The Fenix 5 ‘plus’ series have been known about in the trade for some time now, since late 2017. There are now many and varied sources of leaks so I will summarise the info here and add some thoughts.
Why the plus series?
The cynic would say that it was either for Garmin to make more money or to silently fix a hardware issue in the 5/5s.
I’m not sure that is a totally fair criticism to make on Garmin as we are perhaps seeing a new generic strategy emerge whereby plus models will be released mid-cycle to showcase emerging technologies and features. The Garmin product cycle seems to be about 2 years.
With the Edge 520 we have recently seen the announcement of the Edge 520 plus essentially this added navigation and CIQ 3 support. To keep the 520 with the same number and add a ‘plus’ suffix seems like a genuine move. As we shall shortly see, the new features for the Fenix 5 plus could QUITE EASILY justify the title of Fenix 6.
Best Amazon price is linked to. Prices start at Eur700/$700/£600 and might slightly in 2018. Buying from Amazon supports this site.
What’s Different?
I will add the details, as I understand them, further below. However the basic thrust is that they are the same devices with PAY, MUSIC and GALILEO added on. ie Features that were available on other Garmin devices have finally found their way to the top-end device.
No-one is saying, but the hardware fixes to resolve connectivity issues have almost certainly been incorporated.
Proof?
You’re a cynical lot 😉 Here is an image of the Fenix 5S plus on a display stand. The images are not mine and will click through to the source if the source remains online (link to: reddit.com). I. There are 2 other images linked to here (link to: the5krunner.com)
Which models are affected?
It looks like there is NOT a new Forerunner 935 plus. Although note that you can pair a 935 to BLE headphones…you might ask “Why would that be?”
However there is a new version of each of the regular Fenix 5 line ie the Fenix 5S plus, the Fenix 5X plus and the Fenix 5 plus. I’ve only seen very little info about the 5X plus and that could possibly not happen.
Garmin Fenix 5 Plus
- Includes color TOPO maps featuring Trendline popularity routing
- Rugged design of stainless steel or diamond-like carbon (DLC) titanium bezel, buttons and rear case
- Music support with storage of up to 500 songs on your watch, and connect with Bluetooth® headphones (sold separately) for phone-free listening. As of 9/June/2018 this will be offline storage of your own music library and/or content from Deezer/iHeartRadio.
- Garmin Pay contactless payment solution with the same limitations on the availability of supported banks.
- Built-in navigation sensors include three-axis compass, gyroscope and barometric altimeter as well as multiple satellite system with GPS, GLONASS and Galileo
- Battery performance: up to 10 days in smartwatch mode and 8 hours in GPS mode with music
- Case size 47 mm
Take-out: Sweet. But will Galileo be dual-band and will it bring big improvements?
Garmin Fenix 5S Plus
- Smaller-sized multisport GPS smartwatch
- Same color TOPO maps featuring Trendline popularity routing
- Large 1.2” sunlight readable display. At 240 for 240 pixels this seems to now be the same as the other Fenix 5plus models. Stainless steel bezel, buttons and rear case
- Music support with storage of up to 500 songs on your watch, and connect with Bluetooth® headphones (sold separately) for phone-free listening. As of 9/June/2018 this will be offline storage of your own music library and/or content from Deezer/iHeartRadio.
- Garmin Pay contactless payment solution with the same limitations on the availability of supported banks.
- Built-in navigation sensors include three-axis compass, gyroscope and barometric altimeter as well as multiple satellite system with GPS, GLONASS and Galileo
- Battery performance: up to 7 days in smartwatch mode and 4 hours in GPS mode with music
- Case size 42mm
Garmin Fenix 5X plus
Full details not yet known for the larger 5X model. I will update this with info from comments, below
- Will have a blood oxygen sensor (pulse oximeter) NOT LIKE MOXY with MO2. Oximeter only on the 5X
- Case size 51 mm
Plus Series Pricing & Availability
– Garmin Fenix 5s plus euro 699
– Fenix 5s plus sapphire 799
– Fenix 5s plus sapphire rose gold 849
– Garmin Fenix 5 plus price euro 699 model silver and black
– Fenix 5 plus sapphire black black euro 799
– Fenix 5 plus Sapphire titanium with orange silicone strap (ring and bottom are in titanium) euro 849
– Garmin Fenix 5x plus sapphire euro 849** (the only one to have the oxygen saturation calculation).
Some sources say June 2018 announcement and availability almost immediately afterwards. That would be my bet but it could be in the fall/autumn for retail availability.
Garmin Fenix 6
If you want to wait until 2019 you might get a Fenix 6…
Take-Out
This is very much the ‘nuclear’ option. Someone may have asked “What shall we put in it to hide the hardware fixes?” and the unimaginative but totally welcomed response was “Everything…do we have a spare kitchen sink?”
Assuming :
- It all works well on release;
- Galileo improves the recorded track and instant running pace;
- More music services are brought on board;
- More banks are brough t on board; and
- The CPU is sufficiently powerful to properly handle routable navigation and all the demands that come with it
Then all is good in Garminland.
Would I buy one? …. YEP! Although I’d try to offload you current Fenix 5 now while you can for a good price on ebay.
Best Amazon price is linked to. Prices start at Eur700/$700/£600 and might slightly in 2018. Buying from Amazon supports this site.
If this content helped you and if you’d like to help support this site in return or ask questions, then please consider becoming a supporter. Thank you.
Supporters: I am not a salaried journalist and rely on support from readers to keep the free content coming. If you want to support the work here then ad-free subscription starts at 49p (about 65c).
Alternatively buying anything from my partners, below, also helps and may also get you a great discount. Thank you!
Support with 10% code: the5krunner10 | Support at your local country’s Amazon storefront | Support with 10% code: the5krunner10 |
Sources: many sources, just Google “Fenix 5s plus” and “fenix 5x plus”. Some cached ones and an Italian one will appear eg https://www.gioielleriaangelini.com/blog/news/garmin-fenix-5-plus-il-nuovo-orologio-di-garmin-disponibile-da-fine-giugno-ad-un-prezzo-di-poco-superiore-al-precedente-modello. via @matt , @p h, and others who do not wish to be mentioned.
Any rumours about the base price for each model?
Found this on the reddit thread:
– Garmin Fenix 5s plus euro 699
– Fenix 5s plus sapphire 799
– Fenix 5s plus sapphire rose gold 849
– Garmin Fenix 5 plus price euro 699 model silver and black
– Fenix 5 plus sapphire black black euro 799
– Fenix 5 plus Sapphire titanium with orange silicone strap (ring and bottom are in titanium) euro 849
– Garmin Fenix 5x plus sapphire euro 849** (the only one to have the oxygen saturation calculation).
lol @ price tags, they all go crazy…
will add, ty
Not linking to all the early posted ecommerce pages?
some sources added. let me know if that’s ok with you
Wasn’t meant to be a knock – just didn’t know if you had other sources!
not taken that way…always lots of sources
which ones?
Google “Fenix 5s plus” and “fenix 5x plus”. Some cached ones and an Italian one.
So basically… the non-plus versions are the alpha versions and the plus versions are the public beta versions. 🤭
🙂
Great. Exciting IF and ONLY IF stryd and an external HRM connects without issue. Release date thoughts?
the pictures appear to be a display model. I would say 80% chance imminent, 20% chance sept/oct
I’ve just contacted the Italian store, the availbitlity will be sometime in July, more towards the begining. He says Garmin is annoucing the watches on the 20th. So that fcc report had some merrit. And he’s offering 15% on the whole plus line … so the prices are questionable (5X+ 850€ – 15% would be 722€), I’m waiting to see the prices on other places tho.
🙂 so his early leaking of the info worked !!!
Let’s see if Garmin oblige and give him stock.
ty for the date. it sounds about right
Post on reddit indicating pulse oximeter feature on 5x plus, sounds interesting..
hmmm. that’s interesting. well spotted. pulse oximeter looks at oxygen in blood. IIRC with MOXY it is the MUSCLE oxygenation that’s most important ie that is different. there still could be some use tho for blood oxygen, i’ll have to refresh my memory with some research.
I don’t think blood oxygen is a reliable marker for fatigue/recovery, and the fact that the feature is on the 5X only, leads me to believe it will be used for warnings. For exemple it could warn you when you are getting dangerously low on oxygen, because of high altitude and/or high intensity exercise.
It might be useful for sleep analysis. It can be an indicator of sleep quality I think, and it can also indicate problems like sleep apnea though they’d probably need to be careful not to be getting into the “medical device” category if they pushed it to far into those types of diagnoses.
I’m curious, would this be used during a race/trail or for recovery/fatigue related metrics?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Garmin/comments/8pyamj/fenix_5s_plus_5_plus_and_5x_plus_details/
Passiamo ai prezzi, come i precedenti saranno disponibili di ogni serie i modelli sapphire oppure Non sapphire tranne per il Fenix 5x plus disponibile solo nella versione sapphire e i prezzi per il nuvo Garmin fenix 5 plus sono i seguenti:
– Garmin Fenix 5s plus euro 699
– Fenix 5s plus sapphire 799
– Fenix 5s plus sapphire rose gold 849
– Garmin Fenix 5 plus prezzo euro 699 modello silver and black
– Fenix 5 plus sapphire black black euro 799
– Fenix 5 plus Titanio Sapphire con cinturino silicone arancione (ghiera e fondello sono in titanio) euro 849
– Orologio Garmin Fenix 5x plus sapphire euro 849 (l’unico ad avere il calcolo della saturazione dell’ossigeno).
https://www.gioielleriaangelini.com/blog/news/garmin-fenix-5-plus-il-nuovo-orologio-di-garmin-disponibile-da-fine-giugno-ad-un-prezzo-di-poco-superiore-al-precedente-modello
A fine giugno Garmin presenterà il nuovo orologio Fenix 5 plus che sarà acquistabile in tre versioni:…..
Translation: end of June
Re the Fenix 6, what’s left lol? Seems like they should push it out until late 2019 or early 2020. Seems like everything theorized for the 6 is in the plus. They should have just called this the 6.
Lol, exactly what I said in the the fenix 6 article… I mean 700€ for the base model? 6 better be really something if they plan on releasing it at begining of 2019.
yeah it messed up my article 🙂 grrrr.
i am pleasantly surprised what is in the 5+ and yes they could easily justifyably have called it the 6.,
Exactly my thoughts! Question is why didn’t they? Might they be going in a different direction design wise with 6, but didn’t have enough time to R&D the whole thing + dual band Galileo which would need the “massive rework” of the body as speculated by another commenter?
The timing is interesting, isn’t it? 18 months after the F5 launch makes an F6 launch 2 years after the F5 look a bit unlikely.
I think that the Fenix 5 plus will have single frequency GPS e Galileo.
In the meanwhile, Garmin will have the time to change platform and prepare a dual frequency GPS and Galileo watch with the Fenix 6, that maybe could coexist with the Fenix 5 plus and could appear 2 years after the Fenix 5 and short after the Fenix5 plus.
Fenix 5 plus could be the best choice for people who want to pay a little less and want longer battery life.
Fenix 6 would be the most expensive watch with a little shorter battery life (due to the dual frequency).
The phone Xiaomi Mi8, that is dual frequency GPS and Galileo, has a price that is in the normal range for a high-end phone, so I assume that the dual frequency GPS chipset Broadcom 47755 doesn’t cost so much. Aside from the dual frequency antenna design, I think that Garmin must produce a dual frequency GPS and Galileo watch, because the market want it.
Yeah, especially if that pricing (and the additional features) holds any truth.
I’m guessing they will wait till the 6 to improve the screen, add celular conectivity and improved Galileo. and of course we will get a new watch design, not necessarilty prettier. 😛
Looks like you have been as busy getting the updates as I have. I was updating whilst glamping over 2G! Very painful
Modern-day glamping must surely involve 3g ? #confused
Not in the middle of the Peak District in a valley… however what is strange about this story, none of the big news sites are covering it…..
Garmin still aren’t trying very hard to hide it though – check out the current Garmin Pay web page – the link goes nowhere but they list the 5 plus models with a picture as compatible (taken from the Garmin forums)
https://explore.garmin.com/en-US/garmin-pay/
ty
The italian site has removed the info from the blog😅I guess Garmin got wind of it.
This eerily similar to the Fenix Chonos (in terms of refresh release), just without the demonstrable price tag.
Unless the 6 is coming with a bevy of new sensors that track vitals in a whole new way, the plus line seems to be either a mea culpa to current Fenix owners (just without actually giving them a device that is potentially someone’s rent for a month) or just an aimless release targeted at…who?
My 935 is chugging along just fine after over a year of service. I’m just going to wait for the 6 line, or whatever comes next year that might be worth getting rid of my 935. Although, the only thing that might get me to move is if Garmin stops supporting the 935.
chronos was quite different inside IIRC
Good find.. if you click on the plus product link it takes you to their shop but with a 404 error. This leads me to believe that it will be available for purchase very soon after announcement., I bet it’s available before July 1.