Garmin - vívoactive 3

The sleep tracker works really well, way better than my old watch which was the Vivoactive 3. It’s really accurate regarding sleep and wake up time. Also the sleep stages and sleep score feels accurate, for example when drinking, I always get a really low score and often I feel that I have slept like shit. 😁 Battery lasts more than a week but that depends on how much you use the GPS, AOD etc. If I don’t use AOD, It last for about a week (with still ~ 10% left) normally with 3 long running activities. With AOD, it’s like 3-4 days. Edit: Some third part watchfaces consumes alot of battery so it also depends on what face that is used.

I have had my GarminVivoactive 3 for 6 years while my wife has been through two fitbits and an apple watch. I wear it everyday and no scratches on the glass. The only thing I changed was the band because I didn't like the rubber feel when I got sweaty.

Same here, it’s been such a solid watch. I’ve put it through everything and it still does exactly what I need, plus more. Battery life is still great even after 4 years. Only downside is no more updates, but honestly that hasn’t been an issue at all.

I had the VA3 for 3 years and am going on year 3 with my VA4. I've noticed some GPS drift lately so it might be tine to retire it, but overall I really do think these are great watches.

I've had my Garmin Vivoctive 3 for more than 5 years and it is still going strong!

Yeah… that’s not really true. MOST Garmin watches are less than $300, with a few high end models around  $600. You can get a decent Garmin for less than $200 that will do what you need it to do in most cases. The Garmin Felix 8 is about $1100, but that thing is severe overkill.  Even the Vivoactive 5 is a very well rounded sports watch that shouldn’t cost more than $300. Just remember that just because a tech manufacturer makes a flagship model doesn’t meant YOU need a flagship model. That applies to phones, laptops, watches, literally anything. I’m still loving my Vivoactive THREE and am only replacing it because after four years of hard service, the battery isn’t what it used to be.  If anything, the less expensive models are simpler and easier to use, while still having crazy good batteries and durability with tons of features built in. That translates to more pleasant user experience and less stress about having a thousand bucks strapped to your sweaty arm.  

I had a vivoactive 3, and my partner at the time had one of the 2xx series, I forget which one. My current partner has a 245. I have an apex 2 now. Couldn't be happier with the switch. Excited to see what they do with the apex 3 models that should be announced soonish.

I have an old Garmin smartwatch that I haven't used in a few years (vivoactive 3, damn thats old lol), but now I wanna get back into cycling and plan on maybe getting a new watch. During my recent research, I saw a lot of people recommending "The Quantified Scientist" on youtube, a channel that tests smartwatches and their data accuracy. The testing process the guy follows seems satisfactory enough, mainly testing heartrate tracking during various activities, sleep tracking (for which I don't care that much), and gps accuracy. To my surprise though, on the graph that shows the comparative results with all other watches he tested, ALL Garmin watches find themselves to the bottom half of the list (on heartrate tracking, sleep is average, not good enough still, and gps is fine). Maybe there is the occasional exception or two, but still. I understand that Garmin might offer other stuff, like build quality, battery, the Garmin ecosystem & beatter/easier connectivity, perhaps a larger number of features, and basic features which weren't tested and could be more accurate, like Vo2 Max etc. Despite that, these results have messed with my brain and although I was planning on getting a new Garmin in the near future, I can't make myself think of reasons why I should buy one, especially considering the higher prices compared to competition. It sucks because I have watched a lot of cycling and other sports content where I held Garmin in the highest regard. You could argue that the testing wasn't repeated for a long time or other factors that I can't think of, but yeah. Now I'm not talking about cycling computers and other Garmin products, I'm talking solely about smartwatches. So yeah, please tell me what I'm missing lol. Also I should mention that I'm a casual athlete and I wasn't gonna buy one of the most expensive garmins anyway, which I think did not terribly at least in the tests, but yeah.

I got the Apple Watch Ultra 3 24 hours ago after being a long time Garmin user. I thought I'd mention my thoughts here in case anyone else was considering. My previous two watches were the Vivoactive 3 (purchased in 2017) and the Garmin 945 LTE (purchased in 2021). Pros: \* Smart features are cooler than I expected, it's awesome to have everything perfectly working with my iPhone, being able to reply to messages. Having everything in sync. There is a lot of features, but small things like it being in sync with your Focus. So when my phone is set to sleep, the apple watch goes dark (optional) and gets your ready for bed. Or the reminders app being able to be displayed on a watch face, and I can see how many reminders I have left on my iPhone. Or being able to remote start my car from the watch. Small things which are lovely. \* Data accuracy is great, no cadence lock while running this morning was impressive. \* "Closing rings" is actually quite cool. I thought it would be stupid, in Garmin I was just targeting amount of steps per day. I'm actually enjoying closing rings more than I thought. I think it will get me moving/standing more than Garmin. \* One of the worries I had was the flashlight, I loved the Garmin shortcut to open the flashlight. I didn't have the led flashlight, and didn't want to need to use touchscreen to turn on the flashlight. Turns out on the ultra you can just assign the "Action" button as the flashlight, and it works very well (brighter than my Garmin). I'm sure it's not as good as Garmin's led flashlight, but still very pleasant. \* Cellular on a run is lovely, I used Visible's promo, combined with other promos I was actually able to get an unlimited plan for entirely free for a year. \* I didn't know about "Raise to speak", really cool feature that if you get your watch next to your mouth, you can speak to siri with saying "Siri" or pressing a button. I use it to set timers, or add reminders. \* Touch screen actually works well. I was worried because I hated the touchscreen on my Vivoactive 3. Apple has actually implemented it quite well. Not as good as Garmin's buttons, but still works well. Cons: \* No workout suggestions by default :(. I loved Garmin's suggestions based on training load, and do intervals and such. There are alternative apps that offer it, but most of them are subscriptions. I still need to try those out. \* There are still several bugs, I've missed some Facebook Messenger notifications that didn't appear on the watch. I have a smart garage, which has an Apple Watch app. But the app just doesn't work, doesn't login. \* The data dashboard isn't as good as Garmin's, you need to look around to find your stuff. Some paid apps try to fix that. \* No animated workouts (I replace with an app with free workouts called "FitOn"). \* Watch is heavier than my previous one. (in theory it's lighter than a Fenix, but i never had a Fenix, so not sure how it feels). \* Didn't actually find a watch band I love. Ended up getting the expensive one, which is nice for all day wear, but not that good for running. I'll need to try the Nike bands.

I had the Vivoactive 3, and I hated the touchscreen. I'm not sure if Garmin improved it since I had the 945 LTE also in between. (I currently just switched to an Apple Watch Ultra, and the touchscreen is great, so it is definitely possible to do a good touchscreen)

I got the Garmin Vivo 3 to replace a FitBit before I started back into trail running. It does great, but it is a smart watch first, and a sports watch second. It also doesn’t have a dedicated trail run activity, but I just modified and copied the run feature and downloaded a trail run app for the info I wanted. I’m looking to upgrade whenever I can convince my wife it’s necessary lol

After many years of being a GARMIN user, starting with the Vivoactive3 then Fenix ​​5 and 7, I decided in 2021 to switch to an Apple Watch Ultra 1. I will never regret it. Everything is more stable, the Apple ecosystem works smoothly and gives you many useful features during the day. The battery issue that I hear about every time is simply ridiculous, we all take a bath every day (I hope) and that's when I charge it. For 4 years now, I have never run out of battery while doing at least 10km either hiking or running a day. Personally, I have had issues twice with Garmin watches, both times they were replaced by service. I also had issues with sleep and step measurements. Finally, the fact that I leave my mobile at home and with network data it is like having a mobile phone in my hand is a game changer for me. A very good application is the HealthFit App. It gives you a lot of data about your activities.

It does not sound like you do running or other outdoor activities, so I d recommend a vivoactive 5 or 6 mate. However, something like a basic Forerunner could also give you all plus some running support for a share of the vivo price. I started my first one with a vivomove HR which only gave me steps and basic gym rep counting (that was 8 years ago) then vivoactive 3 and now a FR965 because I do hike a lot and started running recently plus all the gym.

Got a Venu 3 which is my Days off watch and for the majority of my walks and HR monitor for Cycling. Battery lasts about 10 days. My VA3 is for work to count steps as I can’t wear anything below elbow in Healthcare. Clip it to my pants. Battery lasts 3 days now. Had it since 2019

I have an "old" Garmin VivoActive 3. After swimming daily for many years, it has never let me down! 👍👍

I've moved away from Garmin, but I have to say that their support was aways amazing for me. They RMA'd my Vivoactive 3, Vector 3s pedals AND my Fenix 6 Pro with pretty much no issue each time. Same with my Tacx, both before and since Garmin bought them.

In the same boat. Been wearing a regular watch on the left wrist and a garmin vivoactive3 for the last 2 years now. Get the odd look from people at times. But at this point I just don’t give a damn with what people thinks and just do me. I got a need and that need is being met with daily double standards wristing. But yea, if there is a whoop-like or ring from garmin, I would definitely jump on that. And then only wear the garmin watch for actual activity tracking like when I go biking or at the gym.

hi, i had a Vivoactive 3 for 2-3 years, i dont run, i dont exercise , swim or use the watch for O2, heart, BP, GPS , nothing but time date and most importantly to me, DEXCOM diabetes blood glucose reading using a watchface from CONTROL IQ store, at the time forerunner did not support the DEX watchface, the watch lasted and worked great, terrible battery life compared to the FitBit Sense i replaced the Vivoactive with when the watch would no longer take a charge , mind you i was very rough with it i was not rough with the FitBit and its now crashed after 2 and half months making me look into Garmin yet again, i ordered the Vivoactive 6 just today finding out that it supports the DEX watchface as i speculated it would, the site giving me the info about what watches support the DEX watchface also listed other garmin choices including the Forerunner 165 and higher, i was wanting SOLAR but the solar pick FENIX are out of my budget, Enduro also, Venu doesnt have solar nor does Forerunner, if its one thing i wish i could have more than world peace would be NOT HAVE TO PLUG IN A CHARGER CORD INTO A GARMIN watch, its a misery, and thats exactly what happened to the fitbit from april, the charger magnetic isnt a magnetic charge its just magnetically adhered to the back of watch when 4 electrode point make contact with 4 female ports, one electrode lost its springyness and wouldnt work, so i got another charger cord , charged it for a while, attempted to pair back with phone to receive DEXCOM blood readings and watch shut down and wont start back up yet its pulsating every 2 seconds with blank screen, so called FitBit, had me do what i had already tried then asked for proof of purchase to proceed with "case investigation ", and i purchased the extended warranty , sorry to digress but i am NOW questioining my choise about vivoactive 6 vs forerunner 165 or higher after reading this sub because i was curious about whiich was newer, the Vivo 6 or the Forerunner 165 or higher, finding that the Vivo was released in april and the Forerunner in May, i dont have a question , that search led me to this sub, the Forerunner has a slightly larger face than the Vivo 6 i noticed , i would prefer a larger face so i wouldnt have to squint at face, i had posted here a couple years back about my vivo3 not pairing and got help, so maybe you can get the help you need, best luck to you

I'm an Apple guy with an iPhone, 2 iPads, and 2 Macs. But when it comes to a watch for swimming, I much prefer the Garmin. The Apple Watch is wonderful smartwatch but its native swimming app is pretty sparse. I had one but no longer use it. I had a Vivoactive 3 years ago. I'm not up on the VA5 but I really prefer the 5 button Garmin watches anyhow. I'm currently using a Forerunner 165 which gives you a lot of bang for the buck if you are mostly just swimming, running, or cycling. If you do lots of other activities, the the FR 265 or 965 is the better option. They all give you the choice of 5 button use or touchscreen.

Having owned a Garmin Vivoactive 3 and a Pixel Watch 2. I have realized all I want is a simple smartwatch that lets me see my notifications(and mark as read/dismiss etc), tracks heart rate, and has Google Assistant. I really hope the new Pebbles can do that. I love the smoothness of my Pixel Watch and like that it has modern Android notification handling (which the Garmin didn't) and hands free assistant but I feel I shouldn't have to charge it everyday if all I want is the time, notifications that don't suck, and assistant.

I’ve had 3 Garmin Vivoactive watches by this point. Had a Vivoactive 3, it had an issue and they replaced it, eventually it got old so I got a Vivoactive 5.

I wear a Garmin Vivoactive 3, but while swimming all I do is look at the clock on the wall. I swim a set time, not a set number of laps. When I'm done, my Garmin tells me how far I went. It connects with Strava so I can share my progress.

I recently upgraded from a vivoactive 3 to a forerunner 255. It was a pretty good deal and blows the va3 away. I've been quite happy with it. I wouldn't recommend going any higher end.

Yeah I originally had a Vivoactive 3 after my Apple Watch broke and I actually really liked it. When the battery got to where I was charging it everyday and couldn’t get through one round so I upgraded to the 4 which I’ve had for 2 ish years now. They are all always on sale Black Friday especially older models so you could get a 5 for a good price. Although I will say the 6 looks great. My favorite thing so far is how tough these watches are. My Apple Watch fell off a very low window seal in the hospital and smashed which lead to the Vivoactive 3.

I used a Vivoactive 3 for over 6 years. Upgraded to a Fenix 7s since it still had the metal bezel cause it looked similar but had more sport features & battery life even though it’s thicker. You can change bands to make it more elegant. I personally use the nylon bands since it doesn’t irritate my skin. My sister who is a nurse has the Vivoactive 5 & she was coming from a square forerunner. https://preview.redd.it/76zuloapoj7e1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4b2ccd40661f8daa8c0518566e6d0c5d52e39968

The vocative 5. Yeah it does. When not doing an activity it doesn’t show steps though. That annoyed me as the vioactive 3 did Can also stick music on the watch, so if don’t want to carry phone around (shortish runs etc) Battery will last about a week on va5. The va6 is out now and still cheaper end of the garmin range.

If all you want is that, I'd stick with a earlier version Garmin Vivoactive. Think mine is a 3 and does all that. I paid way less than your budget, but for a recon model in the UK. Ignore calories though, wrist HR is terrible (on any wrist device without chest strap) so it will not be accurate. V Good for recording though, picks up ~95% of swim laps. Cannot be used for open water unless you know the distance point-point (which you are returning on)

I run an older factory reset garmin vivoactive, got it for £60 in the UK. Used it for a year or so without issue.

i have only had a vivoactive. first a 3, and now a 4. my 4 is now several years old, and the battery lasts about a day and a half if i just wear it; about a day if i track an outdoor bike ride for several hours and it will absolutely track a 100 mile ride for me. it does show notifications and incoming calls (you can block apps of your choice) as long as the phone is within bluetooth range and it allows some canned responses for texts (or similar apps). it's designed for heart rate tracking, and has no issues broadcasting it to the peloton.

I had an older generation Vivoactive and purchased the 165 music when it came out. The running features and metrics are worth it alone, but I also like the physical buttons. I looked at the 265 and 965 as well but the advanced metrics and better heart rate sensor wasn’t worth it for my needs, and I use a heart rate strap anyways.

I went from FitBit to VivoActive music (3 and 4, I believe), and now have a 165. I prefer the 165. It seems more runner-friendly, but still easily tracks other activities.

The Lily is not a place to start they are an insult and described by Garmin as a fashion watch it doesn't even have built in GPS unless you buy the Lily 2 Active, the Vivoactive series lack altimeters. Coming from an Ultra and running at a few marathons a year the Fr255/265/955/965 would all suit you at a reasonable price. Garmin has outdated software and the UI and UX is terrible but they track activities well. Any of these watches will give you a great deal of data that is fun to look at but around 80% of it is not needed. You can use the compare tool on the Garmin website to compare the features of 5 watches at a time. That is a good place to start. Are you set on a Garmin or would you be interested in another brand? Sunnto and Coros have great watches at far better price points and with better feature to price ratios. As for you U2 you can control what notifications you get (FYI you don't have to get any) and you would get a great deal more battery if you just bought a chest strap for your runs.

Venu 3, S for smaller wrists, in particular women, is probably the closest to a traditional smart watch experience with 'health and fitness' features.. "Style and design meet health and fitness" is pretty much the advertisement for it on the official page. Vivoactive series is also a slightly cheaper option..

Vivoactive, venu, and currently have a forerunner

Just get one of the garmin watches with heart rate tracking. Their most budget one with a heart rate tracker, is their vivoactive, and it'll set you back maybe 200 bucks. But I'd personally spend a bit more and get the Forerunner 255. I currently have a 255, and it's fantastic. Battery life is about a week, but I also do a good deal of running. I imagine it'd go up to 10-14 days if I didn't use the GPS function while tracking my runs. It works with the Garmin Connect app, and that doesn't require a subscription at all. It'll also sync your activity data with Strava for additional tracking if you wanted.

I wouldn’t be afraid of buying a Garmin watch for open water or pool swims. I have a first generation instinct since the summer of 2020. I’ve worn it everyday no matter what. If you don’t like the look of the instinct, I would look at either the Fenix, Enduro. The forerunner has a bezel but it’s not as raised I feel. Really any of their watches that includes the feature of a raised bezel I gravitate towards. For me, anyways, watches that don’t have that feature end up with a cracked screen like the venu and the vivoactive with the rounded edge of glass hasn’t lasted for me which is why I prefer that raised bezel. Garmin has always been good and replaced them for me in the past but once the warranty is done, there’s no more replacement. Hope this is helpful and keep going.

Happy with the vivoactive which gives all the sleep data and on sale now on Amazon

I think you are in a hard spot here! When someone is serious about something, it is difficult to gift them something about that something. In the same way that you cannot gift a mouse to a software engineer unless it's the Logitech Mx 3 or superior, you cannot gift apparel to a serious runner unless it's something really good. My point is, if you want to gift him a watch, it is difficult to recommend you something that is below $300 or $400. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of watches out there that cost less and may work. For example, you can buy the Garmin Vivoactive or Instinct for around $200, or the Amazfit T-Rex Pro for $150 (this is a really good watch for the price). However, if he is really serious about trail running, you may have to consider a Garmin Fenix 6 (between $350 and $400 on Amazon) or a Garmin Forerunner 945 (I just saw it at $319 on Amazon). If he is into both road and trail running, the Forerunner may be a good choice, but if he is getting more and more into trail running, the fenix is the best option. Note: You won't get navigation in budget-friendly watches, but I haven't meet a racer that needed it. Generally, the course is marked and people carry their phones (I have offline maps just in case). Note 2: You can save a lot by purchasing the previous-generation model (that's why I recommended fenix 6 and forerunner 945).

The Garmin Vivoactive is probably the most classic looking smartwatch these days I had a 3, they’re on 5 now. Good battery life, good fitness tracking but less phone integration than an Apple watch, which I currently use. It fits standard watch straps so you can put it on a less sporty strap if you like.

Jumping on the vivoactive bandwagon. I've had mine for a couple years. It has a long battery life, looks slick, and I use it for running and workouts. Highly recommended.

I would suggest any Fenix or even any forerunner over any vivoactive or venu of you're serious about training. Sure you can get by with most basic stuff on those watches but if you get serious about training or want better features you'll have wanted at least a forerunner model

It's a no brainer, the Vivoactive is, by far, a much better device than the Amazfit by a long shot, not just accuracy-wise, but in every aspect.

I just use a Garmin Vivoactive. It does everything I need at a fraction of the cost of fancier watches.

I have had both the Garmin Vivo and Charge 5 and I am an android user so Apple watch is out for me. Durability wise Garmin but not sure how that compares to the Charge 6 as they fixed alot of the issues that the Charge 5 has. But wearing and comfort. Hands down the Charge 5. I have gone thru 2 charge 5 over the last 5 years and would still buy the charge 5/6 over Garmin for the comfort. The Charge 5/6 is much thinner on your wrist and surprisingly that makes a world of difference

For weights none of them are great, you should not spend more money expecting better results. If you think you might get a little more serious about running in the future, get the FR165 (or even the 255/265 if you find a good deal). If not, Vivoactive is a good choice.

Started with Golf Logix on iPhone Then Garmin Golf Watch, terrible product could not hold charge a round. Back to Golf Logix on iPhone Then Garmin VivoActive with Garmin Golf App, very nice Wife got Apple Watch with fall detection, she stuck with it, sold off Garmin, bought Apple Watch with fall detection Hundreds of rounds on Golf Logix, multiple phones and watches 2024 Golf Logix changes User Interface, tried GolfShot, love it! 2025 GolfLogix revises UI, much improved, tried a few rounds, easy distances to layups hazards, no swing analysis. Staying with GolfShot for now. Lost access to hundreds of rounds on Golf Logix Have not used Garmin in over 5 years it was the best experience. The greater Apple ecosystem won out. We are old, my wife falls, I need the alerts.

I got my Garmin for basically just miscellaneous activities and general health monitoring, and I got myself a vivoactive. Really like it. My main activity is biking, but I use a bike computer for that instead of the watch. As you mentioned charging, I probably charge mine once or twice a week. But I try to just charge it while showering (when I remember.)

Vivoactive was fine for me for about 6 months, then recently upgraded to a forerunner 265, I don’t think I could go back, way nicer, better in every way, and loving the extra data points.

Garmin all the way if you are using android The tracking is really quite good and the features arent exactly advanced for a beginner, it walks you through basically everything Ive seen a few forerunners or vivoactive go on sale for slightly over 200. Abit higher than your budget but imo worth it, it will last you even when you are no longer a beginner

I love mine. Bought an older Vivoactive off Poshmark. I love the battery! Esp compared to the apple watch.

I use the Garmin Vivoactive because of some other activities that I do beyond swimming, and it does a good job with swimming data. It does not know your stroke as far as I know, but it has always accurately tracked my distance, pace, stroke count, rest versus swimming, and I think a few other things. Mine is a bit older, so not sure if there are newer features.

I love my garmin vivoactive. Uploads to Strava, less expensive than other garmin watches, and has been going strong for 4 years now. I came from a Fitbit and the only thing it doesn’t do quite as well seems to be sleep tracking.

I think a vivoactive or venu would be perfect for you! Make sure you get the S because it is smaller in profile. I’m petite and have small wrists and in comparison to other watches the profile of the S models fits me very well!

Love my Garmin vivoactive 

This is just my honest experience I know it’ll maybe rub some people the wrong way. I’ve only had an Apple Watch for quite sometime most of my friends have garmin so i decided to give it a try and I ended up staying with Apple: I had the vivoactive which might make a difference I found the activity screens for the vivo really lacking like the visuals of it made it harder to glance at the face while working out and immediately know what is what because it was all just black and white also only a certain number of data sets could be added to a face. I find the Apple activity faces to be easier to read/understand quickly because of the lay outs and use of color etc, I also found the post work out graphs on the garmin to be harder to read or instantly understand compared to Apple. Many people say that garmin does more or gives more insight again maybe it’s because I had the vivo but there wasn’t any data I was getting from garmin that I wasn’t getting from Apple the ONLY thing I can think of was garmin gave me my running speed in mph? Which Apple doesn’t do. It’s important to remember that apples native fitness app certainly has its limitations but there’s tons of apps you can download that give specifically what you’re looking for, for example I did like that garmin has the exercise and rep detection for strength BUT I like the ‘train’ app for Apple Watch better it sucks I have to pay for that app but idk overall I had issues switching from Apple Watch to garmin but I’m a very visual person who doesn’t enjoy spending a lot of time siting down and researching my device (again I know on reddit that makes me dumb and lazy but just giving my honest experience) Also quick note about Fitbit: I tried them before I tried the garmin and I HATED the way they calculated active mins, that you got more mins based on heart rate, happy for people that works for but if I worked out for 30 mins I want the data to say 30 not some made up time based on how hard I worked (I like the apple gives me the actual normal time but gives a score on level of intensity of the work out separately)

Probably unpopular since I only tried out 1 garmin vivoactive but I found the faces on garmin really hard to read quickly at a glance when running or working out because most of the faces are just black with white text and there was no face that showed me ALL the zones with labels (there was only one that’s a dial by color) it was too much to adjust to so I stayed with Apple because I just want to get the info quickly and easily without interruption and their preset faces seem to show the data in a way my brain can process faster than garmin Also I had a run with the garmin where it would not let me end the workout it was like stuck so it messed up all my data which is when i returned it my older Apple Watch has never done that to me ever

I have the fairly inexpensive Vivoactive and I love the golf functions on it Gives you GPS range, can see front and back green yardages, scorecard and does some shot mapping after the round My buddies use range finders and usually within 10 yards, they get slope though which I get is helpful but at 30 HCP I’m just trying to play the right club at the right time

Pretty much all Garmins do. Vivoactive or Venu is a good place to start.

OnePlus Watch 2. Great battery life as well as fitness and smartphone features. Previously used a Garmin Vivoactive.

Buy a second hard Garmin Vivoactive. Does everything you want for very little cost, because it’s the older model.

Spot on. For your needs, Vivoactive is enough. No need to get anything extra.

Had a Vivoactive too ? I reckon they didn't put a good battery in there. (Plus the latest update didn't help)

Mine died last week. It's been a few years I had to put it almost every day on charge. Honestly been a bit disappointed by Garmin with that. I'm considering something else but it's not easy. I don't know who's equivalent to Garmin.

I’ve had my scan watch 2 for almost 2 years now. I’ve also had the Vivoactive right before I got this one. I like the Withings watch more because it looks classier/like a regular watch, the app is very user friendly, it tracks the basic health data I need (steps, sleep, HR), and the battery life lasts two weeks before I need to charge it. I can also track different workouts which is nice too. However, the watch stopped charging after a year and a half (luckily it was covered under their two year warranty). The Garmin watch app is very outdated. However, if you’re a hardcore athlete or like the nitty gritty raw data points, then Garmin is for you. I also like how the Vivoactive shows messages on watch face better than the Withings watch.

I've loved Garmin since I got my first Vivoactive years and years ago. They felt like they produced quality products, designed to last, sold perhaps at a premium, but without any expectation of continuing fees (unless it was reasonable, like the inreach subscription or a cellular plan). Obviously, recent changes make me question these apparent commitments. I've experimented with other watches in the past (Polar and Apple Watch primarily, but also Coros and Suunto). Generally, I've been disappointed in their equivalent of Garmin's daily suggested workout. DSW has completely changed my life and my running. I will begrudgingly stick around if nobody else can deliver a program that gives me workouts that don't push me to injury. I was a beta-tester for a similar app on Apple Watch and I always felt on the very of injury. I mentioned this to the developers and they basically told me the app wasn't for me. I've heard Polar's version dumps absurdly long runs on you. And I don't know much about Coros or Suunto's offering, if any. Samsung has a watch too, but I'm not optimistic it will have offerings any better than Apple's iOS. And the only other watch I'm aware of besides the big android makers (Google, etc.) is the UNA watch which claims to be user-repairable. I am similarly not optimistic that will have any DSW competitor - but maybe in the future? EDIT: I searched for questions about DSW alternatives before posting - from what I can tell nobody has addressed this question for at least the last 3 months (the search results wouldn't go further than that for me when I sorted by "new").

I have a vivoactive and can see data older than a year on the website. But you can also download data to a spreadsheet, and I've been keeping a spreadsheet of my swimming since before I had my Garmin.

I made the switch about a month ago from AW to Garmin Vivoactive. Overall, I like the Garmin, but I do miss some features of the AW. I'm an apple user for my phone and it's so integrated. I like the garmin fitness features, sleep tracking, and the BATTERY. I miss being able to easily see my notifications if I don't see them when the come in, the menus are way easier to find and navigate on the AW-I'm still trying to find things on the Garmin.

Apple Watch will do fine for a long time - only got a Garmin last year. However once you go to only having to charge your watch once every two weeks you just can’t go back to Apple. I have a Garmin Fenix (on the $$$ side) but I wear it every day as my normal watch too and have had zero issues making the switch. However there’s heaps in the range, I love accuracy, maps, long battery and lots and lots of data so I can overthink every run - so Fenix it is! The forerunners are great and the vivoactives are a good mid range model. There’s other brands like Suunto, Polar etc. For true accuracy on any wrist watch you may need a chest monitor. But if you really like your Apple Watch I found it pretty good unless you’re somewhere with not much reception

A forerunner 165 or 265 might be good. Or a Vivoactive if you want a sleeker look. I run and do weights as well and find the 165 is sufficient! It can only do so much with weights (guessing the actual exercise you're doing, rep counting, etc). I usually go back into my saved workout afterward and edit any info that was wrong.can only ask so much from a watch but it's nice to have the rest timer and general log of the workout.

Fenix 7s was too bulky on me, Lily active 2 was hard to read, Vivoactive looks plasticky almost toy like, Venu 3s looks more premium, so that was what I went for. No regrets

I second this! I have a vivoactive which is one of their less fancy watches but it does everything I need. The app is super insightful too and it's not necessary to bring your phone with you.

I still wear both, they are both good at different things.

Garmin watch! I have the vivoactove. But they all track sleep, down to rem, deep, light sleep, and hours. It also uses AI to assess it. Helps a lot cause nights get foggy with a baby.

Oh yes I swear I charge maybe every 2 weeks. For me it’s relatively reliable as far as I can tell. It’s hard to tell on the nights that there are a lot of wake ups of course. But I can attest that the nights where I don’t have wake ups it has been pretty accurate!

I wouldn't buy a Garmin for those needs. Calories will be a wild guess because you aren't doing any activity that it can measure or infer power from. Stress is kind of useless. Recovery is more related to an endurance sport which you're not doing. I'm exaggerating a little but it is like asking what phone to buy and finding out you just want to use it as a flashlight. You're not really using the core functionality of the watch. Maybe a Vivoactive if you insist?

It's got garbage battery life, unfortunately. Also unfortunately, the watches that seem to be most accurate are either obsolete (Fitbit Versa, idr which generation, counts laps and shows on watch face) or Sense 2 (has been very accurate but won't show laps on watch face even though it does keep track of laps - a really stupid decision by Fitbit/Google in a sea of stupid decisions ((no pun intended))). Battery life is excellent on both. Battery life on the Garmin Vivoactive is the bomb but it's crap at accuracy on laps. Good luck!

Most people coming from apple go vivo active or venue. Venue being closest to a smart watch. Personally, I'm a instinct guy. Although I'm wearing a Fenix today since I didn't charge my Instinct for 2 weeks and it died before bed. I've swam tens of thousands of meters (more like hundreds but..) in pool, open and salt water with my Garmins. Done free diving (only to about 40ft, I'm not very good) and press the buttons regularly sub surface. I've also done cliff jumping with every watch, and haven't lost a garmin to water intrusion. I would definitely select a 100m rated model for water sports. Any watch can fail but I've had 6 garmins and none have. I also had a bunch of Casio and Timex over the years and not one failure.

Those are wildly different watches, price points and use cases. If this is what you are comparing I would personally go for the best watch I could afford. If the Fenix 8 is in your options go with that. Rather than buy something that will be obsolete soon, or fits your needs today go with the option you can grow into and will last you a while. I have personally gone the other way and every 2 years I have upgraded to a new watch that fits my needs. That is until this year when I bought a 970. Previously I have owned the vivofit, vivoactive, and Venu 2 Plus. What meets my needs today is the 570, what I will grow into is the 970. So if you can afford the Fenix 8 do that.

I love my vivoactive. I do sometimes get watch FOMO because I love running but I think the Vivoactive is a great (and very good looking) watch.

I am upgrading to a forerunner 265 from vivoactive because it can't do custom swim workouts or swim drills. but it does give you a fair amount of data for pool swim if you aren't concerned with that (time, distance, spm, pace, swolf, speed, heart rate, etc.) the vivoactive just went down to $200 and you may be able to find a refurbished or used one cheaper on ebay. Edit to add that I swim 5 days a week and there's no concern about water resistance that I have seen or heard of for vivoactive.

Most Garmin watches would do those things. Depending if you want the latest bells and whistles, such as an OLED screen vs a MIP screen from an older generation, a model from an older generation will be more than fine. However, I wouldn't recommend getting a second hand one, but that's just my preference. Take a look models such as the Instinct, the Vivoactive, the Venu and Forerunner 55/165. Those would suit you. I would not recommend more expensive models as the Fenix and the more expensive Forerunners. They would be way overkill and extremely expensive.

For the things you described any would be good. Even a FR165 (or F255/265 slightly bigger screen) or a basic Vivoactive. With that budget you can buy even an Epic if you like it (though would be overkill in terms of features). I would go on a shop, try them and pickup what you like the most in terms of size, look and comfort on your wrist.

I just bought the Vivomove Trend (arriving tomorrow). It's the best looking Garmin watch. It looks great in a business environment and is fairly basic for sports activities. It seems to be marketed towards women, but i personally like the smaller size on my dainty manwrists lol. I've been using Garmin watches forever. With the Vivomove you're giving up GPS on your watch, so to map your runs and rides you need to take your phone with you (which you may already plan to do). If you like to constantly look at your speed, HR, duration, etc on your runs/rides, the Vivomove might not be the best since i think it will be hard to see all these at once on one screen. I do plan to still use my older Vivoactive for some activities (the screen is starting to fade). I'm not getting another Vivoactive since they're no longer offering ones that look more business professional. If I were still a triathon fanatic I'd probably go with the Vivoactive 6. It's a very good sports watch but doesn't scream tri geek at work.

I’m relatively new to the fitness tracker world. I originally was drawn to the Fitbit Charge line (still on the fence) but pulled the trigger on a Garmin Vivoactive because of longevity concerns. What makes longtime Fitbit users concerned about its longevity or being bought by Google? At the moment it just seems like an entry tier product compared to their more expensive Pixel smartwatch lineup which seems… fine?

Any lower end Garmin is great. Vivoactive series. Or a used Apple Watch

Yes, serious overkill. Vivoactive is good for general health tracking and logging your runs or you could go for something more running specific like a Forerunner. For more all around fitness at a decent price, you can't beat the Vivoactive series.

I can recommend the Vivoactive as it kind of falls into that price range. I have the version 5, but 6 is the newest. Not sure if any Garmin is ECG capable, if so then only the more premium models starting at 600€+. There are more dedicated swimming models, however, I also regularly use it for swimming and when I activate the „auto stop“ function and put swimming as first item in my activities-list, I can start and stop everything only via buttons (avoiding using the touch screen in water)

100% agree here. Apple Watches and Oura have been tested and rank higher in terms accuracy in predicting your sleep and stages. The Apple Watch SE is much cheaper and probably a better option! Garmins don’t track sleep stages quite as accurately, but if you’re not going to be using it for the fitness features it’s probably not worth the money. My Garmin honestly doesn’t really get the times I fall asleep very accurately and it’s usually skewed by quite a bit. If you do want a Garmin go for the Vivoactive, Venu or very base model forerunner 55! I can highly recommend Garmin specifically for the amazing battery life.

Second a Garmin (I have a Vivoactive myself)

I’ll second this. For training especially for running the Garmin is amazing. But other than that it’s not as great of a smart watch and not very useful besides telling the time. The Apple Watch is just so handy.

Yeah op could get a cheaper watch like the vivoactive and the strap that goes with it and it would still cost less than a forerunner.

Not to get sucked into the marketing but the Vivoactive is a lifestyle watch targeted at non runners while the forerunner series is really leaning into serious runners. Of course you can buy or not buy whatever watch you want.

Vivoactive and Venu (non X1, that thing should have had a name of its own) don't have the advanced running metrics. So it's Forerunner , then check whether the features you want are in Instinct, Fenix, Enduro or Epix if you like one of those better.

Garmin. I've had a vivoactive for 3/4 years and it does more than enough to support my training. When the vivoactive dies I'll upgrade to a more sports focussed one but its more than enough as is.

I've got pretty small wrist, run with a garmin vivoactive and get along well. Love it.

I've owned a samsung galaxy watch and currently rock a garmin vivoactive. The garmin's battery is 10x better. The UI isn't as good, though - but that's small potatoes.

I have a Garmin instinct solar and I really like it. Before this I had a vivoactive and also liked it, but never climbed with it. I also run and do indoor bouldering. I’m not as concerned about tracking when I boulder, there is an activity for it where I’ll do one warm up route and just leave it on a break for the rest of my time climbing. The instinct is not a touch screen (which I actually really love) and it’s super durable. The watch clasp has gotten scratched up but the face is still fine after nearly a year of climbing inside with it. I’ve cooled off on my lifting with climbing, and was never that into it, but the strength activity isn’t horrible at keeping track of exercises. You can edit the activity afterwards to get the exact rep/weight/exercise, but some of the smartIQ exercise guesses are pretty accurate (ie a recent workout guessed pushups correctly, but also classified tricep dips as pushups). The solar add on is pricey and I don’t know if I’d recommend it, but the base option is pretty reasonable Cons for garmin: sleep isn’t super accurate, some data breach issues, a lot of grumbling that the Garmin+ subscription may be pushed on people in the future for things like updates and access to features Pros: easy to use, good tracking for running/hiking, instinct is very durable, lots of activities to chose from (cardio, indoor climbing/bouldering, runs, strength, swimming), fun metrics like HRV, training load, and vo2 max, decent battery life

My partner and I both love our vivoactives. I'm an intense exercise person and he isn't really, but we both use them and get a lot out of em. I highly recommend.

Shrug. I mean, if you don't like it i can't make you like it. I have a vivoactive and love it. It does have fewer features than some of the other garmins but it's so much better than an apple watch. You're literally just paying for the apple logo w that. The garmin has actual functions and has leveled up my running a lot in the last few years. When i upgrade though I'll probably buy a model with more functionality.

All garmin’s work really well. I have the forerunner 965 and it works great. Garmin also sells a speed and cadence sensor that connect to your watch for 40 usd and also improves data capture. I ride exclusively w/o a head unit because I prefer no screens on my ride. I like to track calories, heart rate, elevation, and routes along with speed and cadence. The 965 has the best experience I’ve found so far, I’ve also used the vivoactive, venu 2, and forerunner 265. 965 offers incredible battery life (6 2-3 hour rides per week along with other activities for a weekly charge). You can also bring up and use maps on the watch. Syncing is a PITA and is useful in a pinch if you REALLY need it, but if you are looking for map integration I’d suggest a head unit instead of a watch.

People have to stop comparing these. These are for two different people. I would never wear an Apple Watch based on battery life alone. I specifically got the Garmin for a wrist based gps and mapping tool to track and orient myself. You buy an Apple Watch to use smart features and be connected to your phone. Garmin has never been in that market. It’s a whole company based on gps systems for outdoor activities . You buy an Apple Watch to have Apple ecosystem. you can’t use half the feature of the fenix on an iPhone bc they only want you to use their watch… Garmin are all specifically made for their audience even down the the model . Apple watches are just to keep you plugged into your phone and have no bearing on actual outdoor activities despite calling it ultra. The Millitary has been orienteering with Garmin wrist based gps systems forever. You’d never catch an Apple Watch on patrol in Afghanistan. 😂

Garmin - They have a lot of watches at different price points. There is built-in GPS and the battery lasts for several days, unlike a smart watch that you typically need to charge every night. The Garmin app easily syncs with other fitness apps, if that's important to you. If you have a smaller wrist, go for the "S" models that will look and fit better.