This watch is the second attempt by Garmin at producing an all-inclusive watch. The company is well known for producing wearable sports tech. However, the Vivoactive HR is the only one that is a combination of most of their devices. Cyclists, golfers, swimmers and fitness gurus can use this watch. The watch works in sync with a smart watch to give you notifications and can show you the heart rate.
Design
The Vivoactive HR comes in a simple dull design, which makes it almost unnoticeable on your wrist. The watch is made of a simple black square design. However do not let this fool you as to what is packed under the hood. For one, this watch features an extremely long lasting battery life. They have achieved this at the expense of better screen quality.
Features
The watch features a touchscreen, which lets you swipe between different features of the watch. For instance, you can swipe between the notifications and the activity windows. You can use this feature to swipe between the weather report, smartphone notifications, intensity, steps, and heart for the past four hours. When you tap further on any of these menus, you can get extra details. For instance tapping on the heart rate menu gives you your average for the past seven days.
To choose the kind of sport you want, you need to press the button to the right of the watch. This feature will give you some options such as paddleboard, Ski, indoor running, indoor walking, indoor rowing, golfing, running, rowing, swimming, and cycling. With each kind of sport that you chose, you get access to a surprising amount of data. It is quite clear that Garmin took their time to research each topic.
Besides offering data on various sports, these smart watch also give you some notifications from your phone. In addition, you can receive the weather forecast from your phone.
Sports tracking
With this smart watch, you get data just like most other smart watches. For instance, it will give you the cadence, pace, heart rate and the pace/distance information. However, the experience will not be as encompassing as if you were using a Forerunner from the same company. However, if you are an ordinary runner, you will find this information to be more than enough.
The newest feature that makes this watch stand out is the accurate heart rate monitor. The feature is made possible by Elevate, which is a tech designed by Garmin. This tech uses an optical sensor, which checks for blood pulsing in the veins. In short, the heart rate monitor is quite accurate.
However, the optical sensor still needs some minor improvements. The sensor works great on steady workouts. However, it faces a huge challenge when used in short bursts of activity. At some point, you may notice that it stalls. If you are into interval tracking, get a chest strap, it will work better for you.
The watch also works great for swimming. This watch can give data on distance, length, stroke rate, calories, and pace. For swimmers, this is one of the most accurate sports trackers in existence. The cyclists will also enjoy using this device. It features GPS and offers data on distance and speed. This device can also be paired with bike sensors from Garmin.
Golfers
The biggest draw to this device for golfers is the price. A standard golf watch from Garmin costs about $200. It is thus great to have the option embedded in a standard sports watch. As with most Garmin products, this sports watch works fairly well. The features availed with this smart watch include a live scorecard. It also lets you call up maps of the green. This watch will allow you to see the layout distances. In addition, you will be able to view the front, middle and back distances.
However, there is only one drawback to this watch in golfing. The course must be downloaded to the smartphone first. This is unlike a standard golf watch where the courses are found inside the sport watch. At times, this connection may break and take up a few minutes to reestablish.
Activity Tracking
This is one of the most detailed activity trackers. This smartwatch keeps a very accurate count of your steps for instance. In addition, it comes with a move feature. This is a great feature if you need some extra motivation to stay active. When you stay seated for too long, the move bar fills up and alerts you when you have been inactive for too long. The Vivoactive HR is also quite good at measuring resting heart rate. When you are at rest, a lower heart rate indicates you are healthy.
You May Also Read: First Look at Wearable Device to Monitor your Body Signals
Conclusion
This feature packed smart watch is worth every penny. You should consider purchasing it if you are big on sports. It can be used for any conventional.
