Found out recently that fitness trackers can be weirdly cheap at CEX. I picked up a Garmin VivoActive for £90 + £2.50 delivery and it was *mint*, as in factory sealed.
As per some of the reviews below the item some of these are even shipping with the HRM chest strap (mine did). It's a fantastic watch, great for tracking longer runs (10+ hours of GPS tracking) and the day-to-day battery life means I get a week between charges.
The icing on the cake is the ability to track swims. It'll follow stroke counts and tot up your distance travelled as it can tell how many laps you've done.
There is a newer version of this coming out in the next month or so (featuring built-in heart rate tracking) but that'll be £230+ - for £92.50 this is a genuinely fantastic device
Top comments
The_Hoff
18 Apr 163#3
Brilliant watches compared to the rest of the smartwatch market.
Battery life is ridiculously good and even with daily 80 mins of GPS usage I get over a week of battery power. Without GPS usage you'd stretch that to 2-3 weeks on a single charge! It connects to my HRM and speed/cadence sensor without issue.
Integrates with Garmin Connect and syncs via your phone and simple apps can be downloaded from the phone app to add things like HIIT timers etc.
The screen is IMO spot on in all lighting conditions and doesn't suffer the same issues as LCD, viewing angles also great.
Check DCrainmaker for a thorough review, but I'd recommend unreservedly.
All comments (25)
liam7979
18 Apr 16#1
Hi, I purchased this watch from Amazon during the flash sale. The backlight is very dim, I sent it back for a refund.
Johnmcl7 to liam7979
18 Apr 16#6
The display is always on and generally lit by ambient light, it has a separate backlight which can be activated by pressing the button on the left and you can set it to automatically light up on notifications. Most smartwatches keep the display off entirely most of the time and you have to activate the display to read it at all and can be difficult to read in direct sunlight.
I've had the VA since release and think it's a great device as it's small, power efficient, has its own GPS receiver and while the smartphone functionality is limited I'm fine with just getting notifications pushed to the watch, most other stuff I'd rather run on my phone than the tiny screen. I'd check compatibility though on the Garmin forums as it works well with some devices and not well with others, iPhones in particular have more limited options and can have trouble with unstable connections.
John
ralphaverbuch
18 Apr 16#2
I have one. I don't find it dim when I use the backlight but I did notice that, unlike a tablet or phone screen, the brighter the light shining onto it the better for viewing. This one is stand out for the fact it lets you swim whilst it counts your lengths, time, etc. There is a dedicated Garmin Swim watch but I think I prefer the Vivo Active. I got mine just after Christmas from Amazon Prime for £119.58.
The_Hoff
18 Apr 163#3
Brilliant watches compared to the rest of the smartwatch market.
Battery life is ridiculously good and even with daily 80 mins of GPS usage I get over a week of battery power. Without GPS usage you'd stretch that to 2-3 weeks on a single charge! It connects to my HRM and speed/cadence sensor without issue.
Integrates with Garmin Connect and syncs via your phone and simple apps can be downloaded from the phone app to add things like HIIT timers etc.
The screen is IMO spot on in all lighting conditions and doesn't suffer the same issues as LCD, viewing angles also great.
Check DCrainmaker for a thorough review, but I'd recommend unreservedly.
plewis00
18 Apr 162#4
I had this and currently use a Fenix 3 (essentially a bigger brother to this) - Garmin have kind of nailed the smartwatches; these are more sports watches with useful smart features built-in but that's all you need. The screen is 'dim' but it's transflective, it's designed to be used outdoors and the backlight only when it's really dark (and then a dim backlight doesn't matter).
When I got mine, I took off my Apple Watch and haven't used the Apple Watch since - a device that has real standalone GPS, outstanding battery life and no frills or useless gimmicks (the apps on the Apple Watch are so slow I don't know a single person who actually uses them).
benjai to plewis00
18 Apr 16#10
How does this compare to the Fenix 3? I'm strongly considering the Fenix but this is so much cheaper. Can this do intervals and how is the bike/swim mode? I only have a FR220 right now which is brilliant for running but not much else.
the porter
18 Apr 16#5
Oos
paulwmather
18 Apr 162#7
Oddly I was looking at this yesterday but the new one is really appealing. Torn.
Rhythm to paulwmather
18 Apr 161#11
That was where I was when I got mine. I figured I'd go for this cheaper one first then upgrade in a few months when VivoActive HR hits first price drops. It'll be a contender for Black Friday sales, no doubt
gonzo02
18 Apr 161#8
Oos
Oneday77
18 Apr 16#9
I hope the build quality is better than the Vivosmart. Mine has been the biggest pile of nonsense I've bought in a long while. My colleagues was just as bad. I rate Windows Millenium and Vista ahead of the Vivosmart.
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Opening post
As per some of the reviews below the item some of these are even shipping with the HRM chest strap (mine did). It's a fantastic watch, great for tracking longer runs (10+ hours of GPS tracking) and the day-to-day battery life means I get a week between charges.
The icing on the cake is the ability to track swims. It'll follow stroke counts and tot up your distance travelled as it can tell how many laps you've done.
There is a newer version of this coming out in the next month or so (featuring built-in heart rate tracking) but that'll be £230+ - for £92.50 this is a genuinely fantastic device
Top comments
Battery life is ridiculously good and even with daily 80 mins of GPS usage I get over a week of battery power. Without GPS usage you'd stretch that to 2-3 weeks on a single charge! It connects to my HRM and speed/cadence sensor without issue.
Integrates with Garmin Connect and syncs via your phone and simple apps can be downloaded from the phone app to add things like HIIT timers etc.
The screen is IMO spot on in all lighting conditions and doesn't suffer the same issues as LCD, viewing angles also great.
Check DCrainmaker for a thorough review, but I'd recommend unreservedly.
All comments (25)
I've had the VA since release and think it's a great device as it's small, power efficient, has its own GPS receiver and while the smartphone functionality is limited I'm fine with just getting notifications pushed to the watch, most other stuff I'd rather run on my phone than the tiny screen. I'd check compatibility though on the Garmin forums as it works well with some devices and not well with others, iPhones in particular have more limited options and can have trouble with unstable connections.
John
Battery life is ridiculously good and even with daily 80 mins of GPS usage I get over a week of battery power. Without GPS usage you'd stretch that to 2-3 weeks on a single charge! It connects to my HRM and speed/cadence sensor without issue.
Integrates with Garmin Connect and syncs via your phone and simple apps can be downloaded from the phone app to add things like HIIT timers etc.
The screen is IMO spot on in all lighting conditions and doesn't suffer the same issues as LCD, viewing angles also great.
Check DCrainmaker for a thorough review, but I'd recommend unreservedly.
When I got mine, I took off my Apple Watch and haven't used the Apple Watch since - a device that has real standalone GPS, outstanding battery life and no frills or useless gimmicks (the apps on the Apple Watch are so slow I don't know a single person who actually uses them).