Vivoactive HR

Currently have a Fenix 6, since June 2021. I had a vivoactive HR for 3.5 years before that.

Yep, I agree. I've been using Garmin devices since 2006 from the Forerunner 101 (where I had to manually input my data into an Excel spreadsheet) to the Forerunner 935 that I currently have and the Garmin fitness ecosystem is really good. I can tack mileage on my shoes and gear, use ANT+ devices on my bike, etc... The Apple Watch Ultra 2 I have gets closer to the Garmin (especially with Precision Start) but its still way behind. The only Garmin I've had that died was the Vivoactive HR. I think it was one too many OCR's that did it in.

I've been using Garmin since their Forerunner 101 (which still works BTW), Forerunner 305, Forerunner 910XT, VivoActive HR (one of their first forays into touch screens), and now their Forerunner 935 (which I bought new in 2020, but it was released in 2017). All of these still work, except for the VivoActive HR. I used to use Fitbit and started with some of the earliest releases - EVERY SINGLE Fitbit has died on me. I had a graveyard of dead fitbits. it was ridiculous. I've been using the Apple Watch since series 7 (which just died recently) and switched to the Ultra 2 to give Apple one more chance. My perspective is that Apple puts in too powerful of a processor for a smartwatch, hence the shorter battery life. The Garmin processors are generally barebones by comparison. They also must use some better charging algorithm on the newer Forerunners because my 935 ends the day at almost the same exact SOC for the past 5 years. I'm at 88% at the end of a full day, that includes 1 hour of GPS workouts. I'm getting an estimated 5-6 days from the Ultra 2. My Series 7 really dropped battery health after WatchOS 10.2, something caused the battery health to go from 100% rapidly down to 86% ever since 10.2 as it used to consume 1.7%/hr and then to 3%/hr before it died. But the Apple watches are much better as smart watches. The Garmin are much better as fitness watches. The Precision Start on Ultra at least fixed the issue I had with regular Apple Watch where it'd start the activity but without GPS or HR data for the first 30 seconds - which is idiotic. Precision Start tells me when GPS and HR data are good to go, just like on a Garmin. I have not used the newer Garmins like Forerunner 970 or Fenix/Epix 8 or whatever but Garmin does have their own slew of issues. They often switch GPS chipsets and some generations are extremely problematic in urban environments.

This. I got mine two days ago. I love what it can do, the sizing, the weight, the price etc. I HATE the screen. I used to wear Garmin Vivoactive HR way back and it kinda reminded me of that dim screen. I returned it. I couldn’t justify having a watch that I would hate looking at.

I wear the discontinued Garmin Vivoactive HR (https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/538374/) with a screen protector over it. (Broke the screen of my first one mowing or weedeating when I threw a rock up) It's pretty resilient otherwise and can get wet with no extra attention needed. I've used it swimming, etc. My only complaint is that when pumping chest, I tend to hit a combination of buttons that enters me into recording some sort of workout (so it's buzzing at me). Battery isn't what it used to be (it's years old!), but it lasts a week or more. (Off duty, I wear an old Apple Watch Series 6 that I'm not comfortable wearing on duty. I can't even get 20 hours without recharging.)

I flip back and forth every now and then. First Garmin was a vivoactive hr. Then Apple Watch s3 Then back to Garmin with a Vivoactive 3, back to Apple Watch s5, Fenix 6 pro, Epix then Epix pro. Currently wearing aw s10, other than for kayaking. Apple Watches are getting better and better, buttons and battery are the only major benefits for me, and with an Epix battery isn’t that much better. Training info in the Garmin app is better too but the gap is closing, and subscription apps are probably even better. Bevel is great but a bit spendy. I think I’ll probably always have at least one of each now, eying up an aw ultra 3 next, Fenix line is getting too expensive now.

Nice. On my Vivo a wet long sleeve shirt can change the screen which is annoying when running. You can lock the screen during an activity to prevent that but it’s an extra step to disable when the run is over. First world problems

Garmin Venu 1, 2, or even one of the newer Vivoactives would be great. You can get a Venu 2 for probably about $100-$130 on Facebook Marketplace right now. You can also get one of the older Garmin Forerunners for about the same price as well, if not a little cheaper