Garmin - vívoactive® 6

Just got my VA6 today and I don’t know if I’m happy with it or not. It just looks cheap and so disappointed with the watch faces. Also thinking of returning it and getting the venu 3.

I'm an Apple Watch SE user who recently decided to explore the Garmin ecosystem. You'll find more details and context in the post below. I've been using the Vivoactive 6 for about a week now. Before that, I had bought the Venu 3 for $450, but eventually returned it after getting the VA6. Here's why I made the switch: - I rarely use the watch speaker (I used to be an Apple Watch SE user), and I generally prefer taking calls on my phone. - I don’t like being notified on my watch, since I always have my phone with me. - Thankfully, I don’t need ECG/EKG features, so that wasn’t useful for me. **Context:** The main reason I switched to Garmin is that Apple Watch—even the Ultra—doesn't really provide actionable health insights. What impressed me about Garmin is the level of actionable insights it offers *without* requiring a subscription. Some of the highlights: 1. Sleep Score and Sleep Coach 2. Stress tracking 3. Body Battery 4. Recovery insights 5. Custom workouts and Garmin Coach ...and probably more features I’ll discover as I continue using the VA6. Most of the core health tracking features are similar to the Apple Watch, but Garmin seems to go a step further with its detailed insights. So overall, Garmin feels like a more complete fitness-focused smartwatch to me. ### What I liked in the VA6 compared to the Venu 3: 1. **New UX Improvements** - Fully redesigned UI/UX that feels modern and premium — more in line with 2025 standards. - Notification center with "Clear All" option (finally!). - Control center similar to Android/iOS. - Built-in Compass app. - Revamped UI/UX for several existing apps. - Smart alarm (haven’t tried it yet). - Adjustable font size. - Calendar app that shows all future events — unlike V3, which only shows today and tomorrow. 2. **Custom Workout Creation** - You can create fully custom workouts on VA6, which the V3 doesn’t support. 3. **Course/Route Syncing** - Ability to send training courses or routes directly to the watch. 4. **Improved Haptics** - The vibration motor feels noticeably better than the one in V3. 5. **Premium Strap** - The strap feels more refined and premium than what comes with the V3. ...and I’m sure there’s more I’ll uncover over time. **One thing worth noting:** although the watch has a UI that's quite feature-rich and visually heavy, I initially expected it to lag. But after using it for a week, I haven't experienced a single hiccup — it's been smooth throughout. After exploring the VA6, the Venu 3 felt like a bit of a downgrade—especially since I don’t care much about answering calls, using the speaker, or having ECG functionality. Yes, the Venu 3 has Garmin’s 5th-gen sensor and the VA6 has the 4th-gen, but the difference between V4 and V5 isn’t significant in terms of real-world use. I also had a look at the VA5 at a nearby store. Even though the VA5 and VA6 use similar materials, the VA6 feels much more solid and premium in hand. ### Final Thoughts Some of these points might not matter to longtime Garmin users who are happy with their current devices and don’t feel the need to upgrade. But for someone new to the Garmin ecosystem, or someone looking to jump in now, the VA6 seems like the best value. You get the latest design, more relevant features, and hopefully more updates going forward (fingers crossed).

The vivoactive 4 and 6 do do the animation, but aren't as good of running watches as the 165. And don't do any bike things either.

The Garmin vivo active 4 works and is much cheaper than the Fenix. You can also look if the vivo active 6 has an altimeter my 5 doesn't but the 4 does. Garmin over Samsung or Apple just because battery life is incredible

For gym it is important to be able to adjust weight/reps using touch screen. I'm not sure if Fenix 7 can this. Va6 and venu3 - can.

Hi, I’m in the same boat as you and have been doubting forever what to buy. I’ve had a VA6, but found it very dim in normal conditions and I couldn’t up the brightness because you can’t turn off the autobrightness. I did like the size, i have small wrists. As do you. I’m currently between the VA5/Venu 3s. Do you like your Venu3s? How’s the size? My wrists are 16-17 cm, and I’m doubting between the Venu 3 (45mm) - VA5 (42mm) and Venu 3S (41mm).

I just switched from the Vivoactive 4s, which I bought in 2020, to the Vivoactive 6. The new interface is great, sure. The overall look and feel of the VA6 seems super cheap compared to my VA4s. My VA4 has beautiful gold colored METAL buttons and a gold colored metal circle around the watch face. The band felt sturdy and of quality. The VA6 feels like a watch that I could’ve spent $100 on - cheap and dingy. The buttons are plastic. As far as the sleep tracker: I went to bed at 10:45 pm last night and woke up at 6 am this morning. The VA6 tracked me going to bed at 9:00 pm and waking up at 5:00 am. After upgrading 2 models forward, I’m seriously shocked and disappointed that it’s not even close to tracking my sleep correctly. So many of the watch faces on ConnectIQ don’t work for the VA6, and as someone in tech, why wouldn’t they filter the app based on the watch you have paired to your phone to only show you available watch faces/apps that are actually downloadable. There are literally no filter options by watch type that I’ve found? Not sure if I should return it and wait another year or switch to the VA5 (just to save money) or hop over to the Venu 3 or just give it more time to adjust. I want a fancy-ish looking watch (one that I can wear to work events) that functions as a fitness watch, as I am a runner. Not really interested in the Apple Watch as I don’t want a total smart phone on my wrist and I don’t like the shape, but I may honestly consider it now. Just plain disappointed with the overall quality of the watch itself. Essentially an updated user interface, some additional outdoor activities and that seems to be it. It seems to have gone down in physical quality. I still love my VA4s and other than it taking forever to find my GPS location prior to a run (which was my reason for upgrading), I find that it still works really well —- it just has an antiquated UI and is missing some sports that I like (I’ve paid for a roller blading app on it for 5 years lol). I am actually impressed with how long this watch has lasted. Thoughts? EDIT: I returned it and got the Venu 3s and it’s perfect! This is exactly what I would’ve expected from my VA4s upgrade — just a shame I had to go with a more expensive model to get a similar product. Either way, I’m jazzed! Hope that helps anyone who had similar problems!

Reason you could not find a DSW alternative is because there aren't any. Guess what! It costs money to add features to any product. Suntoo/Polar/Coros are cheaper than garmin because they cannot do lot of things that a Garmin does. People value that and pay more for Garmin products. I have a friend who pays for Runna app which claims to be the #1 running app in the world and charges $120 per year subscription. He has been using the app for more than a month and so far the app has done absolutely 0 adaptation to his body condition or paces he can sustain. I have found DSW to be way superior in this regard. It is Amazing that Garmin provides such a nice service for free. Some people argue that it is included in the watch's cost. If I consider Runna pricing, my watch would be free in <3 yrs! Considering how long Garmins last, we basically pay nothing for them. I am fed up with all the paranoia about free Connect features going away in the future. People seriously need to take a chill pill and learn to stay in the present. Garmin just announced Vivoactive 6 yesterday and it added a tonne of features over vivoactive 5 for free (brought to vivoactive series from the forerunner).

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 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.

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 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).

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 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.

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

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.

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.

How do you access your data older than 1 year? I've had my Garmin Vivoactive for 1.5y and I cannot see back more than a year on their app or website. It's infuriating.

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.

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.

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.

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. 😂