Garmin Vivosmart Review

I’ve only had my Garmin Vivosmart for a few weeks, but since people may be putting personal activity trackers on their holiday wishlists, I thought I’d share my initial thoughts in an early Garmin Vivosmart Review. 

I wore my  Jawbone UP for a year, so I can’t help but compare the Vivosmart to the UP. Like the UP, the Garmin Vivosmart is an activity tracker that counts your steps and alerts you when you’ve been idle for more than hour. What makes the Vivosmart “smart” is its Bluetooth connection to your smartphone. Not only does it upload its data automatically to the Garmin Connect app, it can transmit notifications when you receive a call, text message, or other alert on your phone! 

Key features I like about the Garmin Vivosmart:

• The on-device display of steps taken, steps remaining to goal, and idle time. The UP doesn’t have an on-device display, and I am hoping that seeing the numbers right on my wrist will help keep me motivated to MOVE! 
• The idle alert that keeps track of how long you’ve been idle, and requires more steps to reset the longer you are idle. 

Yes, that says 6 hours and 18 minutes. In my defense, I did get up from my desk during that time period, but I didn’t walk far enough to reset the idle data. 

• The sleep data. Like the UP, you can tell the Vivosmart when you go to bed and when you wake up, and it will assess your sleep quality based on how much you move. Like the UP, if you forget to switch to sleep mode, you can enter your sleep time via the app. The sleep data isn’t as detailed as the UP data–it only shows a graph of movement data without identifying periods of deep sleep–but I’m not sure how meaningful the UP data was, since as long as I was still it would count that time as deep sleep, even if I was wide awake.  
• The small profile. 

The Vivosmart is slightly wider than my UP, but it fits more snugly. It’s very comfortable, and I wear it 24/7 except when I’m in the shower. (You can wear it in the shower or swimming, but I don’t want to!)

• The secure clasp. 

The Vivosmart is made of a soft rubber material with an adjustable band that fastens with snaps that are under the “Garmin” label. It comes with a small loop that you can add to make sure it doesn’t come off, but the snaps have held securely for me. 

Other features I like about the Garmin Vivosmart:

• The interface. You control the display and functions of the Vivosmart with a tap, tap + hold, or swipe. When the display is off, it looks like a plain black band, but when you wake it up, it displays icons or text, and is sensitive to your touch. 
• The phone notifications. I wasn’t sure I wanted the phone notifications–I mostly picked the Vivosmart over the Vivofit because of its smaller profile–but I am finding that I like them–most of the time. Basically, anything that causes an alert on your phone will trigger a notification on the Vivosmart–a small vibration and a preview on the screen. Yes, you can actually read your text messages on your wrist! I like this feature most when I am at home. Instead of missing calls and texts because my phone is in the other room, my Vivosmart lets me know that someone is calling or texting. It can get annoying if I get sucked into a “reply all” text exchange, but since I don’t get that many text messages or phone calls, it hasn’t been too bad yet.  It would be nice if you could select which of your phone notifications go to the Vivosmart, but the only way to not get a notification on your Vivosmart is to turn off that type of notification on your phone.  
• The time display. I haven’t worn a watch in ages, and it is nice to be able to see what time it is without pulling up my phone. 
• The ability to start/stop a playlist. I don’t use this feature often, but when I’m running I like being able to start my playlist even if my phone is safely stowed in my fuelbelt. 

Where the Garmin Vivosmart falls short:

• Accounting for other activity. I was frustrated by how little “credit” the UP gave me for non-step activity, but the Vivosmart is even worse. Although you can time an activity and classify what you did via the app, you can’t adjust any of the data.  So, while I can record that I was “cycling” for 1 hour and 40 minutes last weekend, I can’t revise the mileage data from 0.65 miles to 26 miles! 
• Coordinating with other Garmin data. If I “record” a run on my Vivosmart and also wear my Garmin Forerunner 10, Garmin Connect will log two separate runs, and there doesn’t seem to be any way to merge the data. Speaking of which, now that I have three Garmins, I have three different ways to connect my Garmins to my computer! 🙁

The one on the top is for the Vivosmart

Overall, I am really liking my new Vivosmart. It is motivating me to get up and move, and it is getting me to move more since I (usually) make an effort to walk around long enough to reset the idle data, even if that means taking an extra lap around my office or running up and down the stairs at home.  

If you want to learn more about the Garmin Vivosmart, you can check it out on Amazon, using the affiliate link in this image. 

If you decide to buy a Garmin Vivosmart for yourself, please click through to make a purchase, so I can earn a small commission to fund my next toy! 

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Do you have any fitness items on your holiday wishlist?