Garmin Vivofit 4 Activity Tracker – Black, Large

Fitness trackers seem to be everywhere today and of course there are many arguments for and against them which are often valid. The biggest negative is that they are inaccurate which, might be true but that does not in my view negate their benefits.

And the main benefit? They become the nagging partner in your brain telling you to move, in particular walk. And no matter what cobblers is spouted about various exercises, the main thing is to move. Run, walk, hop. It makes no difference when it boils down to it when it comes to helping life an active life. Just move a bit. Move a bit more is better and what I’ve found over the last four years is that a fitness tracker almost forces me to do that. Okay, I am by nature a person who is generally self motivated and I am a gym fan, but as I’ve got older I’ve found it easier to talk myself out of doing a bit more now and again. It’s an insidious thing and before you know it, you find that you no longer active.

But, a fitness bit is a visual indicator that your activity level vs pie consumption has gone out of balance and that for me gets me back on my hind legs and moving. It’s surprising how guilty you feel when presented with a record of your indolence…

Now, over the last few years I’ve had a Fitbit – that was a bit rubbish but being an early adopter…., A Samsung Smart watch, a cheapo ten quid thing – that was great and lasted 18 months – and now this.

So, accuracy. It’s not bad. I know for a fact that if I get off at the big flag in Baku where I work and walk to my apartment it is exactly 5.15KM. All of my various trackers bar the first have been close enough to this distance for me to feel that they are accurate enough to be of use. All of them show my steps to be 8000 to do this -/+ 10% which, is perfectly fine for what I need.

The Vivofit 4 here I’ve found is the lowest counting of all the ones I have had but is still close to the ballpark average, so step counter is perfectly accurate enough.

The actual Vivofit 4 is small – which, is exactly what I wanted. I still prefer to have a decent watch on my wrist and thus use the tracker on my right side purely for movement and heartrate checking. And it if the Vivofit 4 was like a full sized watch I would feel a bit like Del Boy on a street corner trying to flog dodgy time pieces.

The downside of being small is that the screen is also small which, for me is of no concern for the above reasons. However, if you intend this as a watch replacement then I’d say you need to look for something with a bigger face designed for that purpose.

Of course the Vivofit is also about other things such as sleep and non-walking exercises which, once again is a help if you use this it get you in the groove or habit.

The sleep timer seems to be accurate enough when I compare it to my actual hours of sleep according to my bedside clock.

The other exercises are supposed to be automatic but I tend to set when I start and set when stopped.

Now, much of what makes a fitness tracker relies on the app and when up and running it is comprehensive and has multiple options for pretty much any kind of activity you want.

Firstly the slight niggle which, was when setting the app up it would not progress past the connection stage. In the end I uninstalled the app and then reinstalled it and weirdly it was then fully populated and operational. It must have dragged my information from the inevitable account settings you have done. Once working it has been fine since so I don’t know. It certainly did not follow the instructions for sure when initial setup was required.

As part of the app you can set up your types of activity and routines. As I said before, I am a gym fan so have set up some of my routines. I have a different one for each day of the week and the process is a long one as you pick your exercises from a drop down list which, is comprehensive but of course not always named the same as you might know it. So far out of the seven I have, three are done and it was a bit drawn out. Worthwhile in the end but you gotta take the pain if you want to do it.

What else? Well, it’s a battery operated watch that does not need charging. This is a good thing mostly, but of course the time will come when it needs a new battery and that depends a lot upon how you set this up. It automatically updates the app on your phone but there is a clear warning that if you set up for a very regular update you will drain your battery. I have set mine for infrequent which, I hope will give me a year of use.

The fitness tracker itself is neat, small(ish) and comfortable to wear. It’s unobtrusive as well – at least in black.

Overall, this is probably the best tracker I’ve owned and so for me personally a very good bit of kit let down a very small amount by a slightly odd setup process that I still don’t entirely get.