto che tendo a romperli troppo velocemente. L'orologio ha moltissime funzioni ma, un'aspetto positivo rispetto a polar/suunto (parlo di RS800 e T6 avuti precedentemente), è che attraverso la personalizzazione delle pagine e dei menù, le cose che non interessano non danno fastidio. I difetti che ho riscontrato nell'utilizzo sono: 1. Non c'è supporto per windows phone, quindi oltre a non poter fare l'upload da questo tipo di dispositivo, bisogna accedere attraverso l'applicazione web. 2. Il trasferimento attraverso bluetooth smartphone (iphone 5) non è lento ma estenuante, 2 ore di allenamento impiegano circa 15 minuti per essere sincronizzate, molto meglio usare il cavetto USB in dotazione, dove l'operazione impiega una decina di secondi massimo. 3. Ok, l'applicazione web è fatta molto bene ma se si volessero guardare i log degli allenamenti direttamente sul fenix, i tempi di accesso e visualizzazione sono decisamente troppo lenti per essere definiti "utilizzabili", quindi l'abbinamento al PC o allo smartphone è praticamente indispensabile per potere analizzare i dati. In conclusione sono molto soddisfatto dell'acquisto e mi sento di consigliarlo senza riserve a chi cerca un GPS/Cardio multisport con funzioni avanzate ma dove ancora non sia necessaria una laurea in ingegneria o medicina per configurarlo ed interpretarne i dati.

Sachin

Lo recomiendo ampliamente si tu trabajo y tus actividades son al aire libre. Lo compré por la capacidad para medir areas ya que trabajo como gerente de producción de granos (agricultura) por lo que resulto muy útil para este tipo de actividades. Toma un poco de tiempo aprender a usar sus funciones pero ya que le entiendes funciona muy bien.

Super produit qui fait tout ce que fait la Suunto et plus encore, avec son GPS et ses multiples écrans durant la course à pied. Efficace aussi en piscine, mais j'avais déjà une Garmin Swim (plus fine et à l'affichage plus lisible en piscine) que je privilégie à l'entraînement. Et l'interface Garmin Connect avec son traitement de toutes les données de la Fenix durant la course à pied (comme de la Swim) reste inégalé. Plein d'options mais pas de bips dérangeants. Je n'ai pas encore tout testé... Bon, elle a du volume, mais pas plus que ma fidèle Suunto. Et je suis étonné de la durée de la batterie si on n'utilise pas le GPS. Rechargement rapide de la batterie également. Livrée avec la ceinture cardio cryptée déjà appairée avec la montre. Il n'est pas inutile d'aller chercher le mode d'emploi complet en PDF sur le site Garmin pour faire des réglages.

I think some folks have unrealistic expectations of the accuracy of GPS in such a small package. Having spent 9 hours in deep tree coverage on the West Coast with this, I can say that navigation functions perform well enough to be practical. After updating my watch, FW 4.5 and GPS FW 3.30, it works as advertised. Digital magnetic compass, when set to True North reference, will automatically set the declination based on GPS location (16 degree Easterly and change in the Valley) Keep in mind that it is NOT practical for installing and reading maps on watch, but rather creating breadcrumb trails and marking waypoints. Satellite acquisition also occurred quickly in every instance of field use, you can also create an additional data page with GPS signal strength and accuracy fields. This is handy for glancing at every now and then while recording a GPS based activity, navigating to a waypoint or using the TrackBack feature. With the release of the Fenix3, the price on the 2 has dropped considerably. The fenix2 has more features and is newer than the tactix for those wondering. Main differences are the metal back plate, green nvg compatible illumination and tide data of the tactix. If you can live without those, the Fenix has much more to make up for it. Of course if you use this primarily for navigating, spring for a handheld unit like the etrex series instead.