Date: 4th November 2021
Strava says: 22.28 miles
Elevation: 2,149 ft / 655 m
Weather: Cold and dry
Start: Haslemere Train Station
Route type: Out and back
Conditions: Dry and soft
Website link: Four Stations Way
Describe the route in three words: simple to follow
Four Stations Way Ladies FKT and Gamin Fenix 6 Pro Sapphire First Thoughts
Since running ultra I’ve always had a Garmin Forerunner 35 which has satisfied my needs of time of day, pace and distance. It has a pretty good battery life of around 12 hours or so but as I’ve stepped up to the longer distances I have wanted a watch that can last longer, removing the need of carrying extra weight of cable and portable charger, and of course then wasting valuable time getting aforementioned equipment out my pack and hooked up. My only desire for a new watch was battery life and maps, I am not interested in any of the other stuff that comes with it. After extensive research, the Gamin Fenix 6 kept leaping out the inter web at me, consistently good reviews and countless votes for it on various Facebook pages and groups. It’s pricey, but if you are into all the gadgetry, you do seem to get a lot for your money.
Gamin Fenix 6, Solar and Pro Sapphire | size S (42mm), standard size (47mm) or size X (51mm)
I spent some time looking at the Gamin Fenix 6 S Solar (S denoting S, i.e ladies wrist size) thinking that the solar and the additional pounds added to the price tag equated to longer battery life. After studying the comparison tool on the Garmin website and watching various YouTube videos, I quickly realised that the solar function is just a gimmick. With solar working at its maximum capacity, it will give you just 3 hours extra of battery life on the S and the Garmin website states that those extra 3 hours gained from solar charging are conditional, “assuming all-day wear with 3 hours per day outside in 50,000 lux conditions”. What’s the typical lux here in the UK you ask? Well, a typical overcast day in the UK will give you 1,000 lux. This watch just wasn’t going to cut it.
Next I looked at the Gamin Fenix 6 and the Gamin Fenix 6 Pro Sapphire. Looking at the ladies size (which by the way comes in some very lovely colour combinations) the S (42 mm) was going to give me up to 25 hours in GPS mode whereas the standard size (47 mm) up to 36 hours in GPS mode. Decision was made, I had to forgo the fancy rose gold option and go for the larger 47 mm watch.
Gamin Fenix 6 Pro Sapphire maps and arrows
The day finally dawned where after all this research with numbers, lux, battery life and GPS filling my head, the postman delivered my lovely Gamin Fenix 6 Pro Sapphire (47 mm). My first impression was the weight of the thing compared to my unnoticeable Garmin Forerunner 35. The next impression was the amount of ‘stuff’ on it that I certainly would not be needing. I connected it to my Strava, sent some routes to it and set off for a run with my friend Sam following the Blended Trails Halloween loop. The maps are flipping AWESOME! What a bit of kit to have on your wrist! I very quickly realised though that I had questions, what on earth do all the arrows mean? Red, blue and white. After a cry for help on a FB group, red arrow is north, white arrow is direction of travel along the course being followed and blue arrow is me. I also realised that just because I have an incredible map on my wrist, it doesn’t necessarily mean I know how to follow it. Therefore I realised I needed to spend some time purposefully coming off course and learning how to understand reading the map to get back on course.
Four Stations Way New FKT with Gamin Fenix 6 Pro Sapphire
I decided to attempt the Four Stations Way FKT and sent the course to my Gamin Fenix 6 Sapphire, this would be a great opportunity to practice using it. I parked at Harpers Steakhouse in Haslemere which is opposite the start point at Haslemere train station. I popped in and asked if I could use the four hours free parking if I had a drink there upon my return, they kindly agreed.
I selected ‘start course’ and positioned myself just before the official start point, pressed the ‘start run’ button and off I went. The route is pretty simple to follow, I think there are perhaps a couple of places you could go off course but mostly there are not any options to go alternative ways. I did however get a bit confused at Milford train station, as well as the footpath sign there is a large sign saying 'private' which meant I didn't see the footpath sign initially, ran over the railway bridge, went in a few circles, and then realised I'd been on the right track in the first place!
Fairly early on in the route you have to go on the Grayswood Road for around quarter of a mile, it's a 50mph speed limit here and the cars are frequent so caution is definitely needed. When you come off Grayswood Road there is a lovely grassy area to run through which I really enjoyed.
I made it to Godalming train station in pretty good time (1h 54m 04s) considering I had been looking at my watch a fair bit, it was a ladies FKT and quicker than the original men’s FKT so that was nice! Time to head back and it was somewhere on the back I realised I’d made a massive error, I did not have any food with me! What an idiot. I got to the grassy area that I mentioned earlier, only around 3 miles from the end, but I was swaggering around, the world around me kept going black and all I could think was “oh no, I’m going to collapse any minute!” By some extreme good fortune, I popped out onto the road and Haslemere Garden Centre was opposite me, I went in for a much needed banana, cookie and Coke. The staff kindly topped up my water bladders too. I set off once more, my time including the stoppage was 4h 10m 41s another FKT and actually if it hadn’t have been for the food stop, I would have beaten the men’s FKT too! Maybe I will just have to go back some day…..
Garmin Fenix 6 Pro Sapphire Battery Life
Along with the maps, my main reason for purchase was the stated battery life of ‘up to 36 hours in GPS mode’. Disappointingly, when I came back from 4 hours of activity on the Four Stations Way FKT, the battery had dropped down a significant amount, at the start it stated I had 36 hours battery life, and after the activity it said 23 hours, I was dismayed. Cue a few questions on Facebook groups and sensibly not just downloading the manual but actually reading it too, I have adjusted the watch settings and increased my battery life enormously to around 72 hours, and this is with constant use of maps too! I took the Garmin Fenix 6 Pro Sapphire with me on the Hardwolds 80, I was running for just over 18 hours, with the gps screen in constant use on the maps setting and I still had 60 plus hours life at the end, this is above and beyond what Garmin state on their website. What did I do? Well, I have adjusted UltraTrac mode so that it included the maps (I had to add this page, UltraTrac does not have maps included in its set up). I removed some of the pages/screens too.
I have:
Screen 1 distance / pace / distance to next / elapsed time
Screen 2 map/GPS
Screen 3 time of day
I turned off the very annoying lap key, (it is very easy to accidentally press it) and UltraTrac as standard reduces your screen brightness, disconnects your Bluetooth and disables music and heart rate. I also made sure that all the following was off: climb pro, metronome, auto pause, auto climb, 3D speed, 3D distance, auto scroll, mile / pace notifications and segment alerts. Once you’ve completed the run and saved it then come out of the UltraTrac mode, the Garmin Fenix 6 Pro Sapphire will automatically reconnect Bluetooth and therefore reconnect to your phone, syncing with your Strava, thank goodness otherwise it wouldn’t count!
Positives - Garmin Fenix 6 Pro Sapphire: not even going to bother mentioning all the fancy features as I won’t use them but I bought it for maps and navigation as well as battery life and it smashes the ball out of the court on both counts. I really like the fact that it is fully customisable, if you read the manual and play around with the settings, you can set it up exactly how you want (as an example, I cannot express to you how annoying I found the lap key feature, but I was able to disable it, phew!)
Negatives - Garmin Fenix 6 Pro Sapphire: so far I only have one problem with it, due to its large size and heavy weight of 83g on my tiny wrists, I have to wear it over the top of a long sleeve or over a buff, if I do not, even with the strap tight, it will bang against my wrist bone and on a long run I am pretty sure it would cause a blister, burn or chaffing.
Results
Two new ladies FKTs
Out FKT: 1h 54m 04s
Out and back FKT: 4h 10m 41s
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