Garmin - vívosmart 5

I recently got a Garmin Vivosmart 5 to replace my Fitbit Charge I had for many years. Can’t believe I just made the switch, personally, the Garmin blows the Fitbit out of the water!

I got frustrated with Fitbit after getting several faulty ones. I've had a Garmin Vivosmart 5 for 2 weeks and I'm delighted with it.

I've been with Fitbit since 2014 but the last year I've had awful problems with them. I've sent 4 devices back because they wouldn't charge or the band constantly becomes unclipped and they just sent another faulty device. I bought a Garmin Vivosmart 5 a week ago and so far very happy with it.

I’ve been using a Vivosmart 5 on one arm, and a traditional watch on the other, as the most minimal Body Battery compatible wearable Garmin makes… but I, too, would like something even more minimal, similar in scope to a Whoop where it doesn’t even bother to display data, just record it, so I could get body battery and resting HR and training status data without the need to wear a Garmin watch full time. I’ve submitted a suggestion over the years but not sure what else to do.

It’s… sort of in a middle ground I don’t really love though. As a fitness watch it’s absolutely skeletal - minimal delay, no GPS tracking of its own instead relying on your phone, limited pairing options (can’t connect it to a power meter on my bike for one), limited activity types… and as a wearable. It’s a little, well, TOO - feature heavy; it has a screen, for one, making it too bulky to wear under a buttoned shirt cuff; its band isn’t breathable or that stretchy, etc. I’d rather it have fewer features, just measure HR and HRV and send it to Garmin connect with no other frills. Barring that, I’d rather it be a bit more of a full featured fitness watch. It’s just in this middle ground where it’s not quite either.

Yeah agreed. It’s still the best option I’ve found, but - as a guy who works in an office and occasionally has to suit up - I wish it was smaller.

Vivosmart 5 - simplicity and size

I have a Vivosmart 5 which has steps, but there's still the issue of having to tell it you are doing yoga to get HR alerts.

I have a Garmin vivosmart 5 and I love it. It is very small and light, just does the bare minimum. As someone else has said though, make sure to check with parents that there are no issues. The tracking of runs is fine, but it can easily spiral into more sinister territory from there.

In yoga mode the HR alert is immediate! It uses battery faster though.

I have a Fenix 8 I use for my exercise activities, (running, strength, yoga, etc..), but no way can I wear that size watch when I sleep to track that. I want to keep everything in the Garmin connect ecosystem so looking at the Vivosmart 5 to wear at night to track sleep metrics. Appears to be a way to sync everything together to keep a running total on battery recharge/recovery time so is anyone else doing this? Or is there a better alternative?

Update... Pulled the trigger on the Vivosmart 5 and so far I'm getting what I wanted out of it. I use the Fenix watch all day, make sure it syncs to connect right before I go to bed, turn off, fire up the Vivosmart, sync, then sleep and swap out again in the morning. First night, showed great sleep score, fully recharged the body battery, all good. Next night after my cheat dinner and drinks and getting in bed late and sleeping like crap, got a bad score, only recharged the body battery to 40% and said I needed an extra 30 min of sleep that night to catch up. Busted. So far, so good... Think this is gonna work out.

I am using a Vivosmart 5 when I wear a pebble. It gives me the same fitness tracking as my Fenix, but it is quite small. And I often wear it on my ankle anyway. I use my Fenix now mostly for sports, and the band for fitness tracking.

As a long term user of Garmin devices I my suggestion biased towards garmin vivosmart 5. Have used multiple garmin devices over last 15 years and all have been great for activity tracking. Used it so far for steps, cycling, swimming, running, strength training, open water rowing, hiking (My garmin instinct has a 24 day battery life which can do gps tracking for a long 20+ day hike without 2nd charge). Garmin connect is one hub for all my Garmin devices. Tracks activities which in my case currently is gym, steps, swimming, sleep, HR monitoring, O2, body battery (recovery from workouts). Can setup challenges for myself and friends. Have goals and track progress. I don't pay for any premium subscriptions. I would say it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes if you just want a simple health and wellness device. Garmin are built to withstand abuse and for training.