Vivosmart HR Fitness Watch Tech Review

The Vivosmart HR fitness watch from Garmin is a relatively versatile and worthwhile product with plenty of features to keep track of everyday fitness. It’s got the common things you would expect from a gadget of this calibre; a heart rate monitor and step counter, alongside a fairly comfortable fit on both wrists.

After creating a profile and hooking up via Bluetooth to a smartphone app called Garmin Connect (Which is available on the App Store, Google Play and Windows Phone), the Vivosmart syncs different data types directly to your phone including step count, calories burned and sleep patterns. The app is very well designed with specific menus for each data set along with charts to give more information about your progress. You can also time and save your runs, which also link up to the app; there’s no GPS tracking on the HR but it’s not too glaring an omission. What really makes the device work is the subtle way it encourages you to live more actively. If you’re sat down for an hour or longer, the watch will vibrate and give you a gentle nudge to take a quick walk around. Combine this with target setting for steps walked or staircases climbed and you have a reasonably effective way of getting more active than you otherwise would be.

In addition to the data provided by the watch, the connection between it and the phone can also be set to display notifications from text messages to Facebook updates. It’s quite nifty to have access to emails, weather alerts and other alerts from your wrist, although the screen doesn’t always lend itself for effective viewing. You can also control music on your device using the menu on the watch. The watch itself boasts a straightforward and easy to use menu system, and has a battery level good for several days without needing to be recharged.

The device is not without other issues. The sleep tracking feels a bit limited, as you have to enter in specific times when you go to sleep in the evenings and wake up in the mornings. It could have a more organic way of tracking sleep patterns if it measured sleep based on lowered heart rate patterns rather than having the user enter specific times that can change at any time. The tracking mechanism for stairs can also be unresponsive and delayed, failing to register staircases climbed. There were also points where the device seemed quite inaccurate when reading my heart rate in the middle of a run.

Is the Vivosmart HR worth buying? That depends on how many features you’re after. If you’re massively into fitness, then the lack of a GPS or route tracking may be off-putting. But for those looking for a less flashy, more affordable fitness watch, the Garmin HR is a cautious recommendation.

The Vivosmart HR sells at common electronic retailers for between £100 and £150.

(Image used for purposes of review under fair use)