Garmin - vívosmart HR+

This is what I do when I want to wear a dressy watch. It looks more like a fitness devise and less like a watch. I have the vivosmart HR+. It was my first garmin before I upgraded.

I had a Fitbit originally too - it was really good at motivating me. that was maybe in the early 2000’s. Your Garmin options vary hugely if your only parameter is steps and HR - you can get a vivosmart 5 for about $120 at Amazon that will do that. (I started my Garmin “journey” after the Fitbit with the vivosmart HR+). Your best Garmin choice depends on other factors- budget, form factor (huge or small, screen type), other functions you want (mini ECG? Integrated flashlight (which I love)? HRV status?). I recommend going to the Garmin site, clicking on the menu (two lines) at top left, then smartwatches/products/all smartwatches. Then “filter and sort” and “shop by feature”. Try some different clicks and then “sort by price” and see what you like. My most motivating feature on a Garmin now that I run (slowly) is looking at my overall training load under “training status”. It looks like the Venu 4 has the training status feature, and a daily suggested workout for walking (which isn’t there on higher end models). Looks like it is also currently the cheapest option with integrated ECG (if you get palpitations and want to screen for atrial fibrillation). I would personally prefer the enduro 3 right now because of the MIP screen (which are being left behind in most models), but that costs more and wouldn’t have the walking workouts for you. It also has a different aesthetic. https://www.garmin.com/en-US/c/wearables-smartwatches/?sorter=price-asc¤tPage=1 in

I'm in the same boat as you. I wish Garmin had a ring or band or something like that. Vivosmart or vivofit are as close as it gets. I actually just ordered a vivosmart yesterday that I'm going to change the band on to something that won't grab the cuff of my dress shirts like silicone. I'm tired of my Fenix ruining the cuffs of my dress shirts and also having a nice watch sitting at home unworn.

I actually ended up getting a vivosmart to wear on R wrist that’s a little more discreet. On non workout days or when the epix is charging I’ll wear it with my mechanicals.

I’ll be the first to admit it’s not perfect, you do have to sync to the Connect app. But if you do it right, your step tracking, health metrics, and sleep metrics should be OK! I would just not recommend the vivosmart for running without your phone since it lacks its own GPS.

I was a big fan but the more training I do the more I realize that it mostly confirms what I already know. If it says I slept poorly and HRV is low, it's probably because I slept poorly and don't feel up for a big workout. At this point I probably don't need it, but I keep it on my wrist anyways. The biggest benefit I've found is that it can help alert you when things are going pear shaped. If you're usually at like a 42 HRV, and it starts dipping consistently, then it may be time to change something or you may be getting sick or something like that. I noticed my spO2 was dropping and my breath rate was up and it turned out that I was in the early stages of pneumonia. Anyways, I use an apple watch and the metrics are fed into coachcat, but I may dabble in athlytic soon. The apple sensors are the best but apple health doesn't really give you actionable info with their home app. Garmin has usually been mediocre for me (735xt and vivosmart bands) while fitbit was actually really good (luxe was a nice compact band).

This is what I do. I have a Garmin Fenix as my sports watch and switch to the Vivosmart when I am wearing my Speedy.

I have the vivosmart, its sleep tracking is crap. Doesn't the Fenix do sleep tracking as well?

I use the garmin vivosmart to track my resting HR. I can't imagine paying a subscription for that data.

This is super useful. Been comparing devices for a while and the Oura bias is real but the HRV data is actually solid. What surprises me is how bad Garmin is at wake detection. 27% for Vivosmart is brutal. I track with Fitbit and the nocturnal HRV has been pretty consistent but now wondering if I should look at Oura for better sleep staging. Anyone here switched from Fitbit to Oura and noticed actual differences in actionable data?

My old Garmin vivosmart definitely does not wait ten minutes. I had the alert set too low and it would go off within a minute of standing.