Garmin Vivoactive 4 (Black/Slate)
Keep an eye on your health and get fitter with the Vivoactive 4 4S GPS Fitness Smartwatch. It offers a wide range of features for your health and well-being, such as breathing exercises, Body Battery to monitor your energy levels, Pulse Ox measurement, and more. Download your favorite playlists from Amazon Music, Spotify, or Deezer directly onto the watch to listen to music during workouts without your phone. Access over 40 workout plans with varying difficulty levels. View animated exercises for strength training, cardio, yoga, and Pilates directly on the display. Stay active longer. The battery lasts up to 8 7 days in smartwatch mode and up to 15 13 hours in GPS mode. With Garmin Pay, you can easily make contactless payments with the wearable. Highlights include a case with a stainless steel bezel and Gorilla Glass, over 40 workouts with animated exercises, Garmin Coach, over 20 sports apps, smart features like notifications, weather updates, news, Garmin Pay, and water resistance up to 50 meters.
Keep an eye on your health and get fitter with the Vivoactive 4 4S GPS Fitness Smartwatch. It offers a wide range of features for your health and well-being, such as breathing exercises, Body Battery to monitor your energy levels, Pulse Ox measurement, and more. Download your favorite playlists from Amazon Music, Spotify, or Deezer directly onto the watch to listen to music during workouts without your phone. Access over 40 workout plans with varying difficulty levels. View animated exercises for strength training, cardio, yoga, and Pilates directly on the display. Stay active longer. The battery lasts up to 8 7 days in smartwatch mode and up to 15 13 hours in GPS mode. With Garmin Pay, you can easily make contactless payments with the wearable. Highlights include a case with a stainless steel bezel and Gorilla Glass, over 40 workouts with animated exercises, Garmin Coach, over 20 sports apps, smart features like notifications, weather updates, news, Garmin Pay, and water resistance up to 50 meters.
Keep an eye on your health and get fitter with the Vivoactive 4 4S GPS Fitness Smartwatch. It offers a wide range of features for your health and well-being, such as breathing exercises, Body Battery to monitor your energy levels, Pulse Ox measurement, and more. Download your favorite playlists from Amazon Music, Spotify, or Deezer directly onto the watch to listen to music during workouts without your phone. Access over 40 workout plans with varying difficulty levels. View animated exercises for strength training, cardio, yoga, and Pilates directly on the display. Stay active longer. The battery lasts up to 8 7 days in smartwatch mode and up to 15 13 hours in GPS mode. With Garmin Pay, you can easily make contactless payments with the wearable. Highlights include a case with a stainless steel bezel and Gorilla Glass, over 40 workouts with animated exercises, Garmin Coach, over 20 sports apps, smart features like notifications, weather updates, news, Garmin Pay, and water resistance up to 50 meters.
Keep an eye on your health and get fitter with the Vivoactive 4 4S GPS Fitness Smartwatch. It offers a wide range of features for your health and well-being, such as breathing exercises, Body Battery to monitor your energy levels, Pulse Ox measurement, and more. Download your favorite playlists from Amazon Music, Spotify, or Deezer directly onto the watch to listen to music during workouts without your phone. Access over 40 workout plans with varying difficulty levels. View animated exercises for strength training, cardio, yoga, and Pilates directly on the display. Stay active longer. The battery lasts up to 8 7 days in smartwatch mode and up to 15 13 hours in GPS mode. With Garmin Pay, you can easily make contactless payments with the wearable. Highlights include a case with a stainless steel bezel and Gorilla Glass, over 40 workouts with animated exercises, Garmin Coach, over 20 sports apps, smart features like notifications, weather updates, news, Garmin Pay, and water resistance up to 50 meters.
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The lowest price for Garmin Vivoactive 4 (Black/Slate) right now is $160.00 at CeX, compared across 2 retailers.
The all-time low was $119.00 on 4 Sept 2026 — today's price is 34% above the lowest ever. It has been notably cheaper before — worth setting a price alert.
Prices last updated 12 Oct 2026.
Last updated at 12/10/2026 11:39:41
Garmin Vivoactive 4 Activity Tracker Medium/Large - Black, C
Free delivery
Garmin Vivoactive 4 Multisport Smartwatch Hr Gps Sports Watch - Black
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originally posted on garmin.com
I'm an Apple guy, but wanted a round smartwatch that was on the small side. I'm also interested in heart rate variability (the underlying measure of "stress" in smartwatches), so that was a must. This quickly led to Garmin. I compared the vivoactive 4s, the venu 2s, and some hybrid models, finally opting for the vivoactive for its long battery life with always-on display. After all, I use it for a watch more than anything else. I've had mine 2 weeks and have been quite happy so far. It's great for timed exercise (cardio, walking, and 7-minute workouts in my case), sleep monitoring, "body battery", stress measure, and much else. It's packed with fitness features, many of which I'll never use. I found a nice, highly customizable analog watch face in the IQ Connect ... MoreI'm an Apple guy, but wanted a round smartwatch that was on the small side. I'm also interested in heart rate variability (the underlying measure of "stress" in smartwatches), so that was a must. This quickly led to Garmin. I compared the vivoactive 4s, the venu 2s, and some hybrid models, finally opting for the vivoactive for its long battery life with always-on display. After all, I use it for a watch more than anything else. I've had mine 2 weeks and have been quite happy so far. It's great for timed exercise (cardio, walking, and 7-minute workouts in my case), sleep monitoring, "body battery", stress measure, and much else. It's packed with fitness features, many of which I'll never use. I found a nice, highly customizable analog watch face in the IQ Connect store. Which reminds me, the Garmin Connect app used for synching is fantastic compared to apps for other wearables I've tried. I thought I wouldn't like the band the vivoactive came with, but it's fine -- a bit on the short side if you have a thick wrist, but good for me. So why 4 stars, not 5? I don't care for the bluish backlight, and I can't easily see the display inside without it. This is especially true for notifications, which I usually can't read in realtime. I also wish customizable aftermarket watch faces could be tweaked more easily, without having to go through both the Connect and IQ apps with each change. Finally, and this is just me, I should have opted for the silver/powder gray instead of the slate/black; the former looks more like a watch, the latter more like a "device". All in all, a good value, an extra incentive to exercise, and a lot of fun.
originally posted on garmin.com
I've been wearing the Viviactive 4s for a few weeks now and overall I'm pretty happy with it. I switched from fitbit, so it was quite a shock to see how different the step count was. I understand this watch doesn't count arm movements which I love, but my work has me taking short amounts of steps often, so not counting until I've taken at least 10 steps means that it often misses out on a lot of my real steps and not just arm movement. I'm very happy with the battery life. I've only had to charge it 3 times so far. I was worried about not being able to turn off the screen, but it seems like it barely causes any battery drain at all. I am very disappointed in the sleep tracking. It seems very inaccurate. It will think I'm asleep when I'm sitting on the couch reading. ... MoreI've been wearing the Viviactive 4s for a few weeks now and overall I'm pretty happy with it. I switched from fitbit, so it was quite a shock to see how different the step count was. I understand this watch doesn't count arm movements which I love, but my work has me taking short amounts of steps often, so not counting until I've taken at least 10 steps means that it often misses out on a lot of my real steps and not just arm movement. I'm very happy with the battery life. I've only had to charge it 3 times so far. I was worried about not being able to turn off the screen, but it seems like it barely causes any battery drain at all. I am very disappointed in the sleep tracking. It seems very inaccurate. It will think I'm asleep when I'm sitting on the couch reading. It makes you choose a bedtime which doesn't work for my schedule since I work overnight half of the week. It would be nice if you could have the option to set bedtime each day instead of one time for every day. The activity tracking was the real reason I chose to switch to Garmin and that part is amazing. I love having all the information broken down into graphs and maps for me. Overall I'm happy with my choice, but I would love it if Garmin could improve their sleep tracking and maybe add some of the other health tracking that Apple started implementing in their watch. I don't want a watch that has to have a data plan, but I want to be able to track as my health as much as possible without having multiple devices. So far, this seems to be the closest to what I want.
originally posted on garmin.com
I bought the vivoactive in April of this year. At first it was an amazing piece of kit and I was very happy with my purchase. 3 months in and I got a triangle on the screen. Having no idea what this was and the user manual not telling me anything about it I got the forums. It seems a few people also had this issue. I read through the comments and did everything that had worked for others. The triangle went and my watch was back. However this now happens on a regular basis. Triangle appears, all the help tricks have stopped working, the triangle lasts for about 2-3 days then the watch just goes back to working. This is now happening more and more regular which means the watch is pretty much useless. I bought the watch new from Amazon but they won’t accept a return ... MoreI bought the vivoactive in April of this year. At first it was an amazing piece of kit and I was very happy with my purchase. 3 months in and I got a triangle on the screen. Having no idea what this was and the user manual not telling me anything about it I got the forums. It seems a few people also had this issue. I read through the comments and did everything that had worked for others. The triangle went and my watch was back. However this now happens on a regular basis. Triangle appears, all the help tricks have stopped working, the triangle lasts for about 2-3 days then the watch just goes back to working. This is now happening more and more regular which means the watch is pretty much useless. I bought the watch new from Amazon but they won’t accept a return because they only give you a month to do so. Garmin don’t seem to have an email I can use, I can never get through to anyone on the phone so I paid nearly £300 for a watch to work for 3/4 months. So if you’re going to try the garmin watches, don’t buy from Amazon because if anything does happen you have no way of getting a replacement. Any other place will automatically give you 12 months which is standard for electrical items guess I just lucked out with my purchase.
| Hardware Sensors | GPS |
| GPS | Yes |
| Heart Rate Monitoring | Yes |
| Sleep Monitoring | Yes |
| Step Counting | Yes |
Garmin Vivoactive 4 Activity Tracker Medium/Large - Black, C
Free delivery
Garmin Vivoactive 4 Multisport Smartwatch Hr Gps Sports Watch - Black
Free delivery
Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a small commission for purchases made through this link at no extra cost to you. This helps support our site. Thank you!
I'm an Apple guy, but wanted a round smartwatch that was on the small side. I'm also interested in heart rate variability (the underlying measure of "stress" in smartwatches), so that was a must. This quickly led to Garmin. I compared the vivoactive 4s, the venu 2s, and some hybrid models, finally opting for the vivoactive for its long battery life with always-on display. After all, I use it for a watch more than anything else. I've had mine 2 weeks and have been quite happy so far. It's great for timed exercise (cardio, walking, and 7-minute workouts in my case), sleep monitoring, "body battery", stress measure, and much else. It's packed with fitness features, many of which I'll never use. I found a nice, highly customizable analog watch face in the IQ Connect ... MoreI'm an Apple guy, but wanted a round smartwatch that was on the small side. I'm also interested in heart rate variability (the underlying measure of "stress" in smartwatches), so that was a must. This quickly led to Garmin. I compared the vivoactive 4s, the venu 2s, and some hybrid models, finally opting for the vivoactive for its long battery life with always-on display. After all, I use it for a watch more than anything else. I've had mine 2 weeks and have been quite happy so far. It's great for timed exercise (cardio, walking, and 7-minute workouts in my case), sleep monitoring, "body battery", stress measure, and much else. It's packed with fitness features, many of which I'll never use. I found a nice, highly customizable analog watch face in the IQ Connect store. Which reminds me, the Garmin Connect app used for synching is fantastic compared to apps for other wearables I've tried. I thought I wouldn't like the band the vivoactive came with, but it's fine -- a bit on the short side if you have a thick wrist, but good for me. So why 4 stars, not 5? I don't care for the bluish backlight, and I can't easily see the display inside without it. This is especially true for notifications, which I usually can't read in realtime. I also wish customizable aftermarket watch faces could be tweaked more easily, without having to go through both the Connect and IQ apps with each change. Finally, and this is just me, I should have opted for the silver/powder gray instead of the slate/black; the former looks more like a watch, the latter more like a "device". All in all, a good value, an extra incentive to exercise, and a lot of fun.
I've been wearing the Viviactive 4s for a few weeks now and overall I'm pretty happy with it. I switched from fitbit, so it was quite a shock to see how different the step count was. I understand this watch doesn't count arm movements which I love, but my work has me taking short amounts of steps often, so not counting until I've taken at least 10 steps means that it often misses out on a lot of my real steps and not just arm movement. I'm very happy with the battery life. I've only had to charge it 3 times so far. I was worried about not being able to turn off the screen, but it seems like it barely causes any battery drain at all. I am very disappointed in the sleep tracking. It seems very inaccurate. It will think I'm asleep when I'm sitting on the couch reading. ... MoreI've been wearing the Viviactive 4s for a few weeks now and overall I'm pretty happy with it. I switched from fitbit, so it was quite a shock to see how different the step count was. I understand this watch doesn't count arm movements which I love, but my work has me taking short amounts of steps often, so not counting until I've taken at least 10 steps means that it often misses out on a lot of my real steps and not just arm movement. I'm very happy with the battery life. I've only had to charge it 3 times so far. I was worried about not being able to turn off the screen, but it seems like it barely causes any battery drain at all. I am very disappointed in the sleep tracking. It seems very inaccurate. It will think I'm asleep when I'm sitting on the couch reading. It makes you choose a bedtime which doesn't work for my schedule since I work overnight half of the week. It would be nice if you could have the option to set bedtime each day instead of one time for every day. The activity tracking was the real reason I chose to switch to Garmin and that part is amazing. I love having all the information broken down into graphs and maps for me. Overall I'm happy with my choice, but I would love it if Garmin could improve their sleep tracking and maybe add some of the other health tracking that Apple started implementing in their watch. I don't want a watch that has to have a data plan, but I want to be able to track as my health as much as possible without having multiple devices. So far, this seems to be the closest to what I want.
I bought the vivoactive in April of this year. At first it was an amazing piece of kit and I was very happy with my purchase. 3 months in and I got a triangle on the screen. Having no idea what this was and the user manual not telling me anything about it I got the forums. It seems a few people also had this issue. I read through the comments and did everything that had worked for others. The triangle went and my watch was back. However this now happens on a regular basis. Triangle appears, all the help tricks have stopped working, the triangle lasts for about 2-3 days then the watch just goes back to working. This is now happening more and more regular which means the watch is pretty much useless. I bought the watch new from Amazon but they won’t accept a return ... MoreI bought the vivoactive in April of this year. At first it was an amazing piece of kit and I was very happy with my purchase. 3 months in and I got a triangle on the screen. Having no idea what this was and the user manual not telling me anything about it I got the forums. It seems a few people also had this issue. I read through the comments and did everything that had worked for others. The triangle went and my watch was back. However this now happens on a regular basis. Triangle appears, all the help tricks have stopped working, the triangle lasts for about 2-3 days then the watch just goes back to working. This is now happening more and more regular which means the watch is pretty much useless. I bought the watch new from Amazon but they won’t accept a return because they only give you a month to do so. Garmin don’t seem to have an email I can use, I can never get through to anyone on the phone so I paid nearly £300 for a watch to work for 3/4 months. So if you’re going to try the garmin watches, don’t buy from Amazon because if anything does happen you have no way of getting a replacement. Any other place will automatically give you 12 months which is standard for electrical items guess I just lucked out with my purchase.
I love my new Garmin Vivoactive 4S for the most part. The features are helpful and accurate as far as I can tell except for the sleep monitor. I am awake and looking at the clock on and off all night every night so I have a good idea of when I am awake thru-out the night. I have found that the watch app will tell me I was in REM or deep sleep when I know I was awake and looking at the clock. I have made a point of moving my arms and legs for a full 2 mins to check for accurate movement monitoring, but it still shows little to no movement during those times. I don't like that you can't track naps and I don't like that you have to set your "normal" sleep times b/c I have found that whatever hours I put in the app, are the hours it assumes I was in bed asleep. For me, ... MoreI love my new Garmin Vivoactive 4S for the most part. The features are helpful and accurate as far as I can tell except for the sleep monitor. I am awake and looking at the clock on and off all night every night so I have a good idea of when I am awake thru-out the night. I have found that the watch app will tell me I was in REM or deep sleep when I know I was awake and looking at the clock. I have made a point of moving my arms and legs for a full 2 mins to check for accurate movement monitoring, but it still shows little to no movement during those times. I don't like that you can't track naps and I don't like that you have to set your "normal" sleep times b/c I have found that whatever hours I put in the app, are the hours it assumes I was in bed asleep. For me, that isn't always the case. I may get up and stay up for hours during the night if I can't sleep, yet it shows I was in light sleep or REM sleep during those hours. As far as the heart rate monitor and Pulse Ox monitoring go, they are pretty accurate. I have checked them both multiple times with other devices and manually with a timer and they are always within 4 heartbeats or within 2% on the pulse ox so I am happy with that. I don't like that I can be up moving around, doing laundry or cooking, and a lot of times as soon as I sit down, I get an alert saying, "It's time to get active" or "Time to move". So, there are a few things that could be better but overall, I get a lot of use out of the parts that I use most often. I haven't fully used all of the functions so some things I can't attest to. I think it was well worth the cost and you don't have to have a subscription to use any of the functions. In my opinion, it is a better device than other brands. I would recommend if you are going to use different colored bands that you buy a gray or white watch. I got the rose gold and it looks funny with different colored bands on it, lol.
I bought this watch about 2 weeks ago mainly for running and sleep monitoring, but I have found that it is so inaccurate I will probably return it. Example 1: it does not show accurate *current* pace information when running. I ran a half marathon last weekend and more often than not, if I glanced down at the watch, it showed my pace at 10:30, 11:00, even 12:45 a few times. My actual pace was more like 9:00 (I finished in 2:00:02). My Garmin 4S was useless in trying to pace myself throughout the race. I had to do the math in my head based on overall time/distance, which was accurate. I bought a fancy watch so I wouldn't have to do that anymore! Example 2: if you are exercising indoors (not using GPS) it does not accurately track pulse or respiration rate. I just ... MoreI bought this watch about 2 weeks ago mainly for running and sleep monitoring, but I have found that it is so inaccurate I will probably return it. Example 1: it does not show accurate *current* pace information when running. I ran a half marathon last weekend and more often than not, if I glanced down at the watch, it showed my pace at 10:30, 11:00, even 12:45 a few times. My actual pace was more like 9:00 (I finished in 2:00:02). My Garmin 4S was useless in trying to pace myself throughout the race. I had to do the math in my head based on overall time/distance, which was accurate. I bought a fancy watch so I wouldn't have to do that anymore! Example 2: if you are exercising indoors (not using GPS) it does not accurately track pulse or respiration rate. I just finished a set on my bike trainer, and the pulse range displayed on my watch was 85-96. The actual range was 130 - 150. It also did not show that my respiration had increased at all (display: 14; actual: north of 30). Again, if I wanted to have to put a finger on my neck and do multiplication, I would have stuck with my old Casio. This has me seriously questioning whether any data it shows is accurate at all. I was really excited to see the sleep stages graph each morning, but now I doubt that what the watch shows is even close to reality. Very disappointing product.
I bought this in the spring of 2020, and not only does it still work well, I think in some ways it works better than when I got it. The software updates are noticeably helpful and add new features, which is so lovely. I know this is not Garmin's most intensive watch for tracking workouts (I chose this one over some of the others in part because I liked the size and looks more for everyday wear), but I'm a collegiate rower, and it serves my purposes perfectly. I can track everything from my speed on the water to the number of strokes I take in a minute, which is so helpful. The GPS, in my experience, is accurate nearly to the meter, although there are a few times when it may cut out for a few seconds. The tracking for every other activity I've done is great, too, and ... MoreI bought this in the spring of 2020, and not only does it still work well, I think in some ways it works better than when I got it. The software updates are noticeably helpful and add new features, which is so lovely. I know this is not Garmin's most intensive watch for tracking workouts (I chose this one over some of the others in part because I liked the size and looks more for everyday wear), but I'm a collegiate rower, and it serves my purposes perfectly. I can track everything from my speed on the water to the number of strokes I take in a minute, which is so helpful. The GPS, in my experience, is accurate nearly to the meter, although there are a few times when it may cut out for a few seconds. The tracking for every other activity I've done is great, too, and I love the diversity of activities you can track. The heart rate tracking is really solid, too, especially with resting heart rates. It's accurate for exercise-induced elevated heart rates, too, but only if you've started an activity on the watch — if I don't start one, I'll look back at the heart rate data later and it will lowball what my heart rate should have been at by usually at least 50 beats. I think the watch also lowballs pulse ox, so I don't use the feature often. Battery life is great, even here into year 3. I have had some occasional bluetooth connectivity issues, but that's always been solved by turning my watch or the bluetooth settings on whatever I'm trying to connect to on and off again. The Garmin Connect app can be a little clunky, but the watch itself still runs like a dream. I wear it all day, every day.
I have switched to this watch from Fitbit. So some of my comments will be a direct comparison between the two. I do workout and do occasional hiking. All my workouts are indoor. For my usage and the past experience with Fitbit, this watch is not good. I will not recommend it. Daily workouts - I do strength training (10mins), run on treadmill (23mins), cool down by walking on treadmill (5mins) and 5 mins of yoga stretches at the end. There is no single 'Workout' activity on this watch. Imagine starting with 'Strength' activity first, then switch to Treadmill and then to 'Indoor walk' etc. from this tiny display. This watch does not support creating your own workouts. Its a pain switching between all these activities. Limited activities - I do hike occasionally. But ... MoreI have switched to this watch from Fitbit. So some of my comments will be a direct comparison between the two. I do workout and do occasional hiking. All my workouts are indoor. For my usage and the past experience with Fitbit, this watch is not good. I will not recommend it. Daily workouts - I do strength training (10mins), run on treadmill (23mins), cool down by walking on treadmill (5mins) and 5 mins of yoga stretches at the end. There is no single 'Workout' activity on this watch. Imagine starting with 'Strength' activity first, then switch to Treadmill and then to 'Indoor walk' etc. from this tiny display. This watch does not support creating your own workouts. Its a pain switching between all these activities. Limited activities - I do hike occasionally. But there is no such activity. You have to start it as 'Walk' and then change it to Hike after ending the activity. Similarly, I cut my own grass. But there is no lawn mowing option available. There is gardening but I will tell you below why its not right. You have to move your hand otherwise it wont record - The biggest drawback on this watch is, you have to keep on moving your hand. Otherwise it will pause the activity. For example when running on treadmill if you pickup a towel to wipe your sweat, it thinks that you stopped running and pauses the activity even though you are running. Same for walking behind lawn mower. Since you hand is on the mower, it does not recognize this activity or record any steps. I do cut grass for 1hr and it records hardly 100 steps for that activity. You cannot start activities from the phone - nope, you have to start them from the tiny watch screen. If you selected a wrong one, you have to cancel it and pick the correct one. The battery life is ok if you turn off lot of features. I do not use Pulse OX because it says battery life will be affected if turned on. Whats the point then? Overall, this is an inferior watch compared to Fitbit. I do not recommend it.
I did a lot of research and really wanted to love this watch, esp. as it has the Garmin name, but there are too many cons for me to love it. First is size/watch band. I have very small wrists, so even with this specially made for that, it's still too large, causing it to not sit correctly on my arm, and most likely affecting readings. I do not care for the silicon/non-breathable band - it's so uncomfortable. I wish there was a fabric or leather option without having to go buy it separately. As for the function - I love the sleep tracker on fitness watches and as others have pointed out, the sleep tracker function is highly inaccurate. It measures it from the time you get into bed and are not moving around much, whether you are sleeping or not. It seems to not be as ... MoreI did a lot of research and really wanted to love this watch, esp. as it has the Garmin name, but there are too many cons for me to love it. First is size/watch band. I have very small wrists, so even with this specially made for that, it's still too large, causing it to not sit correctly on my arm, and most likely affecting readings. I do not care for the silicon/non-breathable band - it's so uncomfortable. I wish there was a fabric or leather option without having to go buy it separately. As for the function - I love the sleep tracker on fitness watches and as others have pointed out, the sleep tracker function is highly inaccurate. It measures it from the time you get into bed and are not moving around much, whether you are sleeping or not. It seems to not be as technically advanced as sleep features on other watches, so greatly disappointed in that. The "charts" that are on the watch and in the app are so tiny, and can not be expanded to view it better - a problem for old eyes like mine. The charts are so tiny that they see kind of pointless on the watch. For recording fitness activities - so far I have used it to track walks; it takes a bit for the GPS to pick up so I'm often standing in my front yard waiting for that. I had a huge issue yesterday that really bothered me - I finally went for my first XC ski post-surgery; I skied a 10K but my watch stopped recording about a mile in, and I didn't realize it until I was done skiing and my watch tracked almost nothing. While trying to troubleshoot, I realized it's because of the location of the buttons; with XC skiing I wear a lot of layers, and take my mittens on and off quite a bit while skiing. Doing so must have hit the buttons and caused it to stop recording. I don't know a way around this - I could try to put it on my other wrist, which would be annoying honestly. So IMO, this is a design flaw. There are tons of other options on the watch that I still have not figured out. My favorite feature I guess would be helping me find my phone. It's also fairly easy to see outside, which is a pro as other watches struggle here. Battery life has been good as well. Overall, I don't love it and can't wait for the day when a company designs a watch that truly fits small wrists, has an excellent sleep tracker, and has visibility for old eyes.
Just upgraded from a Vivoactiv 3. Everything works great (exception below) and I am getting a full week of battery life without using GPS or the pulse ox. Like my 3, I think this is a nice looking watch and while the 3 was the biggest size I'd go with the 4S is probably a better fit for my wrist. I would have gotten the 4, for the better battery life, if it wasn't bigger than the 3 - not sure why they changed the size. My only complaint is the heart rate monitor. I get on and off accuracy - same as with my old 3. I go to the gym three times a week and do about 2.5 hours of cardio work. I can be climbing stairs and my heart rate shows as 85, say, which is obviously not accurate. Sometimes it'll stay that way my entire workout, sometimes there is a delay in picking up ... MoreJust upgraded from a Vivoactiv 3. Everything works great (exception below) and I am getting a full week of battery life without using GPS or the pulse ox. Like my 3, I think this is a nice looking watch and while the 3 was the biggest size I'd go with the 4S is probably a better fit for my wrist. I would have gotten the 4, for the better battery life, if it wasn't bigger than the 3 - not sure why they changed the size. My only complaint is the heart rate monitor. I get on and off accuracy - same as with my old 3. I go to the gym three times a week and do about 2.5 hours of cardio work. I can be climbing stairs and my heart rate shows as 85, say, which is obviously not accurate. Sometimes it'll stay that way my entire workout, sometimes there is a delay in picking up the higher heart rate, and sometimes the higher rate is picked up immediately. I always wear the watch positioned the same way on my wrist and when I don't see the higher heart rate getting picked up I'll try to take off the watch and reposition it but it doesn't seem to change anything most times. I deal with it since it's not a huge issue for me - I'm more interested in wrist notifications but it IS kind of annoying. Overall I'm very happy with the 4S and Connect is a great app. I had installed a custom watch face on my 3 and installed the same one on my 4S and it's a breeze with Connect.
My watch suddenly started producing inconsistent results for activity tracking. For example- it claimed a 7 mile hike was 11 miles. Later, it logged a full mile while I was sitting down on my bed. I reached out to Garmin product support and they provided me with a list of links to several different troubleshooting steps to take, including turning on auto pause, checking which satellite constellation was in use and changing it (but not advising which to use), and downloading computer software to troubleshoot beyond the iOS app. I followed all of these tedious steps and found the watch performance degraded further. I found it auto paused while I was actively moving forward at a brisk hiking pace. It produced astonishingly poor statistics for the Mailbox Peak hike, ... MoreMy watch suddenly started producing inconsistent results for activity tracking. For example- it claimed a 7 mile hike was 11 miles. Later, it logged a full mile while I was sitting down on my bed. I reached out to Garmin product support and they provided me with a list of links to several different troubleshooting steps to take, including turning on auto pause, checking which satellite constellation was in use and changing it (but not advising which to use), and downloading computer software to troubleshoot beyond the iOS app. I followed all of these tedious steps and found the watch performance degraded further. I found it auto paused while I was actively moving forward at a brisk hiking pace. It produced astonishingly poor statistics for the Mailbox Peak hike, logging only 2,464 total elevation gained despite also indicating a minimum elevation starting at 740 feet climbing to a maximum 4842 feet, which is the accurate stats for this hike of 4,100 vertical. When I provided this info, I was then asked to continue troubleshooting further in order to create a ticket with Engineering. I was asked to send a Garmin folder from my laptop, and send app logs. I was asked to change the GPS setting again. At this point I followed these steps but was somehow transferred to a different support rep and told the Garmin folder I sent was not accurate. I’m now using Gaia to track my activities and I plan on upgrading to the Apple Watch Ultra. I’m seriously questioning continuing to support Garmin any further, as I have the Garmin InReach mini and have to wonder if I can truly rely on it for emergencies.
| Hardware Sensors | GPS |
| GPS | Yes |
| Heart Rate Monitoring | Yes |
| Sleep Monitoring | Yes |
| Step Counting | Yes |
