Run, bike, swim, golf, ski and more with vivoactive HR, the GPS smartwatch with wrist-based heart rate3. Outside of your more active moments, its built-in activity tracker3 counts steps, floors climbed and intensity minutes and measures calories burned throughout the day. The always-on, touchscreen, sunlight-readable Garmin Chroma Display shows your activity details as well as smart notifications such as call, text, email, social media alerts and more. Customize your watch with more than 1,300 apps, widgets, watch faces and data fields from our Connect IQ store. Battery charge2 lasts through all your activities with up to 8 days in watch/activity tracking mode (no GPS) or up to 13 hours using GPS.
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Great activity tracker with only a few limitations
on May 3, 2016
Posted by: TomHyatt
The new Vivoactive HR is almost everything I want in a activity tracker/smart watch. I decided to move from a FitBit Charge HR because I wanted to be able to track activities more easily while I was running or walking. The Fitbit;s display was so small and so hard to read in sunlight that it was almost impossible to get information while on the run. And it did not do a good job of tracking activities like paddling my kayak or running on my elliptical indoors. The Vivoactive HR can do all of these things and more
I have to say that the first thing I noticed about the Vivoactive upon taking it out of the box and putting it on my wrist is that it felt BIG. (But as I have worn it for a day, it turns out to be pretty comfortable and the bigness helps in providing more screen real estate for viewing and swiping.)
Setup was super easy. Downloading apps and configuring them is also a snap once you get comfortable with navigating both the watch settings and the desktop and phone apps. Battery life seems amazing so far. I am anxious to play a round of golf so that I can use the GPS full-time for some hours to see how that affects battery use.
I love the ability to configure so much about the watch and how easy it is to do that. I love the options for watch faces (though I wish there was some more elegant options). Notices from my iPhone work flawlessly with a subtle vibration to tell me one has arrived even when I am not looking at my watch. Swiping through screens is easy so viewing steps, weather, notifications, heart rate, all are very easy to get to. I have not found a really simple way to get back to the home screen without pressing a physical button.
What I like:
Really big face that's easy to read in sunlight or bright artificial light Lots of activity information displayed in the app Ability to add as many or as few widgets and watch apps as you like (simplicity vs. info overload) Easy sync to iPhone or desktop app (through USB) Crazy-great battery life Color options for watch display Golf app with Real Time GPS and easy download of courses Always-on watch face Fast GPS connection (outside)
What I don't like;
Display back light is a little dim (even at maximum brightness setting) so seeing display in dim light (for my older eyes) is not as easy as it should be. I would like to see a daylight sensor that would automatically turn on a brighter back light in dim light when you roll your wrist to view the watch face, rather than having to awkwardly push one of the buttons. (Fitbit has something like this to turn on their display (though not the dim light sensor, just the movement sensor)
The watch is a bit clunky, not very elegant. Seen as a sports tracker I think that is fine. Seen as a watch, it feels a little under-designed.
The clip connector to charge the watch grabs the watch like a vise-grip. I always feel like I am going to break the watch when I try to unsnap it.. Maybe it is all about technique.
Overall I am very happy with my new Vivoactive HR and am looking forward to using it for years to come (well, at least until the next great device comes along {:-)