I had a Garmin 3 hr, which I liked. But returned it because the watch kept losing time. Some days it was 2-3 minutes slow, sometimes 10 minutes slow. It was easy to fix, just sync with the Iphone app or do an outside activity tat requires sattlite. I figure though that if you pay over $300 for a watch it should at least be able to keep accurate time.

Now I am thinking about getting either the Forerunner 935 or Fenix 5. My question is do they keep accurate time or is it going to more of the same - sync with phone or connect to satellite to get accurate time? What is your experience with aforementioned watches?

Did you have the Fenix 3 HR? I've never had an issue with my Fenix 2. Even if I don't sync it for awhile it still keeps accurate time. You shouldn't have any issues with either the 935 or Fenix 5.

I had a Fenix 3 HR for a year. It was 10 to 15 minutes off for me once.

My Fenix 5X has never been noticeably off.

It's my understanding that Garmin uses software not hardware for time-keeping in their watches, and that it is not full-proof.

I have a Fenix 3 and never had any time keeping/syncing issues.

I have the original Vivoactive and it has no issues keeping time. However, it syncs with my phone multiple times a day, so that could be why. My kids have Vivo Jr.s and they frequently have the same issue as yours as they never sync.

As others have suggested, with it being software based, it might just be an issue you'll have to deal with, or sync or let GPS connect frequently.

Ugraded to FR 935. So far no problems.