Let talk about Garmin watches, esp Vivoactives

[campermom]

I have the Vivoactive HR and so love everything about it except the way it looks. It’s not feminine looking and I don’t wear it if I wear a dress or nice blouse to work.

I saw on my Garmin app that the 4s is 25% off.

I’m overwhelmed by all the comparisons. But I could go for the vivoactive 3, 4 or 4s.

I need running, running indoor, walking, strength, skiing and cardio (so that is probably on all of them). I don’t need actual workouts through the watch. I don’t really need music thru the watch bc I always have my phone on me during a run. I like all the health stats, step counts, heart rate, sleep tracker etc. I do need a strong enough battery for ultramarathons but I think they should all be fine—my HR was fine.

I think I want the 4s because it smaller.
Would you get white band or a pink band?

Also if there’s another Garmin option that you can think of that meets my needs please let me know.

[vcubergirl]

I have a 3 and I love it. I have the silver and black, so it's definitely more sporty looking, but my mom has the rose gold and it's so pretty!

[breezy8407]

I have a 3 - I've had it for almost two years. I noticed the battery life has been declining in the last few weeks. It seemed to coincide with an iOS update, but I can't be sure. Other than that, I love it and have been really happy with it. I use the optical HR when I run, and use a Wahoo chest strap for my other classes to get HR. It connects to that just fine.

Anyway, I have a white one, but I have coworkers who have the rose gold and its really nice looking.

[jene]

The vivoactive 3 is the worst watch I’ve ever owned. I went through several and finally had Garmin give me credit for a different watch. Do not recommend

[jaylea]

I have the rose gold Vivofit and I like it. It does as well as my Fitbit did in terms of tracking but does not use gps so I usually do map my run if running outside for better distance. It matches indoor treadmill really well. It doesn’t pick up on other activities but I can enter them.

I got it because I love how it looks and I get compliments all the time. It’s been a year and a half and still works well.

[Wines Not Whines]

I had a vivoactive 3, and it had a lot of problems. It would randomly shut off or restart in the middle of a run, it didn’t work well in cold weather, and it had other issues. I returned it after a month and got a Fenix 5s, which I love. I hope they’ve solved the problems with the Vivoactive by now (I got mine over 2 years ago). But based on my experience, I can’t recommend it.

[lilypad1126]

I just upgraded from the vivoactive 3 to the 4s about a month ago. The 4s fits my super small wrist so much better. Does all the same stuff as the 3, just fits better. I got the white one bc it was available immediately and I didn’t care enough to wait for the pink. Overall, Both watches did exactly what I needed, I just prefer the smaller one.

[campermom]

Apr 10, 2020 16:29:17 GMT -5 lilypad1126 said:

I just upgraded from the vivoactive 3 to the 4s about a month ago. The 4s fits my super small wrist so much better. Does all the same stuff as the 3, just fits better. I got the white one bc it was available immediately and I didn’t care enough to wait for the pink. Overall, Both watches did exactly what I needed, I just prefer the smaller one.

Does the white band show dirt at all?

[lilypad1126]

campermom, no, my white band doesn’t show dirt. I just wipe the band off after working out, and it’s still a nice white. I had white for my Vivoactive 3 and the band was still good as new 1.5 years later. So I felt confident getting another white one.