Garmin Fenix 3 Product Review

So I got this watch about a week ago, and it is pretty cool, and super expensive. It has a place on my wrist all the time now, and if you want more info than I could probably ever put in a review, check out DC Rainmaker, he has so much info that I would not know how to get, or how to even know about, but he cheats, he tests for garmin. So anyway, lets start with my thoughts on this watch. There is so much on here, so keep in mind I am just scratching the surface. Now you make see the watch and think why do I need a 500 dollar watch, well you don't, but it is cool. I wanted it because it has a long battery life, plan and simple, I love ultras, I just did the TARC fels winter ultra, and it offers better gps accuracy than my last watch, the fr10. So some f the things you may not know, that I wanted to know, but could not find online:

1. It has programmable timers for each activity (like running, trail running, biking, swimming, etc). You have several options: preset, water, food, (you can set them for any interval based min)Also HR, Run/Walk, Pace, Time, Distance, Cadence, Calories, and Elevation (also under custom, turn around, go home (lol) and a completely custom name you make yourself!)
2.  It has a track back feature, it comes in handy when you are in unfamiliar territory, or a trail you can get lost in easily.
3. you can make a course, and race it, it gets stored on the watch somehow, I guess magic!
4. you can make hotkeys, I chose bluetooth and location storing (you can also use stop watch and timer)
5. you can lock the screen, so when you hit button it will not effect your data 
6. Instant gps lock, even in new places, it barley takes a second the few times I have used it! 
7. there is a setting that lets you use the watch wile charging, not just gps, but also change settings, whatever you want to access wile it is plugged in
8. you can have the watch auto shut off notifications off all kind, or just phone calls.
9. you can set up a live track and post it to facebook, twitter, email, or your connect friends, all  of them (not many people use it regularly, but hey it has facebook)

 This watch is also heavy, not as bad as the sapphire one, (it has a nicer quartz, (watch talk for face plate) it is scratch resistant, and nicer metal bracelet, and rubber strap as well). But this watch could be a problem on super long runs or races just switch wrists, keep in mind if it was not heavy it probably would not do all the cool things it does!

Weather!

As far as the other non running things too! It connect by bluetooth, and tells you when you have notifications like text, call, email, facebook, etc. You can easily change that on your phone and the notifications area and shut off the push, or change the settings as you wish. It is pretty good, I have had my watch buzz before my phone on several occasions, and  Step counter is a nice touch. You can see the temp, altimeter, and barometer for the last 48hrs as well. You get cool controls for you music, it has to be in the background, and you can see your calendar for the day as well, but that has on occasion not worked unless the app was in the backround. It is also supports temperature on the watch face, by converting to some app on your phone I would guess, as it only worked for a day or two. When I updated my IOS to the current one (9.1, about to be 9.2 as I type this) the weather no longer showed, no idea what happened, both the watch and phone have been power cycled, and connections reset. So I am at a loss. The blue tooth connectivity is great, a surprisingly long reach for a watch, and an Iphone 5s. The watch face can be tweaked in the digital face to show battery, day of week, and month, and  bluetooth connection status, also the time of the next sunrise/sunset! All of which can be tweaked based on prefernce, you can have a classic analog look if you prefer, but that seems to offer less options for what you see other than the dial. There is a find phone option on this watch as well, it will make the phone make noise, and it will show an arrow as to where it is, giving you direction when you louse your phone!

Time!

The heart rate monitor is super easy to connect, I do not plan to get any of the other fancy high tech data collectors ( you can get monitors for temp, and a foot  pod that measures cadence and other data based on your run very easily, and one for more accurate data on a bike) It will auto upload by bluetooth to your app on your phone, it is super easy. It took me a few tries to connect the heart rate monitor (that is why I connected it the night before my run), but after a few applies of water from a sponge it connected quickly, and now as soon as the strap is connected, and wet, it connects instantly, no need for me to dig through sub menus to find it! I have heard that the wrist based ones are still not as good as the chest, and they have to be pretty tight to be fully accurate. But I do not know, I mention this because if you want a cheaper alternative, there are some and they have many of the same features, but I wanted the super long battery life, the option to make it even longer in the settings, and the ability to charge on the go so a multi day race can still be recorded! (and yes those are planned in my future, I will learn everything about this watch, probably before the end of the summer in 2016)

I am so not meeting my step goal

So Is this watch the greatest at everything? Hell no, but it is awesome for what I want it to be, long battery life, notifications from my watch, accurate details on more things than I ever thought would be cool on a watch. It comes at off sets, several options are unavailable unless the garmin connect app is running in the back ground, and I still can not get the weather to connect. But I am a fan, you can do most of this stuff on some of the medium level watches from garmin (or sunnto, or tomtom, I just picked garmin a wile ago, and love them, well most of the time)

So there you have it, My first impression on this super fancy ultra watch! I am sure I may have forgotten something, but bear with me I have only had it for like 3 runs, in about a week. Soon I will see how some of the apps work fr it, and how well it works as a srtength training tool, there are a few cool apps that set timers, and show you your heart rate wile you work out. Also cool apps that show your your heart rate and what zone you are in ect. If you have any further questions, or think I missed something, let me know!

Until Next time
Stay active
Stephen

Update! Literally a moment after I hit post for this blog, the watch started to show the weather again, so yay!