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- First reviewDecember 5, 2015
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Garmin Vivosmart HR Activity Tracker: Measure your daily activity with this device that helps you to set and maintain aerobic fitness goals. Vibration alerts let you receive call, text and e-mail notifications from your phone.
Posted by: johnk
My daughter (very athletic) and I (becoming more sedentary every year) bought the Fitbit Charge HR and the Garmin Vivosmart HR. We tried each for three days each. In the end, we returned the Charge HR for another Vivosmart HR. Here is my 7 day comparison of the two. Note: Keep in mind that our wrists are very thin so I am guessing that the HR monitor (of both watches) were possibly more accurate than usual.
Every day use:
Sleep monitoring was more fun to look at on the Vivosmart. It breaks down the sleep into deep sleep and light sleep. It was surprisingly accurate. On two days, I had 36-40 mins of "deep sleep." On the third day, I took a benadryl and the Vivosmart recorded 2:35 min of "deep sleep." I was very impressed. I also liked that you can edit the sleep/wake times to make it even more accurate.
Steps and distance are about the same for both.
Heartrate at rest. Both are comparable.
My daughter and I really liked the notifications sync on the Vivosmart with our iphones.
My daughter liked the alarm on the Charge HR better. The vibration was more noticeable in the Charge HR than the Vivosmart.
Syncing: The Vivosmart sync'ed to my iphone much faster than the Charge HR.
Mobile phone apps: Overall, I liked the look of the Garmin better than the Fitbit, except the presentation of the heartrate data which was easier to look at on the Fitbit app.
Display: Overall, liked being able to swipe the screen of the Vivosmart to switch windows, it was faster and more efficient that tapping or pressing the side button of the Charge HR.
Waterproof: I liked that the Vivosmart is more waterproof. I haven't tried it in the pool yet though.
Sleep monitoring was more fun to look at on the Vivosmart. It breaks down the sleep into deep sleep and light sleep. It was surprisingly accurate. On two days, I had 36-40 mins of "deep sleep." On the third day, I took a benadryl and the Vivosmart recorded 2:35 min of "deep sleep." I was very impressed. I also liked that you can edit the sleep/wake times to make it even more accurate.
Steps and distance are about the same for both.
Heartrate at rest. Both are comparable.
My daughter and I really liked the notifications sync on the Vivosmart with our iphones.
My daughter liked the alarm on the Charge HR better. The vibration was more noticeable in the Charge HR than the Vivosmart.
Syncing: The Vivosmart sync'ed to my iphone much faster than the Charge HR.
Mobile phone apps: Overall, I liked the look of the Garmin better than the Fitbit, except the presentation of the heartrate data which was easier to look at on the Fitbit app.
Display: Overall, liked being able to swipe the screen of the Vivosmart to switch windows, it was faster and more efficient that tapping or pressing the side button of the Charge HR.
Waterproof: I liked that the Vivosmart is more waterproof. I haven't tried it in the pool yet though.
It was during my run that I was really sold on the Vivosmart.
Heartrate while running (while wearing both the Vivosmart and Charge HR at the same time). I tightened the watches on my wrists to make sure they didn't move too much. That worked well for both. The Vivosmart and the charge were about 3-5 beats off at most times. The Vivosmart seemed to get to a more accurate rate earlier in the run. Through most of the run, both were really close. During the immediate cooldown, the Charge HR was more accurate but after 10 minutes they leveled off again.
Running mileage and estimated pace of the Vivosmart was surprisingly accurate and I liked that it was really easy to designate the start and end of the run.
The most important factor to me was that the display on the Vivosmart is on at all times during the run, which means I can glance at my watch to see the data without having to press or tap anything. It is what I am used to with my Timex Ironman watch. I liked being able to look at the stopwatch to know how long I have run and could quickly swipe the screen to get to the heartrate data and the distance traveled.
Heartrate while running (while wearing both the Vivosmart and Charge HR at the same time). I tightened the watches on my wrists to make sure they didn't move too much. That worked well for both. The Vivosmart and the charge were about 3-5 beats off at most times. The Vivosmart seemed to get to a more accurate rate earlier in the run. Through most of the run, both were really close. During the immediate cooldown, the Charge HR was more accurate but after 10 minutes they leveled off again.
Running mileage and estimated pace of the Vivosmart was surprisingly accurate and I liked that it was really easy to designate the start and end of the run.
The most important factor to me was that the display on the Vivosmart is on at all times during the run, which means I can glance at my watch to see the data without having to press or tap anything. It is what I am used to with my Timex Ironman watch. I liked being able to look at the stopwatch to know how long I have run and could quickly swipe the screen to get to the heartrate data and the distance traveled.
Overall, I think for the average person that wants a fitness tracker (for steps, calories, HR, sleep etc), both the Garmin Vivosmart HR and the Fitbit Charge HR are really good. For the more focused and motivated athlete, the Garmin Vivosmart HR is more versatile and more practical.
My Best Buy number: 2647876642
I would recommend this to a friend!
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