Kim

19 de agosto de 2026

Love me a Garmin

I've been using Garmin for running for years now. They've improved a lot! This one does everything I need and more. I like the body battery, sleep info. The 5 syncs up to GPS much faster than my 4 to run or walk. I love the music, however, my headphones sometimes disconnect to the watch while running. Not sure if it's the headphones or the watch. It's pretty easy to use if you've had one before. It has changed on the strength where you hit the bottom button vs tapping the watch to enter weight/reps (don't have to do that anymore, not that it was a problem). Overall I'm super satisfied. Can see it better as well with the new display.Ver más

5 personas la encontraron útil

LDRB

1 de agosto de 2026

Finally found the Fitness Watch that works as advertised!

I have tested numerous “smart watches” in my quest to find a decent replacement for my ever faithful and reliable, Fitbit Versa 4. I purchased it almost four years ago to replace the original Fitbit Versa. But then Google took over Fitbit, and I was looking for a reliable alternative to the Fitbit products. I tried a Samsung Galaxy watch 7 that lost steps by the thousands each day. I tried an Apple Smart Watch that sometimes had to be charged more than once EVERY DAY! I tried a Parsonver (less expensive) but even though it was advertised and labeled IP 68, (indicating that it would withstand submersion in water) I actually received an email from the company before the watch was even delivered advising me to be careful even showering or washing my hands with it on! SERIOUSLY???? And the step counts were not even close to correct! Then I tried an Amazfit BIP6 (also advertised as IP 68, but clearly IS NOT) and thought I had finally found what I was looking for, until it completely malfunctioned after only 3 weeks of use. So Amazon replaced it with ANOTHER BIP6, and that one lasted almost 5 months before it began to seriously malfunction and the touchscreen no longer worked. So my new search began and I decided to give Garmin a try as my walking and swimming buddies swear by their Garmins, and the results that they get with them compare favorably to my old Fitbit. I have now only had the Garmin Vivoactive 5 for about a month, but so far, it is AWESOME! It tracks extremely well with the Fitbit, and I have had no issues whatsoever with water infiltration. If that changes, I will be back to downgrade my rating, but so far, so GREAT! This proves that you don’t have to buy the most expensive models of ANY brand of fitness watch to find one that does what you need it to do. Most of them have more functions than you will ever need or use anyway. I bought separate, different color bands to customize it and love that you have a lot of choices for watch faces, so pick the one that works best for you! (Although - once again, Fitbit has a much better and more user friendly watch face selection portal!)The one potential “glitch” I thought I had finally discovered with my Vivoactive 5, but which turned out not to be an issue, occurred when I was flying internationally. I was returning from Europe to the US on an evening flight where the time in the US was six hours earlier. So both my FITBIT and my Garmin thought that when enough flight time had elapsed, they went past midnight and started their metrics over as a new day - meaning steps completely zeroed out and started over. But not long after I landed at 7 pm US time, my Fitbit picked back up with the previous day’s step tally, but my Garmin still showed the reduced step count tallied as a “new day”. I was disappointed with this until I checked the metrics in the Garmin app and noted that the “two day tallies” indicated on the watch itself were actually (appropriately!) counted and displayed as a single day step counts in the app. So yes, I am sold on the Garmin. But I do still have to wonder why if FITBIT - even early versions - could have successfully addressed ALL of the issues I have found with so many competitor brands, why can’t all the others? Maybe I shouldn’t have been so wary of Google taking over Fitbit when I started investigating other Smart watches, but I learned a lot about different brands and their bogus IP 68 and 5 ATM ratings!So to reiterate, Garmin is exactly what it says it is, and Fitbit is as well. Do your comparisons!Ver más

13 personas la encontraron útil

Jared King

17 de agosto de 2024

The best fitness tracker I've used

I'm coming from an Apple Watch Series 5. I had gotten frustrated with the battery life and sleep tracking and wanted to see if a more fitness-focused watch would be a better fit. I'm not a big runner or someone who does a lot of intense exercise, but I do like to track my exercise and sleep and get nudges to move when I've been sitting down for too long. I also like to get notifications on my wrist without needing to pull out my phone.Compared to the Apple Watch, the first major thing I noticed was this is nowhere close in terms of smarts. I had gotten used to Apple's smooth interface, built in microphone and speaker for voice commands, and often useful apps that can be used without needing to get my phone out. That being said, after a few days I can confidently say that I don't need them. I would argue that Garmin knows what this is and what it is not - it's a fitness device first and foremost, and everything else comes second. And on that basis they nailed it - the fitness tracking has been excellent and noticeably better than the Apple Watch especially in sleep tracking. I also much prefer their approach to goals, which tracks exercise over the course of a week rather than focusing specifically on individual days. Whenever I was sick or had a down day I would feel guilty if I didn't close all of my rings on my Apple Watch, but I don't feel that same pressure with the Garmin. I do miss being able to use voice commands with my watch, but I could have gotten a more expensive Garmin if I really wanted that, and I don't think it's worth it for me.The second thing I noticed: not having to charge your watch every day is a game changer. This was easily my biggest frustration with the Apple Watch since it's marketed as a device you wear 24x7 and yet needs to be charged every day. And considering how long it took to charge my Series 5, this was a major annoyance. I couldn't charge it overnight, because I wanted sleep tracking. I couldn't charge it in the morning, because I like to start off my day with exercise and it doesn't charge fast enough to do it after a workout and before work. And if I charged it in the evening, I would often forget to put it on before bed and miss out on the sleep tracking. The Garmin is a breath of fresh air by comparison - I charge it about once a week, and with my relatively light usage it can probably go close to two. I took a multi day trip recently and I didn't once have to worry about charging my watch, which was a pleasant change.Overall I think this watch is a great fit for a more casual user who isn't running marathons but wants to track fitness and sleep and get some extras like smartphone notifications and see the weather at a glance. If you want something with more smart features and better build quality (i.e. more metal and less plastic), then the Venu might be a better fit. Or they have the Forerunner if you do run marathons. Or a bunch of other models for more specific use cases. But I would highly recommend giving this watch a try if you're looking for the same things that I am.

22 de mayo de 2026

Great choice for my sensitive skin.

Great so far. I tried another brand the caused a rash from the heart rate monitor (not the band because I swap them for cloth or leather). Garmin Vivoactive 5 has not caused any skin irritation! I am pleased with the metrics it gives. The app takes some getting used to, but it isn't complicated to navigate...just different from fitbit. So far the battery charge lasts for at least 7 days. It charges quickly. I like the screen size, metrics and words are easy to read. The screen reacts well to touch even with a screen protector on. It is easy to access the watches features. I like the wake up summary. It gives me prompts to move and stretch. It gives sleep advice and measures body battery throughout the day. The watch is comfortable to wear and looks great with everything. I swap between a nylon band and leather band. I would highly recommend.Ver más

28 personas la encontraron útil

Omega Man

I love this thing. Not the least expensive, but probably the best bang for the buck.

I’m someone who really really did not want a watch of any sort, especially not an Apple Watch or anything else that is bloated with unnecessary hardware that needs to be charged every single day. Charging a phone every day is enough of a pain without needing to add any other junk, so no thanks to the useless gimmick-loaded “smart” watches.But I really needed to do fitness tracking because without some sort of gadget I just have zero idea how lazy or not lazy I’ve been lately and whether or not I need to get at least some minimal exercise.And my #1 must have feature is week-long battery charge life. This watch is good enough, even though the battery life might be more like 5 days in some cases if you’re using it for activities a lot where the gps is turned on. But for those not running with the gps every day or constantly tinkering with it a full battery charge seems to last a week. That is, charge it for an hour on Sunday and no need to charge it again until the same time next Sunday. You could get the battery to last longer if you’re willing to shut off absolutely everything that might use more power.I started out with a Garmin vivosmart 5 because I didn’t think I needed anything beyond that, but I have sleep problems and decided I needed better sleep tracking. So I ended up with this one even though I don’t really care about random silly “apps” on a watch.Overall this watch has been excellent. It has a very good UI and the fitness tracking features a quite good. The sleep tracking is decent, but still has its issues that hopefully Garmin will fix with software updates. In particular the “nap tracking” doesn’t seem fully baked yet, and things like laying back in a recliner reading a book or watching TV can get falsely detected as a “nap”. Then there’s no way to delete a false nap on the watch or in the Garmin Connect app.There are still a few minor bugs that some people will run into but they seem to be things that can be fixed with firmware updates and I haven’t run into anything completely feature-breaking.If you feel like messing with it you can also install some “apps” like custom watch face designs or sunset/sunrise times, more detailed weather and such. But even without installing anything the watch does everything needed for health and fitness stuff.Almost all of the apps that come with the device can be uninstalled, so if you don’t need “women’s health tracking” for example then you can just remove that to free up space.Their mobile app is pretty well designed and only awkward in some parts of the configuration.The watch reliably synchronizes as long as you leave the phone app running in the background and I’ve never had any Bluetooth connection failures, lag, or lost pairings.Things that the watch is not good for are things that you’d typically use a phone for like communication, turn by turn navigation, maps, games, and such. But I don’t want a watch to do any of that stuff and I’d rather have it save its battery charge so I don’t have to charge it constantly.So overall, this is “the” watch you want if you want as little nonsense as possible and don’t want to worry about battery charge all the time but still need full health and fitness tracking stuff beyond what the $75-150 models offer. And there are also no subscriptions required.

Connie D

2 de agosto de 2026

It's a keeper!

I was concerned the watch face would be too big but I got used to it right away. The size makes the display easy to read so I can keep track of my steps with just a glance. I also use the bike riding function (GPS) to track miles. I wish it would convert miles biked to steps taken but not sure any watch does that. I used the golf app the other day for distance and scoring. With any new electronics it takes a while and patience to figure it out but once I did I really like it. I'm still learning. I also like the sleep tracking function. Long battery life.Ver más

3 personas la encontraron útil