![]() It falls short of a dedicated Forerunner by neglecting to add more advanced details such as VO2 Max or recovery details, but for most runners, it's a decent set of metrics. When running, tracking is a fairly standard affair: you get pace, cadence, heart rate and the obvious pace/distance data. Most of the other modes ape these features, and those modes are most important in terms of making comparisons and testing accuracy. We'll get through testing as many of the different modes as possible in due course, but for the purpose of this review, we're sticking to running, swimming and golf. Very few of the modes are just standard stopwatches.Īside than sports tracking there's also a host of smart functionality, with the watch able to show notifications from your smartphone, as well as some limited connected features such as weather forecasts on the wrist. You get pace, distance, HR and cadence for running, but also ascent for skiing, distance for indoor running. It's an incredible list – and there's a surprising amount of data involved in each mode. The full list includes: Run, bike, pool swim, golf, walk, row, SUP (paddle board) ski, XC ski, run indoor, bike indoor, walk indoor and row indoor. Tapping any of these menus gives you an extra detailed view, so for resting heart rate – for example – you get a seven day average when you tap for more.įor sports, you press the right-hand button at the bottom of the watch, and the list appears. You get an overview of your day followed by steps, intensity minutes, last sport completed, weather report, notifications and heart rate over the last four hours including resting HR. ![]() The Vicoactive HR uses a touchscreen, and you can swipe down through the daily activity and notifications menus. There's a flick gesture to switch on the backlight, which can be turned on in the settings and which works about 50% of the time – this can make the watch irritating to use in the dark. ![]() By default this is set on 3/10 and you can adjust it, although there's no real need. It's fairly hard to read, especially as the display defaults to a dull power saving mode until you interact with the watch, which will fire up the backlight. To put that in context, most smartwatches are at least 300 x 300. It's colour (just about) and features a low 205 x 148 pixel resolution. Garmin's recent strategy has been to sacrifice screen quality and brightness in favour of longer battery life, which goes a long way to explain the Vivoactive's lacklustre display. It's also "water resistant" to 5ATM (around 50m), which always adds a bit of bulk. It's pretty thick and long, housing the heart rate monitor at the rear and a fairly sizeable battery. When you look a little closer, changes to the Garmin Vivoactive HR become apparent. Is it just us that refuses to be defined by this plastic obelisk? It's supposed to be the ultimate, everyday watch of the people. We just don't get the logic of why the Vivoactive has to be so… bland. The new Vivoactive HR's design is at least more normal – but it's still a hunk of lifeless black plastic. Read this: The best smartwatches on the planet It's dated badly too, and the design actually makes us feel a little queasy in retrospect. Our biggest issue with the first Vivoactive was the design – it was possibly the dullest, least stylish black square ever created. The kind of person who goes on a morning run, hacks 18 holes on the golf course in the afternoon and takes a Sunday walk with the family.īut is Garmin's new everyday sports watch the perfect watch for you? We've put the Vivoactive HR to the test to find out what it can really do. It's the unashamed jack-of-all-trades for the weekend warrior. The Vivoactive HR is a Forerunner, Swim, Approach, Fenix and Edge all in one watch, at least to a certain degree. Not to mention cross country skiing, indoor cycling, indoor running, indoor rowing and more.Įssential reading: Garmin Vivoactive 3 review Running, cycling, golf, swimming, fitness tracking, smartwatch notifications and heart rate: they're all here. Across Garmin's huge range of specialist sports wearables, the Vivoactive HR is the only watch designed to do it all, and bring all those disparate modes together in one fitness watch. ![]() The Garmin Vivoactive HR is the company's second stab at a big all-rounder sports-focussed smartwatch.
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