Garmin fitness device owners have been waiting for a proposed hardware refresh to the Fenix 3 and Fenix 3 HR models. Garmin, at CES this week, has announced that it will (for some reason) skip the next numeration and jump straight to the Fenix 5.
The new models include Fenix 5, Fenix 5s, and Fenix 5x and will sport a new smaller form-factor and design to make the wearables more palatable to women and men alike. The current Fenix 3 line has been considered just too masculine to be considered stylish. The Fenix 5s measures 42mm, the Fenix 5 measures 47mm, and the Fenix 5x measures 51mm (which is still similar in size to the Fenix 3 line) and will finally deliver QuickFit band technology to allow quick watch band swaps.
The Fenix 5 series come with pretty much the same feature set as the Fenix 3, with the exception of the 5x which will include TOPO US mapping, routable cycling maps, Round Trip Run and Round Trip Ride, Peak Viewer, Around Me POIs and Future Plot features. Additionally, current Fenix 3 customers will be happy to know that the Fenix 5 series will also fully support ConnectIQ 2.x, which Garmin has only made available to its Fenix 3 Chronos device in the last quarter of 2016. The company doesn’t plan support for ConnectIQ 2.x for the Fenix 3 and instead has chosen to deliver full compatibility through the Fenix 5 line.
The new lineup is scheduled to become publicly available sometime in Q1 of 2017, with currently no promised hard date set.
The company has already refreshed its web site to showcase the upcoming Fenix 5: https://explore.garmin.com/en-US/fenix/
