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Garmin Vivoactive 3: the multisports smart health connected watch with contactless payment

Garmin Vivoactive 3: the multisports smart health connected watch with contactless payment

April 11, 2020

Features of the Vivoactive 3
Overview of the Vivoactive 3: a very complete multisport smart health connected watch
Vivoactive 3 Music: to listen to music without your Smartphone!
Our opinion on the Garmin Vivoactive 3
Garmin Vivoactive 3 price and availability

Buy Vivoactive 3

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Alltricks

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299 € 219.99

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299.99 199.7 €

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299.99 € 279.99

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229.99 € 191.78

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Buy Vivoactive 3 Music

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i-Run

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329 € 299

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329 255 €

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Garmin never ceases to surprise us by regularly releasing new models, each more fascinating than the other. Here is now the Vivoactive 3, an improved version of the famous Vivoactive HR which had a hit in 2016, especially during the Christmas holidays (best sales), thanks to its many functions attracting the general public (smart health watch multi-port, cardio wrist , color touch screen, GPS, altimeter, compass, activity tracker and many functions for athletes).

This model brings new features that will surprise you, such as contactless payment, stress and physical condition tests, a fitness age function (fitness age), improved navigation by sliding menus and more. other surprises.

Better yet, Garmin has been offering, since June 2018, a new model incorporating an mp3 player to listen to music without a phone, with bluetooth headphones (see below): the Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music.

The look of the Vivoactive has also been reviewed. We are dealing with a quality watch, robust which is also beautiful, light and fine and equipped with a new round touch screen, very resistant and high resolution. Rather complete while being simple to use and intuitive, it constitutes, for an obviously less demanding use, a serious alternative to the high-end models and clearly more expensive than are the Forerunner 935 (triathlon watch), the Fenix 5 or, at Casio , the WSD-F20 (with color mapping, which already sets it apart from the pack). It also rivals the excellent Apple Watch Series 3, the sports smart health connected watch with music, contactless payment, Siri assistant that speaks and allows you to make calls, access news, Maps and much more, all without a Smartphone!

(embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=589fJ6bn3cQ (/ embed)

Features of the Vivoactive 3

Weight43g

Activity trackerYes

Overview of the Vivoactive 3: a very complete multisport smart health connected watch

News from Vivoactive 3 at a glance

There is a lot to say about the innovations brought by Garmin to its latest model of Vivoactive smart health connected GPS watch. Here are the main lines that we detail further later in this article:

New design (round, robust, ultra-resistant glass) with new high-resolution touch screen and touch strip on the side for intuitive, easy and fast navigation
Integration of a contactless payment system (GarminPay) to pay for small purchases with your watch without GPS or Smartphone connection
Addition of new activities (yoga, cardio, elliptical, stepper). Ability to customize activity profiles.
New functions: evaluation of VO2max, physical fitness, fitness age, stress level. Relaxation exercises.
Programmable and advanced workouts
New functions for golf, swimming, indoor sports
Designed for right and left handed users

An elegant design for a robust, thin, light and readable watch even in the sun

New design for this smart health connected watch, which is equipped with a thinner case and which is round instead of square on the previous model, with a gray or silver stainless steel bezel. All this gives it the look of the Fénix 5, the top of the range of Garmin sports watches designed for demanding athletes, backpackers and lovers of the great outdoors. The watch is also a bit lighter than the previous model with only 43 g instead of around 48 g and unchanged autonomy. Depending on the model, the case is made of plastic or steel and the strap is black or white silicone. Rather, it looks great and can be worn in town and at work.

While the previous model was equipped with chemically reinforced glass, the new Vivoactive is even more robust. Garmin uses a Corning glass® Gorilla®, marketed by the company Corning, which is an ultra-resistant material, in particular to scratches and used on certain Smartphones.

Garmin has everything planned for this new model. Design ambidextrous, it can be worn on the left or right wrist. The watch offers thequick hitch QuickFit to be able to change the strap without tools. It has only one push button, the other controls being carried out thanks to the screen and a tactile strip on the side.

The Vivoactive 3 can be personalized by downloading screens from the thousands available or by creating your own from the IQ Connect interface and the FaceIt application

New high-resistance touch screen and Side Wipe scrolling system

The Vivoactive 3 is equipped with a new Garmin Chroma Display color touch screen which is both very resistant, comfortable and readable even in direct sunlight (MIP transflective anti-reflection system). It is also a high-resolution screen, therefore very comfortable, thanks to its 240 x 240 px.

For simplicity and comfort of use, Garmin has provided a touch zone on the left side of the watch that allows you to quickly scroll through the menus and widgets without hiding the screen (Side Wipe system). This solution makes using the watch much more comfortable.

Pay for your purchases with ease with GarminPay contactless payment!

Another major innovation on this watch: the planned integration of a contactless payment method, GarminPay, using the NFC (Near Field Communication) radio wave technology that the Android Wear OS can control today. This system works from an NFC chip fitted to most bank cards and Smartphones. The idea is to allow the athlete to make purchases without having to carry a credit card or a wallet. The watch could indeed be used as a bank card, with the ceiling imposed by the authorities for this type of payment (30 € in France).

In practice, the user must create an account in order to associate his bank card with an identifier then update his watch. To pay, simply activate the function by entering a secret code and bring the watch close to the card reader. The function remains active for 24 hours and deactivates if the watch is removed from the wrist or if the optical sensor is deactivated.

GarminPay will soon be available in France and usable by customers of partner banks at merchants accepting this payment method.

watch displaying GarminPay contactless payment

More than 15 sports including yoga, skiing and bodybuilding

Garmin has also enriched its watch with new sports, such as yoga, elliptical trainer or weight training. There are more than 15 activities offered by the watch, including skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, golf (with downloadable courses), weight training (with automatic counting of the number of movements), rowing, rowing, paddle, cardio training, indoor sports (spinning bike, treadmill, health home trainer, stair climbing and stepper) and of course the classics: cycling, walking, running, swimming.

The vivoactive 3 is not, however, a true multisport watch in that it does not allow to pass from one activity to another without stopping the recording. It is therefore not ideal for activities such as triathlon. For this type of linked activity, it is better to move towards a real multisport like the Forerunner 935 or the Fenix 5 (see also our file Best GPS 2020 watches for triathlon).

Functions to Review and improve physical condition, stress level and age of fitness

Garmin has integrated various functions into its smart health connected watch to measure and improve its physical form, its level of anxiety (stress tracking) and his fitness age (fitness age ). These estimates are based on measurements of heart rate and its variability. The watch also offers relaxation exercises and includes a profile for yoga activity.

The age of fitness or fitness age gives an idea of the theoretical age corresponding to the level of fitness of the heart, in comparison with the actual physical age. Fitness age, like fitness level, is based on the VO2max estimate (breathing capacity, an indicator of fitness level).

The stress level is displayed in the form of a score between 0 and 100. Even if this value is only indicative, it allows you to compare the scores between them and better control your level of anxiety. The watch also offers relaxation exercises to help stay zen!

Programmable workouts

Here is a new function that was lacking on the old model and that should appeal to many athletes: the possibility of creating, directly on the Garmin Connect calendar, its own training programs for running, cycling, bodybuilding or cardio and download them to the watch and then follow them in the field. You can of course also use the ready-made workouts offered by Garmin. The smart health connected watch then records the exercises, the number of repetitions, the rest times to use the data on PC or Smartphone.

Many functions, a real "Swiss knife"

The Vivoactive 3 has many sensors (GPS & GLONASS, barometric altimeter, heart rate monitoring, compass, accelerometer, thermometer) and is compatible with external sensors via the ANT + and bluetooth protocol. It is compatible in particular with Varia products (Vision, Traffic lights, Radar). It also offers a plethora of functions already present for the most part on the old model, such as the LiveTrack function (to be followed by friends), activity tracking (number of steps, distance, calories, number of floors , intensive minutes, quality of sleep), training aid tools, GPS navigation tools (return to start, recording of the GPS track, altitude difference traveled) and many other functions.

The watch can be personalized, whether at the level of the screens or alerts that can be triggered on particular events (cadence, speed, pace, distance, calories, time, heart rate). Garmin offers thousands of screens, widgets and downloadable applications.

Garmin adds new useful functions such as VO2max estimation, stress tracking, activity type detection (walking, swimming, cycling, elliptical), customizing activity profiles, scheduling training, new functions for golf (Autoshot, display of green and obstacles) and swimming (type of swimming detection). For bodybuilding, the watch can now count the number of repetitions (number of pumps performed for example) and the rest times. Regarding navigation, it is possible to save points of interest or to be directed to a given point (as the crow flies).

A smart health connected watch to control your camera, smartphone and other devices

The Vivoactive 3 is designed to be practical and simplify life. Many applications allow you to use your watch to control objects remotely, for example the heating of your health home via the SmartThings application, or even a compatible camera like the recent VIRB 360 camera filming 360 °. You can predict the arrival of an Uber taxi, find out about the weather, share its activity live with friends (LiveTrack function), find your phone or control the music on your Smartphone. The watch also receives notifications of calls, emails, SMS and notifications from social networks.

New for 2018: Vivoactive 3 Music: to listen to music without your Smartphone!

We are updating this article following the release on June 13, 2018 of the all-new model Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music. This watch allows you to listen to your favorite music during your sport without a mobile phone thanks to bluetooth headphones (not included). Thus, we can train light, with complete freedom!

Garmin had brought this innovation to its high-end running watch, the Forerunner 645 Music, a more expensive model that is mainly aimed at runners. With this same function on the Vivoactive 3, Garmin reaches many more people, including non-athletes, for an affordable price.

The watch has 4 GB of memory, enough to store around 500 music titles that can be downloaded from a computer or, very soon, streaming from the Deezer platform (for people subscribed to Deezer Premium +).

The model is offered at a price of only € 30 higher than the "classic" model, which sees its price drop by … € 30. With this price difference, difficult to resist, especially since the watch has a new screen without edges.

→ Read our review and opinion on the Vivoactive 3 Music.

Our opinion on the Garmin Vivoactive 3

Our first impression when discovering this new sports smart health connected watch is that it should be very successful given its excellent value for money and the functions offered. Here, if you are looking for one, is a great gift idea to make. It's hard to go wrong with a watch like this that targets a very large audience, including non-sports people.

The Vivoactive 3, thanks to its improvements, has become a rather complete and versatile multisport smart health connected watch which is indeed worth a look. Admittedly, its price does not make it a watch accessible to all but what it offers is well worth the price for those who can afford it. If we compare it to the high-end and very complete Fenix 5 watch, which, of course, obviously corresponds better to a demanding sportsman profile, it should not be ashamed given the number of measures and functions offered which will satisfy the greatest number, all for a price 2 times cheaper all the same!

Certainly its autonomy remains relatively low and the sports and GPS navigation functions are limited compared to the high-end watches that are the Fenix 5, the Suunto Spartan or the Casio WSD-F20, but the latter are aimed at a completely different category of users and it is the price that makes the difference.

The Vivoactive 3 can be worn everyday, in the city or at work, as well as for sports. She is pretty, robust, thin and light and can do almost anything. Garmin knew how to combine sporting functions, activity tracker and smart health connected watch all in one in a beautiful and easy to use watch thanks to its touch screen and band.

This new model has everything to please: it embeds sports for all tastes (including land, sea and mountain activities), sensors worthy of the best adventurer watches (Fenix 5, Casio WSD-F20, Suunto Traverse for example) , advanced navigation tools, activity tracking that will interest even non-sports people, connectivity functions to make life easier, without forgetting useful tools for athletes to support them in their sport and help them progress. The contactless payment function is a plus compared to the competition even if its deployment with banks may take a little time. This watch competes with the famous Apple Watch Series 3, a sports smart health connected watch with music, contactless payment and which allows you to make calls, access news and much more, all without a Smartphone!

In short, this watch is probably a great gift idea for the Christmas holidays and will certainly be one of the best sellers in the coming weeks given its excellent value for money and the wealth of functions offered. Difficult indeed to find faults with him.

We liked

"Swiss army knife" side of the watch (wealth of functions, number of sensors)
Design, touch screen and touch strip on the side
Number of integrated sports
Contactless payment
smart health connected, tracking and new features (yoga, elliptical, VO2max, stress level, etc.)

We'd have liked

Hard to say. The mp3 player we have been waiting for is now available in the new Vivoactive 3 Music, announced by Garmin on June 13, 2018.

Garmin Vivoactive 3 price and availability

The Vivoactive 3 is available on the Internet (see below), in sports stores and on Garmin site. We offer it to our partners. Take advantage of our discount coupons.

Editor's note: since the release on June 13, 2018 of the Music model (with on-board mp3 player), Garmin has lowered its prices by € 30 and offers the model without a music player € 30 cheaper.