Garmin Fenix ​​Chronos Review

The Garmin brand is quite famous in Russia. The company entered the domestic market with navigators and was able to occupy a certain niche in this area. Another field of activity of the brand is the production of smart and sports watches. The company never hesitated to do expensive and high-quality things, and Fenix ​​watches with the telling name Chronos became another device in their piggy bank. There are many interesting features: titanium case, sapphire-coated glass, accurate heart rate sensor. Below is an overview of the Garmin Fenix ​​Chronos.

Appearance

The device is made in three versions: steel, stainless steel or titanium. Belts are made in two versions: artificially aged leather or steel. Watch in this case looks very presentable and suitable for everyday wear. Given the price, they can be the accessory that will tell a lot about their owner.For sports there is a rubber strap in black. Fastening is done with a simple clamp. Replacing the belts is carried out without the use of any special tools.

Important! The display is of transreflective type, that is, it can emit and reflect light. In bright light, the light is reflected, and the display does not glare, and in the conditions of its insufficient number, the display begins to illuminate itself.

Display Coverage - sapphire crystal. Size - 1.2 inches, resolution 218 * 218 pixels. The glass is slightly recessed in the case, which gives additional protection. By itself, the screen is very contrasting and conveys color well. To see the information on a sunny day is quite realistic, you will not have to look closely. On the case around the screen there is an engraving with minutes and hours. An interesting point is that the tags show the second half of the day - from 12 to 24 hours.

The Garmin Fenix ​​Chronos watch is controlled using five buttons. Two located on the right, three on the left. According to user feedback, the buttons have very pleasant tactile sensations when pressed. Even such a trifle tells about the level of build quality and a careful approach to creating watches.On the reverse side of the case in the center there is a round sensor for reading the pulse, and on the left side is a port for connecting a charger or synchronization cable to a PC.

Like the previous one, the model has protection against water and can dive to a depth of 100 meters. Bluetooth is used to synchronize the watch with the smartphone, in addition, there is the ANT + standard for connecting external accessories. A set of built-in sensors is standard: accelerometer, heart rate monitor, thermometer, altimeter, GPS, GLONASS.

Functional

If we talk about the functions, then comes to mind a comparison with the previous device manufacturer Garmin Fenix ​​3 HR. Functionally, nothing has changed here, except for minor additions. The essential difference lies in the design and materials used, as well as the price at the exit. So, the version of Garmin Fenix ​​Chronos Titanium at the time of release cost about $ 1,500. The Chronos model turned out to be more subtle due to the fact that the manufacturer donated a battery. Also here removed the Wi-Fi, which allowed to upload training data directly to the site. Now it is to be done through the application on the smartphone.

Sports features

The clock device is great for sports, even thoughthat visually sporting them is difficult to call. The model is “sharpened” for running, cycling and swimming. For these modes there are a lot of settings, not only for collecting information, but also as a training manual. Here you can initially set certain parameters, and the clock will vibrate to inform you that a certain distance has been covered, high speed has been reached, pulse has been exceeded, and other settings that will be set by the user. You can also download various applications for other sports.

While running The watch will tell you about speed, distance, pulse, show elevation changes and will be able to calculate the optimal training mode. When using GPS on a new route, the connection is made in 15 seconds; if the route is old, the synchronization will be instant. For more accurate route guidance, GLONASS is additionally connected, but it must be manually enabled. When using the heart rate sensor, the watch will be able to count not only the pulse, but also the time that the foot touches the ground.

In swimming mode on the clock, you can choose open water mode or indoor pool. It is enough to set the length of the pool, the clock itself will be able to understand the type of stroke and at the end of the swim will show how many pools the user has swum.

Among other things, the model considers the steps, says that you need to move, sets a goal for a week and a day. The device understands when the user is asleep and awake. The accuracy of the data here is very high, even the built-in heart rate monitor copes with its task. Many competitive devices in this matter are less accurate, and it is preferable to use a chest heart rate monitor.

Another useful feature is calculation of calories burned. Here you will need to connect to the application MyFitnessPal. It should be noted that it is useful to those who are engaged in sports infrequently. If it takes 2-3 hours a day, then there is no special point in using this function. To watch could tell about the calories burned, it is necessary in the application to score the food eaten in a day.

Smart features

The set of smart features here is not great. In fact, there are only two features:

• output notifications from applications from the smartphone;
• synchronization of sports applications and smartphone.

The first use case is that notifications from the smartphone are displayed on the watch, they can be read or ignored, but they cannot be answered. A set of applications is small. Pictures and emoticons are not displayed here, so you can only see them on your smartphone.

Important! Another feature is music management on your smartphone. It should be immediately emphasized that there is no comfort here, but there is still the possibility.

Garmin developers offer their users to take advantage of Connect IQ service, which resembles the Play market or the App Store. Naturally, applications are much smaller. Among them:

• different dials;
• custom fields for different sports;
• widgets;
• applications.

This service has room for development, and at this stage it can be used to play around, to find really useful applications here is difficult.

Autonomous work

Garmin Chronos received a charger in the form of a clothespin, it is securely fixed and does not disappear, as it happens in many models with magnetic charging type. The battery capacity is 300 mA * h, while working with GPS on - 13 hours, in standby mode - 168 hours.

However, there are economical option - UltraTrac. It does not turn off the GPS, just the connection with the satellite is carried out two times less, the heart rate monitor also does not work. In fact, this function can not be included if you have an external battery with you.

Conclusion

Garmin Fenix ​​Chronos - this is a good device that costs too much. The device gives a lot of sports opportunities, but has a very mediocre set of smart features. Titanium titanium case model at the moment costs about 140 thousand rubles. If the user wants to buy a presentable thing, then the option is excellent, but if the functions are important first of all, then it is better to pay attention to the Garmin Fenix ​​3 HR.

Another disadvantage is that the clock not at all female. This device is designed for men, regardless of the type of belt, as the body itself is rather strict and massive to look elegant on a female hand.