Customer Ratings & Reviews

I tried out many fitness bands in the past and I love my Vivoactive. It has many smart watch features and it really motivates me to get out and exercise. The GPS is fast to lock on (usually within a couple of seconds) and is very accurate. Battery life is amazing and I usually get a week and a half to 2 weeks on a charge. The watch is really comfortable to wear for long stretches of time because it is really light. It can easily be worn in professional settings without standing out. My only issue with the watch centers around the firmware on the watch itself (Garmin is improving this with each software update). The OS can be a little laggy when switching between screens and the watch sometimes has issues pairing with my iPhone 6+. After reading some online reviews I noticed some people online complaining about the watch screen can be a little hard to see in low light with the stock black background. I use the white clock background to make it easier to see in low light. You can change this under the clock settings.

I know it's not an Apple Watch, but this watch is so nice that it makes me want one. The kicker for me though is that the Apple Watch is not waterproof and costs twice as much and does not have built in gps, that was the final determining factors for me and my life-style, this one fits just right. Loving it so far. Happy shopping. Tried to get my wife talked into one but she thinks it is too big for her, wishes they had a woman's size.

I had a Samsung that broke twice in 5 months, was not water proof and fragile. The Garmin is more durable and is completely water proof. The step and sleep tracking are great.

I love my Garmin Vivo Active. It records my activities whether walking, hiking, running, cycling or swimming. When I'm done I download to my iPhone and get a detailed record of my activity details.

I have only had this for four days so far and it's working great. The screen is very clear and easy to read even without the backlight. The apps are very easy to upload to the Garmin and to remove. The only reason I didn't give this five stars is because it continues to fail in the system update due to lack of space. However, I have not plugged it into a computer to follow the help instructions yet.

I used to have a Fitbit but it doesn't even compare to thus Garmin. Out if the box it is extremely user friendly and takes no time to setup. It's great to be able to see whose calling or your emails without having to pull out your phone.

This is a great product and got my friend to buy it and he likes it too has helped with our train up got our first iron man

Wish it had more features. Face is smallish. It has not synced as well as it should. It was a good deal. I am hoping to dive deeper into the manual to figure this thing out.

I'm very specific with my reviews and grading scale so it's very difficult for me to hand out 5 stars. With that said, this watch is a good watch for the majority of the people out there who are considering this watch. Good... It calculates overall, every day steps well, has a ton of exercise option to track and has a pretty good software app and app store. It didn't have a timer on it originally, but you can download a number of different timer options in the app store itself. I coach 2 soccer teams and need the timer function for a number of drills and to keep track of game times. I've used it in pools and it works very well. I know it doesn't say waterproof, but it is waterproof. I've gone to the bottom of a 12' pool without a problem. It also works well with elliptical and treadmills. It also has a GPS function that woks well and connects quickly for runners. The battery life is fantastic. I know it says 3 weeks but I've consistently gotten 2 to 2.5 weeks without using the GPS function. I still think this is great. The notifications also work well. Whatever you have your phone setup to notify you of, the watch will do the same... pretty cool and simultaneously as well. Bad... it doesn't calculate steps when I'm cutting grass, grocery shopping or riding a stationary bike. For most people that won't matter, but I'm very particular and it's somewhat annoying when you are paying $250 for an activity tracker/watch and it doesn't calculate your steps for what seems to be pretty easy to calculate. In most cases, this will be a great watch that does more than you probably want it to do, however, it doesn't do a couple of thing specifically for me and it's somewhat annoying.

Usage: Smart notifications paired with a rooted Galaxy S4 running Android 4.3 Running - Average 30-45 minute runs outside using GPS. Summary: The Garmin Vivoactive is a really good watch. It's fairly straightforward for a tech-like mind to configure, customize, and use. The features on the watch are great for replacing an old GPS watch. I bought this to replace my old Garmin Forerunner 305. I would definitely suggest this watch to a friend if it weren't for one critical bug with bluetooth. GPS: You have two options in the watch. 1) You can always have the watch's GPS turned on, which supposedly monitors the GPS connection all the time and this may drain your battery a little faster. 2) You can leave the GPS "off" and only have the device search for a GPS signal when you start doing an outdoor activity. These include running, biking,swimming, golfing, or walking. I have been using the watch with the GPS turned "off" and have noticed it takes anywhere between 30 seconds to 1.5 minutes to find a GPS lock. If you're running with people who don't want to wait for you to get GPS lock, this may be annoying. The accuracy of the GPS seems to be pretty good and on par with the other Garmin sports watches. The watch finds a GPS signal a little bit faster than my old Garmin 305. Battery: The battery so far has been close to what they advertise. On average, while using the watch as a GPS running watch, the battery drains about 10% per hour. This jives with the advertised "10 hours with GPS". When the watch is just being used as a notification watch, it is a significantly slower drain. On average, I would lose about 4% of battery overnight. This translates to roughly 8 days worth of battery when on standby. This also assumes that the phone you use this with is always near it and you do not lose bluetooth sync. When not using the watch as a running device, turning off the external sensor (ANT+) connections reduces battery drain. I do wish they had an ANT+ option similar to the GPS where it would only turn on during an exercising event. Smart Notifications: The smart notifications are just that. Notifications. This is NOT a smart watch by any means if you expect to dive through your emails and look at what's going on. One thing that threw me off was when receiving e-mails. I would receive one e-mail on my gmail account. When this happened, watch would allow me to read the whole message. As soon as I receive a second e-mail, the ability to go through the e-mail is lost and the watch only displays the sender and the subject line. This may be due to a limitation of the Galaxy S4. It appears the watch mimics whatever notifications you have on your pull down bar. One slight gripe some users have with the watch is that you cannot dismiss notifications from the watch. You must pull out your phone and dismiss them on the phone for them to be removed from the watch. Calendar: The watch also has a calendar function. This vibrates the watch when you have a scheduled appointment. This works great and helps prevent missing meetings. Step Counter: Another thing this replaced was my fitbit flex. I took the fitbit flex, my Galaxy S4 with Samsung Walking Mate running, and the VivoActive to work one day to see how this watch fared against the other pedometers. The Vivoactive reported about 10% more steps than both the flex and the Walking Mate App. I would assume the app is the most accurate since it is sitting in my pocket the whole time and it is not on my wrist. In Garmin's vivofit fashion, they have incorporated the "move" bar on the vivoactive. This is a bar that fills and vibrates the watch if you are sitting for too long. This cannot be disabled. Some users find this annoying and others don't mind it. External Devices (ANT+) I have been using this flawlessly with the same heart rate monitor that came with the Garmin Forerunner 305. Part number: 010-10997-00. My only complaint is as mentioned before. I wish there was a way to disable ANT+ when not in an activity. Screen: A lot of users complain about the screen being useless inside. With the watch's black background and (I assume) e-ink display, it s nearly impossible to read the screen while indoors if you don't have a good source of light. The watch does have a back light which makes it easy to read. I don't think the screen is an issue if you use the backlight. The touch responsiveness of the watch is a good sensitivity. There are times where I must swipe twice for it to register a first swipe, but this is a minor issue. Vibration alert: The vibration alert can be turned on or off. There is no adjustment of the intensity. Some users complain that it is not strong enough. The vibration intensity seems to be good for me and it has helped notify me of calls when I couldn't feel my phone vibrate. Running Function: The running functions that are there on the Garmin Forerunner 305 are all there on the Vivoactive. Auto-lap, pace zones, heart rate zones, etc. When using the watch in a running mode, you can customize up to 3 data screens that have 3 data fields each. On the ConnectIQ store, there are customize-able fields that have displays such as "Beers earned" or "Animal speed". Once the GPS signal is found, you simply hit the button on the right of the watch. To stop, you hit the same button. It will then ask if you want to save or delete the run and if you save, it will automatically sync to your phone and push to Garmin Connect. Bluetooth: Up until this point, the watch has been a 4.5 star watch in my opinion, however the bluetooth instability kills it. If you go to the Garmin Connect Mobile app reviews on the Google Play store, or if you go to the Garmin Vivoactive forums, you will see a lot of users have the issue with the bluetooth connection. When I first got the watch, I had issues with bluetooth where the watch would not maintain a connection with the phone. This would vibrate the phone and it would NOT re-establish a connection with the phone. One forums user suggested I uninstall the app, clear my phone's cache, then re-install the app and sync with the watch. This has yielded good results and the watch does not randomly lose sync, but if I walk out of the range of the phone, the phone and watch will not re-connect. This is a major issue since it is advertised as a smartwatch and without this connection, the watch will not display any notifications.

Bought this watch to be able to use for multiple activities as well as for everyday use as activity monitor and smart watch. I have been perfectly happy after almost two months of everyday use. Step counter is accurate, battery life is at least 4 days depending on how much GPS activities are used, and notifications from smart phone works perfectly. Nice to be able to view a text on wrist rather than always having to pull phone out to read, can then decide if and when want to reply. I have used GPS on approximately 20 runs, very accurate and detailed in the information provided post-run. Connect app on phone is nice and provides a wealth of information for one to be able to incorporate into their personal training. Data from the run also easily syncs from Connect to Nike+, which I used previously for runs, so I can easily use that app also to compare to runs before using the watch without having to go back and forth between two apps. I have used the watch three times on the golf course, extremely accurate and much easier than using a smart phone app, as data is right there on your wrist. The only issues I have had is with the third-party applications (such as the different watch faces available to download). I have had issues when using these where they drain battery faster than normal, but this really isn't a Garmin issue as much as it is for the third-party developer. I have went back to the standard watch face without adding any third-party apps and battery will last 4-7 days or more and for at least four runs using GPS. A round of golf with GPS on the whole time uses significant battery to where it will need charged within a day or two of the round. The other issue is small, but there is no battery life indicator on the watch face, only displays when you go into system tools. Would be nice to see this on the home watch face. I have not used the swimming or biking apps, so I can't comment on those. I have worn watch in shower and ran in the rain, no issues with waterproof claims of watch. Display is somewhat dark when in low light, but bright and vibrant even in the brightest of sunlight outdoors. Would definitely recommend this watch for anyone looking for multi-sport watch as well as activity tracker in one unit. I added the heart rate strap for even more data from runs. I'm glad I decided to purchase this product after researching several others.

I needed a new watch and I also wanted to monitor my sleep as I am tired all of the time. Other watches with sports and sleep features might look as good as this or even better, but this watch runs over a week before I have to charge it. That was very important to me. I did not want a watch that I had to charge once or twice a day. The GPS function works great, but eats up the battery and you would have to charge at least once a day. Therefore, I keep my GPS function off except when I do specific exercises. The sleep function quickly showed me why I am so tired all of the time. I had not realized that I was moving that much all night long. Now I have something to show my doctor and see if there is anything to help me not move as much when I sleep. Another great function is the move function. As I was tying this, it vibrated and told me it was time to get up and move around a little. Great feature for an office worker to remind them to get up, move and stretch for a couple of minutes. The only problem I have with this watch is the dim display. Since it is so dim in the daylight, I thought it would be brighter in the dark. However, in the middle of the night, if I want to see what time it is, I have to turn on the light function and it is really bright in a dark room (to bright when it wakes up your spouse.) During the day, to get a good view of the screen, I usually have to turn on the light function. However, the battery still lasts over a week so this is not a problem. I have included pictures to show you the display with and without the backlight function.

I wanted to purchase the vivoactive watch for many reasons, but top on the list was to measure my swimming laps. Keep track of daily steps taken, as well as using the GPS when taking walks and measuring the distance. The notifications are nice too. But I do agree with the reviews I read before purchasing the Garmin vivoactive watch, it does not always automatically connect to my smart phone after it loses connection because of distance. I have trouble getting them to reconnect. I even had to go back to Best Buy for help with this but it seems to be a recurrent issue. One of the 'bugs' Garmin should work to fix. Overall I really enjoy owning the Garmin vivoactive watch and use it to help me stay motivated with my exercise program.

Happy with the Garmin. Tried the HR fitbit first,didn't do enough for me. I like that this watch is waterproof. Has a large face,but not too bulky. As a busy mom, it fits me well. Took awhile to how big the overall watch looked, since there is no difference for a man/woman, I found colored bands for the vivioactive on the Garmin website so I can make the watch alittle feminine. After a few weeks it stopped working,but I brought it back to Best Buy and they gave me a new one, no issues now. I like that you can download different apps and add ons online and they show up on the watch. Very happy. Like the 'fit' aspects..just like all the other watches, tracks steps, sleep, workouts. I like how it syncs with my phone so I can see who is calling or texts & emails.... The range from the phone & watch is not much, but it's just Bluetooth.... So they have to be close. Still a nice convenient bonus to see if it's something important without grabbing your phone. Battery life is great compared to the Fitbit....I charge it maybe once a week....maybe every 5 days or so. Felt like I was charging the fitbit every other day. Overall very happy with the watch and functionality of it!!! If your looking for a fitness watch but still just want a everyday watch, great choice!!

I like this watch for the functionality and light weight. The GPS works very well and putting apps on it and downloading data to your Connect acct is very easy. I have had the watch for a month and only charged it 2 times. I do wish it had a built in heart monitor but other than that I like it.

I did lots of research before I bought this watch. My criteria was simple, I wanted a watch that would help me track my activity, to include swimming, and do it accurately. Initially, I was not looking for a "smartwatch", but Garmin combined the activity tracker with a smartwatch that works well. I would buy this again, although I would like to see a heart rate monitor and a weight lifting activity app that can track the reps and weights.

I believe Garmin makes the best fitness trackers/watches! This watch is waterproof, has GPS, gets notifications from your phone, wakes me up in the morning, tracks steps, sleep, my exercise! It also connects to an ANT+ heart rate strap. Only reason I gave it 4 stars is because it didn't track my treadmill walks or runs accurately. To fix this I just bought the Garmin foot pod (a must if you want to track your mileage accurately). Now, I will be selling this watch when the Garmin Vivoactive comes out, only because I am interested in all day heart rate!!

Amazing product. Hits the mark in everything I want out of a sport watch/smart watch. GPS catches quick compared to other watches I have owned including: moto actv, ironman run trainer 2.0 (horrible!), garmin 305. Did a 4 mike run the other day, accurate within .5-.1 of the mile, often even better! Battery life is true to the specification. If it had is own music player that would make it even better! I wouldn't sacrifice battery life for that though. Integrates with phone fluidly and simply. So music is not a problem. If you have a big phone like me, just pick up a " running buddy " pouch and you will be set!

This is a great watch. First charging is simple and lasts many days. It provides notifications from your calendar events and messaging from your smart phone. The activity functions are easy. Great for swimming.

I love my Garmin Vivoactice, it's waterproof, has a GPS and tracks all sorts of different workouts. I like that I get notifications, text messages and phone calls that all come through on my watch.