Garmin - vívoactive® 3 Music

Gonna be the negative Nancy here and have to say my vivoactive 3 music died in three years, then the refurb I got to replace it (paid refurb, 90 bucks, not warrantied) broke in another 3. It came apart due to some medium force so I can’t 100% say it was its fault but I have reason to suspect that it was beginning to come apart about 3 weeks prior to the incident (screen was glitching for a few hours, was randomly acting up) and that might just have been the final straw. I did still get a new venu 3 tho. It works well and I don’t have to charge every day, that means a lot to me lol.

While I know you didn't mention it, IMHO this depends on your budget and what you're looking to get. I had (still have) a Vivoactive 3 Music, which I got 6 years ago for $199. It replaced my previous Fitbit which had fallen apart (literally) and I wanted something that had a) standalone, reliable GPS/barometer/altimeter, and b) music storage (I got sick of carrying my phone when I run). Recently, when Jeff Bezos needed more yachts (aka Prime Day), I snagged a FR255M for $249 (normally $399).

\^\^ This. I had a Vivoactive 3 Music for 6 years; hardly any new updates, but the thing kept working (the battery stopped holding a charge as well). The only reason(s) I updated to a 255 Music was because a) it was on sale for only $50 USD more than the VA3M from *6 years* prior, and b) it had more sensors I wanted to take advantage of. If my 255 lasts as long as my Vivoactive did (does), I'll be a happy dude.

It depends on what you need. When moving to Garmin from Fitbit, I opted for a Vivoactive 3 Music (aka VA3M). I was looking for a) GPS on the watch, and b) music storage. Hate carrying my phone when cycling/running. Recently moved on from the VA3M (worked for 6+ years, and *technically* still works). Picked up a Forerunner 255 Music and am quite happy with my choice. This may help: [https://www.garmin.com/en-US/which-watch/runner/compare/](https://www.garmin.com/en-US/which-watch/runner/compare/)

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!

I've been using Garmin watches since 2004. I've never had one fail, I've replaced them out of wanting a new feature or eventually losing battery life. Models: FR 201, 305, 225, vivoactive 1 & 3, FR 735XT, Edge 520+ 6 watches over 21 years. Plus pulling the 305 apart and replacing the battery (it still works - so did the 201 last I heard that the guy I'd given it to had passed it on)

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.