Most of Garmin’s in-depth analytics and metrics haven’t made their way to the Vívosmart 5.
The Vívosmart’s metrics are close to the Apple Watch Series 7’s results, and offer the same amount of data. The Vívosmart only offers basic activity stats like heart rate and calories burned.Ĭharts let you see your heart rate zones and data after a workout. And you won’t find analyzes of your anaerobic and aerobic gains as you would with more robust Garmin wearables, like the Forerunner line-uppar exemple. There’s no built-in GPS, so you’ll have to carry your phone with you if you’d like location data logged on a run or cycle. Since it’s a more basic tracker, calories, heart rate, and heart rate zones are the only data you’ll gather from activities. The Vívosmart’s heart rate data and related calorie burns were on track with the Apple Watch’s activity readings, but the deeper analytics for which one might typically choose a Garmin device aren’t there. Garmin also enables menstruation cycle tracking within the companion app.īoth activity and sleep tracking data tended close to readings picked up on my Apple Watch Series 7 and Google Nest hub’s sleep detection. There are 14 modes for activity tracking, including HIIT, yoga, strength training, and breathwork, among others. The Vívosmart 5 can track heart rate, blood oxygen levels, stress, and respiration rates throughout the day and night. The screen can fit at most eight short words at a time. So, while menu widgets and text fit fine, longer notifications, like emails or texts, require some scrolling. It is a small screen, though, measuring about an inch long and a half-inch wide. AdvertisementĪnimations on the screen are smooth, and the touch response is good.
The plastic button takes deliberate pressure to depress, so I never had errant button pushes in my time with the device. Garmin also integrated a physical home/back button below the screen, where a haptic one used to sit. Even with a wider screen, it’s still a narrow device. The screen has grown by 66 percent, but that hasn’t made it any bulkier. It looks seamless, and you must take it off your wrist to get the tracker out. The band buckles together like a traditional watch strap, just as its predecessor did, except now the bands are interchangeable by simply popping the tracker out. It’s a slim silicone fitness band with a small black-and-white OLED screen. The Vívosmart 5 has the same basic appearance as the 4.
Watch straps are now interchangeable, as well. Underneath is a traditional watch strap buckle. It’s a narrow silicone wearable, about the width of a watch strap. Garmin’s Vívosmart 5 looks a lot like the Vívosmart 4, and that’s because it is-in form and function. As it is a pre-release model, there were some known bugs but nothing that would prevent us from getting a clear picture of its capabilities. I spent a weekend sleeping, working out, and tracking my body’s vitals with the Vívosmart 5 before its official launch to get a quick look at the device and get an idea of whether Garmin’s in-depth data and proprietary metrics could still make this a worthwhile buy. Now, Fitbit’s equally priced Charge 5 fitness tracker has blood oxygen sensors, too, as well as electrodermal sensors (for stress measuring), GPS, and the ability to take ECG readings-all things the new Vívosmart 5 lacks. When Garmin released the Vívosmart 4 in 2018, it had advantages like a then-rare blood oxygen sensor and Garmin’s typical suite of in-depth health metrics that surpassed most competitors. But in four years’ time, the new tracker hasn’t evolved much from the last version, while competition like Fitbit’s Charge 5 has made significant leaps. It replaces the now 4-year-old Vívosmart 4. Garmin has just released its latest fitness tracker, the Vivosmart 5, a wearable made to cover the basics of sleep and activity tracking and deliver phone notifications.