10.5.2019

Over the years I’ve tried a number of heart rate monitors to use during exercise, and I’ve ended up using Wahoo for walking and indoor rowing and Garmin for cycling. I recently started swimming again and wanted a heart rate tracker for that, and also liked the idea of consolidating my data into a single app. Since the Garmin Edge I have was quite expensive, and I like the Connect app, it seemed most sensible to go with them.I didn’t want to spend a fortune, or to replace my watch, so my choice came down to a straight shootout between the Vivosmart 4 and the Vivosport. I went for the Vivosport because this has GPS and I felt that would be more useful than the blood oxygen measurements that the Vivosmart offers.In pictures, the Vivosmart 4 looks much nicer than the Vivosport, but in real life I think there’s little to choose between them looks-wise.So, feature by feature, here’s what I think.GPS exercise tracking: Seems to report distance more accurately than my Wahoo HRM\Nokia phone combo and calorie use is much more consistent when doing comparable walks. GPS only takes a few seconds to locate satellites and hasn’t lost them so far. Heart rate recorded tends to be different any any given point but the average and maximum are always close.Non-GPS exercise tracking: When compared during several indoor rides using my Bkool Smart Pro 2 turbo trainer and Garmin HRM, the results are surprisingly close for calories used, which is impressive since I think the trainer calculates this on watts measured at the rear wheel and the Vivosport must use metrics based on heart rate. Again, the HRM and wrist band will usually show a slightly different BPM at any given point but the max and average are very close.All day heart rate: Harder to test this, but when doing a number of manual checks over several days the heart rate has always been spot on, even when it’s seemed to be reporting unusually high or low rates.Step counting: I don’t have an alternative step counter, and my instinct is that the Vivosport records more steps than I actually take, but I’ve done many manual checks up to 100 steps and haven’t managed to catch it out, so it only seems fair to accept this as accurate.Floors ascended: It doesn’t always pick these up, if I run or creep up the stairs, or even walk up slowly carrying a drink, it’s likely to miss these. On the other hand, if I stomp assertively upstairs it’s pretty good. It rarely picks up the descent.Stress: I have no means of measuring this objectively, but subjectively it seems reasonable. Generally speaking if I’m in a meeting or driving the car the Vivosport will show me being more stressed than if I’m sitting in the garden or watching TV. The only exception I’ve found so far is that it tends to show me being more stressed after exercise.Sleep tracking: My initial thoughts were that this was pretty poor, but it seems to have improved over time. When I first got it it was reporting that I was asleep when I was definitely awake (for instance, while I was walking home) but lately it at least seems to be able to tell when I’m in bed even if it can’t distinguish between reading and sleeping.Phone integration: I’m on Android and this works well, no problem with bluetooth audio controls or message notifications and synching to the Connect app takes very little time.Screen: The interface is surprisingly useable given the size of the screen, and information is clear and readable. The touch functionality works well.Battery and charging: Only one screen shows charge otherwise you have to drill into the menus. All I can really say is that the battery lasts at least several days with a small amount (1hr\day) of GPS use, perhaps up to a week without. Charging is quick but the cable is proprietary Garmin one, which is a shame.It turns out that you can’t use the Vivosport to measure heart rate in the pool, which is a disappointment. I’ve read and re-read Garmin’s advertising stuff and I can’t find this anywhere but there is a disclaimer in the Connect app. I’m going to try it anyway, as it’s definitely waterproof!Overall, I’m pretty impressed.

22.12.2017

I've been using this for a while now and overall, it's quite an impressive little device and an improvement on the Vivosmart HR+ that i've used before.When I opened the box, I was surprised by how small the device was, they've managed to fit quite a bit of technology into a very small package, however, because the device is so small, the screen is small too at roughly 2x1cm. Set up was very easy, you just follow the instructions on the screen and I had it up and running in no time. The touchscreen works well too you just swipe up and down to scroll through and long press to access the activity options and all the other settings. Although the screen is small, it is easy to see, but when out running,it can be a bit tricky to see exactly what you pace is for example, i've had to take a closer look on quite a few occasions.Activity use - I've used the device mainly for running and GPS and heart rate performance are both pretty good and comparable to other wrist based heart rate and GPS trackers like the Polar M430. To start a run you can select either indoor or outdoor, I run outdoors so I selected that option, it then locates the GPS satellites. On the first use, it took about 5 minutes to locate the GPS signal which was a real pain, however, after on subsequent runs, it gets a GPS fix quickly, usually within 10 to 20 seconds which was ok. You have to 'double tap' the screen to start and end an activity, and sometimes it doesn't register this and your left tapping away furiously until it recognises and you can then start your run!Only having 2 data options per screen is very limited though and you'll find yourself scrolling through regularly if you're interested in monitoring multiple data sets, if you're a serious runner, this is probably not the device for you. However, if you're a casual runner, this is a really good option. It is small, comfortable, accurate and easy to use and will work for other activities like cycling and the gym where it will monitor reps using weights etc. It will even estimate your VO2 max which was good.I was kindly given the device by Amazon to write an impartial review and I received the 'small' size. I thought it was not going to fit, but it fits fine, there's not much left of the strap when i've got it on, but it does fit ok. The strap is nice and flexible and too which makes it comfortable to have on all of the time. Unlike the vivoactive HR+ that I used to have, this device does away with the button, you just access everything through the touchscreen which was good, but you can't turn it off from what I can see which was a bit annoying.Uploading runs/activities is easily done via the Garmin Connect app which works perfectly fine once you've got your device connected via bluetooth, and you can automatically upload activities to Strava etc if required.Pros - it's nice and small and light, GPS and heart rate are accurate, touchscreen works ok (most of the time!), estimated VO2 max.Cons - Only 2 data values per screen, starting and ending activities is sometimes hit and miss, the screen is quite small and difficult to see sometimes when running.Overall - i've enjoyed using this for running. It is just as accurate GPS and HRM wise compared to other wrist based HRM devices i've used, and it's comfortable to use. Just wish the screen was a tiny bit bigger and starting and ending activities was a bit easier, other than that, this is a great activity tracker.

28.5.2020

I moved to the Garmin Vivosport from a Fitbit Charge 3. The Charge 3 was about 18 months old and the display had started to deteriorate with black bars appearing across the top (dead pixels). I used it for exercise tracking, sleep tracking and smartwatch duties.Rather than simply replace it with another Fitbit Charge 3, I decided to look at what I liked and what I didn't like about the Fitbit Charge 3 over 18 months of use and then look for the best alternatve option. In summary my new fitness tracker should, ideally, have the following features:- Five or more days of battery life- An always on display which can also be viewed in sunlight- A small form factor- Under £200- Basic music controls-Accurate HR and Step tracking- Waterproof- Proven companion phone appAfter lots of research (there are so many options) I eventually ruled out another Fitbit Charge 3 or Charge 4 as both have terrible displays in bright sunshine and no always on option. I also ruled out a 38mm Apple Watch 3 due to its embarassingly poor battery life and no always on display and the 40mm Apple Watch 5 for it's even worse battery life (come on Apple - surely you can improve on around 18 hours of battery on your 5th attempt) and its high cost. I ruled out the Amazfit Fit Bip as they are too big for my tastes and I didn't like the look of the phone app. I finally ruled out the Fitbit Versa 2 which is also too big in my opinion and also, if the always on display is used, its battery life is poor.With the Garmin Vivosport I think I have made the right decision - here's the pluses and minuses, bonus features and my conclusion:PLUS POINTS:+ Display, whilst small, is perfectly readable in all lights including direct sunshine+ Display is always on+ All Tracking tested so far seems accurate+ After a bit of familiarisation it is very easy to use+ Music controls work well+ Phone App is proven and comprehensive+ Lightweight, small and non-blingy+ Good Battery Life (4+ days)+ Works as a smartwatch - current time, date, timers, notifications etc.MINUS POINTS:- The strap, whilst comfortable, has a reputation for fragility (I will try to take care of it!)OTHER THINGS (bonus features):+ Built in GPS+ Records VO2 Max to help measure overall fitness+ Find my phone feature (Garmin to Phone)+ Find my device feature (Phone to Garmin)+ Stress Recording (Time will tell if this is useful!)CONCLUSION:This is a no-nonsense fitness tracker which will also double up as a smart watch. It is not flash or blingy. It does everything it is supposed to do well. It comes from a reputable brand and is (mid-2020) now available for less than £100.Remember all this tech we wear these days quickly becomes out-of-date... they are, unlike traditional watches, consumables with batteries that usually cannot be replaced so they also come with a quite limited shelf-life. For this reason I have never understood the desire to spend £400-£1000+ on some of Apple's more expensive offerings.If the strap lasts for 12-24months, this Garmin Vivosport will have been a very good purchase. I will try to remember to update this review in the future to keep you posted.

20.9.2017

Update: I've finally figured out how to find out how much battery life is remaining: Double tap to unlock; Press and hold; Swipe down to get to settings; Tap settings; Swipe up 3 times to get to the spanner; tap again to enter; swipe down twice for "about"All the info is there, why not make it available on the more detailed phone screen? Fail.Oh, and regarding the sleep tracking: the Jawbone is much more accurate. This thinks you're asleep if you're just lying still. If you're the sort of person who has to get up for a pee in the middle of the night, it records that movement as awake, but doesn't subtract it from total sleep.Battery life, 4 days or so, with GPS on,well under a day.I've had a couple of Garmin products in the past, I still use an Edge Touring for cycling. I thought they're bound to have improved the user interface for this product.Why do I never learn?On the plus side, it arrived promptly, it's neat and unobtrusive. There isn't a huge amount of information on display, but the phone app allows you to see much more information, and drill down into the detail. That bit's quite good, really, better than the Jawbone Up3 I've been using for the last 18 months.I unpacked it, the supplied easy start documentation is about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike, so a short couple of hours later, I had it (mostly) working. It took until today and a visit to the support forum to figure out how to change the time zone from the default, which appears to be US Eastern standard. Why not just UTC? I could live with that. Oh, and yet another type of USB charger. Which I challenge anyone to plug the full size USB "A" connector into a mobile phone, as instructed by Garmin .I took it out for a dog walk this morning. It took several minutes to find satellites, so long it goes into auto power save, so you have to wake it up again. Fortunately, that seemed to be just the first time, and it locates in 30 seconds or so thereafter. Still pretty slow compared to my Samsung phone. On a walk, it was set to auto pause. It does this if you stop for more than two seconds or so, and has a vibrate alert to tell you it's done so. And again to tell you it's back into track mode. So stopping to pick up the dog's ball and throw it starts to get quite wearing. Again, it took quite some time to figure out how to turn this off (in the app).The sleep tracking is good, again you need to use the app to get the detail. I don't know how well it'll work in with the Edge in the Connect PC app, but I'll update this when I find out.It also works with My fitness pal and Strava.Overall, pleased so far. I'd really have like a replaceable strap after my experiences with the Jawbone Up3, but hey! Superglue is cheap.

24.12.2017

Because I spend most of my work day sitting in one place either in front of a computer or in very long meetings, I don't tend to move around during work hours as much as I should do. I do exercise in my spare time, but my work day is quite sedentary and if the weather's not nice, or I can't find the motivation to exercise, that can often extend itself into the evening. In short, I've been aware for a while now that I need to make a change to my daily routine and this Vivosport activity tracker, made by Garmin, is actually having the desired effect and making me do just that.Firstly, it has a digital watch as its main display. That's not the main selling point of course,

31.1.2018

I tested this Garmin Vivosport by comparing it to my Garmin Vivoactive HR GPS Smart Watch and my wife's Fitbit Blaze Smart Activity Tracker and Fitness Watch. I still slightly prefer my Vivoactive HR because of its larger screen and longer battery life, but if you want a compact and subtle activity tracker with a simple interface and all the key features for a good price, this Vivosport is a great option. My wife has now started using this instead of her Fitbit Blaze as she much prefers it now!Here are the details:THE GOOD:==========* Subtle and comfortable to wear all the time - not too clunky or heavy on the wrist.* A user-friendly and intuitive touch interface that's easy to learn.* It locks onto a GPS signal really quickly when outdoors.* Lots of built-in exercise options (running,

9.6.2018

Update at 24 months: Battery life still good but now really showing signs of wear and tear. Below screen, the under colour (yellow in my case) is showing through the black case. The retaining loop for the excess strap fell off but otherwise still in daily use.Update at 12 months: Some surface wear from daily use. Lasting about a week between charges. HR still useless for any fitness due to false reading for first 10 mins of session.Update:. Still going strong 6 months in. The HR inaccuracy is still there despite Garmin "updating" it. The Bluetooth works fine and I have now locked the screen to stop inadvertantly making inputs.I have had a Vivosmart HR for a long time; so long in fact I had replace the strap which broke eventually.

18.2.2018

OK so first things first before I sing this things praises, I bought this as a replacement for my old vivosmart hr to be a 24/7 tracker with the ability to track impromptu runs, walks or rides.That being said this is the perfect upgrade from a vivosmart hr. It's a lot sleeker meaning it's perfect to wear as an accessory on the opposite wrist to a traditional wristwatch. This does mean that the screen is pretty small but most of the time all I need to display is steps so I don't really suffer for it. Wrist based HR is consistent and reasonably accurate when matched to a chest strap.The GPS works well but does sometimes take a while to find Sats. I've had a couple of times take 2 mins to fix (compared to my 735xt which fixes instantly).

11.10.2019

I was looking for a watch with a wrist based HRM that did all the standard stuff, but also had GPS and didn't look hideously ugly for every day use. The Vivosport ticked all my boxes and intrigued me enough with its stress monitoring that I went for it.Having owned it for over a year, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, especially at its current price.In terms of what it monitors as standard, it does a pretty good job. I'm not totally convinced about the stress monitoring, and the sleep gets a bit confused sometimes, but unless you really want to monitor those things strictly, it does a good enough job to give you an idea. The app will occasionally award you a badge for the first time you do 50 flights of stairs in a day,

5.2.2019

I don’t do reviews but on this occasion I had too. 4 weeks ago I bought a Garmin Vivosport Smart Activity Tracker, mainly because I’m middle aged and overweight and wanted to start some regular gentle exorcise, sort of ease myself back into fitness. I became quite obsessed with the tracker because the downloaded app kinda spells everything for me nice and clear. Anyway for 2 weeks my heart rate was a consistent 65 to 75 beats per minute. After two weeks I noticed that I was feeling a faint fluttering of the heart now and again. When this happened, I checked with the app and could see that my heart rate had jumped to around 145bpm, this is well outside the normal range. My beats per minute (bpm)

6.2.2018

I'm familiar with Garmin products after using them for some years now. I have had previous models of this type of activity tracker and I like how they work and how easy they are to use. Each time Garmin bring out a new one there is a new step change in what they can do.This one has all the features that you would expect - tracks steps, floors climbed, calories burned, intensity minutes and sleep but it also has wrist-based heart rate monitoring and GPS. The GPS capability is surprising in a slim tracker like this. GPS-enabled activities include walking, running and biking plus cardio, and strength training.The display is colour and always on, it doesn't glare like some electronic watches and it's low power consumption makes it more practical.

24.7.2018

Had my eye on this for a while and got it on Prime day (Thanks Amazon).I am used to wearing Titanium watch bands and like them to be super loose so swapping to this is a bit weird. I have it just tight enough to stop it moving about and all the functions work fine. I do have a bit of an itchy patch under part of the strap but think that is down to not being used to this material and having the band tighter. I put a tiny bit of cream on in morning and that tends to settle it down.The Garmin App is brilliant, really useful data on sleep patterns and calories burned.The screen is pretty small but is clear and easy to read. You have limited customisation to the watch face which is nice.I got this mainly because it’s waterproof (swim proof)

1.1.2018

Connected to a Samsung S5 straight away using the app. (do NOT try and connect using the Bluetooth connection process, if you do it will NOT talk to the app). Once connected the unit carried out a software update, again with no problems. The app has been updated a couple of times since October and in my opinion is now pretty good.I have been wearing this 24/7 (apart for charging about once a week) since October with no problems. It takes showers, rain & swimming without issues.The GPS takes a while to connect up the first time so start it up before going outside to begin your activity. (my Forerunner is the same) The distance measured is about 100m different to my Garmin Forerunner 305 which does not record the same distance as Runtastic on my phone.

11.3.2018

A small, light-weight activity tracker with built-in GPS means that the vivosport truly can be worn 24/7. First impressions are generally positive out of the box. Made from a rubber strap it features a touch screen (colour). Set-up was easy using the Garmin Connect app.PROS:-Light (24g) and fairly comfortable.-Built-in HR.-Good battery life.-Accurate GPS.-Smart notifications.-Always on display.CONS:-Small screen-Lack of on-screen data during activities.-Difficult to pause run due to no physical buttons.-Rep counting isn’t always accurate.-Sleep tracking could be better.I took the unit out for a run and it was comparable to my Garmin FR935 with GPS being pretty much on-par.

3.2.2018

I am very impressed with this watch and the accompanying app from Garmin.Battery life is impressive and it takes no time to charge, the interface is friendly even in the app (which I've read some people saying it's not easy to use... It is....)THe GPS is totally fine where I have used it aquiring a signal in less than 2 seconds each time (for real). Perhaps others have been trying to use it in high rise areas or something? But it's totally fine in the mountains where I live.The activity tracking modes are easy to use and effective.The linking in with 'My Fitness Pal' is seamless and allows calorie logging real easily.The device is water proof, and very slim line.

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