Field Journal

The Garmin fenix 5 Plus Sapphire watch combines premium-crafted GPS multisport capabilities, classic smartwatch features, and ultra-rugged construction. Tom Hill tests the smartwatch on a sea-to-summit adventure in Wales.

High up on the exposed saddle of Cadair Idris, I felt my watch vibrate. I glanced down, blinking torrential rain out of my eyes, and wiped splashes off the watch face. A small but legible arrow was showing me that I needed to take the upcoming right-hand fork. Barely breaking my stride, keen to keep moving in the chilling wind, I changed tack and kept moving forwards.

The use of technology in the hills – especially electronics – always seems to polarise opinions. For many, setting foot outside is an escape from the trappings of the everyday world. There are times when technology enhances my experience, though – whether it be speeding up navigation, recording my activity, or just taking a snap to remind me of the day.

The Garmin fēnix 5 Plus Sapphire is the latest, most feature-packed watch from one of the original GPS companies. Unboxing it, I was surprised to remove something slightly less chunky than my now aged fēnix 2, despite significantly more technology packed into the space.

We met with the knowledgeable staff at Cotswold Outdoor to learn more about the features of this watch prior to testing it out. To say that this is a huge advancement in smartwatch technology is an understatement. There are more features than I could hope to cover in a single article, and possibly more than I will ever use, but at its core are the ones that I hold dearest: navigation (using feature-rich, coloured base maps with data provided by a 3-axis compass, gyroscope, and a barometric altimer) and activity recording (run, ride, and a million other activities – SUP anyone?). There were also a couple of other features that I’ve not really used before but which have become firm favourites. A bright LED on the rear of the watch enables it to record my heart rate constantly, without the need for a strap around the chest.

Health-wise, you can log pretty much everything, from sleep patterns to steps to calories. You can store and play music via Bluetooth headphones, and use Garmin Pay contactless to pay for items whilst out and about. And while doing all this, the battery lasts an impressive 12 days in watch mode and up to 19 hours in GPS mode. To top it off, this model has the sapphire screen (exclusive to Cotswold Outdoor) which is rock solid and perfect for tough conditions.

Back home I ran a familiar training loop. The fēnix 5 buzzed as I approached a favourite Strava segment – perfect hill rep training. I lifted my pace, concentrated on my breathing, and threw everything into a three-minute effort. I have emptied myself on this climb hundreds of times. I have left frustration, stress, and heartbreak on the slopes. I have arrived at the top red-eyed, lung-scorched, jelly-legged over and over again. I’ve never had someone push me to run harder though, to drive my legs when all I want to do is stop. 100m to go and a glance down to my wrist revealed I was one second faster. Teeth gritted, I accelerated one last time. A PB means little – especially on an arbitrary scrap of trail – but I know that the harder I work here, the more fun the mountains will be. I wasn’t expecting a watch to change the way I trained though.

A couple of days before our trip to Wales, I had been sitting at my computer, online maps open and plotting potential routes. For me, this is as much part of a trip as the physical act of running. Place names, contour lines and features build a virtual picture in my mind. It is always an enlightening process to then travel that drawn line. Things are never quite as you expect, whether it be the terrain underfoot or the quality of the path.

We had descended Cadair, and were just a couple of kilometres away from the finish and a warm shower. Somehow, though, we were lost, despite the route prompts. The footpath on the maps I had used when plotting our route had been obliterated by head-high bracken. Scrolling through screens, I zoomed in on our location and the narrow line we were meant to be following. Bushwhacking our way through, now soaked to the bone, we tumbled out of the undergrowth and on to our track, which we following through to a dilapidated stile over a tumbledown wall – an old boundary between hill and pasture, now barely noticeable.

Somehow this Garmin has eased its way into my life, perfectly fitting in as a tool that enhances my activities, whether the purpose is to get away from it all or to train as hard as I can.

Read more about Tom’s sea-to-summit attempt here.