The Garmin Vivoactive 4 is an incredible fitness watch that boasts a variety of features to keep you on top of your performance - whether that means attaining a new PB 10K time, or nailing those yoga poses.
Appearance
The Vivoactive 4 features a stylish circular design with Garmin Chromo Display, housed under extra-durable Corning Gorilla Glass. This makes it easier to read - even in direct sunlight, with the Side Swipe interface that allows you to effortlessly swipe through watch faces and widgets with your thumb or index finger. Since its predecessor, the Vivoactive 3, Garmin has added an additional side button which acts as a shortcut for your preferred exercises, or as a start/stop button - so you don’t have to jab at the screen with sweaty fingers.
Garmin allows you to download a multitude of free watch faces, apps and widgets to suit your personality on the Connect IQ store. You can further personalise you style with the option of purchasing additional silicon or leather 22mm watch bands. Some testers, however, were slightly frustrated at the difficulty of downloading and using apps on the watch.
Features
The Garmin Vivoactive 4 really hits the mark as an impressive fitness watch. It comes with a wide variety of features that allows you not only to track exercise performance, but also gives you the tools to live a more convenient active lifestyle.
One of the most noteworthy features of the Vivoactive 4 is of course its ability to offer full workouts with access to animations right at the wrist. No more searching through Google for exercise explanations - which can be useful for newbies. For example, if you’ve recently started yoga practice, you could easily use the watch to illustrate certain moves for you. Not sure what a goblet squat is? No problem, the Vivoactive 4 will guide you through it! The watch comes with 20 preloaded exercises, or download more via Connect IQ.
You’ll also have access to Garmin Coach - the personal running coach at your wrist that provides a range of workouts with guidance from expert coaches. These are easy to set up on Garmin Connect and sync to your watch for guided training. You can even create custom workouts on the app and download them to your watch. Upon completion of a workout you can upload all your training data to the Garmin Connect App - where you can enjoy engaging with other Garmin users and even compete or share triumphs with them. Alternatively, the Garmin Vivoactive 4 can sync to other popular apps such as Strava, MyFitnessPal and more.
Elevate wrist-based heart rate technology allows you to keep tabs on the most important metrics, such as VO2 max and fitness age - which are two indicators of physical fitness. It also tracks heart rate variability throughout the day, making you aware of your fluctuating stress levels. The watch shows you when certain physical or emotional sources cause your stress levels to rise, which prompts you to relieve that pressure, for example, with a short breathing activity.
The Vivoactive 4 also comes with a Pulse Ox sensor that measures your blood oxygen saturation throughout the day. This is an indication of how well your body is absorbing oxygen, and can be combined for further insights into other metrics (such as sleep, for example). Respiration tracking shows you how you are breathing throughout the day, and sleep monitoring provides a breakdown of your sleep stages, Pulse Ox and respiration data throughout the night. Body Battery can give you a further indication of your energy levels at any given time - which allows you to more effectively select activity and rest times. The Vivoactive 4 can even log your fluid intake to remind you to stay hydrated. The auto goal for hydration adjusts based on how much sweat you lose during activity.
Indeed, the Garmin Vivoactive 4 comes with a host of convenient features, like Garmin Pay, which easily allows you to make payments using only the watch. You can finally leave both you mobile phone and wallet at home! This means you can pop into a shop for a quick replenishing drink on your morning run by simply tapping your watch to pay. Of course, this feature can only work if the card machine has a tapping feature (and doesn’t require you to insert your card).
Paired with an Android smartphone, you can receive and respond to text messages, as well as receive social media updates and emails. Furthermore, you’ll have access to many more features like Find Your Phone, LiveTrack and music controls that allows you to download songs and playlists from compatible music accounts (like Spotify, Deezer and Amazon Music).
If you’re concerned about safety, you’ll likely enjoy Garmin’s recent addition to their fitness watches called Incident Detection and Safety Assistance. The former automatically detects an incident, such as a cycling crash, and notifies your predetermined emergency contacts with an SMS and live tracking. Safety Assistance, on the other hand, allows you to send a predefined message and tracking link to your emergency contacts with one button. Essentially, you’ll use this feature when you’re feeling unsafe and you want someone to know about it.
Garmin also aims for increased inclusivity of their users with the addition of Menstrual Cycle Tracking. Basically, it allows you to track your menstrual cycle - also adding notes of how you feel physically and emotionally throughout the day. The aim is that it will allow you to see how your body fluctuates over time and, therefore, explain changes in sleep patterns, mood, physical performance and appetite. This data will enable you to make better decisions for your overall health. For example, knowing how your body fluctuates throughout the month will help you understand which workouts to select during a specific phase of your cycle. This feature will also provide education about training and nutrition throughout each phase of your cycle.
Battery
The Garmin Vivoactive 4 has a battery life of 8 days in smart watch mode, and 6 hours with GPS and Music.
The Bottom Line
From a smartwatch perspective, the Vivoactive only has a few downfalls. First, some testers were frustrated by the difficulty in navigating and using apps with the watch. In one scenario, it took quite some time to download Spotify and successfully allow for music playback. Another issue, was with iOS users - who are unable to respond to smart notifications as this feature only works for Android users. iPhone users are, however, still able to receive notifications.
If you’re looking for an attractive smartwatch that offers incredible fitness tracking capabilities plus some nifty smart watch features as well - the Garmin Vivoactive is most certainly a worthy contender. You’ll have access to Garmin Coach which allows you select or create custom workouts, with animated illustrations handy at the wrist. You’ll also enjoy features like Garmin Pay, which allows you to pay for purchases without having your wallet or phone at your disposal; improved sleep tracking capabilities and Music Controls which allows you to download and play music from your watch. All in all - Garmin continues to improve on its fitness tracking capabilities with the Vivoactive 4.
Features Summary:
- Keep an eye on your health 24/7 with the broadest available range of all-day health monitoring features
- Easily download music to your watch for phone-free listening
- Record all the ways to move with more than 20 preloaded GPS and indoor sports apps
- Get easy-to-follow, animated workouts rights on your watch screen
- Battery life: up to 8 days in smartwatch mode; up to 6 hours in GPS and music mode
- Body Battery Energy Monitoring: See your body’s energy levels throughout the day, so you can find the best times for activity and rest
- Respiration Tracking: See how you are breathing throughout the day, during sleep and during breathwork and yoga activities.
- Pulse Ox Sensor:The Pulse Ox sensor gauges your blood oxygen saturation during the day and as you sleep to show how well your body is absorbing oxygen
- Advanced Sleep Monitoring: Get a full picture of how you sleeping with a breakdown of your light,deep and REM sleep stages.
- Menstrual Cycle Tracking: The Garmin Connect app lets you track your cycle, log physical and emotional symptoms and learn about training and nutrition.
- Stress Tracking: See if you are having a calm, balanced or stressful day. Relax reminders will even prompt you to do a short breathing activity.
- Hydration Tracking: Staying hydrated is important for your well-being.Log your daily water intake to help you stay hydrated and see consistency.
- Wrist-based Heart Rate: The watch constantly samples your heart rate and will alert you if it stays high while you at rest.
- Made for Daily Wear: From interchangeable bands to durable Corning Gorilla Glass 3, this smartwatch was made to be worn 24/7.
- Animated Workouts at Your Wrist: This watch features easy-to-follow,animated cardio,strength,yoga and Pilates workouts you can view on the watch screen
- All the Activities You Love: With more than 20 preloaded GPS and indoor sports apps including walking, running, cycling, pool swimming, golf and more
- Take a Breath: When you want to relax or focus, you can start a breathing activity, and this watch will track your stress and respiration .
- Smart Notifications: Receive emails, texts and alerts right on your watch when paired with a compatible smartphone.You can even respond to texts
- Music: Easily download songs to your watch, including playlists from your Spotify, Deezer or Amazon Music account.Connect with wireless headphones
- Safety and Tracking Features: While watch and phone are paired, your location can be sent to your contacts automatically, built in incident detection
- Garmin Pay: Breeze through checkout lines with Garmin Pay contactless payment solution through participating providers.
- Connect IQ Store: Add personality to your watch by downloading apps, widgets, watch faces and more. Its easy and even better its free.
- Garmin Coach: Get a personal running coach on your wrist, for free, to help you train for your next 5K, 10K or half-marathon.
- Lens Material: Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- Bezel material: Stainless steel
- Touchscreen
- Display size: 1.3" (33.0 mm) diameter
- Display resolution: 260 x 260 pixels
- Weight: 50.5g
- Water Rating: 5ATM
- Satellite: GPS Glonass and Galileo
- Other Sensors: Barometric Altimeter,Compass,Gyroscope,Accelerometer,Thermometer and Pulse OX
- Music storage: Up to 500 Songs
- Golfing: Yardage to F/M/B,Measures shot distance , Digital scorecard , Stat tracking and Hazards and Course targets.
- In the Box: Vivoactive 4,Charging cable and Documentation