Garminvívosmart® 5, Fitness Tracker, Long-Lasting Battery, Simple Design, Black Large

I used to be a Fitbit user for 10+ years. My last Fitbit Charge 5 died 6 months ago. I thought about replacing it but with Google buying Fitbit, I wasn’t sure. I tried an Apple Watch 10 and I didn’t like it (I’m not a watch person - too bulky and too many functions). I then tried a Fitbit Charge 6 for 1 whole minute. Google now forces you to move your Fitbit account to your Google account in 2025. I researched and came across this Garmin Vivosmart 5. It’s exactly what I was looking for, but it’s actually better than Fitbit! It is lighter than a Fitbit Charge 5. It has group challenges for example plus all the bells and whistles Fitbit had/has. I like the Garmin format a lot better than Fitbit though - who knew?! For a competitive price, I highly recommend giving the Garmin Vivosmart 5 a try.

Was always an avid Fitbit 5 user but the quality of Fitbit has declined. I have gone through two in the past two years. So far the positives on the Vivosmart 5 (cost comparable) are the all-in-one protective band, sleek design (a little bit narrower than the Fitbit 5). The functions are impressive, accurate and limitless but not simple to use. Initial set-up is a breeze, step by step on the band and app but there are no instructions after that so plan on spending some time getting to know your Vivosmart 5, don’t get frustrated it may take 4 or 5 days but once you figure it out your going to love it, I do. Some functions will not appear for a couple of days as data must be gathered to generate results. Biggest draw back is no found logging. They work in conjunction with My Fitness Pal, which wants you to pay premium to use almost any of their features, yuck and the syncing between the two is not great, so there is never a accurate breakdown of calories in/out without bouncing back and forth between the apps. Fitbit 5 wins over Vivosmart 5 for food logging. Very happy with the purchase and excited to put my Vivosmart 5 to the test!

Do not buy this watch if you want to track the steps you are walking. This watch will only track your steps if your arm is swinging. If you are pushing a a mower or a cart, it will not record your steps. If you are carrying something, like lumber or building materials, no step tracking. In the last two days of yard work my old Fitbit would have recorded over 20,000 steps. The Garmin recorded 6500. The Garmin uses GPS so it should be tracking this movement but support just says it does not do this tracking.In the evening I have been woken by a very bright red light from the watch. This is from the bottom of the watch against the skin. It will flash this bright light 2 or 3 times at irregular intervals. If I move my wrist, it will go off for a while. So I guess I need to stay up to move all night to move the watch. There is nothing in support or help to indicate what this function is or how to change it.I will be returning the watch and already have my old Fitbit back on. I cannot recommend this watch!

I decided to purchase the Vivosmart 5 when my aging Vivosport started reporting wildly inaccurate heart rates. I immediately saw a host of improvements with the Vivosmart 5, beginning with a greater range of activity types to choose from. Finally, I don't have to record my daily Yoga as "other" and then reclassify it in Garmin Connect. And the moving graphics for activities make it very easy to find the activity that I want to record. Some reviewers have indicated that the font on the tracker is so small that it is unreadable. I disagree. Even without my glasses, which I always need for reading, I can make out the words displayed on the tracker.One reason I have hesitated in moving from the Vivosport line to the Vivosmart line is that the former has built-in GPS and the latter does not. But I figured that, except for swimming, I always have my phone with me anyway, so tracking distance should be no big deal. However, I was surprised to find that the Vivosmart, paired with my phone, consistently reported a walk that I know to be exactly a mile (from online mapping sites) as 1.1 miles. That is 10% too high. My former Vivosport always reported the distance correctly, between 1 and 1.02 miles.Aside from the GPS issue, I have been pleased with the tracker's features. I like the way it produces an overall sleep quality score and breaks it down into the components of good sleep. My subjective experience of sleep quality does not always correspond exactly to the Garmin score, but it does more often than not.I like the way the tracker nudges me to move and stretch every so often, and I find that I do not have to move around vigorously for a long time (like I did with the Vivosport) in order to convince my tracker that I indeed took a break to move.Sometimes I am surprised by the initiative taken by the tracker. the other day it asked me if I wanted to do some breathing exercises. Perhaps it thought I was too stressed; I don't know. At any rate, I said sure, and took a break to breathe.I have been using the Vivosmart for a month now, and I can think of a couple of ways that the tracker software could be tweaked a bit more to make it better, but, all-in-all, I have been pretty happy with this tracker.

I’ve been wearing them for years. The V is a little better and the fact you can replace the band is a game changer. I was thinking about a different type of sports monitor because of the band issues. With replacement bands I’ll be wearing the Garmin brand for many more years.