Garminvívosmart® 5, Fitness Tracker, Long-Lasting Battery, Simple Design, Black

TL;DR — This is a great basic fitness tracker which, with a little extra effort on your part, can be turned into a shockingly robust data collection device, comparable to much more powerful and expensive units. When combined with the Garmin Connect app, which IMO is the best fitness data collection app out there (and 100% free, no paywall), you’ve got a real powerhouse system.My review will cover some tips for how to get the most out of the device, as well as one annoying bug fix. I hope all of this is helpful to you!ABOUT ME AND MY PARAMETERS: I am a daily cyclist and I also do strength training 2-3 times a week. I do not want or need to use my full-function Garmin head unit on every ride, and I also wanted to track my weight workouts; but there are not many (affordable) products which can effectively track both things in the same place(s). I was not interested in the overkill of the ubiquitous fruit-logo company's watch, and I did not have the money for any of the larger Garmin watches. But researching the vivosmart5 gave me hope that I could manipulate its default functionalities into a tracker robust enough to compete with much, MUCH more expensive devices, and I have — so here are a bunch of use-case tips (and a few bug fixes) which I hope are helpful to you too.Out of the box, the vivosmart5 is a great little fitness tracker — unbelievably accurate HR readings, extremely detailed and effective sleep tracking, custom settings for motivation (can remind you to hydrate or to get up and move, etc), bare-bones fitness effort data collection, super fast charging and long battery life, water/sweat proof, and easy to clean.For default effort tracking, you can click through little preset activity recording functions and get rudimentary data such as “bike ride, X minutes, top/avg heart rate X/X bpm,” or “weight workout, X minutes, X reps, top/avg heart rate X/X bpm,” or just a simple “walk/run, X minutes, X steps.”And all of that is awesome, particularly because the app (which, again, is 100% FREE, no paywall) is one of the strongest fitness data collection apps out there. So even just these minor collections of data are compiled into an easy-to-read daily/weekly/monthly/yearly format showing areas in which you can improve, or just giving you the knowledge you need to evaluate your efforts for your intended results.Plus it can sync with other apps, such as Strava, Ride With GPS, or even the fruit company’s default Health and Fitness apps.BUT, here’s what it can really do. Let’s start with cycling (and probably running, too). The vivosmart5 does not have its own GPS, but you can pair it with the Garmin Connect app on your phone and it will use your phone's GPS. So now instead of just “bike ride, X minutes, top/avg heart rate X/X bpm,” you’ll get a breakdown in the app which is much more like a proper head unit’s data, including a map of your effort with multiple overlay choices, total distance, moving time versus total time, elevation — practically everything other than cadence and power-meter based stuff. That’s … HUGE for a sub-two-hundred-dollar fitness tracker.And for strength training? The vivosmart5 will automatically count your reps (not always super accurate, but you can adjust that right on the watch face itself during rest periods), and if you attend to your sets by starting/stopping them on the watch face, you’ll end up with a loose dataset at the end of your workout, which you can THEN go through item-by-item in the app and flesh out by choosing the exercise type and the weight/resistance. Now instead of “weight workout, X minutes, X reps, top/avg heart rate X/X bpm,” you’ll have a full breakdown of your effort, including a little illustrated human figure showing the muscle groups worked (primary and secondary).As you can see, and as I’ve said before in this review, you must do some of the work here. But to me, this little extra effort is worth the huge price difference between this and even the lowest-price-point Garmin GPS watch, especially because when you do these things, the Garmin Connect app will begin to give you comparative points, awards for accomplishments, and other things that it would normally only do when you’re using much more expensive Garmin devices.It is not without its faults, though, and in the interest of full disclosure, here you go.1 - An annoying bug fix! Because the vivosmart5 does not have a lot of RAM or a very powerful chip, you’re going to need to restart it every once in a while, especially if you’re really pushing its functionality, as I do. In fact, if you DON’T restart it every once in a while, it will do some weeeiiird buggy stuff when recording GPS-based efforts. Sometimes it will randomly record your speed at several THOUSAND miles an hour. Sometimes it will add your current distance to an old ride and record the whole thing as a new ride. It can get wonky, but I’ve solved this by simply turning the watch off and then on again before every ride (takes 30 seconds) — I have not had a single problem since I began doing that.2 - The band’s buckle and keeper loop are positioned to the outside of the wrist, meaning that when you write or type, you’re resting your wrist on this uncomfortable little knob. I almost returned it on day one because of this but then I realized that you can reverse the band — just pop the actual watch unit out, turn the band around the other way, and put the watch unit back in. Now the buckle and loop keeper are on the inside face of the wrist, and no more problem.3 - It has a proprietary charging cable. COME ON, MAN, REALLY?Even with a few little annoyances, I am a full-time proselytizer and apologist for this little device. It is unobtrusive and bare-bones, but contains so much potential and power that you’d never know it. I really hope this helps you because I’ve found a huge amount of value in this little device. Why spend almost five hundred bucks when you can … NOT?

For such a premium price, I was very disappointed in its performance. I could initially deal with the very tiny screen and overly complicated navigation....not very user friendly but I accepted that with what I was told was the top of the line in fitness trackers. Then, after only a couple of days, I started having problems. The tracker started having great difficulty connecting and staying connected to the app. Half the features suddenly were no longer working. Sleep tracking was off. Step tracking was wildly inaccurate. Battery would only stay charged for two days. The alarm would no longer work....and when it finally did the last morning I had it, I could not shut it off and it vibrated until the battery went dead. Never heard a word from customer service. Garmin seems to be overpriced with underperformance in the fitness tracking industry these days.

The Garmin fitness tracker shipped immediately and was delivered within 24 hours of placing my order. It was packaged nicely to avoid any damage. I had a five year old Garmin of a previous model and the wrist band broke after 5 years. The tracker was still working but the band was not replaceable. This was very easy to set up and has some fun new features from the last model

My health plan has a wellness benefit which requires a fitness tracker, with the two compatible options basically being FitBit and Garmin. Having owned four fitbits and becoming sick of their issues, I decided to try Garmin. And so far I am much happier. If you're unaware, these trackers generally come with a 1-year warranty, and with four fitbits I found a strikingly consistent pattern of them becoming completely non-functional in the 14-17 month timeframe. Right on schedule for you to buy a new one is undoubtedly how fitbit views this (if they aren't actively breaking their trackers via updates after the warranty period has passed). Also, the fitbit charge 2 was basically released to the public almost completely broken, with massive syncing issues that weren't fixed for almost 6 months after release (and customer service s non-existent).Lest this review start sounding like one for fitbit (which it kind of is) I am month 15 with the Garmin and it has not had any issues whatsoever. Syncs effortlessly with garmin app every time. No data loss. The display is bright and readable even in strong sunlight. The band is original and sill in great shape (fitbit owners are taking note of all these points). The tracker is waterproof so you can swim with it. Battery life is right around 1 week (I generally sync about once a day, not keeping my phone's bluetooth on 24/7, which helps battery life for both tracker and phone). The sleep tracking, calorie tracking, and heart rate tracking are fine (tends to read a bit low on my heart rate when doing serious workouts). One of the bigger drawbacks is that the gyrometer is pretty strict about what motion gets tracked as a "step." Anything apart from the front-to-back swaying motion of your arm while walking is unlikely to get tracked. So, a decent amount of steps mowing the lawn or using a shopping cart or doing martial arts (for examples) don't get tracked. Overall, this is a good tracker and I feel like garmin is not selling products that it plans to break just after the warranty expires. Garmin owners often report having their trackers for several years or more, which will make me a loyal customer if so, because the tracker has all the features I want at a competitive price and is good quality.

Ive had this watch for almost a year and this watch has been great for what I wanted it for. Its simple and easy to use. After a full charge, the battery will last me 5-6 days. Its comfortable (i even sleep in it to track my sleep habits) and not overly big like some other name brand watches. Quality is great, not cheap feeling. Would buy again if this ever goes out on me.