Running Tech Buzz: Garmin Vívoactive
Garmin’s latest smartwatch is an ultra-thin, light, multisport GPS watch with outstanding battery life.
Garmin’s latest smartwatch is an ultra-thin, light, multisport GPS watch with outstanding battery life. Practical beyond workouts, the watch connects to your nearby phone to display notifications and can control your music player. Tired of multiple watches and charging? With 4 days of notifications from phone to watch, sleep and activity tracking, plus 3.5 hours of accurate distance GPS running, the vívoactive still had 40 percent battery life left, all in a stylish package suitable for everyday use. The only knocks: Screens outside of workout modes were hard to see in dim light or with sunglasses, and there is no configurable interval mode beyond “Walk/Run.”
Breakdown
Expandable
Limited but growing selection of watch faces, additional data fields, heart rate charts and more in the Connect IQ Store.
Golf and swim too
GPS shot distances and stats for 38,000 golf courses. The onboard accelerometer tracks swim workouts as well.
Sleep and activity tracking
The activity and automatic sleep time and sleep movement logs are very useful for tracking a full day’s routine.