Tech

Garmin Fenix 5 Plus announced with offline music, Garmin Pay, maps, and more

Garmin just revealed its latest high end GPS sports watch series, the Fenix 5 Plus, that brings everything you want in a GPS sports watch into three new options. The highest end model even includes blood oxygen saturation measurements for high altitude hiking and climbing.

Written by Matthew Miller, Contributing Writer June 18, 2018 at 8:47 a.m. PT

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Garmin's first GPS sports watch with music launched in March with the Forerunner 645 Music, followed by the mid-range Vivoactive 3 Music. Today, Garmin announced the Garmin Fenix 5 Plus series that includes music, Garmin Pay, and more.

The Garmin Fenix series is one of Garmin's most expensive lines of high end GPS sports watches designed for the serious multi-sport athlete who wants to track all of their activity. A couple of years ago I splurged and bought myself a Garmin Fenix 3 HR and it has never let me down.

The new Garmin Fenix 5 Plus series could really be called the Fenix 6 series since there are so many updates over the Fenix 5 series launched last year. These include color maps for all three variations (was previously reserved for higher end models), Garmin Pay contactless payment functionality, and offline music support.

Music support is currently provided for files synced from your PC and iHeartRadio with Deezer likely coming soon. One thing I mentioned in my Forerunner 645 Music review was the need to wear the watch on different wrists, depending on your body size and headset brand. Garmin stated that some improvements in Bluetooth headset connectivity are provided in the Fenix 5 Plus series.

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The Fenix 5 Plus comes in three primary variations; the 5S Plus at 42mm, the 5 Plus at 47mm, and the 5X Plus at 51mm case sizes. There are options in the glass face, color, band type and style so that prices range from $699.99 to $1,149.99. The two case options include PVD-coated stainless steel and titanium. The color Garmin Chroma Display has LED backlighting and is water-rated to 100 meters.

Maps are included with all variations and provide at-a-glance navigation and location tracking. Trendline popularity routing is also provided to help you find the best courses, trails, and routes based upon billions of miles logged by Garmin users.

The Fenix 5 Plus series is optimized for training with an abundance of performance stats, evaluation of your activities, customization of data fields and watch faces, and more. Galileo satellite support is also provided in these new watches for environments when GPS is not accurate, such as in large cities or deep canyons.

The Fenix 5S Plus can get up to 7 days in smartwatch mode and up to 4 hours in GPS and Music mode; the Fenix 5 Plus can get up to 10 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and 8 hours in GPS and Music mode; and the Fenix 5X Plus can get up to 20 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and 13 hours in GPS and Music mode.

Until we get our hands-on a Fenix 5 Plus device and put it throught its paces, check out an extremely detailed and thorough review from Ray Maker.