Solid Fitness Smartwatch for All
Garmin Vivoactive 3 is exactly what I am looking for in a smart watch/fitness watch, and more importantly it looks and feels stylish in its classic circular form and light weight design.
Before I talk about its smart and fitness features, I will briefly talk about its display. Display has good enough clarify for a watch. Its always on display is a huge positive compared to Fitbit and apple watch. Outdoor visibility of its display is great and definitely better than other OLED displays due to its specific display technology. On paper its display is inferior to Apple watch, Fitbit Ionic and other wear os watches (formerly Android Wear) in Pixel density and colors, but don't let it stop you from buying Vivoactive 3 as its diplay is perfectly fine and always on display more than makes up for its other shortcomings. I like it even better than other high resolution displays for its positive impact on battery life.
Let's get less important things out of the way first, and that is its smart features. It does what it supposed to do as a smart watch. It notifies me for the applications I have selected in Garmin connect app on my phone. I only keep text and phone call notifications on, and may be couple other important apps to avoid constant vibrations on my wrist. It does notifications very well. Just to clarify I have connected it to my Pixel 2 XL, and I have no connection issues. The only issue I have found is with phone call notifications, where notification persists even after I pickup or decline a call directly on my phone, but other than that it works perfectly fine.
Now I will get to more important part of the watch, and that is fitness. When it comes to fitness, I like everything about Vivoactive 3. The amount of detailed data you get on your workouts is well worth it. My most favorite part of all is being able to see what heart rate zone I am training in during my exercise. It does everything fitbit and other smart watches do and lot more. You get usual matrices like daily steps count, active and inactive calories, floors count, heart rate data and then some extras like weekly intensity minutes, VO2 Max, Fitness age, Stress level etc. You also get move reminders. I like the way I can look at it and tell how long I have been inactive. It reminds you when the red bar of inactivity reaches halfway and then again when it reaches all the way. If you want to varify its accuracy, there are plenty of you tube videos, and based on all reputable sources data you get is fairly accurate.
Three things I want to mention on accuracy though.
- Heart rate: I like the fact that it can connect to external ANT+ chest strap for accurate heart rate monitoring during exercises in which wrist heart rate monitors are not that reliable. I connect it to Garmin Heart rate monitor during my strength training, and I am very happy with the results I get, which by the way only costs $20.
- Floor Count: As many reviewers have mentioned, floor count on vivoactive 3 is very disappointing. Sometimes, it counts fairly well and sometimes it doesn't register it at all. Something to keep in mind.
- GPS: GPS signal is very quick to acquire and accurate. The route it tracks even detects the slightest variations in route (running on right side of the street vs running on left side of the street)
It tracks outdoor run/walk and indoor treadmill run well with plenty of data to review. Rep counting on strength training is surprisingly accurate. It even identifies the type of exercise based on the arm movement. It even identified me doing push ups every time I tried, which is very surprising given the fact that there is very little wrist movement in it. Starting and stopping sets and advancing in a next set is done by double tapping the screen which is very convenient.
All the activities and workouts are saved in Garmin Connect app with plenty of data. It even tells your fitness age based on your VO2 Max.
I can't believe I waited this long to buy my first Garmin Watch, and I am positive that Vivoactive 3 won't be my last Garmin Watch either. I did not come across any of the bugs other users have encountered during my first week of usage. It's been few months since its release and it seems like Garmin has fixed most of its bugs.
SUMMARY:
- Very light weight design, which looks classy in its circular form (I specifically love my slate version)
- Fairly accurate heart rate monitor, and activity and workout tracking
- Ability to connect to external heart rate sensor is a huge plus in my opinion
- Somewhat hit or miss floor count
- Smart watch/smart notifications features are minimal but very useful and reliable
- Advanced dynamics on workout data are very informative
All in all, Vivoactive 3 is a solid smart watch for fitness enthusiastics and everyone who want to live and lead healthy life. I highly recommend it..
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