Garmin Vivosport HR

The Garmin Vivosport saga can be considered one of the favorite activity monitors of recent years, and it has a new member in the family: the Garmin Vivosport HR. This new model has a slightly more fun design, along with a new color touchscreen. You can almost consider the Vivosport as a fusion of the Garmin Vivosmart HR and the Garmin Vivosmart 3 The Garmin Vivosport is water resistant to 50 meters, so it's perfectly safe to take to the pool and has a great battery life of up to seven days.

You also get useful metrics, an enhanced Garmin Connect companion app and smartphone notifications. All of this combines to make the Garmin Vivosport a great fitness companion for runners and fitness enthusiasts who want to get more serious about exercise.

Garmin Vivosport HR Technical Specifications

• Lens material: chemically strengthened glass.
• Case material: polymer.
• Strap material: silicone.
• Physical size:
  Width: 21.0 mm Thickness: 109 mm.
  Small/medium fits wrists with a circumference of 122-188 mm.
  Large fits wrists with a circumference of 148-215 mm circumference.
• Weight
  Small/medium: 24.1 g.
  Large: 27.0 g.
• Battery life of 7 days in smartphone connected mode - 8 hours of GPS life.
• ULTRA slim (bubble heart rate sensor like the VivosmartHR).
• Garmin Chromo full color display: bright in direct sunlight / bright.
• Built-in GPS.
• Garmin Elevate LED heart rate sensors (no chest strap required).
• Optimized for indoor and outdoor exercise modes.

Design

The Garmin Vivosport HR has a slim design with a black front and lime green or red color accents located on the bottom to give it a little extra visual flare. The Vivosport bears similarities to Garmins utilitarian designs. While Fitbit designers have tried to dress up their activity monitors with more understated, custom designs, Garmin simply accepts them for what they are: pieces of technology rather than fashion devices.

The Vivosport uses a standard watch buckle, and since the silicone bands are not replaceable, at the time of purchase you'll need to choose the right size for your wrist. The band has good stretch, just like the Vivosmart 3, so it feels very comfortable even when worn snug for better contact with the optical heart rate monitor located on the back.

Display

The Garmin Vivosport has a glass-coated screen, which is more comfortable than the plastic screen on the Vivosmart 3 Screen size 0.38 "x 0.76"97 mm x 193 mm). The screen has a resolution of 72 x 144 pixels. What distinguishes the Vivosport from the Vivosmart models is that the display is now color. In practice, it doesn't really make much difference. The graphics and interface are so basic, and the backlight is so low that any color fades.

Smartphone Connectivity

The Garmin Vivosport HR pairs with the Garmin Connect app for Android and iOS, the newly revamped interface displays all pertinent information in one place. In the past, you had to swipe horizontally through what seemed like a million different screens to find what you wanted or just to get a quick progress update.

Through the My Day option it will be possible to monitor training more dynamically, updating progress for each goal with a simple check mark to let you know if you've already achieved it or quick at-a-glance information for everything else, such as heart rate or stress level. Tapping each metric acts as a shortcut to more information.

Garmin Vivosport HR features

• Built-in sports apps including running, cycling, cardio, strength training and hiking.

• 7 heart rate tracking that allows access to VO2 Max Fitness testing, all-day stress testing.

• FourFoldBreath - a breathing and relaxation feature similar to that found on FitbitCharge 2, Blaze, etc.

• Garmin MoveIQ automatically ranks popular sports and then adds them to Garmin Connect.

• Smartphone notifications and alerts.

• Heart rate transmission mode: turn it on to send your exercise HR to ANT+ compatible devices, e.g. Garmin Edge.

Heart Rate Monitor

Garmin uses heart rate data to calculate your VO2 Max and to assign you a fitness age. Both are excellent ways to monitor your overall fitness level. There's also the all-day stress level and relaxation timer, much like the breathing exercises on the Apple Watch, Fitbit Charge 2 and Fitbit Blaze.

GPS

GPS tracking works well, you get the correct distances every time and it presents no difficulties in wooded areas or areas with an abundance of buildings. Distances are consistent compared to those provided by an Apple Watch 3 Swiping your finger across the screen during a run provides data on duration, calories burned, pace, heart rate and heart rate zone.

Battery

According to Garmin the battery life is up to seven days. Users have found the duration to be closer to around 5 days with plenty of smartphone notifications buzzing around. That's still very good endurance. Approximately 8 hours of continuous GPS tracking can be expected, which is also pretty good. To charge the Garmin Vivosport HR just attach the USB cable to the back. It clicks instead of using magnets, so it stays secure and securely in place.