UKC

Looking to replace my aging Suunto ambit with a Garmin Fenix 6x Pro.

Seems there are a lot of new ones on ebay for substantially less than retail price, which makes me slightly suspicious.

Anyone got any experience with buying from ebay and anything to look out for e.g. one advertised has Asian maps pre loaded (is this much of a problem)

Also, is the solar option worth the extra

Cheers 

not sure on eBay, I bought mine outright but shopped around to get a decent deal, then also used top cash back to get a decent return 

solar - depends if you out on multi day hikes I guess

one thing I wish I had got was the anti scratch, sapphire I think it's called, I have two scratches on mine now but I do wear it every day

Get a screen protector, it has saved mine numerous times from being scratched up! Just have a search on eBay

General comments - if it’s a seller, without a good history of selling, not a known online only seller, or who does not have their own website/shop otherwise, then it is best to start on principle of buyer beware and do research, read between the lines, etc.

Also, don’t be fooled into dealing with any sellers off/outwith eBay for any reason. If a seller can’t reply, communicate within eBay, then it’s a red flag generally of something is wrong. Could just be seller trying to avoid eBay fees, could be legit cash on collect, etc., but you have to decide if it is and really worth the risk.

I not a pessimist, but taking a pessimistic view, for example, an Asian maps loaded Fenix 6 pro model “new” for sale would without research suggests to me is it is could well not be a UK spec model, be a grey import (could even be stolen), won’t have any UK warranty backup by Garmin, may not even be recognised by them for repair even, etc. Could even be a cloned knock off.

Of course there are genuine bargains, but there should be some indication by way of comments; detailed explanation, UK spec, UK warranty, outlet store, returned item, manufacturer warranty replacement item, etc, all suggest to me to be to it’s more likely to be a genuine UK item being sold.

Selling “new” with generic or no boxes should raise questions (could be a 14 day return, etc., but that I would expect that to be mentioned), as would absence of normal paperwork expected from a new boxed item, seller who is not a company/business selling more than one of same, etc, etc. Unused is understandable as someone may have got a present or changed their mind having opened and thrown away the box.

Personally I’ve never bought a high value item on eBay which wasn’t from a household brand name or other well know name/source, or a business seller who you could trace to a bricks and mortar shop. That’s just me though.

I’ve have bought quite an expensive grey import (eg a camera lens), but I did it knowing that it would be and wouldn’t have a manufacturer warranty (it’s been great and no problems btw). I also bought “new other”, from a recognised business name without problems.

HTH, just my 2p worth.

try firstclasswatches - you can make them an offer. I’d go for the non-scratch glass next time though! 

I recently upgraded to the 6 pro from 245. For the X to work you would have to have much chunkier wrists than me. The pro with maps on is really convenient for trail running.

Recently the Fenix 6 watches were on crazy deals over here in Australia so I paid ~£220 for the Fenix 6 pro. I assume this is clearing stock for the Fenix 7 which might be coming out soon. Might also account for such deals on eBay?

hth

Garmin aren't very reliable IMHO. I'd want that 2 year warranty.

Solar makes no difference, absolutely not worth the money. Take a battery pack and a charging Puck  of you think you'll run low on juice.

Maps might be useful for trail runs, but aren't useful for other sports, e.g. Cycling, as the screen still isn't big enough IMHO .

Also it might be Cheap, but come from abroad, even if not overtly advertised as such. Expectt import duties and vat if that's the case, which works cancel any savings elsewhere.

They're are UK sites every now and again, and is go with one of those. 

I wouldn't agree. I've had 3 different garmins over the last 10 years. Not a single problem with one of them. Lots of friends have garmins and I'm not sure I remember hearing of one fault.

Obviously a 2 year warranty would be reasuring, especially if buying refurbished or not brand new, but in my experience Garmin devices are generally very reliable.

Yep same here. My Forerunner 405 and now my 230 are solid. Never any issues. Having said that, they're far from the top end Garmin watches where a warranty might be reassuring as you say.

I got mine from Firstclasswatches at a decent discount Xmas 2019, worth trying an offer. Solar has no great value. Mine has not scratched yet..  Maps are changeable, several options including TalkyToaster and other open-source maps that include contours (standard Garmin Europe don't). I need to wear reading glasses to get the most out of the mapping.

Garmin hardware is reliable, only 1 of my 6 devices ever had a problem. Garmin do sell refurbished with warranty but I can't see any on Amazon at the moment. Garmin software can be really irritating but is being constantly updated, sometimes with new irritations. I don't think I would buy off eBay unless it was a Garmin genuine outlet.

My two cents/penn'orth..

All I'll say is that my F6 failed after 3 months, my friends F5 failed after 21 months and my other friends 800 series bike computer bricked after 2 years. My Garmin chest strap rusted on the connections (washed and dried on every use!!!), and another friend had an issue with their power pedals (battery cap).  There was a problem with the 245 screen on some batches though this hasn't affected any of my friends.

Maybe its in the local water, that we're unlucky, but at £400+ for many devices and about £1000 for the pedals, I think we're all grateful for the warranty. They do honour this, though it can be a bit his and miss on actually getting on and replacing it - I had to get on to them every day to find out why the delay occurred in shipping the replacement product in the UK - agents had failed to tick a box on a form for about a week.

1 in 6 = approx 16%. 

I hope it was a minor minor problem or else, I think you have made my point for me.

You make a good point, and looking at Google the 7 could be out soon. 

Thanks to everyone else who has replied.

Nearly had to speed up the purchase, as the suunto fell off while paddle boarding today. Fortunately I managed to retrieve it when the tide went out. 

S version is good if you have smaller wrists. 
Map screen is obviously very small but the turn by turn navigation is great if you programme it via the app. 
Love mine although probably only use a fraction of its capabilities. 

Sort of minor - having been dropped a couple of times my 2009 310XT screen went blank occasionally - restored by carefully banging it on a hard surface until it worked again. Must have been a loose connection and I lived with it until the 910XT became cheap enough. That is still going strong, it's only the improved abilities and battery life that keep me updating my collection. There is an awful lot of fitness crap on the Fenix which I don't need or use, just to pacify the Fitbit crowd.

Your mention of HR straps has reminded me that until 3 years ago mine all failed within a few months despite looking after them. Latest HRM-Run straps seem to last at least 2 years and are pretty immune to the dropouts and inaccuracies of the earlier ones. You do need a HR strap if you intend running with a Fenix - the inbuilt LED monitor is only good enough for walking in my opinion.

Well I have large wrists and my eyes not being as good as they once were, the large one is the best option for me.

One thing I haven't asked is how is the intergration with android phone or pc for route planning and monitoring stats etc as I've been used to the suunto app 

Good reviews on DC Rainmaker, they said the solar made minimal difference (as someone else said).

Also SportsPursuit had some great discounts on them a while ago, could be worth a check.

Top cashback always a good shout.

re: reliability I've had a 235xt for about 4 years now and it's still running perfectly. 

I got a screen protector and you can't even tell it's there.

I have the 6x Sappire.  I have tiny wrists but find it ok.  Easy to see when swimming. Battery life is very good. Talks to my 530 so it knows ,y weekly stress score.  So go for 6 if you don,t need the battery life.   My sappire glass still looks good after 2 years

This isn't about ebay really but seems relevant to the OP. I bought a fenix 6 pro online from John Lewis at Christmas.  Yesterday it completely died on me and Garmin say it's beyond reviving by anything I can do at home. I suspect that it is not as waterproof as it should be because it died after a swim and water now comes out of the area where the wrist HR sensor is when you press on it lightly. Not encouraging really. Garmin bloke said 'that does happen sometimes but it's not a major issue or I'd know about it'. 

Anyway, they key issue in relation to this thread is that Garmin offered me a replacement under the 2 year warranty but, because the watch is just over 6 months old, they were only offering a refurbished watch.  And, even less good, the 2 year guarantee wouldn't start afresh with the replacement, so I'd still only have a year and a half(ish) left of my guarantee.  I was a bit unimpressed and the Garmin bloke suggested I ring John Lewis to see what they said.  They came good with an offer of a brand new watch that comes with a fresh 2 year guarantee that'll be delivered to my house tomorrow.

John Lewis were not actually charging more for this watch than other shops when I bought it, but I was partly influenced in my choice to buy it from them by their reputation for good customer service. I am impressed and also very glad that I bought one that definitely had a proper guarantee through Garmin (as the resolution they offered would still be better than nothing) and that I bought it from a shop that is willing to offer a guarantee that is better than the manufacturer's guarantee.

Not sure I'm super keen to take the replacement swimming in the future and hoping it lasts longer than the original. But, I guess that's another story (the man from John Lewis said this was, in his experience, very unusual with these watches).

Some good points there, post sale back up is important if I'm paying full price.

Many seem to forget this when re selling, even as new

I have the Fenix 6X Pro without the solar option and with regular use I find the battery lasts more than long enough, even when I am gone away from power for 4 or 5 days. Small battery pack brought along just in case but haven't needed it myself yet.

The only feature I wish I had gone with is the sapphire glass as I have scratched it a couple times climbing but considering the everyday use I have gotten, it is hardly noticeable.

It seems that if you buy a new one from ebay and it isn't an auction, the the Garmin warranty is valid https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=wLOIaH52wd1I84D2BKy7m9 though there might be a bit of ambiguity around what form this should take to be acceptable: "A Proof of Purchase will be required in order to verify the purchase is eligible for the full Garmin product warranty.  The Proof of Purchase is a copy of the original sales receipt from the original retailer."

There are some obvious scams on ebay, but they tend to get pulled pretty quick and are quite obvious (no selling history, no photos of items etc). Of the rest, I always assumed people selling new items but with no box etc were just punting warranty replaced watches.

Am in a similar boat, wanting to buy a 6X Pro and rather get from a proper retailer but not liking the prices, but I think its the way to go, particularly as a lot offer 12 months interest free credit. I just need to decide if the GPS accuracy issues some people report are going to be a showstopper for me

I have a 6 Pro and have done a lot of running with nav and no problems with GPS. It's great, especially if you get talkytoaster maps.

The Sony gps chip in the newer Garmins definitely works differently to the older chips, my wife's watch records a decent trace of our local parkrun, mine can be all over the place by the high buildings, but generally they agree on distance travelled. Out in the open I am happy with my Fenix accuracy and precision - but they all suffered a major problem a couple of times due to the satellite almanac data file not being updated correctly. This seems to have been reliably fixed, you can check a system setting to see the current state of the CPE file if in doubt.

i can't figure out if it is simply duff units that cause the issue or something fundamentally flawed with the watch. this is interesting, in that position it is worn (therefore running style of where your arms are?) can be a factor:

https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/fenix-6-s...

I've had a 5, well - a tactix, and the battery life wasn't up to what I needed.

Will any of the new 6's do 24hrs with normal gps and a heart rate belt (not navigating), do you need to pony up for the Enduro (but lose maps and more importantly, lose sapphire).

Just found this website selling at at £580 but then there's a 12% promo code on the website that brings it down to £509 for the sapphire version. Feels like a good price. No idea about the website but it looks reasonable (I haven't looked into it).

www.jamesmoorejewellers.co.uk

Amazon slashed their prices on 'Prime Day' with Currys matching and beating the price for the day at the start of the Summer this year (they were going for under £300). I suspect some impulse purchases will end up on Ebay rather than getting returned to the retailer.     

GoOutdoors will price match -10% anything from a UK retailer for the Garmin fenix 6x pro

Interesting. That article is a year old, current software is 9.20 and GPS is 5.30 so a lot of updates have happened since. I think the chap worrying about a couple of metres in open country is expecting a bit too much. The behaviour around tall buildings is annoying but of little consequence in the mountains. 

Fenix 6 pro is supposed to get 38 hours with GPS, not yet been able to test that but it seems likely. The bigger version is even better but too big for my wimpy wrists...

aha that means you can get it for 10% less than £509 then from GO, £458.

It's times like this when you see that it's £750 on Cotswolds but you can get it for £458 to £509 if you look around that make me baffled.

Yes, that is right but it's a little bit of a faff from experience if you don't do it instore.

The online price comparison tool I didn't get a reply from so rang the customer service team to get an email.

You have to buy then get the refund - again takes a week or two and another call. 

haven't done it online but instore they couldn't care less they just bosh it through they barely check with me