Description
- Keeps track of your energy levels, Pulse Ox (this is not a medical device and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or monitoring of any medical condition), respiration, menstrual cycle, stress, sleep, estimated heart, hydration and more
- Easily download songs to your watch, including playlists from Spotify, Amazon music or Deezer (may require a premium subscription With a third-party music provider), and connect with headphones (sold separately) for phone-free listening
- Record all the ways to move with more than 20 preloaded GPS and indoor sports apps, including yoga, running, swimming and more
- Get easy-to-follow, animated workouts right on your watch screen, including strength, cardio, yoga and Pilates
- Battery life: up to 7 days in smartwatch mode; up to 5 hours in GPS and music mode
- Personalize your watch with thousands of free watch faces, apps and widgets from our Connect IQ store
- Garmin Pay contactless payment solution (not all countries and payment Networks are eligible) lets you pay for purchases with your watch
- Safety and tracking Features include incident detection (during select activities) and assistance (when paired with a compatible device), which both send your real-time location to emergency contacts
- Stay connected with smart notifications (when paired with a compatible device), for incoming calls, text messages, calendar reminders and more; WATER RATING:5 ATM
- Garmin Coach provides free 5K, 10K and half-marathon training plans that guide you to reach your race goal and adjust based on your performance in the plan
Camila –
Comparando con garmin swim2 mucho más lindo y delicado, me gustó mucho! El color lo elegí rosa pero parece más lila, touch, opciones de entrenamiento, control de música, muy lindo!
Jordan –
Those of you more interested in fitness first, smartwatch features second, will really enjoy this watch. My Vivoactive HR just died after having it for over 3 years, so I upgraded to the Vivoactive 4. This is a major upgrade in terms of looks and features. Here are all the things I love:
1) Two buttons – I originally bought the Vivoactive 3 Music because it was on sale for $200, but I quickly realized that missing the second button was a major pain point for me. Having the two buttons is so much more convenient for overall navigation. Also when you’re in a workout, the second button can be used for setting a lap (instead of the vivoactive 3 where you have to double tap the screen). The second button alone was worth the extra spend. The vivo3 had a 20mm band, where the vivo4 is 22mm. The bigger band makes it look a lot better. The extra 0.1in screen space is well utilized also. It does make a difference.
2) Touch screen – I also tested out the Fenix 5 Plus for a while; now that is a great watch. The only issue I had with the Fenix was that you had to navigate all with buttons. The buttons are great for fitness and water sports, but when you’re in the office, it’s a little awkward when you’re sitting in a meeting pressing buttons to navigate through texts or emails. Fenix was an amazing fitness watch, don’t get me wrong, but it didn’t work for my professional life expectations. Because it felt weird to have to press 5 buttons on the Fenix at the office, I wanted to go back to the touchscreen. Touchscreen is so much quicker and easier than the buttoned Garmins. It also looks cooler, and makes it truly feel more like a smartwatch.
3) Fitness features – If you’re never had a Garmin before, they are amazing tools to help your fitness. The data it collects is leaps and bounds better and more accurate than any other smart watch. This watch has way more than the average athlete would ever need as it pertains to fitness features. There are tons of apps available, and its so easy to navigate and customize to your need. I use it mainly for running, golf and open ocean canoe paddling, using the SUP app. Though it’s a touch screen, it still responds decently well when you’re using it on the water soaking wet. You just have to kinda dry it off before you try to navigate while on the water. But here’s the deal, if you’re truly serious about your training, you’re probably working too hard to even mess with your watch during the workout anyway, so focus on your training, not tapping away at your watch. I set it to buzz after every mile so I can see each mile pace. It works well for the 5-10+ mile sessions when I’m trying to beat my time. I listen to music when I’m out paddling, and it’s a really nice feature. Haven’t had any issues connecting to my waterproof earphones, even with all the movement during a workout. I use the Mpow Flame waterproof earphones. Golf app is awesome: front, middle and back of the green yardage.
4) Battery life – this is the biggest reason for me to get a Garmin instead of an Apple, Fossil or Samsung. I didn’t want to be glued to my charger every night so instead I got this and get a full week’s worth of battery. The always-on display is bright enough to see in daylight and at nighttime, but technology is what helps it save energy instead of the higher end amoled screens. It charges really quickly too so if I forget to charge it, I can just juice it up really quickly. A 10 minute charge gets me about 30% of battery.
5) Smart features – The fact that Garmin has begun to integrate smart features to their watches is amazing. Yes, you can’t do everything one would like to do on a watch like talk to siri, look at pictures, or make phone calls. But why are you looking on your watch for all that stuff anyway? Is it really necessary when our phones are so advanced now? I get all my selected phone notifications, I can read texts and preview emails, and that’s really all i need. Remember, fitness first, smartwatch second.
All in all, this is an amazing fitness watch, and I’d definitely recommend if you’re in the market for a new watch. Totally worth the spend, and for my needs I’d say it is a major upgrade from the apple/samsungs.
Camila –
Amo meu Vívoactive! Tem uma bela estética, não incomoda, tem muitas funções, a bateria, quando uso bluetooth e localização acaba terminando antes, nesse modo dura uns 3 dias.
Se não usar essas funções dura até mais de 5 dias. Sei que essa duração e menor que mtos smartwatches por aí, mas as funcionalidades compensam
D R. –
My older Huwaei watch wouldn’t synch to my phone or app anymore which was a shame especially for the price. Few years back I choose the Huwaei band over a Garmin since Garmin was out of my budget.
The first couple of days I wore both the watch and the band and compare what data I could since it wasn’t synching with my phone. They were still quite comparable and still would be quite happy with my Huawei if it still worked, but it does not.
I compared the price of the watch through many sites and including the website for Garmin. Amazon was by far the cheaper option even through it was going through Amazon Garmin store. Also, what made this an easier transaction was the payment plan over 5 months with no interest. . . .I was very tempted to buy more of an expensive watch with that option.
It wasn’t an easy option of which band to purchase. I could’ve gotten a newer style for around the same price. Thankfully I found a website that asked multiple and more in depth questions than the Garmin website and it kept pairing me up with this watch style with two other options which were the others I was looking with, so I purchased the Vivoactive 4s.
I was quite apprehensive since there was such a broad spectrum of reviews, where people either loved it or hated it. Also, people were complaining the watch strap was too small and I don’t have a delicate wrist. My wrist circumference is about 6.75″ and the band definitely fits with a fair bit of holes leftover. Although I feel like I’m in between holes. I feel like the smaller face looks good on my wrist. It’s not too big or small. I didn’t want a computer on my wrist. It’s super light and comfortable except for the between the hole sizes and my wrist does swell depending on heat etc. I’ve tried on a Fenix before and I’m not exactly sure which model it is, but its heavy and seems massive on my wrist.
This watch has the transflective vs the newer amoled display. I actually wanted the transflective over the amoled. My old watch was amoled and I hated it outside in the sun. I’d have to shade it and move around my arm just to see it. While I understand that other watches you can set up the always on display or have it turn on when you touch the screen, but I had that before and I’ve found my gloves wouldn’t wake up the watch and I’d have to remove my gloves. I really like that it looks like a watch and depending on the face it just looks like a real watch. Even with the washed out screen as people have complained about I really enjoy it. I have it set at about 30% brightness and find it decent inside under lights and I can tap the screen if it’s dark inside. I love the screen outside which I spend alot of time.
The face of the watch doesn’t look good with high detail and isn’t as rich. It looks pixelated. Thankfully I found several I really like on the IQ app. I like simple and clean so there are quite a few I can use. BUT I still love it, especially outside!!
As for the features. It’s like a hybrid watch. It is touch screen but has two buttons, which I love this. I really do like touch screen. It linked perfectly with the older Samsung phone. This is being used as a fitness tracker and not as a smartwatch, so all features of texting, emails etc have been deactivated. The only thing I kept was if someone calls me it vibrates to my wrist. The stress and body battery is a nice new feature. I have pulse ox turned off to save battery but do plan on activating it around monthly for about a week to measure my advancement or any changes during my sleep. As for sleep it doesn’t do naps, and isn’t super correct, but this isn’t a medical device but something to help me to become healthier and just keep basic records. There is so many features….it’s hard to review all of them. Love that I can set my goals of stairs, steps, active mins etc. I deactivate the iq move option since I do not want to “add” extra active mins because I’m walking to my car but want to focus on my actual exercise I add daily. The move option if you’ve been sitting a long time actually takes a few mins of walking to deactivate vs just getting up and walking to the fridge. I find it helpful with the buttons and I can move my activities around. Couple pushes of the buttons and I’m recording the activity at the top of my list with no touching of the screen. This is perfect for me since right now I’m just doing elliptical.
It hasn’t added steps when driving to work. I use a rideon and it will add a few steps, but not many. It’s not really an issue to me because I push now for about an hour and it doesn’t read any of those steps. It also read vigorous weeding as a few steps. It doesn’t bother me, since it isn’t adding 1000’s of steps and it’s just a tool to become active and hold myself accountable.
The battery isn’t super long, but it’s way longer than my old band which I charged everyday while in the shower. It generally is around the 4 or 5 day mark that I’m putting it on the charger. It has around 30% battery left and about an hour to charge fully. Now I’m not using alot of features so battery life will differ.
Unfortunately I have not used the GPS for a walk yet, or my hikes. I did connect to the GPS a few times just to see how fast it connected. I’m very happy. Way quicker than my last watch. I’m not sure if it shows a map in the app once the activity is completed. I hope so. My outdoor activities are seasonal, which may seem weird, but I do lots if hikes and walks in the cooler seasons along with other fitness activities and summer time is mostly gardening and maintaining the property along with indoor fitness.
I cannot give a review on the music aspect since I have no intentions of using it. The watch has everything and more.
Brandon –
I’ve tried several smartwatches and finally found the one for me with the Vivoactive 4!
I started with Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 – terribly short battery life and very slow charging. Tried Amazfit GTR 2 – nice but couldn’t get past being tethered to China, and poor app. Fossil Hybrid HR – beautiful to look at, buggy and inaccurate. With Garmin I tried the Venu 2: beautiful screen and great features, but annoyingly buggy, and with erratic battery life. Vivomove Style – worked fine but small and just not enough good features.
This is the one. Sometimes I’ll compare/contrast Vivoactive 4 (VA4) with Venu 2 (V2).
Pros:
-Just about the right shape and size and weight for me. Looks nice; I originally wanted the black but the shadow gray/silver bezel was $50 cheaper. I like the silver bezel, looks classy, and I’m happy with it.
-Interface smooth and easy to use. Different from the Android-like style of Samsung or Amazfit but easy enough in its own way. No lags. Decently customizable. Decent app selection in the store.
-Touchscreen works really well; responsive when I actually want to use it, but rarely picks up accidental touches, or wiping it with my sleeve. (V2 was terrible for accidental touches and always activated when trying to wipe it off.)
-Great fitness features for general casual fitness (probably not for pro athletes). Good GPS for hiking (under the Walking activity). Lots of good motivators to be active, and tons of metrics even just for normal daily use.
-Excellent battery life, good for a week without GPS activities. GPS uses ~10% per hour, still good. Charges in a little over an hour. (V2 charged even more quickly, but battery life was erratic, and far shorter with always-on display.)
-Good selection of watchfaces, stock and third-party.
-Transreflective display – I wasn’t sure about this, but I’ve come to really like it! It’s certainly not as “pretty” as AMOLED like on a Samsung or the V2, but much more practical, and far better battery life. AOD 24/7 for a week straight, backlight only needed in the dark, very clear and easy to read in sunlight – a much better choice for a fitness-focused watch in my opinion. Very happy with it! (The AMOLED AOD on the V2 was my main problem with it, other than general bugginess. It sapped the battery like crazy. It also couldn’t be turned off quickly on the fly, like for a movie or a nap. Not a problem on the VA4!)
-I like Garmin Connect. Pretty easy to use and lots of info.
Cons:
-Transreflective display – I like it, as noted above, but it takes some getting used to at first after AMOLED, and will never be as “pretty” except in bright sunlight which is where it really shines (literally).
-Slightly thicker than I might prefer.
-Plastic build, other than bezel. I don’t mind and it’s sturdy and light, but it doesn’t say “premium.”
-Occasional problems getting a GPS lock after traveling to a new location. It helps to sync and then restart the watch.
-Connect IQ, the app store, is poorly organized and has a lot of junk in with some gems. Looks like the Android Market 10 years ago.
-Sleep tracking. For me this is the major con, especially compared to the V2. Accuracy is only okay, sleep and wake times decent, but sometimes missed when I’m in bed awake, or even got up to go to the bathroom. No sleep score and no insights, and can’t view sleep on the watch. Sleep tracking is where the V2 really excels by comparison – impressively accurate, and very helpful sleep score and insights, onboard calculation and widget… the V2 outstrips the VA4 by miles here. I really, really wish Garmin would bring the updated sleep tracking to the VA4 as a firmware update. Or a VA5. I’d buy it!
Aside from the lackluster sleep tracking, I’m extremely happy with the Garmin Vivoactive 4. It’s (almost) everything I want from a fitness/smartwatch. If Garmin brought the better sleep tracking to it, I’d say 5 stars, solid. As it is, call it a strong 4.5, and the best available for my needs.
Dobson Enerbun –
Muy buen diseño, tamaño, correo evita que se caiga, buena duración de batería pero el GPS la consume muy rapido como ellos mismos advierten así que todo bien, en segunda mano como nuevo es muy muy buena opcion.
Chris –
I had a Fitbit Charge 5 that died within 8 months. Aside from the awful $9.99 a month subscription, it was also terribly inaccurate during exercises, which is kind of its main job. Thankfully, this fitness tracker by Garmin is 100x better and highly recommended.
Right out of the box this watch is better. It looks nice, has a sturdy build quality, and the wristband fits even my small wrist. I had to buy a 3rd party wristband for my old Fitbit. There’s no monthly subscription to access any of the data for the app. The app is easy to use, runs in the background and updates on my phone with no issues. It was easy to set up when I first started using it.
The exercise tracking is superb. My Fitbit would have extremely irregular heart tracking. I’d be in a full cardio workout and it would register my heart rate at 80bpm. This tracker has no issues – the heart rate tracker works well, doesn’t have wild drops, and steadily and accurately records my heart rate with no issues. I’ve used the walk activity tracker to track a 3 hour hike, and it recorded my route, heart rate, and calories burned.
I’ve read other reviews mentioning that the battery life doesn’t live up to the specs, but I haven’t seen this as the case. On my 3 hour hike using GPS, my battery only drained 15%. If you make sure that your Pulse Ox meter is off, you should get several days worth of battery. It also charges quickly, so if you take it off and charge it when you shower, you should have no issues.
Overall, I highly recommend this tracker. It’s very accurate, has a good battery life, lots of features, and it is visually appealing.
D R. –
tecnologia de ponta, excelente