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- Garmin vivoactive Review: A great smartwatch for athletes
Garmin vivoactive Review: A great smartwatch for athletes
It is currently interesting to see how the classic smartwatch manufacturers venture into the fitness area and at the same time the classic fitness manufacturers make their products smarter - and then you meet somewhere in the middle. With vivoactive, Garmin dares to venture into the Smartwatch territory as never before. The Garmin vivoactive review reveals whether this works.
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Design
At first glance, Garmin vivoactive is reminiscent of the smartwatches of the first hour. Both the watch and the display are angular, but at eight millimeters the case is a lot flatter than the first Gear models from Samsung. The weight of 38 grams including the bracelet is also pleasantly low. With dimensions of 4.4 by 3.9 centimeters, the watch is still reasonably compact and does not look comically large even on more delicate wrists.
The rectangular color display has a resolution of 205 × 148 pixels. The readability is okay in direct sunlight. The screen is touch sensitive - there are also two buttons on the right and left of the case. The left button activates the display lighting and switches the clock off when pressed for a longer period. The right button opens the menu.
If you find the black silicone wristband that is included in the delivery too boring, Garmin also offers colorful alternatives (15 euros each) and leather straps (30 euros each). Unfortunately, there is no way to change the bracelets with a quick-release fastener - such as with the Withings Activité Pop. This means that a silicone wristband cannot even be used for sports to protect the leather version. Unless you always have a Torx screwdriver with you.
Service
Using vivoactive is very straight forward. Starting from the start screen with the time and date, the user wipes through various other screens. These health home screens, dubbed “widgets” by Garmin, show, for example, the daily progress and activity, but also upcoming calendar entries, notifications from a smartphone or a weather forecast. These can also be exchanged, but more on that later.
In addition, there are also apps that group the watch in the menu that can be called up using the right button. The apps preinstalled at the factory are essentially the various sports, and there is also a link in the watch's settings. Below the display there are two icons for "Back" and "Menu", which move up one level or show further options depending on the context.
Back to the settings again: Here you can connect external sensors to the vivoactive, set a few personal parameters such as gender, height and weight, as well as configure the notifications and set up alarms. In the system settings there are still options for language, clock, lighting and units.
Connectivity
Garmin vivoactive connects to the smartphone via low-energy Bluetooth. That always worked perfectly in our Review. Although Bluetooth is on board, the vivoactive only supports accessories that use the ANT + standard. Bluetooth chest straps? No chance. Too bad.
At ANT + there is a large selection: There are heart rate belts, shoe sensors, temperature sensors as well as speed and cadence sensors. It is also practical that the vivoactive supports several sensors of one type. This is useful, for example, if you use several bicycles equipped with cadence sensors.
Last but not least, the included dock also offers a USB port. The battery can be charged in vivoactive on the one hand, but it also enables data to be transferred to the computer. The required Garmin Express software is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.
Heart rate belt
Garmin vivoactive is available in two different versions: with and without a heart rate monitoring. If you are not sure whether you need the belt, you can only buy the watch first and purchase the heart rate monitoring separately later. The vivoactive does not have an integrated optical or electrical heart rate sensor on board.
For this, the vivoactive easily connects to ANT + heart rate belts, for example the Premium heart rate chest strap. The vivoactive also connects to that HRM-Run chest strap from Garmin. Unfortunately, the vivoactive does not support the advanced running style analysis functions - such as the ground contact time or the vertical movement while running.
Activity tracker
Like the other fitness watches from Garmin, the vivoactive counts the wearer's steps and the distance covered and uses this to estimate the daily calorie consumption. As is customary in the industry, the user specifies a step goal beforehand, which he must then achieve throughout the day; 5000 steps are set by default.
In addition, there is an inactivity detector that signals via vibration alarm and "Let's go" if the user sits on his butt for too long (or stands still). A walk to the coffee machine is not enough to soothe the clock - rather a short walk to the next café.
Workouts
By pressing the right button, the user calls up the app menu - and the workouts can also be started here. From the factory, you can find running, cycling, swimming, golfing, walking, running, walking and cycling indoors - without GPS. Other sports can be added with apps to a limited extent, otherwise the user must select a similar sport and subsequently correct it in the Garmin Connect web interface.
If I want to track the calorie consumption of strength training workouts, I first choose a discipline without GPS - for example, running in buildings - and correct it afterwards. Also works, a more detailed list with different disciplines for the workouts would have been nice here - or simply the possibility to add frequently used workouts to the list.
If you wear a chest belt during a workout, vivoactive can calculate the calories burned more precisely. This makes a difference especially in more stationary workouts such as weight lifting or yoga, which seem unspectacular for a pedometer, but which drive the pulse and calorie consumption up sharply.
During the workouts, vivoactive displays three configurable data fields on three pages, for example the current pace, the distance already covered or the current pulse. Upon request, there are also notifications during the workouts, such as heart rate, speed, distance covered or, for example, reminders to eat or drink regularly.
GPS
The Garmin vivoactive has an integrated GPS module. Thanks to aGPS, the location works very quickly, sometimes just a few seconds are enough for the watch to determine its position. The accuracy also makes a good impression. In the Review, we carried the Garmin watch in parallel with the Epson Runsense SF-810, for example, and the measured distances are almost congruent - the deviation was in the lower alcohol range.
The vivoactive does not offer navigation features - the highest of the feelings is a "back to start" function. Here, however, the user is not directed on the basis of the distance covered, but rather as the crow flies. Since there is no compass on board, the user must also move so that the vivoactive can determine an actual direction and, based on this, can in turn determine a target direction.
Sleep tracker
Good news in advance: vivoactive now automatically recognizes when the wearer goes to sleep. We have worn the Garmin watch at the same time as the Basis Peak, which also offers automatic sleep detection. The times for falling asleep and waking up are only a few minutes apart. And the results are at least similar for the sleep phases. However, the vivoactive distinguishes only light and deep sleep, while the base peak also shows REM phases.
Apps & widgets
The various functions at vivoactive are divided into widgets and apps. The widgets are essentially health home screens, which the user can use to wipe from the standard time display. These then show, for example, the current daily progress, the weather and calendar entries as well as notifications from the smartphone or enable control of the music playback on the smart health connected mobile phone.
Apps, on the other hand, are found in the menu that the user calls up with the right button. Most apps pre-installed at the factory are the various sports that can be tracked with the vivoactive, but there is also a “Find My Phone” function that lets the smartphone tinkle. Vivoactive also offers the option of retrofitting additional apps and widgets from Garmin's Connect-IQ-Shop.
Widgets include various other weather, timer and dialer widgets, but also games or widgets that show air quality, football results, current Bitcoin rate or Slovakian name days. A total of 61 widgets are currently available for vivoactive.
In addition, there are currently 104 apps that, for example, remotely control the camera from Android smartphones or Garmin's Actioncam Virb. Again there are games like chess, flappy bird and even flappier bird. Apps also offer support for other sports, such as tennis, baseball or basketball.
Overall, I find this system very successful. Of course, it would be nice to be able to access a wider selection of apps and widgets. Incidentally, the selection and installation is done via the smartphone.
App
The Garmin Connect app belonging to vivoactive is available for Android, iOS and Windows Phone - and now also as Universal app for Window 10 (mobile) - very nice. We examined the Android version extensively in the Review.
The application is extremely powerful - which initially makes it a bit confusing. In addition to my daily sleep, step and workout statistics, I also find golf scorecards here, for example. However, there is the option of hiding individual quick views and sorting the remaining points as desired.
If you want, you can also start a live training session and send a link to other people via which they can follow the training progress live in the browser. I also find it practical that you can register your equipment. For example, if you set a pair of shoes as the standard for running training, the system automatically informs you when it is time for a new pair.
At the time of testing, the Garmin Connect app caused us some problems - we were unable to log in with our existing Garmin account. The solution is just like ... well, strange: you only have to type in your correct access data three times in a row, and it works the third time. Sounds strange, but it is true.
Garmin Express
With Garmin Express, the manufacturer also has software available for Windows and Mac. The tool is primarily used to update the software on vivoactive and has the operating instructions ready. There are also a few configuration options here - for more in-depth settings, Garmin Express sends the user to the web interface, which, like the smartphone app, is called Garmin Connect.
Garmin Connect
Not only the name, but also the range of functions of the web interface is largely identical to the smartphone app. There are also detailed statistics here. However, Garmin Connect also offers the option of downloading training plans in the browser, for example with the training goal of a half marathon or Olympic triathlon.
In addition, trainings can be assembled here according to your own ideas, from warming up to cool down, from full throttle to recovery phases. The duration of the individual phases can, for example, be set in elapsed time or calories burned, or can be ended by the user at the push of a button. The system is extremely flexible.
By connecting to MyFitnessPal, the user's diet can also be taken into account.
battery pack
According to the manufacturer, the battery lasts up to three weeks. With GPS tracking activated, it should be a proud 10 hours - and after the Review, I have to say that these values are definitely realistic. This is really impressive for such a slim watch with an always-on color display.
Conclusion
With the vivoactive, Garmin has a solid fitness watch in its range, which, thanks to the integrated GPS, records running and cycling routes even without a smartphone. The vivoactive does a good job as a fitness tracker, and the missing optical pulse sensor can be easily compensated for with a chest strap.
It is a pity, however, that only Bluetooth and only ANT + accessories are supported, as is the somewhat thin app selection. The bottom line is that Garmin has created a really excellent watch for athletes with the vivoactive, which is simply fun. More apps, Bluetooth support for accessories, and a more stylish case, and I'm really happy.
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