Garmin Vivoactive 3 GPS Smartwatch with Built-In Sports Apps
Garmin Vivoactive 3 GPS Smartwatch with Built-In Sports Apps and Wrist Heart Rate, Gunmetal
Pay Your Way
vivoactive 3 is the first Garmin wearable that is Garmin Pay ready*, so you will soon be able to pay for your purchases with your watch. With this mobile payment solution, you can leave your cash and cards at home. All you need to do is set up your digital wallet and you’re ready to make purchases.
*Garmin Pay is coming soon! Garmin Pay will work with many credit and debit cards from major banks. Contact your bank for more information.
Make It Yours
Download watch faces, widgets and apps from Garmin Connect IQ store that make your vivoactive 3 go from smartwatch to your watch. Keep tabs on when your Uber is arriving, turn on your lights at home with the SmartThings app, or use the AccuWeather MinuteCast app to find out when the rain will start. You can also use the free Garmin Face It watch face app to add personality to your device. Just download the app, choose any image from your photo library and set it as your watch’s face.
Always Connected
Pair your vivoactive 3 with a compatible smartphone to receive and respond to text messages (Responding capability available for Android customers only), see social media updates, emails and more right on your wrist. Find your phone, access music controls and let friends LiveTrack your sports. Your finished activities will automatically upload to Garmin Connect.
Share and Compete
Syncing your activities to Garmin Connect is for more than just storing your data. Garmin Connect is a thriving online community where people on the go can connect and compete by joining challenges, encourage each other’s successes and even share their triumphs via social media. Garmin Connect is free and available on the web or on your smartphone with the Garmin Connect Mobile app.
 |  |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tracks Steps, Distance, Calories, Time and Sleep | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Personalised Daily Step Goal and Move Bar | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sunlight Readable Display | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – |
| Colour Display | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | – |
| Activity Timer | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Smart Notifications | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
| GPS-enabled and Built-In Sports Apps | ✓ | ✓ | – | – | – |
| Wrist Based Heart Rate Monitor | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
| Floors Climbed and Intensity Minutes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ |
| Battery life | Up to 7 days; 13 hours GPS | Up to 7 days | Up to 5 days | 1 year + | Up to 5 days |
| Dimensions: | 4.34 x 4.34 x 1.17 cm; 43 Grams |
| Model: | 010-01769-10 |
| Batteries Included: | 1 Lithium Metal batteries required. (included) |
| Manufacture: | Garmin |
| Department: | Unisex |
| Dimensions: | 4.34 x 4.34 x 1.17 cm; 43 Grams |
Love this watch. If you have a lazy week the battery will last the week. It tracks everything you will realistically ever need tracking when required. Alerts are great, short responses on text/WhatsApp are very useful. Accuracy is spot on when tracking. Everything just works.
Nice watch with good customisation. Brilliant long lasting battery.
Cons
App feels outdated and not very smooth to add apps or new watch faces
Costing less than an iWatch the Garmin offers a strong contender for a sports watch.
The watch was purchased to count the number of laps swam. Not the number of strokes, nor particularly the distance. It did strokes and distance well, but not laps. So, sadly, back it went. Garmin promote it as a watch that monitors lengths. And it does minus a few here and there. And it lacks intuitive set up. It does everything it claims, steps, stairs etc. But not for serious swimmer.
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A fun element is introduced by the coloured face. There are also opportunities to change the face of the watch. Some of the changes are free, others are not. Don’t dismiss it as a general sports watch
I use my watch to track my cycles and my walks. I’ve also used it for the occasional swim (although not my sea swims as it can’t cope with open water!) The watch uploads directly to Strava, which is where I keep a record of my activity.
Recording activities
When starting an activity, it’s easy to set the watch off. I’ve set my watch up to have cycling and walking as my fav activities. This makes it easy to select one of those two, even when it’s cold and your fingers are numb. This is an issue I’ve experienced with other watches, and also when trying to use my phone. I’ve even started activities by pressing the screen with my nose when my hands were in gloves – time saver! You can do most things on the watch with your nose.
Control and personalisation
It’s worth spending a bit of time setting the watch up to match your personal preferences. 30 mins doing this when I got the watch has saved me many minutes subsequently. There’s lots of options for customisation. I changed the fav activities, and other things like the units etc. I also set up the mobile app (which gives lots of information, but is not entirely user friendly). This was all fairly easy, and didn’t require any expertise. I reckon my granny could have done it. The watch also lets you change the watchface, which is great as some of the user made watchfaces allow me to display all sorts of data – including things like sunrise / sunset, heart rate, battery level, date, steps, calories, distance (in miles or km) and ofcourse, the time. All these are currently displayed on my watchface right now.
Charging and battery
No problems with battery. Generally lasts about 2 – 3 days if I do a few hours of activities each day. When it drops below about 40% I usually give it a charge until full. I don’t charge it overnight as I’ve heard that can damage batteries – but that might just be speculative. I leave the watch on a low screen light setting, and it’s still usually readable (apart from in strong sunlight). If i’m out in the sun I might have to tap the screen to wake it, but that’s a sacrifice i’m willing to make for the added battery life.
Comfort
I’ve not changed the strap that came with it. It looks fine (nothing spectacular), and is comfortable enough. It’s a bit fiddly to put on when you’re tired in the mornings compared with a leather strap, but it’s certainly not something that should put you off.
Durability
The watch has gone through a lot on my wrist. It’s been up mountains and into seas. It’s been bashed around in sweaty gigs and to fancy restaurants in London. It’s coped with everything remarkably. I did buy a screen protector and that has had a couple of small scuffs on it, but even that hasn’t needed replacing yet! The software has not slowed down noticeably – and everything I use it for still works similarly to when I got the watch.
All in all, I reckon this is good value for money. It’s lasted me longer than previous smartwatches and does everything I need. I’ve knocked a star off because the battery life could be better, and it would be nice to have the ability to track outdoor open water swims, but those are situational.
I do like this watch, but it can have a really annoying habit of changing itself. For my job, I have to be bare below the elbow, so put this in my pocket…. that’s when the excitement starts…. it regularly unlocks itself then plays havoc with my settings. Some how I am able to change alarms, watch face settings, app order and delete apps. This seems strangely easy in my pocket, as when it is being used it is not as easy to do the above tasks. The lock can also be unlocked by simply extending your wrist if you have button towards the wrist.
And finally it’s the first watch strap that I have to constantly switch wrists because of contact dermatitis. I dont even have it that tight. Apparently this is a problem with the standard straps for this watch.
You need two apps- one for fitness tracking, the other for limited apps and watch faces.
I bought this as a replacement for a Garmin Golf watch. That watch still worked great but the strap was in a million pieces and was not replaceable (cheaky Garmin). I actually like the colour display on this smartwatch slightly less than the monochrome old one, but there are plenty of brightness adjustments on this and I can read it outside in bright sun without too much difficulty. In terms of price, this was slightly more expensive than that old watch but not by much. This is probably because I waited until there was a newer model out. After that this does everything that my old watch did for me on the golf course and a little bit extra that I barely pay attention too.
It was only after buying that I considered the Smartwatch features and they’re not half bad. You can connect the watch to your phone with an app and get everything from call notifcations to, exercise and sleep records (if you leave the watch on in bed). If you’re at the point in life where you’re counting steps and obsessing over sleep quality, this might interest you. One thing I would say is that the battery power is not very impressive. I routinely stick this on a charge every evening for a while and would not want to depend on it otherwise. I would probably buy another in future if I found this had been improved.
I purchased this after researching many watches and upgraded from my Huawei Mini Band. This watch is very accurate at tracking heartbeart, sleep and pace when running – the GPS does not cut out like other watches.
Sleeping – the tracking on this is about 80-90% accurate and the best I have ever experienced. When paired with the app it identifies what time you fall asleep, when you wake and REM cycles which I know to be quite accurate and that is impressive!
Running – the tracking is extremely accurate and the app provides you with information on distance, time, average pace and the watch automatically tells you when you have run a mile. It also identifies where in a run (using the map) you ran faster or slower on a sliding scale.
App – this is extremely good although the only downside is calories have to be tracked on a seperate app which is a pain. The period tracker is accurate and very useful and there other trackers which are interesting.
Overall I would recommend this as a first time purchase for a non-serious runner. I run once a week and have been using this watch for over 4 months. It is light and fits nicely on my tiny wrist!
Bought essentially for recording cycle rides. I like the fact that you can put your mobile away in a bag or pocket and the Garmin takes care of the recording etc. Sleep tracking, heart rates, steps, intensity training are all quite good. The only anomaly I have found is the elevation gain recorded is adrift from that recorded in Strava. I have tried the calibration procedure but there is still a difference in the recorded figure. Having said that, it can be adjusted in the Strava app. There are some nice watch faces etc available which can improve the aesthetics. Battery life I found to be about 2 days but that depends what functions you have switched on and their use. Haven’t tried the GPS function as yet but will be using on some longer walks / hikes in the spring and summer months. It’s a good watch for everyday use.
Bought the watch in October 2020 just for running which I am very pleased with and have found is very user friendly. Accurately records my runs which are then easily uploaded to Strava. However on two occasions I have gone to use it and found that the battery is flat. On both occasions the battery was at 80% when previously switching the watch off and I made sure that it was off (ie no display). Not impressed. Is the watch continually running software in the background despite it being switched off. Have not contacted Garmin etc as I know what they will probably say (send it back to them) and then I do not have a watch for weeks. Just ensure that the watch is charged an hour before you need it. I had a similar problem on my Garmin edge 1000 a couple of years ago and it was to do with software updates!
I have used an exercise tracking watch on and off for many years. In the past, it was the only way to record data from a Polar heart rate strap. More recently, I have worn a Nokia Steel HR but found it to be quite inaccurate when used on long hikes, whilst the small display was only able to provide very limited information.
I wanted to get a watch with plenty of fun interactive features that would also track HR accurately during hiking and gym activities, without spending a fortune. This watch cost almost 300 when it first came out, was reduced to 180 pre-Xmas and is now down to 125. At that price, I think it is great value for money.
Throughout the day, it keeps an eye on my HR and activity and prompts me to “Move” if I have been sitting down for too long.
It has the same optical HR sensor as other Garmin watches, so should work as well as my wife’s Garmin Forerunner when we go hiking.
I do a lot of rowing on a Concept 2. Wrist HR sensors do not work well when rowing so I was delighted to see that this watch can use my Polar H10 belt as an alternative HR source, using ANT to connect the two systems. It even records my stroke rate, which is excellent.
Very impressed that it can control my music when I am listening to Spotify via my iPhone 12 Pro, allowing me to see which tracks are playing, skip forwards and backwards and even adjust the headphone volume. Battery life is also good. So far, I have worn it for 3 days and the battery is still 47%.
My only criticism so far is that the wrist strap is quite short, around 25 mm shorter than my Nokia Steel HR. As a result, I have to wear the watch on one of the widest settings. Fortunately, there are plenty of 3rd party straps in all sorts of material available on Amazon for this watch at very reasonable prices so this is not a problem.
The sky’s the limit when it comes to buying smartwatches, which can vary in price from 30 up to 1350. I think 125 seems like a sweet spot that represents excellent value for money for a top brand watch.
I bought this mainly for mountain biking to replace my cheap decathlon gps watch. It does everything I need it to but with added extras like VO2 max, step tracking and stairs. I use it in the gym and on the turbo trainer at home. It connects to strava automatically which makes things simpler for me. The screen is not as bright as the photos would suggest but its not a deal breaker for me. If you want a clearer more vibrant screen the garmin venu seems to supply that although the trade off is a higher price and less battery life. The VA3 connects to GPS very quickly and can be set on auto start stop. I quickly learned to lock out the screen on activities when I inadvertently stopped the watch with my wrist whilst riding my bike but it can be set up to lock automatically. The app is easy to use and garmin has some handy little challenges. The IQ store though is slow and frustrating at times. You can download and change the watch face or use your own photos which is quite cool. It may not have as many features as the more expensive models but this was a good deal on prime day (125)
Sadly after less than 2 months my watch has developed an issue with the screen (see photos) so it will be returned for a replacement. I haven’t found anywhere online that suggests this is a common issue and it appears to be intermittent although gradually getting worse. Amazon chat was pointless so I requested a return and got a replacement the same day
I’ve given it 5 stars based on the assumption that my problem is just bad luck. If I have any further issues with the replacement I will be back to edit this appropriately
Read loads of reviews before buying the Vivoactive 3 as needed an upgrade from the Forerunner 30.
The Vivoactive 3 was on my radar as I was originally interested in version with “Music”.
I have had the watch for 4 months now and run on average 4 times a week.
If you run on your own a lot and like to mix your runs up with interval runs or would like to try one of the Garmin coach plans this watch is great. The sessions from the plans automatically update from the app. You can also devise your own workouts eg warm up, 10 x 400m with 200m recovery, cool down. Your watch will beep at you for each stage which is great.
However, if you also like to do a session by pressing the lap function then it’s not so great as you need to use the touch screen.
The fact the watch uses the screen as the lap button is a big deal breaker for me. Some days the screen is so sensitive that if it touches your clothing it activates. The next time you want to actually press the lap it doesn’t work and you find yourself endlessly tapping the screen (it’s really annoying and has lost or added time to my intervals due to the screen no responding)
With winter coming I would usually have my watch under my clothing which was not a problem with the forerunner as not a touchscreen and had a good lap button which I could activate under several layers.
The other downside I have found is the elevation is far from accurate (wife has same problem with her Vivoactive 3). When I upload my runs to Strava I then use the adjust elevation function on there.
I am already looking at replacing the watch for another Forerunner.
Saying that there are loads of plus points.
The watch is very attractive and there are loads of different watch faces you can download. It’s lightweight, measures heart rate, measures your sleep patterns and steps.
The GPS is a lot more accurate than my old watch and when starting a run finds a signal within a couple of seconds. Not used the watch for any other activities so far.
Overall I would say this is nice watch for someone who wants to use it as a pedometer the will occasionally go out for a run/walk.
For an average club runner like myself go for the Forerunners. (Think the 235 is my next one)
Great piece of gear. Accurately counts heart rate and steps for me, great for running or that extra kick during the day. I’ve had smart watches prior to this which I felt were a bit too much like wearing a phone on your hand. This is specifically more of a fitness watch than a smart watch; now very similar features such as quick reply to messages and notifications, NFC etc but without the hassle. The mobile app works well. Got my package Friday and the watch came and was on about 70% charge, obviously I have been fidgetig with it since I got it and 2 days on my battery has just gone below 50%. The display seems fine I have it turned to the lowest brightness and that seems to work well. The lock feature on the watch is handy so that the watch isn’t always swiping between apps. So far so good, definitely great value and I find it superior to both the Fitbit Charge 3 and Versa 2. Very similar to a galaxy watch but with more fitness oriented opposed to smart watch oriented. Will update this as I see fit, but I think for the price and functionality this watch is a major go.
had the Vivioactive 3 for nearly a month now and have to say this Garmin is truly brilliant and I’ve not been as active as I’d liked to have been or as I have been in the past, I wear it all the time and often forget I’m wearing it and comparing it to others in same Category its the lightest so no surprise there,
I’m looking forward to doing gym work outs as the downloaded workouts look great and gives instructions on how to do them if needed
I really cant fault it and although I don’t need to wear a chest HR strap I have the option for more detailed workouts particularly indoors but more so when running
using it pay is spot on ideal works really well
having alarms for different things works great
timers and stop watch perfect
not used the golf but plan to as its a great idea especially when doing a round on own, love this idea
when it needs charging its really quick too or jst an hour and its pretty much charged from near empty, also great for doing ultras (over 24hrs) although you cant wear it whilst charging, a remote quick charge will give you another days worth of run no problem and the connection for charging is strong and firm (not flimsy/loose)
love the average resting heart rate display (after wearing for a few days ie 3 )
the display is brilliant in sunlight and I got this after my Fitbit charge3 hr display died, so I no longer wear 2 types of timers as I only wore my garmin 630 when running, now I only use my Garmin vivoactive 3 as it gives me steps as well and constant HR and I pretty much only used Fitbit for steps/time/HR hence I no longer need it
changeable wristbands a bonus too nice and simple to do no drama
receiving texts.calls,instant messages, diary notifications and any others I choose to allow such as security cameras notifications this is brilliant
the satnav navigation is useful when you leave your car in a car park in another town/city
changing the watch faces is awesome too altho I like the digi white numbers that turn blue as to reach steps activity target and also has hr and day date on
i could go on and on about how good this Garmin is but my final bit is I opted not for the music version as I can use mobile if needed and control it whilst running exercising as I always have mobile with me any way as an emergency if ever needed
i’m thankful I got this in an Amazon sale and brand new as I was looking for a Fitbit HR4 due to my Fitbit HR3 stopping working and spotted the Vivoactive3 which after reading the write ups I’m really pleased and it comes with a 2 year guarantee 🙂 so I’m well pleased
I wouldn’t bother with a screen protector I did at 1st and it came off after a short while and the type of glass this Garmin is fitted with (Gorrilla3 I think) its pretty sturdy protection
if you haven’t gathered already I REALLY love this Garmin my favorite in the past was the Garmin 310XT due to battery life but although the Vivoactive is less using GPS its easy to recharge and the stats its produces are really spot on amazing for me anyway
hope this review helps someone
I’m using this primarily for running. The intention is to wear it all the time as my regular watch. I HAVE been using a cheap fitness tracker which uses the GPS in my iPhone, PLUS Strava running on my iPhone because the fitness tracker doesn’t talk to Strava. This combination does work, but its clunky and the tiny screen on fitness tracker can’t easily be seen whilst running…..resulting in me celebrating a new 5k PB when in fact i’d only run 3.09 miles…AHHH! My iPhone is strapped to my arm whilst running so it’s impossible to interact with on the move.
I wanted to be able to see my time, distance, heart rate, and pace at a glance and I didn’t want to be tied to phone use. Smart watch wise all I use are notifications from my iPhone.
Having trawled the GPS watch market I settled on this. The Forerunner 45 was a close second, but this looked more like a normal watch and less like a chunky fitness watch. I wasn’t exclusively looking at Garmin either although they do seem to have this market fairly well sewn up.
There are numerous youtube videos on the features of this watch so I won’t go all of them, just a key few;
Sufficied to say that the Vivoactive 3 is emminently configurable with every sort of data item you could want in pretty much every format you want. Each workout profile (e.g. run, bike, swim etc) comprises 3 configurable screens and a heart rate zone screen. I very quickly downloaded an extra data item from the iConnect Garmin app store which showed a bunch of running stats all on a single screen without any configuration and then coupled that with a couple of dedicated screens showing simply pace and heart rate. A simple swipe moves through these screens easily as you’re running and the watch itself is VERY visible in sunlight. If you want more than one set of running information screens, you can simply create a ‘Run 2’ or whatever and configure those 3 screens, although you can only launch one of these profiles at a time. In my case i’ve created a ‘Run General’ a ‘Run Train’ and a ‘Run Race’ workout profile, each designed to show me slightly different metrics depending on if i’m just doing out for a leisurely jog, an proper training session or a race. In a nutshell this completely NAILS the running and exercise side of things. It works perfectly and does it VERY well.
One thing that I don’t think gets mentioned quite enough is the ‘widgets’. Essentially, when not in a workout mode, as you scroll up and down, you are moving through a set of ‘widgets’ that do differnet things – the clock, the weather, your step count, your heart rate, your notifications etc. But these can all be changed, moved, removed or new ones added. For example, I downloaded a compass widget. I also removed a bunch of the ones I never used so that i’m only scrolling through a few to get to what I want. I rarely came across people in reviews doing this but its a useful feature.
The Garmin connect app has come a long way in recent years. It’s a nicely presented app which displays a TON of information for you to digest every day and lets you do a lot of the device config although irritatingly NOT the activity information screens…for those you need to use the touch screen on the watch itself, which works but can be a bit fiddly. My problem with a lot of Garmin devices (including bike computers I’ve used) is that they are only ever *just* responsive enough to work and do border on being a little slow at times…..this is no different. But these setup jobs are generally one-offs that you won’t be doing often, so it’s fine.
The watch strap is comfortable and fits nicely for running, although I found that it wasn’t comfortable when using a mouse at a desk the rest of the time so have changed it to a thinner silicone job. Fortunately it uses standard 20mm straps which are everywhere.
The charger is just a lead and whilst obviously it works, it means you have to prop the watch up on its side whilst its charging. Search for ‘puck charger’ and you’ll find a much better charger that the watch sits into, flat on your desk.
The lack of music functionality might be a deal breaker for some but in my case i’m normally listening to audible so have to use my phone anyway and I suspect a lof of people always have their phone on them regardless. It does have music controls, which I AM using and they work fine to play/pause, track change and volume control.
Battery life is largely going to depend on GPS use, backlit screen use and how complex your watch face and widgets are. Most users seem to agree that 4-5 days is normal. I’m using a custom watch face with second hands turned off, backlight set to not come on at all unless I unlock the watch and a minimal set of widgets. I do have the realtime heart rate monitor left on. A day just using it as a watch and no GPS consumes about 15-20%
In a nutshell I think this is a GREAT running/exercise watch and an ‘ok’ watch with a few smart functions. If the exercise part is more important than the smart watch side of things then it’s a great choice.
Moving up from a tracker band the smart watch market is a minefield. I don’t know how many reviews I read before deciding on this watch. The price did it for me really. This model was 290 when it was launched. At less than half that, it’s a real bargain. I wanted GPS and various smart tracking features that this has. I figured Garmin would be good for GPS since they are famous for their outdoor GPS devicea, I wasn’t wrong. This locks onto satellites in around 20 seconds. (try that on a Fitbit!) Also the battery seems to last longer than many of the others. They quote around a week. I’d say it’ll be more like 4 or 5 days on a charge depending on how you have it set up.
The other thing I really like is the App Garmin Connect. It’s very easy to navigate and tells you everything you need and stuff you don’t, but in a very bclear and unmuffled interface.
The watch itself appealed to me because it’s thin and doesn’t look clunky at all. Perfectly ok as an everyday watch.
However there is one major thing that will divide opinions. The display. If you want the latest superbright smiles display then keep moving. The display on this is perfectly adequate but it won’t impress anyone. Colours are washed out and the low pixel count makes it look dated. BUT the other side of this coin is that because it had a transflective display, go outdoors and it is amazing. In fact the brighter the sunlight the clearer it is (like on a Kindle) This has several benefits, one being you’ll always be able to read the display outdoors clearly, and without any need for backlighting, which saves battery power too. Indoors the always in display is still visible but the backlight will activate when you lift your wrist to view (unless you turn it off and activate it by tapping the screen.
So although you won’t impress anyone with the graphics, when you’re using the watch for outdoor use, where it counts , it will leave oled displays standing.
Charging takes around 90 mins which is totally fine. It also has NFC and Garmin Pay though there are not many banks in UK that work with this, so of that’s a deal breaker bear it in mind.
The watch is extremely comfortable to wear and I honestly find it hard to fault, particularly at this price. Very happy with my purchase and would recommend this to anyone who wants something more advanced than a fitness tracking band but without paying for stuff you don’t need.
I am currently using a Garmin 245, its a great sports watch and has very advanced features, but I needed a watch for my dad who is a beginner at jogging and also wanted to count his steps accurately. The vivoactive 3 was on offer so thought ill try it. So far I am very impressed , its simple and effective, the software is much simpler than the Garmin 245, and basically you will get to grips with it very quickly. You can select the most activities you use and discard the ones you do not. The watch face can be customized with small widgets off your choice , I have the heart-rate, steps and the battery life displayed as live widgets. The watch itself is very smart looking and can be worn as a daily watch , it has a revolving dial, this allows you to cycle through all the functions, such as My Day, Heart-rate, graph and activities. To compliment the dial and and button its also touchscreen.
The Garmin connect software and app is probably the best data app you can get, you have so much data like body battery ,heart-rate graphs ,stress levels, the list goes on .The data is very accurate miles ,steps performance metrics and the GPS are on par with my 245. The smart notifications work as they should Email, SMS, whats-app.
I would definitely recommend the Garmin Vivoactive 3 for the average user, it gets the basics right ,but keeps a user friendly interface that anyone can understand, unless your marathon or avid runner who needs more data and sensors, I would recommend the 245, otherwise this watch is perfect.
I had initially bought a FitBit and although I’m not one for sla66ing off a product, I really didn’t like it. Although the sleep tracking was ok, the GPS was pants. It really struggled to get a connection and if I was lucky enough to get a connection, I was lucky if it stayed connected to the end of the street, let alone the rest of the run/walk/bike ride.
However, my bf has a Garmin and swears by it but his is a ‘for someone who exercises far more than I do’ but, saying that, I wanted a watch that would track fitness and activity that I could wear all the time. He only wears his when he’s running…
the watch is a good fit on my slighty small, if somewhat skinny 45+ year wrist. The watch strap has plenty of holes so it can fit snugly but not too tightly. Found that the fitbit didn’t have enough holes in the strap so it was either way too tight or way too lose. The Garmin is easy to navigate round, start an activity, change the settings etc. My only negative would be that it’s a bit too sensitive sometimes and I have on occasion, unknowingly changed the watch face… Once I’ve figured out how I like something, I want it to stay like that and if I can’t find the previous setting [as there’s no back button], I get a bit wound up.
Another massive bonus for me is that it connects to my phone – it’s smart, and I didn’t know that when I first bought it because I never read the description properly – so when my phone rings, my watch buzzes as long as they are in close proximity. The FitBit didn’t do that…. and, as I’m always putting my phone down and forgetting where it is, I can call it from my watch. If I could get it to tell me where I’ve left my glasses or where my cats are, it would be the best device I have ever purchased!! Thanks Garmin!!
My fitbit died in October, I got fed up with unreliable tech adding to a plastic mountain , so decided that I wanted a new tracker that would also replace my ancient Garmin forerunner 110 that still works (most of the time) but refuses to upload from Garmin Express to Garmin connect. Vivoactive 3 was my 1st choice but a) got distracted by a sexy Fossil sport watch (lovely watch but Google wear is awful got returned b) My friend loaned me a Fitbit Charge 3 until the one she was wearing died (no surprise there)
I had 4 months to make my decision and I was slightly swayed by the Vivoactive 4s , which does appear to have certain upgrades from Vivoactive 3 , my main consideration was the 4s was smaller, but the model I wanted Dusk Rose , isn’t available on Amazon and if spending best part of 300 on a watch I want to make sure it’s returnable. The Vivoactive 3 at 109.00 cheaper was a better draw.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS- firstly for a lady the watch face is HUGE and not going to lie this put me off a bit , the graphics certainly aren’t up to phone standards , however it was easy to set up and after a bit of playing about you start to get to what you want easily. Garmin connect app is pretty impressive, on fitbit I joined challenges with vague aquaintences and invariably was either smashed to a pulp every week or I was in lead so much it was no challenge, with Garmin you can enter weekly Challenges and Garmin will place you with people who at a similar level . I went to bed with half a mind and return for 4s but thought I would see how run went following day.
24 HOURS LATER- Woke up early and wasnt sure if I wanted to get up or snooze for a bit so checked Garmin connect , unlike fitbit which normally wont synch it told me straight away I’d had 7 hours 32 mins sleep so no need to keep snoozing . So got up and did a few more tasks before I took the watch for a run . 15 mins it flashed an update ACCURACY UPDATED , which took ages to go away in fact disaster I stopped my run in trying to clear it . Almost made me throw in towel but once I got over it I realised that the big watch face I had been complaining about the night before was actually pretty useful when you wear Glasses for everything but running and it was user error that stopped my run and for my (2) runs that I completed today there were oh so many lovely stats .
In essence at the end of 1st 24 hours I have decided that it was not worth spending an extra 100 for a watch that plays music but I may not be able to see on a run , and I really hope that my new device matches it’s predecessors longeveity
So I had a samsung Gear S3 classic Smartwatch which I have had for over a year of continuous wear, & was bought second hand in Game, & it was amazing. I used to own the apple watch when it first came out & comparing the samsung to the apple there was no contest, samsung won all round hands down. However, recently my watch I’d noticed had become slow. When I’d get a call my phone would ring & my watch would make a noise, but by the time the caller ID showed up on the watch the call had rang off. The battery life wasnt too great either. So I looked around for a new Smartwatch & read loads of reviews, here on amazon, & on google, & this was the Smartwatch I went for. I have to say that so far I’m really pleased with my choice. It’s not quite as big as the samsung S3, but of a similar style face, but not too much smaller. It also has a choice of watch faces so can choose between analog or digital display, – this was important to me as I much prefer digital as just so much easier to just glance at the time, & I had looked at the vivoactive 3 (not the gps model, the 1 with the analogue face & discreet swipe screen) but I wanted a digital face so I opted for this gps model instead. It’s got it’s own garmin app which is pretty straight forward, & the watch itself going through the menu, heart rate & stats, all seems quite flawlessly simple, which I like. So far id deffo recommend this watch at half the price of the samsung galaxy watch but just as good. The stap is comfortable too & it’s still water resistant. I also like the fact that this watch measures your stress level too.
I have worn the Vivoactive 3 more or less constantly since purchasing it and I recharge it when the battery charge falls below 30% (every 3 -4 days approximately) and preferably at night when I am least active.
I have an Apple iPhone 7+/256 which I used in conjunction with the Vivoactive 3 and the technical readout of my health/performance is nothing short of exceptional. Monitoing of my pulse rate provides a huge amount of data, which is displayed graphically on my iPhone. Both Vivoactive 3 and iPhone update their operating software automatically.
If I have one criticism of the Vivoactive 3 it is its control interface and how to set it up for ones personal needs. However, I could probably make this complaint of every health monitor wristwatch I have tried on. Many of the Vivoactive 3’s display capabilities are still unfamiliar to me and I have to refer to its manual in order to change it.
The Vivoactive 3 operates under touch control but therein lays another problem. I have found that the sleeves of my garments can rub against the touch screen, albeit lightly, and alter the settings of the Vivoactive 3. This happens often and can be annoying because it has to be reset to its original settings, which in my case often means referring to the manual. It can take quite some time to learn all the Vivoactive 3s operational capabilities.
My Garmin VivoSport, my first health monitor wristwatch, was a very capable health monitor wristwatch too but it had one design flaw. Once the narrow, rubberised wristband becomes damaged, replacing it becomes either very difficult or impossible. This happened to my Vivosport and I replaced it with the Vivoactive 3, which has wristbands that can be replaced. The Vivoactive 3 has a larger circular display, which in my opinion represents a more natural and familiar interface to its owner. The Vivosport has a narrow, rectangular display. which requires a thin wristband and therein lys its weakness.
The Vivoactive 3 is a very capable health monitor wristwatch and works well with the iPhone. It is expensive but subsequent models are slowly becoming cheaper as more people wear them. I expect it to have a long life. Recommended.
I am really pleased with this sports watch for what I needed. I can’t comment on the accuracy of all the measures as I have nothing to compare it to but for me it does what I needed. In the couple of months I have had it I have lost over half a stone and am now wearing clothes I have not worn for a long time. This might well have happened with any smart watch but again I can’t comment on that.
The personal training option in the app has been the best thing ever for me. Having a watch that measures each stage of the running plan is really good for me. Being able to set goals and have a programme really works. The Garming App I really like. I love data stuff and it is motivating to see the numbers improving. The sleep measure is interesting to look at. Can’t comment on accuracy. Stress measure also interesting and does seem to match up with events but again I do not read too much into it.
The watch is very light to wear, I only take it off to wash and I do not notice it. I did have some red marks at first from the strap but these have gone. I like the style of it and it does not feel big. It is easy to use, I use the touch screen to scroll through options. GPS means I can look at my route on a map and connects quickly. I have turned of the smart notifications as battery life is not great. I use the GPS every other day and so I only get about 3 days before I need to recharge it. This is a downside but I have bought in a second charger so I can easily charge it. The one it comes with is quite short and you can’t lay the watch flat when charging with it.
I would highly recommend this watch if you want some motovation to get active. It is great value for money, stylish and the best fitness purchase I have ever made.
Used this for around 6 months at this point.
I purchased to use for running so that I can time my run and distance as well as play music without having to carry my phone.
GPS – I noticed the GPS didn’t connect even after waiting 15 minutes, so I’ve had to switch that off which is a shame. However, I already know the distance of my main run so no dig deal.
Screen – The screen is fine, not as vibrant as many other smart watches (apple, samsung for example). But still good enough.
Operating system -I usually spend a bit of time trying to find the setting I want, it’s not that great to be honest.
Connection with phone – I use Huawei P20 Pro and the connection to it works fine, but can take a very long time to sync the data (20 – 30 minutes sometimes). However the android app is really good. The notifications rarely work – not sure if it’s the phone or the watch.
Music – I’ve tried with a few pair of earphones and work just fine. I have a round 40 sounds which I transferred from the garmin app on my MacBook pro.
As a smart watch the Samsung wins hands down, however for me it annoyed me more than I liked it. I looked at the Garmin 645 and fenix range as I wanted a watch that could track my jogs, the occasional game of golf and a few laps of the pool, as well as get notifications.
I realised I wasn’t going to sell my kidney so the Fenix range soon got discounted, and the 645, at the time of writing didn’t allow for golf, so the VA3 was the one I settled, and wanting music when I’m jogging I opted for the music version.
When it first arrived I did think it was a joke watch due to it being so light. Setting it up and linking it to Spotify was easy. The Garmin app has been updated, it is easy to use and has a whole host of information.
The running function is superb, you can change the data field to whatever you want and when you turn your wrist you can easily see the information. The connection to my Bose headphones has never failed or missed a beat. The only slight negative was when I was out in the rain wearing a long sleeved top the touchscreen was activated and would change the screen and give you the occasional vibrate which was off putting but easily rectified, and it couldn’t stop the activity as this done on the one and only button.
I was sceptical about the touchscreen but it worked well with sweaty fingers out jogging, wet fingers in the rain and gloved fingers when golfing.
When playing golf the display was brilliant, as you can see from the photos very easy to see in direct sunlight and provides all the information I needed. From about 7 rounds the watch has been confused twice and put me on an incorrect hole. I changed this manually which was easy enough and didn’t hold up play. The accuracy has always been spot matching the markers on the course (on the odd occasion I was on the fairway).
Swimming is fine, select pool length and off you go, not loads of data but basic and enough for my needs.
I wear formal shirts for work, this watch is slight enough that my sleeve can pass over it when checking the time, so no more looking like I’m trying to get out of a straight jacket.
Overall I’m really happy with the watch and being back with the Garmin family.
I’m sure the biking mode will be great but I haven’t used it as I have a bike specific computer.
I would definitely recommend this product.
The main selling point of this watch for me was that I could connect a chest strap to allow for a more accurate heart rate. And it has worked a charm.
Overall, this watch is great for exercise tracking, which is obviously its ultimate purpose. I’ve not done a LOT of varieties of exercise with it, but it’s great for tracking running outside and on treadmills, and also surprisingly accurate for weight training. The one thing I would say is that it takes a lot of getting used to, especially after having spent a few years with fitbits.
I find that the step tracking is quite accurate and a positive for me is that I can also turn activity tracking off so that movements on large vehicles doesn’t get mistaken for steps. As a bus driver this was important because on other tracking watches I have had days where my step count has been above 20k when in reality I’ve only done about 2k.
A negative is that the watch face is very large and with small wrists like mine you do look like ya wearing ya dads watch but it is worth it.
Another is that if you are an apple user the smart features aren’t really that smart, you can read messages and notifications but can’t do much else. I would argue that’s not what this watch was designed for though so it’s not really an issue for me.
This is a fabulous piece of kit. As a sports and fitness GPS tracker it does everything I want with great accuracy and, via the phone app, provides a wealth of performance information. I like to run with music, and this holds about 3GB, enough for quite a few hours, and it pairs easily with my headphones. Start/stop is via the single button, with all other functions accessible via the touch screen, which is very intuitive and works the same as a smartphone, so swapping from the sports data screen mid run to change your music or do something else takes just a couple of screen swipes.
The watch face is fully customisable with a wide range of faces available to download (for a small fee to unlock the features, in most cases). I’ve chosen one that displays the current weather, the forecast, step count, heart rate and daily calories, with a wide variety of colours to choose from. And it also shows the time! What will they think of next.
I also use Garmin Pay for contactless payments. At the moment its only supported in the UK by Santander, but I’m sure more banks will be added soon.
Synchronised with your smartphone, you can choose to receive incoming call, text and app notifications, which I find very useful.
Battery life is very impressive. I charge mine overnight, but even worn overnight it’s never dropped below 80%. Amazing technology, well done Garmin.
I bought this for tracking Stand up paddle performance. SUP is preloaded as a default activity, so all I needed to do was charge it up, pair it with my phone and I was ready to ride and upload data to Garmin connect and Strava. Garmin connect records a lot of useful metrics: stroke rate, distance per stroke, speed, pace, etc – really useful for analysing your performance. Data fields on the watch can be easily customised so you can see the metrics that you want while training. There are 4 data fields per screen, but you can preset up to 3 screens and swipe through them easily. Battery life seems decent, and no problems with getting it wet. GPS locks on very quickly, so you can be up and running with a couple of button presses.
My only criticism so far would be that it isn’t possible to upload workouts for SUP yet. So, if you want to create an interval training session and have the watch beep at you when it’s time to change pace, you’re out of luck. This is frustrating since you can do this for running and other activities, so Garmin really need to sort this out.
Overall, it’s a good little watch which hopefully Garmin will improve with future firmware updates.
I am in love with this watch, way better than my last vivoactive HR and miles ahead of my previous Nike GPS.
I am so happy I upgraded and I got a good price for my HR model, worth the price difference for sure. I wish I had the gun metal version but that one was a third of the price higher.
There’s so many little improvements,
– when you finish a run, the save button is much bigger, easier to hit, on the previous Garmin it was tiny.
– The e-ink quality has improved, its also sharper, so clear to see in bright sunlight
– I love that you now get the heart rate in the main display, you can customize easily with how many items you want on display, I chose 3, the average pace, the distance and the heart rate, brilliant.
– The Connection to my mobile phone is fantastic, you can even see the heart rate in real time on the mobile phone, and you can control the music so easily on it.
– The watch is definitely lighter
– It also looks better than the HR, in fact you could even use this as your daily watch
– The wrist band is now replaceable with any band, the previous ones were only bands made for the device
– The charging port is better, I didn’t like on the previous vivoactive you had to connect on 2 spots, here you only have 1 spot which you can insert the cable either way around
– The metal around the watch oozes quality, looks and feels less plasticky than the previous ones
– I like that now you only have one main button, you can easily swipe left and right to go back and forth
– GPS is accurate, same as previous watches
– Its now much clearer when you get a lock to GPS with a big message, on the previous you only had a tiny green light
– Heart rate sensor is now flat with the watch, so it doesn’t dig into my wrist
– The biggest improvement seems to be heart rate, on my previous HR it went up over 200bpm, which I don’t think it was accurate, this one shows going up to 185 which I think is more accurate.
– Battery life seems to be on par with the previous vivoactive
– just went for a swimming today. Excellent. Very precise. My previous HR used to miss a few laps sometimes, this one doesn’t. The only issue it’s more difficult to finish and save a swimming, you have to long press twice.
EDIT – I dropped 1 star because this struggles to connect to GPS sometimes, and also has less battery than my previous HR model.
I have long been a loyal user of running watches produced by Garmin and my most recent (and much loved) watch is this Garmin Vivo Active 3. I have also road tested the Polar Vantage M, also being a Multisport watch, is a good side by side competitor for the Vivo Active so in this review I also compare the Vivo Active 3 to this watch.
Set Up:
– You can set up the watch with or without the Garmin App. It is recommended to use the app and therefore I did (I also love analyising my fitness data so a watch which isn’t syncing with an app is no fun for me).
– The watch was easy to set up and both the watch and App were intuitive to use.
Charging
– The watch was ready to charge on arrival. It comes with a USB charger (note: no mains plug, you will either need to charge via a laptop or a mains to USB charger). The watch attaches to the charger via an each magnetic connection.
– The watch went from out of box to being 100% charged in less than 1 hour (via mains).
– The charger is a small clip in which attaches to the back of the watch.
Aesthetics, general wearability and day to day use
– The Garmin looks very good on my wrist, it is a nice small size for day to day wear (it is slightly smaller than the Polar Vantage M)
– It is light and as a result it was easy to forget I was wearing it.
– The strap is soft and pliable (other running watches such as the Polar watches have quite stiff straps).
Ease of Operation:
– The watch is operated largely by touch screen (there is only one button on the side of the watch). I really like the intuitive and easy to use touch screen ability — it feels modern and up to date but more importantly it is very quick to navigate.
– To start training you select the button on the device and then scroll to find the activity you want to start. You can set the watch up so your most frequently used (or favorite) activities are listed up front for a quick start. There are many pre-programmed activities but I have mainly used the running (outdoors), treadmill running, indoor cycling and strength training activities.
– The activity is paused by pressing the same button and then the touch screen gives end and save options.
GPS log on
– There is nothing more frustrating then your watch taking a long time to log onto the GPS signal when you just want to start running, I was concerned about this having read other reviews of this watch.
– I had no siginifcant issues with the GPS link up. I have used the watch in a small town, a city, at the start of many races and in the countryside when trail running and the GPS log on was adequate in all locations (usually almost immediate but on rare and more frustrating occasions up to 1 minute).
– It is worth noting that the Polar watch I have road tested often found GPS signal before the Garmin.
Activities/Running/Distance Accuracy/GPS
– As a runner this is what is most important to me.
– The outdoor running accuracy appears to be incredibly good. It has matched (with very small tolerances) with official race measured distances in anything from 5km to 30km races.
– On set up I selected automatic pause so when I stop running, for example at traffic lights, the device automatically pauses and then restarts tracking once I am running again. This feature worked well.
– I like the strength training rep counter although I don’t always use it (unless I am wanting to deliberately slow down my work rate)
Data screens
– Along side the accuracy of data the availability of data whilst running is important to me.
– Each data screen can hold 4 pieces of data (e.g. pace, distance, time etc.).
– You can customise what data you have via the app.
– The data was easy to see whilst running and gave me the information I needed to monitor and improve my performance.
Display
– The display is graphics are not amazing but they didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the watch.
– I really enjoy the fact that you can customise what data you have on your standard watch screen. I have mine set up to show digital time, date and step count.
Interaction with other devices and apps
– In common with all runners I know I like to be able to analyse my running data and look at details such as my heart rate, pace and so on over the course of a run.
– The Garmin uses the Garmin Connect app to do this. The watch is quick to syncronise and does this itself after activities. It can also be forced via the app.
– The have my Garmin App (and therefore the watch data) also syncronised to MyFitnessPal so that my calories burnt are sent over to MFP and calories consumed are sent from MFP to the Garmin (watch and app).
As a training aide
– Being able to pre-program workouts before setting off makes for much easier interval training.
– I use the Garmin to write a training plan with specific work-outs (e.g. interval training) and these then become available in the watch on syncing the two together.
– The data you get on the watch at the end of the run is not that extensive (the Polar watch may be better for you if you want this on the watch) but the data in the app is extensive and useful for a post race or run postmortem.
Battery life
– The battery life on the Garmin is very good, but outperformed by the Polar when both had the same features engaged (e.g. continuous heart rate monitoring).
Garmin App
– The Garmin Connect App is what takes this watch from a very good 4* product to a 5* watch for me.
– It is a real life tracker. I track my weight (and my BMI which is automatically tracks), my steps, my menstrual cycle, my calories in (and out, via a link up with MFP), I analyse my run and race results, set and monitor step (and other activity) goals — I must look at the App on average 10 times per day.
– The App is easy to use, intuitive and I honestly believe it has contributed to me developing an even healthier lifestyle.
– The app is the reason why I can’t see myself moving away from Garmin when I need my next running watch/activity tracker.
Other features
– The ‘sleep’ feature isn’t very accurate as it seems to think I’m asleep from the minute I get into bed and start reading until I get up in the morning. All sleep trackers I have tried do however tend to have the same issue.
– I had the watch paired with my phone all day via the Garmin Connect app so I could receive message etc. notifications — a useful function but it does drain the battery more quickly
In summary the Garmin Vivo Active 3 is an amazing watch supported by a brilliant app and I would not hesitate to recommend it.
Update May 2020: This watch is over a year old now. It is still being worn daily 24/7 (except when being recharged) and the battery life is still as good as it was when new and functioning fine with no damage and even the strap shows only very minor physical wear and tear.
Update 21 July 2020: still being used daily. The battery will last 4-5 days without charge at a push if not using the sports activities. If so count on recharge every 1-2 days. Under light usage, expect to charge daily for about 10-20mins. Getting up and having a shower is ideal time if you wear it overnight for sleep tracking.
I bought this watch after much research. I wanted a watch that stored music and had stand alone GPS as I don’t want to have my phone with me for running. I had at the time a Tom Tom spark 3 music which I wasn’t happy with at all.
In comparison to the Tomtom this watch is amazing. The GPS is accurate (tomtom said I was standing still on my 5k run), it syncs with my Galaxy S8 seamlessly (tomtom was absolutely awful at this and I had to uninstall, unpair and pair again) and the music Function works really well (tomtom connection dropped out persistently).
I had initial problems getting it to sync with Deezer but after switching off and on it did a software update that fixed whatever problem it was.
It connects quickly to my trekz titanium.
Battery life is adequate. I am a heavy user with 4 runs and 3 gym sessions a week and I only have to charge it about every 5 days.
Only niggle is that the wrist heart rate sensor isn’t very good when doing a hiit class but I use a chest strap which overcomes this problem.
The app is nice. You can track food, sleep all sorts.
Got for walking, hiking and golf but have used for cardio too and strength training. Not been swimming with it yet. I like the app. Had a Fitbit before which is appalling in comparison. I like the GPS and happy with it. Links to (iPhone) Amazon music so can control from watch but haven’t worked out how to adjust songs when doing an activity (when wearing Jabra headphones) but it isn’t the music version so can’t complain. Not set up Garmin pay yet but will in due course. I don’t like the charging lead so purchased a charging dock extra which makes it easier. Bit pricey at 180 so knocked off one star. I think I got it when at top price but as Amazon is cheaper than other retailers I shouldn’t moan as it is simply superb.
Update: recently added a cheap cadence sensor (12) to my indoor recumbent bike- added to pedal crank- I edit the App manually with distance cycled and the App works out the speed. Also I use indoor bike setting with HIIT (from Garmin connect store- was free) linked together meaning I can record this new activity thus it has increased my VO2 Max as my fitness improves. HIIT is tough but for just ten minutes a day I am happy as I look forward to a my outdoor bike rides this summer.
The music feature was the main attraction as I love music while I run. I could not get deezer to work at all. I ended up having to download amazon music app onto my laptop, buy each song I wanted then download them to the laptop before connecting my watch via the cable and uploading the music. Bit of a pain but worth it in the end.
The heartrate monitor seems fairly consistent with what my old fitbit charge 2 read and the sleep feature seems accurate.
The only thing I have issue with is the floors climbed. I’m up and down my stairs like yoyo all day and it doesnt seem to read them, but not a major issue.
Battery seems good now I have turned off the backlight.
All in all a great watch and looks good too.
First off, the VA3 is, in my view, a sports watch. It does some smart watch stuff but if you want to buy coffee with it or send text messages then buy an Apple Watch (or a phone!) The VA3 tracks your heart rate (all day and all night), tells you where you are (GPS), lets you know when your phone is ringing, it’s waterproof, toughened, comfortable and the battery lasts 5/6 days. It is easy to use, if you read the instructions, pairs with your phone/iPad/computer and chest strap (if you need to – more about that later) and the Garmin Connect app breaks it all down into sensible metrics with stacks of detail.
I am a normal, middle aged bloke and I’m serious but not obsessive about phys. I like wearing an HRM as it motivates me, lets me see if I’m getting better or not or just kidding myself and I find it interesting. Every now and then I try to train in heart rate zones but for me, it is more the info I like having. I run 5km with my dogs 5 times a week and lift weights/circuit train 5 days a week. I also swim probably once a week (more in summer) about 1.5km and I surf and snowboard. I’ve worn HRMs for all activities and have tried several types with varying degrees of success. I have had a Vivosmart, a Vivoactive (the old square one) a Mio, a Polar, a Fenix 3 and a Suunto. Bottom line – for me, the VA3 is by far the best all rounder for a “normal” person.
The watch is “normal” sized, I’m not particularly big or small and have average sized wrists (I think). The VA3 looks right. It’s not flashy or eye-catching, the shape and strap are just there; meaning it doesn’t scream “look at me, I have this new thing…” and it’s not ugly or weird-looking. You can wear it to work and people won’t think you’re trying too hard or wonder why you have an electronic tag on your hand. It means you don’t have to wear a “band” type thing on your other wrist to your watch and it tells the time/date/day like wot a normal watch does. You don’t have to take it off in the shower (if you’re weird and enjoy having mouldy wrists – why would you not take your watch off in the shower!?) or worry about it getting wet in the rain/pool. So it looks fine and does everything you want when you aren’t wearing your trainers.
Running/cycling/snowboarding/riding/surfing – all good. It picks up GPS in seconds and tracks heart rate and location as accurately as any other device, give or take. I know some other reviewers have had bad experiences but I’d guess these are one-offs rather than the norm. It’s a piece of tech kit and they aren’t all perfect: some people have had crappy iPhones and other people love them. Having had Garmin gear before and other brands I would say the chances of being disappointed by Garmin are much less than any other brand. So, assuming you don’t get a wonky item, you’ll have a machine that gives accurate readings (if you use it right) that you can then analyse on your phone sat on the loo to your heart’s content whilst your other half watches Top Gear/Pointless on telly.
So for cardio, indoors or out, the VA3 is spot on. Every bit as good as the 500 Fenix, better in terms of consistency in fact (again, in my experience). HOWEVER… you need to read the instruction manual. If you don’t set the watch up properly, put it on properly, synch it properly then guess what? It doesn’t work properly! Take an hour to get it doing things the way you understand and place it on your wrist in the right place above the wrist bone. Do all that and you’ll get the best from the watch which means you’ll get the best from the available wrist-based HRM/GPS sports watches.
Where it doesn’t work for me is in the gym. But then, no wrist-based HRM has yet: the technology just isn’t there yet no matter how much cash you throw at it (and I threw a LOT of cash at a Fenix!) it may just be me, though there is a theme of similar disappointments, but when you do an exercise where your wrists are bent, under stress or raised then the blood pumping through them (that the HRM detects) isn’t easily detected. Example: I do a 10 minute upper body circuit with virtually no rests, just 3×30 second breaks to avoid a coronary, when I’m working the wrist HRM says 90 bpm (eh?) but when I rest (and my arms are dangling zombie-loose by my sides) it jumps to 170 bpm. The wrist thingy is thrown off by the blood flow to my hands caused by the exercises in question. It is the same with every wrist-based HRM. So in the gym I have a cheap Wahoo tickr chest strap, synced to the VA3 and guess what? The watch tells me I’m too old to be doing that exercise at 170/180 bpm. Same in the pool, if you want your heart rate when you’re swimming, get a chest strap.
Personally, I hate the things (chest straps) and I’m convinced they create fat-sausages that everyone can see, and they get sweaty and gopping and they’re uncomfortable and I don’t like them so they’re stupid. But until the wrist tech gets better or an alternative is invented or I can have my heart relocated to my left wrist I’m stuck with the chest strap for the gym. It is what it is.
I like my VA3. I’m not a pro athlete who trains 6 hours a day with probes in uncomfortable places and a nutritionist who keeps me on a knife edge of dietary collapse, I do a fair amount of phys because I enjoy it and it helps me not want to commit Steven King-esque acts of rage after a challenging day. If I miss a run, I don’t get stressed because I might drop a place in the Ottery St Mary 5km fun run but I do like to know my heart is still beating and it makes me feel unjustifiably self-riteous when I see a whole month of targets met, I get a pat on the head (well, wrist actually) from my watch and yes, I will have another slice of cheesecake thanks. It cost 140 off Amazon, arrived in a day and does exactly what it says it will. I like that. I wish I was more like my watch.
If you’re a pro athlete, buy a 700 Fenix5 (and a chest strap). If you’re a fruit loop that has to have a watch that tells you the time on Mars, adjusts the central heating and has a coffee waiting for you when you pass every Starbucks (and you want everyone to know it), get an Apple Watch or a hat with a sign saying so.
If you’re a regular type person who does plenty of exercise and likes something to look at when you’re skiving work in the loo – get a VA3.
I hope my boss isn’t reading this…
The walking info is the same as my wife’s dedicated running watch, and viewable on smartwatch, tablet and computer.
The daylight viewing with its transflective screen is a delight that I’ve missed since my first pda!
It also measures heartbeat, sleep and steps taken automatically.
The backlight does come on at odd times even when locked. I do like the idea that you can lock the screen so you don’t accidentally touch something and muck it up.
Shame that it needs to be paired and connecting with the phone to load a golf course, though I could do that in the car before locking the phone away.
Synchronisation seems to take a long time after finishing an activity.
You get the most out of it by using Garmin Connect on your mobile, tablet or PC but you get for more information about the activity.
I was very disappointed to find the the USB connector is an entirely proprietary one that is a totally unlike anything else I have.
The awards (eg Goal reached nnnn steps) are not my thing, but can be turned off.
There is also a huge social network I could join, and compete with friends or strangers online.
I’ve not explored the other myriad of activities that could be measured.
The user interface is incredibly easy to use, I’d almost describe it as intuitive because of how easily it can be picked up, despite the watch only having 1 physical button. Being able to change the orientation of both the watch through Connect is a good touch, useful for the different ways in which people wear their watches.
The watch is very light and comparable in weight to the FR235, but doesn’t feel as cheap as the FR235 does.
I’ve used the Garmin Pay feature (with a Santander card) and it worked without delay or issue. The system is also really easy to set up through the Garmin Connect app. This is useful for when you’re on a long run or cycle ride and trying to limited the amount of kit you’re carrying.
Be aware that there isn’t a GPS swimming option on the watch that I’ve found so far, but the pool recording works well and automatically detects new lengths – just make sure you’ve set the correct length option when starting the activity in order to get useful data once the activity has been synced.
The only negative I’ve noticed is that the altimeter isn’t the most accurate, meaning that the watch doesn’t always record flights of stairs correctly. Otherwise, it’s a good watch at a reasonable price.
– The watch is easy to use. More user friendly than the previous Vivoactive models.
– The design is beautiful, I have received a lot of compliments for my watch. It also very light to wear, thus it makes it easy to have it on 24/7
– The VO2 max is a great addition for measuring the activities.
– I have found the stress level measurement to be helpful and quite accurate.
– Finally yoga had been added as a pre existing activity.
– All activities are easy to modify and the design is accommodating easy review during the activity.
– Regarding the music feature, the apps that it is compatible with are not widely popular, however, there is always the option to manually download the music through the desktop app.
– Can’t say much about the wallet app, for the time being, one of the biggest international banks is not compatible with the watch.
– I am not using the watch for swimming as water-resistant and waterproof are two very different things. My dad’s Vivoactive HR got toasted in the sea within minutes, mine survived multiple sessions in open waters, however, it had eventually a cracked screen. Therefore, I am terrified to test my 300 watch even in the shower..
– Finally, regarding the sleeping monitoring, I am not that impressed. The hours are not consistent and the different sleep phases seem to be very uneven, either I have developed serious sleeping disorders in the last month or sleeping measurements should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Overall, I would definitely recommend buying this watch, it is great for people with small activity in their lives up to highly active people for a quite reasonable price for what it is offering. However, if you don’t care for the music feature, you should definitely go for the Vivoactive 3.
So far I’ve had it for about a month and a half which has given me time to learn about it and discover any niggles. The box contained the watch and a charging cable. Was fairly easy to set up once the app was installed on a smartphone and paired with the watch.
What I love:
– Step tracking, floors climbed tracking and continuous heart rate tracking. The floors climbed seems to be fairly accurate, I haven’t measured actual steps vs those recorded but its not way off. The watch prompts you to move (via a subtle vibration) when it detects you haven’t moved for a while.
– Choice of watch faces which are configurable. I downloaded Actiface which displays loads of stats as well as time, so I can see how far I’m off my daily target. This is a really good motivator as there have been times when I have been a bit off my target, so I ended up walking around the house and garden to bank some more steps (how sad!), but its good having something to give you that nudge to get up!
– Sleep tracking seems to be pretty accurate, I’m not sure about the detection of light/deep sleep but the amount of sleep recorded is pretty much bang-on.
– The screen is always on (transflective) which is great for being able to tell the time 🙂 but also to quickly glance at step count etc without having to tap a button or the screen. A flick of the wrist switches on the backlight so you can see the screen in the dark. Its nice going out for a run in the sun and see your progress instantly and know that the display is not killing the battery.
– Its not bad to look at, and is comfortable to wear. i.e. its not a bulky/hefty piece of kit like some smartwatches/fitness watches I’ve seen. I wear it 24-7 and don’t notice I’m wearing it – its that light! The silicone strap is also comfortable.
– Notifications (SMS/Email/Messenger etc, the list of which notifications you can receive is configurable). Nice being able to open an SMS or email without needing to get the phone out, unlock it etc. It isn’t great for replying to messages though – that’s something I’d use the phone for.
– After the first GPS fix (which took a bit of time), every subsequent fix has literally taken a few seconds. Gone are the days of waiting around stretching some more and wandering around waiting for a GPS fix, this thing is almost instantaneous!
– Very simple to start an activity – press the button, select which one via the touchscreen, and with a GPS fix you’re good to go. Display during an activity is fairly good – time elapsed, heart rate, distance and pace – enough to see how you are doing with a quick glance. It also vibrates at every ‘lap’ (currently mine is set to miles) giving you a quick summary of how long that mile took – I can see that being useful for when I do the next half marathon – to allow you to mentally know if you’re on pace for the target time.
– The Garmin connect app (that you need to have installed on an Android/Apple phone) is fairly intuitive and after a while of use, contains a wealth of information that you can browse around. You can also logon to the Garmin connect website to view all the stats/trends/patterns/insights etc.
Any downsides?
The battery lasts about 3 days, which includes a 30 minute run using GPS. That is less than what I was led to believe by the marketing, but I am using the actiface watch face, which has a lot of information on display at once, so its possible that is causing the watch to use the battery faster than with the out-of-the-box face, and I’m still quite addicted to checking steps/floors and heart rate 🙂
The watch rebooted itself this week, possibly as a result of an auto-update, after I’d done 8 floors and about 2000 steps, but when it restarted it said 0 floors and 700 steps, which was a bit annoying! This has only happened once though, so I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt.
You can’t download any music to the watch and listen to it with a pair of wireless headphones – you need a phone with the music on, but I believe the watch can be used to control the music. This doesn’t matter to me as I don’t run or cycle with music on – I prefer to be aware of my surroundings and hear cars/cyclists/other runners!
Garmin pay isn’t yet available in the UK. I don’t have android pay on my phone so I’m not used to using something other than my wallet to pay for things, but it would be really convenient to pay for things at times with a tap of the watch. Maybe Garmin pay will arrive in the UK at some point in the future.
Overall I’m really happy with it – it has a level of ‘smartness’ about it, but is also a competent GPS watch that doesn’t look out of place for day-to-day wear. I bought this when it was a treasure truck offer, so got it for a lot less (160) than it normally retails for (230+). I’m not sure I’d be prepared to pay more than the amount I did though.
Preloaded apps OK and cover various activities and you can customise easily. I don’t require half of the tracking apps so have removed from watch / quick menu to make access to relevant apps quicker.
Hr very accurate as is the sleep pattern. Steps counter is also accurate although can have extra steps added to tracking pending what activity / movement you make nonetheless its still one of the most accurate and best tracking devices I’ve used.
Notifications for calls, texts and WhatsApp come through OK BUT just make sure you have set them up on both your phone, in the garmin connect app and on the watch itself as they don’t automatically set up and sync! Also you may need to adjust phone/watch settings to be able to get notifications all the time as default is set to certain times / activities.
Value measurements are defaulted to US non UK standards / metric but they are simple to change either on the watch or via Connect app i.e temp in Fahrenheit not Celsius, kilometres instead of miles etc.
Synching is easy via app and iqconnect store which has a number of additional apps, widgets and watch faces so you can customise your watch. These can be downloaded in app and are downloaded to watch when it syncs. The connect app also allows you to see breakdown of daily stats and is easy to use and interpret the data.
Overall the Vvoactive 3 is perfect watch for fitness tracking and to receive notifications on the move without having to muck around with your phone. The design and lack of full smartwatch capabilities such as replying to notifications, answering calls on the watch and having speaker to talk or play music to some may seem uninspiring but at the end of the day it’s foremost a fitness tracker with perks of a normal smartwatch which for me is ideal. The watch is comfortable and doesn’t irritate skin like previous watches I’ve had. It is well sized, the screen is clear and you can adjust brightness to suit. You can also turn off setting which causes watch to light up on movement which can be annoying and battery drain. The straps seem sturdy enough and comfortable on the wrist. I had to charge battery last night as went down to 35% from 58% when started but this is because I was mucking around with the watch loads as only just received. From other reviews expect battery life to be at or very near to what Garmin states and improve once used more.
Will update after few months with any changes
The 3 is, in my opinion, attractive. It is a fitness smartwatch, and with everything that it has to have inside it, it will never be svelte, but Garmin have done a very good job in making it lightweight and comfortable. There are a large range of alternative straps available, which can be changed using the very easy quick release method. The screen is always on, dimly in dim conditions, but a quick tap makes it sufficiently brighter. It automatically brightens up in brighter conditions, and when you are exercising it stays on and is very clear and easy to read. The battery life is very good. It seems to last about five days if you don’t use any of its features, but that can be cut down to a couple of days under heavy use.
Garmin supply many watch faces and exercise apps, and there are a large range of third party watch faces and apps, many of them highly configureable.The stats it produces seem to be accurate. I recently was in hospital wired up to an ECG machine, and the Garmin produced a similar enough heart rate reading.
It syncs with my phone very easily and the data it produces is, if anything, quite overwhelming. Some of the less fitness oriented companies sometimes let themselves down when it comes to the software – but not Garmin. You can analyse your exercising in minute detail. The other company that is very good on the software side is Fitbit. Garmin provides more information, but Fitbit lays it out more clearly. I have got used to how Garmin presents its information, and now that I can work my way round it, Fitbit seems a bit lacking.
I have owned many fitness watches over the years and the Vivoactive 3 is far and away the best. At the moment I can’t fault it.
I’ve grown to love this little watch. It replaced my original Garmin Vivoactive Mk 1, which was an awesome sports watch with separate chest HR monitor.
I don’t think the wrist based HR is anywhere near as accurate, on any of these watches, as a chest strap HR.
I don’t understand why the HR is switched off when you select “Pool Swiming”, it works just fine in the shower?
What doesn’t work is the “Strength” program, this needs a lot of work Garmin. It rarely detects when I start and stop a strength based activity, Dumb.
Whilst were on the “Needs more work” section, Garmin the “Auto Activity” is completely useless, just remove it, until it at least can tell the difference between skiing and cycling. Apparently I skied all the way to work on numerous days from Southampton to Hursley in the summer!
The strap, Hmm yeah 5/10 for that one, it’s way too skinny and thin for the watch and the first thing you’ll want to do is replace it with something a little more meaty.
Aside from those gripes the functionality is second to none, even when compared to other much more expensive Garmin watches.
The screen is top quality and a massive improvement over my old Vivoactive Mk 1. It looks great and is the ideal size, for me anyway (19cm wrist). The Fenix 3/5 ranges are still as big as mantlepiece clocks and simply look ridiculus on any wrist smaller than that of a sumo wrestler.
The battery life has taken a massive hit when compared to my old Vivoactive Mk1, only 4-5 days with my normal activities (Cycle to/from work 4 days, Gym 4 days, Couple of walks), as opposed to 2.5 weeks with the Vivoactive Mk1. That constantly on wrist HR really sucks the battery. The ANT+ chest based HR monitors all use CR2032 watch batteries and they last about 2 years and like I said are far more accurate.
The sideswipe function, curious, works ok but never really found I needed it, that screen is just great.
The other issue, I believe is nothing to do with any of the Garmin watches but afflicts most Garmin devices. Garmin Mobile Connect, yep paring and communicating over Bluetooth is not one of it’s strengths 🙁 You’ll need a lot of patients to get your watch paired connected and set-up initially. But once completed it will only screw up occasionaly, forcing you to go through the process over again. The stability of this phone app fluctuates with every new release. I suggest not updating it if it’s currently working for you, why would you?
Garmin: The one thing I have never understood about Garmin Mobile Connect is the absolut requirement for an internet connection in order to sync your device? Surely you should be able to sync your watch with the phone app and keep the data local until an internet connection is availible, then it gets uploaded automatically. This will prevent users loosing, or having activity data overwritten because the watch has run out of slots, or space? What were you thinking?
It looks great in the slate colour compared with the previous version of the watch. No one is going to stop you on the street to congratulate you on an awesome timepiece but neither will they know your wearing an activity tracker. Watch faces look good enough and it’s round, this makes all the difference.
Screen : Garmin screens are always fairly low Res and dim compared with other watches until you go outside. When outdoors the screen is always legible and if anything gets better. It could be a bit higher in resolution but not something you notice after a few days of wearing it.
Performance : Not had any issues, picks up GPS quickly and maps accurately . Counts steps well and measures your heart rate every second. Notifications are handled well and look good on the round screen. The only thing I really wanted to work was the weight lifting app. For my needs it works ok but is more of a faff than I would like. Until it automatically tracks everything I won’t be using it.
Battery : I’m getting about 4 to 5 days on my second charge and I’m hoping to get about 6. It is worse than the Vivoactive before it but the feature set is worth the trade off. It better than most other watches as it is.
Overall : Really happy that it works as expected, no real bugs to speak of. It looks nice and fits comfortably. I was tempted by a Samsung Gear and Fitbit Ionic but decided on this and I am not disappointed. They all have their pros and cons.
*****Update after a month or so use.
Battery life is firmly in 4 to 5 day territory which is fine. There has been an update or 2 that have made some improvements, the main one being to the weights app. It now automatically tracks sets and reps. It isn’t perfect and doesn’t pick up all exercise but it works just about well enough to be useful. At the very least it’s an excellent timer between sets.
I have not had any issues with the watch and still love the look and features.
I would still recommend this watch. Very impressed and for my usage case is almost the perfect smart watch.
To address some of the negative reviews. The renaming of exercises was fixed and didn’t affect English language devices. I haven’t had any issues with a chest strap or the optical HRM. Battery life has always been average with no major drop offs.
Everyone has a different usage case and there do seem to be some issues for them. I would call myself the average user that runs, walks and does weights and it works fine for me.
Every device has niggles for some users, don’t let that put you off. Compared to the competition this is a great option.
Update 17.4.18
I have had this watch a while now and it’s a dependable piece of tech. Battery lasts well, it still looks great.
I have read other reviews and people do seem to have some issues though these generally seem to be sorted by a return to Garmin.
While not perfect it is close, it hasn’t let me down once in the time I have been using it. It’s not a 5 star product, I would say 4.5 but Amazon doesn’t allow 1/2 stars.
Pluses – It looks way better than the old one. I love the rounded face and the standard watchface is good. The screen as a whole is much clearer than the old one. The HRM seems pretty accurate – or as accurate as the chest one was. It picks up GPS fairly fast, I’ve not had any issues. Before I got it I was worried that it would have issues synching with my iPhone, but it synched straight off – no problem. It’s easy to use and scroll up and down and turn the apps on and off. So far I’ve used it for running, biking and lap swimming and it’s performed as expected for all 3. I’m sure I read somewhere that for swimming it can tell you what stroke you’re doing but I’ve not worked this out yet.
Minuses – The battery life is not as good as the original. I know this is as it does more, but my first run (about 90 minutes) used about half my power. Also an hour of lap swimming (indoor so no GPS) used about 50%. Since this I’ve done a hard reset, turned the screen brightness down and turned off the screen going on when I move my wrist and the battery is better but I’m not sure I’d ever get the advertised 12 hrs of GPS out of it. This week in the last 3 days I’ve used it for about 2 hrs of GPS activity and it’s on 40%. I’ve also turned off the garmin app on my phone and only turn it on when I want to synch as I think when it’s on it synchs more often draining the battery.
I had a Pebble Time – and I loved the customisable watch faces, the fact it was waterproof, and that battery life. Only having to charge once a week is far better than every single night. Plus it means sleep tracking is built in by default.
FitBit bought Pebble and will no longer be supporting it in 2018 – plus my pebble had started to become very buggy. Having to do complete resets at least every other week.
For my new watch I wanted week-long battery life, always-on screen, waterproof with swim tracking, sleep tracking and for it to be customisable. I wasn’t too bothered about making phone calls on my wrist, or GPS.
So taking these requirements into account no Apple Watch v3 – or that ugly ionic. Who designed that thing?
The Good
————–
Screen: Always on Viewable in direct sunlight Good resolution
Battery Life: Got 6 days (turn down screen brightness to 20%, switch of gesture, lock screen when not using it, choose a good black watch face)
Looks: Wife and daughter approved (looks less like a techy gadget and more like a traditional watch)
Functions: Haven’t really used the sports tracking yet, hope to get into swimming and cycling in the new year
The Bad
————
Software: Failed to connect to iPhone ( tried for about an hour, installed software on PC, switched on-off bluetooth – the problem was fixed by doing a full restart on the iPhone – the iOS app then worked and has done flawlessly since – so could be an iOS 11 Bluetooth bug)
Vibration / Feedback: No sound But the vibrations as so soft I miss some notifications
Cost: Cheaper than Apple Watch But still more expensive than a Pebble
Conclusions
—————-
I think the watch can do more when paired with an Android device. However, as a smartwatch, and according to my requirements, I don’t think there is a better watch out there for me. Your mileage may vary.
I find (after over 4 weeks of use) that I average 4-5 days of battery life between charges. It take approx 1hr to fully charge too.
The screen is great, especially in bright light or sunlight. The transflective display actually becomes clearer the brighter the light in the room or outside is. This is great as my previous wearable devices were lcd screens and out in bright sunlight there were hard to view.
The watching is super comfortable to wear. It’s so light you barely feel it on. I’ve not change he’d the staple even though it’s easy to find any replacement you want due to the generic quick release system and size. The stock strap is again super comfortable and the silicon is nice for sports wear as it won’t absorb the sweat like a leather alternative would.
Sports tracking is great, I do a mix of strength and cardio exercises. No it’s not as precise as a chest strap but it’s surprisingly not that far off. Strength training work is where I find the gap between chest strap and wrist appears more. When out for a jog/run I find it much more accurate. I don’t do HIIT training and it’s sudden spikes where wrist tracking is often less precise. That’s a problem with wrist based tracking in general due to the location being further to the extremities from my understanding. And the flexing with strength training work and different bloody circulation within the muscles all has an affect on it. But overall the results seemed to even out about the same as the polar strap I have by then end of the workouts. So
The Garmin companion app and website are great. There is an absolute shed load of data to digest after training but it’s all great for understanding how your performance is changing. Some reviewers have complained saying there is too much data but more data allows for more insight. It’s one of the reasons I swapped to Garmin. My old ms bans 2 used to give more data than the polar M600 but the band wasn’t as accurate at tracking workouts or very comfortable.
Garmins app also links brilliantly with MFP unlike anything else I’ve used before. It’s so good I find I use it’s calorie tracking interface more and just log my food in MFP. Previously I used to get all my exercise data into MFP to the work out the calories. Garmin connect makes its clearer and easier.
I could bang on more but ultimately I’m super happy with my device and can’t recommend it enough
As I’m into running and gym, all I ever really wanted out of my smartwatch was solid GPS, on board music playback, decent battery life (enough to last a marathon at least) and of course the a few of the usual smartwatch features.
Sadly none of those smartwatches could deliver on battery life and GPS accuracy (probably due to Music playback) so I decided to go back to Garmin and try their new Vivoactive 3 and run with my phone or Mp3 player for music.
So far I’m pretty happy with this watch so I’ll list my pros and cons:
Pros:
GPS – Very accurate and finds signal fast!
Super lightweight
Interchangeable straps
Built-in sports apps (I like the strength app)
Some decent smartwatch features including Find my Phone, Music Controls etc..
Garmin Connect app – nice user friendly layout
Fairy decent battery life (not 7 days though)
Side Swipe sensor (although I barely use it now)
Plenty of features and sensors for serious sports people.
Cons
No music storage (can only control) but I suppose this would seriously affect battery life
Can only respond to text not WhatsApp messages using canned responses (Android Only)
Display not as sharp as previous smartwatches I’ve owned
No Garmin Pay as yet
In summary, this is a great watch if you’re serious about your sports, and need good GPS accuracy and decent battery life with some smartwatch features
+ All the bells and whistles most users could want in features and sensors
+ Round instead of rectangular… Unlike VAHR, I can use VA3 not only as a sports watch but also as a casual and even a dress watch
+ The size of the watch is okey although even in my smaller wrists (for a large man) I could see it being a bit bigger from an aesthetical standpoint
+ The stainless steel bezel looks better live than in pictures and is the smarter choice (slate looks more sophisticated but there are already photo evidence of VA3 Slate having scratches that reveal the stainless under the coating making the scratch stand)
+ Universal 20mm Quick Release bands… Quick to change with a larger, cheaper selection online (I bought Barton leather, Barton silicone and Trumirr silicone)
+ Nice, clear screen that is a significant upgrade from VAHR (more information in a bigger, nicer presentation, easier to hit the on-screen buttons)
+ No problems with connectivity (GPS/GLONASS connected although the first time took a few minutes, Bluetooth connected to my Sony smartphone with Android 7.0 inside without any problems, my Wahoo TICKR chest strap connected without any problems)
+ Garmin Connect works great and there is a good selection of custom watch faces to be downloaded (I’m using Steam Gauge myself)
+ Vibration strength is sufficient (not weak by any standard)
+/- The price tag… I do get that many find the price of this watch high, especially when they compare the build to the Fenix series and even other watches (like the Apple Watch 3). However, I find it a bit conflicting that the price of the Fenix series isn’t put to question as essentially in VA3 you get roughly all the features of a Fenix without the bulk for + 100 less. Moreover, many do not seem to understand that the VA3 isn’t a smart watch or even a fitness watch. It’s a sports watch. You shouldn’t buy it if your primary concern is smart phone functionality or measuring your fitness activity with a nice-looking UI.
+/- Battery drain. Granted I have disabled the activity tracking, lowered the screen brightness and screen timeout and enabled screen lock (as apparently the screen is so sensitive that it can have a life of its own in certain situations), but I haven’t experienced any rapid battery drain. I’ve done some running and workouts plus spend a lot of time going through the menus and setting up custom watch faces and the battery is still +80% (and I didn’t even do an initial full charge). I have switched the watch off during extended periods of not using it. I did wait for the FW2.6 and did a soft hard reset (pushed the button for 15 seconds) which apparently make the battery life better. It remains to be seen if I will get close to the promised seven days of battery life…
+/- The non-rugged feel of the watch. There’s no denying that VA3 is very light and back part of it is made of plastic that gives a feeling of being thin and hollow. I’m sure that the watch will not have any problems with durability but there are a lot of people who even at the cost of bulkiness want that heavy, premium feel. However, I do like the fact that not only does the non-bulkiness lead to the watch looking like a regular watch but also that it does not get in the way when exercising. For example, I do some crossfitting and there are certain movements with or without weights that require having my wrists bent in an angle. Especially in those situations it’s nice to have a watch that is light and slim enough to not constantly remind me of its existence.
– Some major and minor bugs that can differ from user to user. This is however expected of Garmin as is the fact that they steadily release firmware updates that will fix the bugs. As for my VA3 (I’ve changed watchfaces, done running with GPS+GLONASS and cardio), I haven’t experienced any bugs.
– The side swipe feature. While it does work and can be handy if you have wet/dirty hands and/or don’t want to smudge the screen. However, it still feels like a somewhat unnecessary gimmick. Furthermore, as I’ve switched the orientation of the watch (button points at my arm instead of my hand), I’ve found that the side swipe activates backlight when it brushes against the back of my hand. I’ve since deactivated it.
– The silicone watch band feels a bit cheap.
Some pro tips
* Use a (cheap) tempered glass protector for peace of mind (doesn’t take away anything visually or in screen sensitivity). Do not get a Fenix 5 screen protector even though the screen size should be the same (it will be too big).
* Consider buying a (compatible Fenix 5) silicone dust/rust plug for the charger port (but remember that, at least the one that I got) doesn’t go all the way in
* Read DC Rainmaker’s review (he has some good tips regarding settings)
* Before making judgements on the watch, read forums because it’s likely that a recent firmware update, a temporary trick fix (like the hard reset) or a non-advertised feature might just fix what had bugged you. For example, a lot of people where complaining that you couldn’t do manual laps with this watch whereas in reality you can.
I do recommend this watch to those who are in need of a serious, all around sports watch but do not want to pay +400. If you’re not in a hurry (I sold my VAHR to get VA3 so that’s why I bought it early), I do recommend waiting a bit as not only will the price go down (although there will be a long wait for 199) but the firmware will mature and you don’t have to experience any bugs.
The first was a run on Sunday which tracked well (I had GPS and Glonass on plus 1 second recording) and gave me all the usual information whilst I was out but when I came to stop the run, the touchscreen was unresponsive. I reset the watch (held down the side button for approx. 10 seconds) and when it came back on, it kept the run and allowed me to properly end and save it which was a bonus. I’m not sure if this was due to the amount of sweat I produced whilst running, but I’ve heard of other smart watches exhibiting similar behaviour after exercises so I will keep an eye on this and report back if it continues to do this or not (I am planning on a run at the weekend so I should be able to confirm this then).
I went for a 3 hour walk on Monday which I also tracked, and thankfully this time there were no issues with the touchscreen.
The watch is light, lighter on the wrist than my Fitbit Surge which I have swapped from. The display is crisp and bright, so bright in fact I turned the brightness down to 20% which is more than plenty (and will help the battery life). It has an option to put the backlight on when you raise your wrist but it seems a bit flakey on this firmware (2.50) so I’ve turned it off. I’m quite happy just tapping the screen when required to see the details to be honest.
Garmin connect works well and can be linked with the popular tracking apps like Strava and MyFitnessPal for seamless integration and it really is simple to setup so a big thumbs up for that. The information you can get in the app is great and easy to use as well.
The notifications work well (even on iOS) and can be easily customisable from your phone settings. If you have an Android device you can reply to messages from the watch but this does not work on iOS. Garmin Pay is non existent at the moment but they have to liaise with every single bank in the world to make it work so it may or may not ever come to my bank but I’m not bothered about that.
Battery life initially seemed very poor but I think that might have something to do with “new gadget syndrome” where you tend to simply mess about with it more than usual which kills the battery more than you’d expect. After the first day when it went from 100% to 20% (with a 3 hour run tracked in the middle) I’ve not had any more sudden drops and just using it as a fitness / sleep tracker means I’m using about 20 – 25% a day which is fairly average and should see it last approx. 4 – 5 days ish.
The Barometer seems to track less accurately than my fitbit in day to day use. What the Surge classed as a flight of stairs seems to differ to the VA3 as if I pop up and down the stairs in my house, the VA3 doesn’t register it but the FS always did … a minor thing and when I’m out on a real hike i’ll see if it performs better.
Speaking of which, my one criticism is a minor one, of all the types of exercise you can log on this watch (skiing, golf, indoor bike, outdoor bike etc) a simple “Hike” option is missing. Yes I can do a “Walk” and then change the type in Garmin Connect afterwards, but its not the same. Hopefully this will be added via a firmware update in the future.
All in all, a great watch and I’m sure Garmin will release some software updates to resolve the niggles that I and others have had. Even with the dodgy touchscreen I’m giving it an initial 5 star rating. If the touchscreen does the same thing over the weekend, I might come back and knock a point off.
Edit: Touchscreen is still dodgy, and the side touch thing is hypersensitive. I have hairy arms and it is constantly activating it so it scrolls around like its possessed. I would like an option to disable this as I do not use it at all and rely on the touchscreen.
Also, the touchscreen has failed to respond on me twice more now after exercises. I had to hard reset the watch to get control back. I have knocked it down a star to reflect this.
Hopefully with future software updates these niggles are resolved.